Earth Day
The Greater Vernon Holistic Healthfest went very well with about 900 adults attending; hope you were one of them. Many attendees signed up for and are receiving this newsletter for the first time. If you are one of them "Welcome" and we hope you will find ideas and people here to support you on your journey. There is a lot of material on our website so you might want to visit our Welcome Page for an introduction.
Earth Day is this week and there are a variety of clean-up and hiking events listed in the papers. The holistic community sponsored a clean-up of the Hockanum River and Rails-to Trails areas last Saturday through The Alliance For Holistic Living.
Lots of other events now that spring is really here. Check our calendar, which has too many choices every weekend. Anyone teach a class in bi-location? Some of the larger events are listed below under Community Events.
We have a new artist this month, RAYMOND HARDY, who finds his spiritual path through nature - in this case white tailed deer. Plus a South African travel story and more.
Next month, May, is the 25th anniversary of Connecticut's New Age Woodstock - Celebration of Life '84 which took place in South Windham, just outside Willimantic. That was the beginning of so much of what we have today and many from our area were involved. In our next newsletter we'll bring you pictures and stories from the first Celebration.
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Community Events
Earth Day is Wednesday, April 22. Towns and schools usually hold a variety of educational programs and clean up events on the weekend before or after the actual day. Check the Earth Day Network website to find some of those in Connecticut. Not all are listed so also watch your local paper.
This weekend on April 25 and 26, a two day Expo will be held in Enfield. This will be the Four Seasons Body-Mind-Health Expo at the Crowne Plaza featuring two ballrooms with 68 exhibitors who will be showcasing their products, spiritual gifts and services. There will be specialty workshops, classes, readings and lectures held throughout each day. See their website or our Calendar for information. Conscious CT will be there on Sunday, so stop by.
The Heal Thy Self - Natural & Energy Medicine Conference will be held Saturday, May 9 at the University of Hartford. This is a full day conference on natural healing produced by Natural Nutmeg magazine and the University of Hartford. The conference will focus on educating the public about the science behind natural and energy medicine therapies and exploring revolutionary new treatments. It's a full day of lectures and workshops from prominent speakers in the field of Natural Medicine and Energy Medicine who practice right here in Connecticut. Early registration discounts have been extended through April 29. For information see our Calendar listing or their website.
And not too far down the road is the annual HerbFest on Saturday, June 6. This is an annual celebration of all things herbal, which will be held at a new location in Somers this year. It is produced by the Connecticut Herb Association and is a glorious way to welcome Summer. We'll have more information in next month's newsletter. For information visit
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New Photo Gallery
Our biennial Greater Vernon Healthfest had a successful year. It was attended by 900 adults and quite a few children. The public is always amazed to find such a wealth of talent in their backyard and we hopefully opened people to the possibilities of natural alternatives for staying healthy. Information on practitioners and vendors will remain on the Healthfest website and you'll find information on many of the practitioners and area shops here on our Conscious CT pages.
Sarah Simmons wrote a nice article on the Healthfest for the Reminder. It can be accessed at Reminder News article.
Our latest Photo Gallery gives you a taste of the day. While you are there look over some of the other events from the past year. The Photo Gallery can be accessed from the Communication section of the website with new entries posted on the Home page.
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Featured Artist: Raymond Hardy
Our featured artist this month is RAYMOND HARDY. He is an artist, Reiki Master and long time student of shamanic studies. Ray's art focuses on depicting his encounters with the whitetail deer. As his synergistic relationship with his subjects evolves, he discovers that the whitetail can truly be "The Gatekeeper of the Spirit World." He lives and works in Bolton and works only from his own field studies and photographs, thereby creating portraits of individual deer with their own unique story.
Ray will be displaying and demonstrating his work at "The Artists of Bolton" show that will be held on May 15th (5-8 p.m.), May 16th (10 a.m.-5 p.m.) and May 17th (Noon-4 p.m.) at Early New England Homes on 26 West Street (Rte 85) in Bolton.
» Go to Spirituality => Artists' Corner
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South African Journal
Manchester practitioners JOCELYN COLOMBE and JEFF BEHR spent much of March touring and working in South Africa. They visited sacred sites, met with local healers, and demonstrated healing tools, as well as doing normal tourist activities like hiking and site seeing. Upon returning Jeff put together an excellent journal of words and pictures documenting their journey. He does a good job of describing what is similar to life back home as well as what is very different. The scenery is spectacular and the cultural contrasts illuminating.
» Go South African Journal
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Out And About
Artist ALINE HOFFMAN (on left), one of our Conscious CT featured artists, opened an art show earlier this month at the Muse La Belle Artiste in Coventry. She has 150 pieces of her work on display through May 15. Muse is owned by LAURIE BIDWELL WHITEHEAD (on right) and is located at 1141 Main Street, phone (860) 498-0307.
Aline Hoffman is an artist, healer [Certified Hypnotherapist and Reiki Master] and school counselor (retired). Her early work was in pen and ink. She now works mostly in the Abstract Expressionist style and particularly enjoys the spirituality of Chinese Brush painting, exploring a wide variety of papers and textures. Her studio and healing center are located in Coventry.
» Go to Aline's Artists' Corner page.
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Sponsor Activities
Both Spirit Matters and Breathe...more, LLC are multi-purpose centers offering a range of activities and services. Only four miles from each other they offer South Windsor, Ellington, Vernon and Tolland residents opportunities to be involved in holistic activities.
On Friday, May 8, BREATHE...MORE will host its first Full Moon Kirtan with recording artists SASHA SIMONE and EDDY NATARAJ. Eddy brings sacred mantras to life with his flamenco-gypsy style of guitar playing and earthy drumming while Sasha sets them in motion with her ecstatic form of yoga. Give yourself and someone special (a partner, friend or other) a night out full of inspirational music. Tickets go on sale April l5th. Advance tickets strongly suggested. See Calendar of Breath...more's website for details.
Owner CHERIE TRICE is involved in a lot of community work. In June Cherie has been invited to be part of the 2009 Relay For Life in Tolland, a 24 hour fund raiser for cancer. She will be offering an “Early Riser Yoga Class” outdoors on the track with the rising sun.
» Learn More About Breathe...more
On Saturday, May 16 from 1-5 p.m. SPIRIT MATTERS will host the first free public wellness clinic of The Alliance For Holistic Living, the new area practitioner service organization. The clinic will introduce people to alternative and complementary healing modalities and help people in their healing process. Modalities will include Reiki, past life therapy, Tibetan bowls and energy healing and balancing. Everyone welcome.
And a reminder that the Coyote Talking Circle for veterans and others drawn to traditional group work starts this Friday, April 24 with monthly sessions on Monday, May 18, Friday, June 19, from 7-9 p.m. See dates in our Calendar for more detail.
» Learn More About Spirit Matters
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News Headlines
Each month there is activity in the community that you'll find covered on the News page of the Communication section. If you are a business please send us press releases and photos of your events.
- New Glastonbury Healing Center
- Bad Rumors, Real Issues
- Whole Foods Glastonbury's Fuel Cell A Success
- Dairy & Gluten Free Bakery In Glastonbury
» Go to News Stories
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