The smell of grilled onions and the sound of rock bands wafted through the spring air. Groups posed for photos with the tulips. With long lines waiting for port-a-potties and fried dough, it looked like a typical Tulip Festival at Albany’s Washington Park.
But Tulip Fest’s 60th anniversary witnessed a new phenomenon under the blossoming trees: the Wellness Garden. This gathering of holistic health care providers was organized by the United Holistic Practitioners Association, newly renamed Health Source Now. Here, lines of people waited for free foot reflexology, Reiki, energy medicine, and massage. Folks learned about mindfulness meditation, and acupuncture for both humans and animals. People had health and nutritional screenings, did energy medicine exercises, and were guided in the slow, graceful movements of t’ai chi and qigong.
“Ecological medicine is a unifying field that embodies the recognition that human and environmental health are inseparable,” says Bioneers founder Kenny Ausubel, in a book by the same name. Recent discoveries of the large chemical burdens our bodies now bear, and of the alarming presence of pharmaceuticals in our water systems, are wake-up calls that declare just how much our health is entwined with that of our environment.
I specialize in Eden Energy Medicine, a modality that appeals to me because it offers so many self-help tools for dealing with pain, stress and other physical and emotional challenges. Low-tech and easy to learn, this system empowers individuals to learn greater self-awareness and to take a more active role in their health. This can’t help but promote greater harmony with our environment, as we become more sensitive to the relationships between our personal energy system and the larger one that enfolds us.
During my two days in the Wellness Garden, I was impressed by the range of visitors. Children, college students and senior citizens were happily climbing onto the massage chair. Most were completely new to the modalities they sampled. All seemed to crave caring touch and attention. At one point I turned to see an elderly man, who he poked his thumb toward a woman I’d worked with earlier and growled, “She insists that I have a massage!” I explained I was doing energy work, and added, “And I don’t do it for anyone who doesn’t really want it for themselves!” He softened, asked for a turn, and sat down in my chair. Ten minutes later, he exclaimed, “That could have gone for another two hours, that felt so good!”
Helping people feel good, and teaching them self-care so they can feel better is the whole point. The effects of poor nutrition, stress, and inadequate exercise were apparent just by looking at the festival crowds. People approaching our tables were seeking alternatives — to their overly busy schedules, the obesity-inducing American diet, and the pharmaceutical and symptom-based orientation so common to health care.
Even amidst talk of rising depression rates, diabetes, and drug side-effects, I feel hopeful about new developments in wellness care. I meet more and more people who realize they’re suffering from the unsustainable lifestyle promoted by commercial culture. They want to access their bodies’ natural healing intelligence and enjoy their lives more. Many go on to become holistic practitioners themselves.
The Wellness Garden, and my experiences at the Honest Weight Food Cooperative in Albany, show me there’s fertile ground for helping the community learn more sustainable health practices. Honest Weight makes its Community Room available for practitioners to offer free services and workshops. These practitioners earn member discounts, while bringing their care to a broader public. I think of it as the “Hidden Health Spa” of the Capital district. And if you missed out on the Wellness Garden, you can sample the services of massage therapists, teachers, nutritionists and other trained wellness care providers by stopping in and signing up.
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