November/December 2004 NW Newsmakers
Community News

 

Explore Ayurveda & Meditation with Dr. Vaidya Priyanka

Dr. Vaidya Priyanka

Ayurveda, the science of life, has been followed for thousands of years in India.  Ayurveda employs various modalities, such as diet, exercise, aroma therapy, and Marma therapy to overcome sickness and enhance well being. Achieving wellness is a matter of restoring balance to an individual’s constitution.  More than medicine, Ayurveda is knowledge about how to live correctly for optimal health and longevity. 

Meditation is the silent dance in our sea of consciousness releasing the submerged stresses and coming to the point of inner stillness where there is no object of consciousness – but consciousness itself.  Done regularly, this inward dance leaves us fresh, more alert, relaxed, creative, healthy, and more in tune with ourselves and our environment.  When the mind is calm and focused in the present, it is neither reacting to memories from the past nor being preoccupied with plans for the future, two major sources of chronic stress known to impact healthy. 

Dr. (Vaidya) Priyanka is a highly respected Ayurvedic healer and speaker.  She has 4 ½ years of Gurukul Training in the tradition of the "Guru Sishya Parampara" in Kerala, India, and hails from a 700 year-old lineage of women Ayurvedic healers.  She is also an accomplished Marma therapy healer who has educated and helped people all over the world live healthier and happier lives through Ayurveda.

You are invited to an evening to explore Ayurveda & Meditation with Dr. Vaidya Priyanka on Friday November 26th, 7-8:30pm, $15. Location to be announced. For additional details and to register online: www.artoflivingpdx.org or call Vaish (503-332-4398 or email: christi.thomas@juno.com .

Order Trees Now for Friends of Trees’ Neighborhood Plantings
in North & Northeast Portland this Winter and Spring

You can order street and yard trees now to plant with your neighbors at one of the following Friends of Trees plantings this fall and winter:

  • February 12, Overlook
  • February 26, St. Johns, Cathedral Park
  • February 26, Laurelhurst, Sunnyside
  • March 5, Boise, Humboldt, King, Vernon, Piedmont, Woodlawn
  • March 19, Arbor Lodge, Kenton, Portsmouth, University Park
  • April 2, Concordia, Cully
  • April 2, Alameda, Irvington, Sabin
  • April 9, Rose City Park, Roseway

Tree selections with photos and facts, categorized by parking strip width, can be found on Friends of Trees’ web site at www.friendsoftrees.org. Just click on the "tree database" link on the left, choose "neighborhood trees" and enter your parking strip width. Click on "planting schedule" to learn more about each planting event. Coordinators for each neighborhood planting will help you select the right tree for your parking strip width, arrange for necessary permitting, and make plans to have holes dug prior to the planting date. When you plant a tree with Friends of Trees, you also receive tree care help during the summer following the planting, as trained volunteers check on every tree at least twice and leave tree care instructions for homeowners.

Friends of Trees inspires community stewardship of our urban forest by bringing people in the Portland-Vancouver area together to plant, care for, and learn about city trees. For more information about upcoming tree planting projects or about Friends of Trees events, or to find the planting coordinators for your neighborhood call 503-284-TREE (8733) or visit www.friendsoftrees.org.

Abundant Life Center Relocates

A Abundant Life Center, a New Thought community in Vancouver, WA has moved from Hazel Dell to 111 W. 39th Street, Suite A (east end of building), Vancouver, WA. Sunday Services are held at 10:00 a.m. in the west end of the building in the beautiful space of August Moon, Vancouver’s Community Cultivation Center.

The Sunday service includes music, meditation, and positive, uplifting messages from Rev. Kathleen Verigin, and a Youth Ministry program for children 4 to 12. Younger and older children are welcome to attend the service with a supervising adult. To assist the community in spiritual growth, ALC also offers classes, workshops, retreats, and social events, as well as professional pastoral counseling.

ALC is an independent New Thought church, established in 1993. As a spiritual philosophy, New Thought derives its name from an ancient principle that "a new thought produces a new condition;" or, in the words of Jesus, "as you believe so you shall receive." The founders of New Thought, living in the late 19th century, offered a new perspective on Christianity, interpreting scripture metaphysically and metaphorically, rather than fundamentally. They honor all the world religions, knowing that there are many paths to God, and many names for God, yet holding to the ancient truth that we are All One. www.abundant-life-center.org

Sacred Art of Living Center - The Spirit of Healing the Living and the Dying

The Sacred Art of Living Center (SALC) in Bend was founded in 1998 by Richard and Mary Groves to teach how to deal with the dying process in the Center’s signature class, Sacred Art of Dying. "This program grew out of hospice," says Richard Groves, "but integrates more emotional, psychological and spiritual caregiving into dying." The program is a two-year commitment, taught in four units, each a four-day forum. As many healthcare professionals have noted, Sacred Art of Dying teaches the kind of care that is too often overlooked in medical schools.

The Center’s expanded offerings now include rite of passage retreats for men and women, and a Circle of Life annual conference that focuses on individual spiritual experiences. This year’s Circle of Life Conference & Retreat on November 12-14, features theologian Richard Rohr and Rabbi Marcia Prager discussing everyday spirituality and individual experiences of God. A popular Taize Vespers Program is rotated among Central Oregon churches each month. This interfaith program represents all faiths, including Native Americans. The Center’s growth has been supported by a core of volunteers who have donated more than 18,000 volunteer hours in 2003-2004.

For more information visit www.sacredartofliving.com or call 541-383-4179