Healthy Living Page
Looking for herbal medicines, the best sustainable coffee, great yoga studios or health food restaurants in NYC and throughout the world? Through my own journey over the years creating wellness, sustainability, and spirituality in my life, I have come to know many people, places, and products that offer nourishment on many levels. I have brought many of them together here to share with you; I hope they will help you on your journey as they have with mine. Please email me if you have any other great resources to contribute.
Good Food, Drink, and Other Products
Just Food
A wonderful organization that brings local produce to NYC communities, here you can find local Community Supported Agriculture groups and information about city farming programs, community food education, and ways to get involved in food justice.
Astoria CSA
The Community Supported Agriculture group of which I'm a proud founding and core member. Not just vegetables, members also have access to local and/or organic fruit, wine, beer, grains, beans, bread, honey dairy, meat, cranberries, and more!
This site of the amazing organic farmers on the North Fork of Long Island who serve Astoria CSA and many other CSAs in NYC includes information about their CSA program, events, and farm tours, as well as recipes, and newsletters. I've enjoyed several visits to the farm for strawberry picking and to get my hands in the dirt as a volunteer. It's an honor to know these fabulous farmers, Matt and Maggie, and through my work with them I know first-hand the love they put into their work with the plants.
Lewis Waite Farm
The farm through which many New York CSAs get local meat and other products from farms in the upstate NY/Vermont area (at generally better prices than the farmer’s markets and stores), Lewis Waite Farm, in Greenwich, NY, lovingly raises grass-fed cattle and pigs. My friends in the CSA have visited their farm and gotten to know not only Alan and Nancy Brown, but the animals that live full, happy lives there. Through their site you can learn about ordering from them outside of CSAs, about the farms that they work with to bring other products to the city (Rock Hill Bakehouse’s cinnamon raisin bread is to die for!), cooking tips, the benefits of grass-fed animals, newsletters, and farm photos. Their site www.csalewiswaitefarm.com has information on the CSAs that they work with, a list of products, and more information about their neighbor farms.
CENYC
The Council on the Environment of New York City provides a listing of all the greenmarkets throughout the boroughs and information about the farmers, recycling, community gardens, and education.
Cayuga Pure Organics
The only farm in the region that I know of that offers locally-grown grains, flour, and beans, Cayuga brings its products to Astoria CSA and the Union Square and Williamsburg greenmarkets.
Gnosis Chocolates
http://gnosischocolate.squarespace.com
Amazing raw chocolate locally made in NYC. One of my dear friends is currently making a line of phenomenal chocolate soaps for Gnosis.
Down to Earth Coffee
I met Matias, the owner of Down to Earth, on a trip to Costa Rica in April of 2008. The friendly owner of a store selling local products, in Monteverde, at the base of Arenal volcano, he cheerfully introduced my friends and I to his wonderful varieties of coffee and other products and suggested we try his new restaurant for dinner that night, which proved to be one of the best dining experiences on our trip. The Down to Earth restaurant had a fabulous menu featuring creative twists on traditional Costa Rican dishes made with organic, local ingredients. With dessert I tried Down to Earth’s light coffee, the “connoisseur's coffee” as Matias noted, and was blown away. It was the least bitter, most flavorful coffee I had ever had. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I order some every year and keep on hand to enjoy on occasion or help me digest a big meal. Not only that but his coffees are sustainably and fair-trade harvested. They are worth the price and international shipping, and if you're ever in the neighborhood, do visit the restaurant. Matias is an excellent host and great friend to make on your trip.
Superstars
My Favorite Herbalists
Robin Rose Bennett/Wise Woman Healing Ways
My amazing herbal medicine teacher, I first met Robin in one of the great classes she teaches at the Open Center, “Healing Spices.” Since then she has taught me more than I could’ve ever imagined as her apprentice—not only about herbal medicine (how it can heal almost any ailment), but about plants, healing, and ways to re-envision the world and fill it with joy and love. Robin continues to offer her classes at the Open Center in NYC and near her home in New Jersey, as well as weed walks in Central Park (to learn about all the wild edible plants right here in the city) and consultations on a sliding scale. She is an amazing teacher and healer.
Stephen Harrod Buhner
Stephen Buhner is one of today's most brilliant herbalists who communicates his craft through a compelling fabric woven with storytelling, philosophy, spirituality, thorough research, and plant observation. His workshops at the 2009 International Herb Symposium and book The Secret Teachings of Plants have been monumental in shaping the grand shift in my world view and growth in spirituality and as an herbalist this year.
Margi Flint
http://www.earthsongherbals.com
Another amazing herbalist in the Northeast, Margi taught the class on body-scanning—how the lines on your face and other signs on your body reveal internal ailments—that I thoroughly enjoyed. She offers intensive studies and workshops on this and other topics at her home in Massachusetts.
Helen Abell
Reiki master and Angel/spirit guide readings
Salon Chez Vous
Run by stylist Amanda Jane Gustafson, she brings haircuts and other amazing, eco-friendly pampering services to your home (NYC) with love, joy, and exuberance. She’s one of the few stylists who can be trusted with my hair!
Rebecca Bateman
A multi-talented, amazing woman, Rebecca offers it all: powerful reiki (as well as reiki training), yoga instruction, thai massage, and many other ways to heal and feel your best!
Institutions
Natural Gourmet Institute
http://naturalgourmetinstitute.com
The Weston A. Price Foundation
The Weston A. Price organization was founded based on dentist Weston Price’s research on traditional diets of the world in the first half of the 20th century. Price studied isolated indigenous cultures to find the secrets to good dental health. What he found was much more compelling: those who had good dental health were also physically strong and healthy. He found that the cultures he studied throughout the world had several dietary factors in common, including foods for fertility, exclusive diets of whole, unprocessed foods, a focus on fermented foods, and healthy use of animal fats. Sally Fallon is the contemporary proponent of Weston Price's findings, and shares them in her excellent text, Nourishing Traditions. The Foundation is known for promoting the use of and debunking myths surrounding raw dairy consumption, and the site includes a wealth of information on this and other topics from soy issues, MSG, and agriculture to health and nutrition, environmental toxins, and weight loss.
Green Drinks
An organization that holds monthly events for eco-friendly people to come together and share ideas and make business connections, Green Drinks is a great way to meet like-minded people in your area. Green Drinks groups are meeting throughout the world!
The Institute for Integrative Nutrition
A revolutionary nutrition and wellness program based in New York City attended by students from around the world.
Spoons Across America
http://spoonsacrossamerica.org
A fabulous organization that brings health, food, and the environment into the classroom with its programming. I volunteered for Spoons last year as part of a program worked with 4th graders in NYC to teach them about good food and the connection between the food on their table and the farms from which it comes, as well as how farming practices affects their health and the environment. The program features such fun learning experiences as working with a professional chef in the kitchen to create healthy foods and, as I did, greenmarket tours that teach about delicious local foods and the farms that bring them to us. Please support them—they did not have enough funding to run the program I was involved in again this year. They are selling beautiful food-oriented holiday cards as a fundraiser.
Materials
Lehmans
A great company for canning jars, fermenting crocks, and all kinds of great stuff for traditional food preparations.
Freecycle
An organization of yahoo groups throughout the country through which you can give away your excess and find things you need for free. Once you sign up you'll get a series of emails from people in your area asking for or offering items, which they pick up from you or you can get from them. You'd be surprised what you can get—I've even gotten a cell phone!
Herbs
Mountain Rose
A great selection of sustainably harvested herbs from around the world (organic and non-organic), plus an array of herbal products for great prices!
Frontier
You may have seen these spices in your local health food store (it's the only company I know of who makes organic spices). Frontier also has a great selection of sustainable and fair-trade herbs. A bit pricier than Mountain Rose, but you can often get discounts.
Healing Spirits
www.healingspiritsherbfarm.com
A New York State herb farm, Healing Spirits’ herbs can make all the difference in your health and healing. The plants are grown in a relatively local environment (for those of us in NYC), and the loving care, hand-picking, and solar-drying involved in getting them ready for your use endows them with qualities that can't be quantified, yielding the best herbs I've come across aside from my own garden or wild foraging. Though their herbs can be expensive, they are well worth the investment. The farm is certified NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association of NY) and run by the fabulous Henna Queen Andrea Reisen and her husband Matthias, a very fun couple with whom I've studied at herbal medicine conferences and whose knowledge of the plant world is vast and inspiring.
Flower Power
If you need herbs locally in NYC, Flower Power on East 9th St. is the place to go, with its great variety and knowledgeable staff. If you need larger quantities of herbs on a regular basis, I would recommend ordering from one of the other sites to be economical.
Zach Woods Herb Farm
Zack Woods Herb Farm is a 10-acre certified organic medicinal herb farm and botanical sanctuary located in the heart of the green mountains of northern Vermont that ships live and dry herbs. Find out more about their work, plants, and farm tours on their site.
Information
New York City Compost Project
Information about dropping off your compost in the city or starting your own indoor and outdoor bins.
Greenopia
I worked on the NYC version of this great green Zagatesque guidebook that independently lists and rates eco-friendly businesses throughout the U.S. With everything from restaurants to dry cleaners, the website is continually updated with new eco businesses in your area and also provides great information on sustainable living.
Clean Plates NYC
One of the graduates of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Jared Koch, just released this beautiful guide for NYC that is a great companion to Greenopia's, focusing on the health value of restaurants in NYC. In a city where dining out is practically a must, this guidebook is essential for making wise choices for your health. You can buy the book and register your purchase on the site for restaurant listings, reviews, and a member forum.
Yoga
I've gone to many great yoga studios throughout NYC. Here are some of the best:
The Giving Tree, Astoria
http://thegivingtreeyogastudio.com
This new studio is small and probably my all-around new favorite. Founder Anne-Margaret is a brilliant yoga instructor and has created a beautiful space not just for yoga practice (including themed practices such as candlelight yoga with live music) and a variety of other classes (including belly dancing), but for spiritual growth and fun community events, such as a New Moon Women's Circle, pot lucks, inspirational movies, and more.
Steve Prestianni (Ananda Bhairava), East Village and Williamsburg
An amazing teacher of traditional Hatha style, in which you hold a set sequence of poses for a longer time than in any other class I've taken, while softening your gaze, Steve offers classes at the Sixth St. Community Center in the true spirit of yoga: for a $7 donation, or whatever you can afford. The class is two hours, and all aspects of the poses are very precise, ending in a long meditation, all of which is very relaxing and enlightening, with much thanks to Steve's calming and peaceful presence. Last I heard from him (April 2009) his Community Center Class was taking place on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. He also teaches at Greenhouse Holistic in Williamsburg (www.greenhouseholistic.com).
The Yoga Room, Astoria and LIC
I have enjoyed attending this studio for over four years now. The Yoga Room offers a great variety of classes, including pilates, bikram, and hot vinyasa. My favorite teachers there include Danielle Lee, Laura Tulumbas Juell, and Wesley Collier.
Vira Yoga, SOHO
Anusara has been my favorite style of yoga to practice for quite some time now, with its focus on heart opening, slow flow, and posture precision. With a three-year plus intensive training, every Anusara teacher I’ve worked has been exceptional, and the Vira teachers are no exception. Laura Tulumbas Juell, one of my favorite teachers of all times, also teaches here.