Keep it Local and Keep it Sane!

The holidays encourage us to do lots of shopping and revelling. Enjoy!

While you're out and about please consider the planet by shopping local, shopping green and keeping it all sane. Take time for yourself. Gift yourself with little breaks for reflecting on the winter, the holidays or whatever suits you. Winter is a natural time for going within. It's also a natural time for getting together with friends and community to gather and share story, games and laughter.

Skystone as members of the Ellensburg Downtown Association helps to sponsor events for gathering, communing and keeping it local.

Come join us over the next week for some special events. Skystone is happy to be part of the shop local events and holiday celebrations happening in Downtown Ellensburg.

Starting with the Cocoa Stroll on Tuesday, Nov. 24th - visit us for chair massage, Bowen demos and a peak at our new items in Gifts of Spirit Gallery. Come in for the premier of Andrea Haggerty's one of a kind jewelry using natural stone and metals.

Moments to Remember on Friday, Nov 27th - visit the lovely venues hosting trees and wreaths around town - and stop at Skystone for a respite with chair massage and a look at the ornaments and other handmade art in our gallery.

Girl's Night Out on Thursday, Dec 4th - Treats, Specials and a really fabulous drawing! Come by for Bowen demos, Chair Massage, Angel Readings and more. For every $10 you spend you get an entry in a drawing for the basket full of donations from every participating business.

First Friday Art Walk on Friday, Dec 5th - Featuring Susan Waddle Mandala's: "Flour...Water...Mandala" and Andrea Haggerty's jewelry artist. Musical artists Coleen Renee and Dan Shissler will perform folk and original songs starting at 6:30 PM.

Come by and visit us on any two of the days above and get a coupon for 10% off your total purchases.

Remember to remember what this season means to you - and follow your own heart and wisdom as you share it with others.

Stay warm and healthy!

Coleen

Supporting Artists

Skystone features local artists as part of the First Friday Art Walk each month here in Ellensburg. It's one of the many ways we support our local community, who so beautifully supports us.

In addition to the Art Walk, we also feature regular artists such as Jim Baugh, Sylvia Howard, and Lynda Larsen of Purity Soapworks. It's such a joy to work with these creative folks and to share in the joy they have for the work that they do.

We worked with Lynda recently to create a line of Elemental Escences - lotions which carry the healing essences of Air, Fire, Water, Earth and Spirit. We had such fun researching different essential oils for their aromatherapy benefits; mixing and stirring with Lynda to find just the right blend of scents for each element; creating the artwork with Roni Anthony; and pulling the whole thing together with the design of the bottle. They've been quite a hit with clients. Come in and try them yourself soon!

Lynda Wright, one of our practitioners, is also a photographer. Her work is also on display currently. Another practitioner here, Coleen Renee, will be heading into the recording studio this month to record some healing songs and a mediation on the Chakras. You can meet Coleen and hear at the benefit concert and silent auction:

An Evening at Inspiration

October 16th, 5:15 PM

at Inspiration Studios

108 N Main, Ellensburg

For more information on this event go to our website or visit Coleen's site. The event is co-hosted by Skystone Healing Arts and Inspiration Studios.

The featured artists and crafts people we host change frequently. So drop by when you're in the neighborhood, have a cup of tea and browse for gifts or pleasure in our Gifts of Spirit Gallery - open at least 12 -3 PM Tues thru Sat. We look forward to seeing you!

Welcome Elise Irish!

Skystone proudly announces the arrival of a new practitioner.

Welcome Elyse Irish!

Born and raised in Ellensburg, Elyse moved to the west side to go to Massage School, which she completed in June. Elyse joins Skystone, practicing reflexology on Mondays and Fridays. She anticipates offering a full range of massage techniques by mid-November. Building upon her childhood client base, Elyse looks forward to welcoming new clients here at Skystone.


Elyse knew she wanted to be a massage therapist since she was 5 years old. Even as a young girl, she gave massages to her mom and Mom’s friends. Elyse is thrilled to finally be able to use her talents and do the work she knows she’s meant to do - and loves that she is able to serve her community in this very special way.

Elyse lives here in Ellensburg with her fiancé, Jerome; 3 children, Lizzy, Jayson, Audrey; their guinea pig, Tinkerbell; and a gold fish named Dorothy.

Bare Bones

I want to talk about bones today. Not the kind dogs dig up in your back yard. I want to talk about the vital living bones within our bodies. This subject of bones has come up during sessions with clients a lot in the last few weeks..

For most of us, our direct conscious experience of bones seems to come from dead ones. You know, the part left after you’ve eaten ribs; the hard heavy bones we give to our dogs; skeletal remains at the museum; skeletal replicas we study in anatomy classes; and the like.

However, the bones inside our living bodies are quite different. Yes, they are far from being rigid, hard and dead; they constantly recreate themselves!

I remember my own sense of revelation and surprise when my anatomy teacher in massage school told us that the head of the femur (thigh bone) takes the longest time to renew itself of any of the bones. It does that about every 5 months! So 5 months from now new cells will have replaced all the bones cells you currently have within your skeleton.

So you see, bones are living dynamic structures. Much like tree trunks they provide strength, stability AND the ability to bend just a bit. As we know from stories of older folks, bones that are rigid and brittle tend to break more easily.

By design bones are vibrant centers of activity. The honeycomb struction inside provides strength without requiring heavy mass (which tends to weigh one down). They also provide pockets for air. Our bones are filled with air.

As you know, the body is mostly water. Objects filled with air generally float in water. Our bones are indeed designed to float. Our ligaments keep them in relative space of course. That way we know where they are!

When we are at rest (not contracting our muscles) our bones move within the waters of our body. This movement is very very small AND very important. When we allow ourselves to rest, this small movement of our bones brings nutrients and ease to our joints and allows toxins and waste to be flushed out.

Inside the long bones (i.e., in the legs and arms) our red blood cell factories operate with heat, rhythm and fluidity. This home of our marrow is very juicy and vibrant. And remember, it is surrounded by the honeycomb structure filled with breath and then wrapped in an outer shell that has a small degree of flexibility. The bone is wrapped in a fascial sheath that becomes one with the ligaments connecting this bone with another to form a joint - everything floating until we contract our muscles and move through our life.

So take a moment every now and again to feel the gentle movement of your bones floating in the water of your body. Key into the rich and juicy pulsing of the red blood cell factory that is your marrow. Notice your breath. Send the enlivened breath of your inhale into those honeycomb structures and exhale stale breath. Appreciate the lightness and strength of your bones as you stand, walk, live.

Oh, and drink plenty of water. Bones do not function so well in a dehydrated body: not much to float around in.

Coleen

Carolyn Here

Hi, it's Carolyn here. You might have read about me a blog or two ago. I'm loving having my business here at Skystone Healing Arts. In fact, I just added Thursday afternoons to my schedule.

One of my favorite parts of working at Skystone is participating in the First Friday Art Walk. I started coming to the Art Walk and offering Chair Massage as part of an internship when I was a massage student. I'm still doing it.

I meet all kinds of unique people. Some come back each month at the Art Walks, others have become regular clients of mine. Chair massage was their first introduction to the many ways massage can ease stress and relieve pain and discomfoft. These clients have really enjoyed the extra added bonus of having Chair Massage at the Art Walk.

It’s a nice relaxing way to spend the evening. Not only do you get a Chair Massage when you come to the Art Walk at Skystone, you also get to listen to good music provided by Coleen and Dan of the SongWeavers; have finger food; enjoy the works of our featured Artists as well as our House Artists; browse Gifts of Spirit Gallery for unique gifts; and and chat with friends.

Come in and experience this for yourself. My chair is waiting.

Carolyn Brunk

Medical Intuitive Services

Coleen Renee, LMP, CSH has had her practice here at Skystone since December, 2007. She offers a range of services from massage and sound healing to BodyListening. It came to her attention in the last few months that Ellensburg might need and be ready for her services as a Medical Intuitive. Coleen happened to mention to a friend that she goes over to Seattle to offer Medical Intuitive sessions to old time clients. The friend shared that she and several of her friends travel all the way to Seattle to receive services from other Medical Intuitive practitioners. It’s clear that Ellensburg needs her services as a medical intuitive. It only makes sense to offer this service here in the community she has come to love.

Coleen is a natural born intuitive and hereditary healer. She began training at age 7 and 12, although she didn’t understand at the time that she was being trained. She studied indigenous healing and cross-cultural approaches during her undergraduate and graduate work here at Central Washington University. In her mid thirties she committed her life to healing work as a massage therapist, which eventually led her back to reclaim/utilize her innate skills and early training.

As Co-founder of BodySong Healing Arts Center in Seattle, Coleen led consult groups and training for other intuitives. She offered an Apprenticeship program for 10 years. After a sabbatical to her ancestral lands in Ohio, Coleen returned to the Northwest – specifically Ellensburg – to teach pathology, kinesiology and massage at the Barlen Institute of Massage.

Incorporating the science and art of healing, Coleen draws on her wide range of skills to create a healing session specifically suited to each client. Her work in Ellensburg has been focused mostly around her massage work, which is very limiting for her. As a Medical Intuitive, she includes massage as one of the many possible healing modalities.

Over the next few months Coleen will shift the focus of her work to Medical Intuitive Healing. She will continue to offer massage therapy but will no longer take new massage clients after January, 2010. (Of course, she will be most happy to refer those clients wanting only massage to the other excellent massage therapists who have their practices at Skystone.)

Look for Coleen to offer classes on healing techniques folks can do for themselves. These tools can be used in conjunction with private sessions – and in many cases result in clients no longer needing private sessions. Guided meditations for self-healing will be offered this fall. Coleen goes into the studio to record in September.

How might You use Medical Intuitive Services?

o Spiritual Counseling
o Grief/Bereavement
o Finding clarity on personal issues
o Maintaining health
o Insight into health issues & actions for healing
o Guidance on Life Path

Sliding scale $75 – 40/hour.

For sessions with Coleen or more information call 509-312-0220 or Skystone 509-925-4533.

For more general information about Medical Intuitive work visit these sites:

http://www.medical-intuitives.net/medicalint.htm

http://mirit.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/5-things-you-should-know-about-a-medical-intuitive-reading/

Ahhh, the Love of Massage!

I enjoy being a new practioner at Skystone. It’s like a breath of fresh new air for me. I’ve done physical work before like cleaning houses and waitressing (some of you might know me from the Palace), but there is nothing like massage therapy. I love making people feel better. Through massage therapy, I can do this
in a greater way.

People come in and get a massage from me and then leave feeling a whole lot better. This feels like a great accomplishment especially when they come back to continue improving their life. I see some clients on a weekly basis – I do enjoy developing these working relationships.

I often (with the client’s permission) combine Reiki with my massage, because it adds more relaxation and depth to a person’s well being. I look forward to implementing the advanced training techniques I’ve learned and will write you about those in the months that follow. But you don’t have to wait. Come see me and experience the wonders of massage. You can decide for yourself how much it helps.

Taking time for yourself is very important for each of us, so I encourage clients to come in by offering a breakfast special with Chair Massage from 9-11 and Lunch Special from 11-1 on Tuesdays for those who have 15 minutes to squeeze in during their lunch hour or even at a morning break. It gives people a chance to come in even if they only have a few minutes – it’s amazing how effective we can be and because this is clothed massage, the client gets more hands-on time. They feel better and also get a sense of how their body responds to massage. Clients have asked for a “Happy Hour” Special so beginning in August I’ll add a Happy Hour from 5-6. p.m. 15 minutes for $10.

Carolyn