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Healthy Tips for... Healthy Living |
Butternut Squash Soup with Caramelized Onions and Apples
Recipe serves: 6
Prep time:15 min
Cook time: 40 min
1 rib of celery,chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 cups butternut squash, peeled and seeded
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
1 quart low-sodium vegetable stock or water, more may be needed
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 onion, large (diced)
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored
2 tablespoons non-fat yogurt
6 sprigs fresh dill
1. In a soup pot, sauté the onion, celery and carrot in the oil over medium heat until the onion is golden, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the squash and garlic cooking 5 minutes, while stirring. Add the oregano and stock and simmer about 15 minutes or until the veggies are soft.
2. While the soup is cooking, place a sauté pan at medium-high heat with 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and sauté the diced onions.
3. Cut the apple into a large dice and when the onions are golden, add to the pan; toss, sautéing 2 to 3 minutes. Add the curry and cook 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the dill and set aside.
4. Place all of the cooked veggies (except the curried onions and apple mix) and liquid from the pot in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. More stock may be needed to adjust consistency.
5. Return to the soup pot and add the curried onion and apple. Simmer for 2 minutes. Season to taste and adjust consistency.
Serve hot or, on warm days, chilled.
6. Garnish with a dollop of yogurt and a sprig of fresh dill. Serving Size: about 1 cup of soup.
Number of Servings: 6
Per Serving:
Calories 95 Carbohydrate 20 g
Fat 1 g Fiber 5 g
Protein 2 g Saturated Fat 0 g
Sodium 140 mg
Recipe found at FoodFit.com |
| Donor Recognition |
Nathan Shapiro
Nathan Shapiro is a unique kind of donor. He understands the possibilites for an organization like Integrative Touch for Kids and loves helping new organizations that he believes in. Nathan and his wife Randy Shapiro had the foresight to single handedly fund the development of our new website. Not only is the site a vast improvement from our old site, but it is fully accessible for people with disabilities. Hooray! Of course, this kind of foresight is what has made Nathan's company SF Investments such a success and has led the Shapiro's to being the generous philanthropists that they are. Our hats go off to you for your incedible generosity and willingness to be "venture capitalists" investing in the bright future of Integrative Touch for Kids!
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| Kidz Bytes |
| On Being Rich
A poem by Mattie J.T. Stepanek
I used to think
That being rich
Meant...
Having lots of money,
And getting
And doing
Everything
You want.
But I was wrong.
Now I know
That being rich
Means...
Having lots and
LOTS of love,
Honesty,
Respect,
And friends.
So no matter
How poor
Or wealthy
You may be,
It is always
Friends and
Gifts of the heart
That really count.
Written in July, 1999
Mattie J.T. Stepanek was a child poet who had a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy that claimed his life and the lives of his three siblings. He became internationally known for his inspiring words of wisdom.
Artwork by a budding young artist, Allison Bleaman |
| Announcing Our New Website |
www.integrativetouch.org
Take a sneak peek!
We have a beautifully designed, new cyberspace "face" to share with the world! In the spirit of the new year, Integrative Touch for Kids has launched a brand new website packed full of information and helpful resources regarding the work that we do. Included is a short video, about 11 minutes in length, with our founder Shay Beider discussing the vision for the healing retreat center. Check it out! |
| Thoughts From Shay |
 We are delighted to bring you this new enewsletter. Our hope is to provide you with a sense of community as this work continues to grow. We look forward to this exchange with you and welcome your thoughts and ideas. Know that this is truly a shared, evolving vision belonging to many wonderful people-like you-who carry this in their hearts. We walk this path together. Together, we can achieve what no one person could achieve alone. We are a community. A community of people around the country and the world who are committed to providing profound healing experiences for children with special needs and their families.
In gratitude,
Shay |
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| Letter from the Editor |
 Welcome!!! We are excited to bring you a periodic newsletter that will keep you up to date on the progress of Integrative Touch for Kids and the healing retreat center we're creating for children with special needs and their families. Our hope is to provide everyone with a sense of community as this work continues to grow. There are many wonderful and exciting things happening for us, some that you may be directly involved with and others that you will want to know more about. From committee and board members to healing practitioners, donors, volunteers and those who pass the word along, WE ARE GRATEFUL! We could not be here without your help to actualize what we think is an amazing vision! The newsletter will bring you educational pieces on innovative healing modalities, tips for healthy living, spotlights on community members and more! As your editor, working in collaboration with Shay and other community experts, I am proud to bring you information on the amazing work being done here and hope to hear from you as we continue to grow and evolve!
Tina Roche RN, LMT |
| In the News |
Updates on our Progress
Creating a first of its kind healing retreat center for kids with special needs and their families is a lot like developing a new technology--it just happens to be a healing technology!
There's the research and development stage, followed by testing and implementation, refinement through more testing, and finally the launch of the new "technology"--in our case, the healing programs offered at the center. Right now, we have a committee working to develop the model so we can pilot it in the summer of 2009 with 5-8 families from around the country.
Here's what we've been up to...
Dinner in Tucson, Arizona
On Sept 17th, Integrative Touch for Kids held an announcement dinner in Tucson, Arizona at the historic Z Mansion. The evening brought together many of Tucson's top healing arts practitioners, medical professionals, and family members who have children with special needs. The purpose was to announce the vision for a Healing Retreat Center as a place where children with special needs and their families can come for retreats to receive integrative healing therapies and much needed rejuvenation. We had 75 people @ the dinner and have since formed 2 committees that are dedicated to actualizing this work locally. Scores of others offered their time to volunteer for Integrative Touch for Kids. The response was overwhelming and we must acknowledge with deep gratitude the Tucson community for their open heartedness and generosity. A video was made of the night's events that are now part of a short film made specifically to promote the center. This film is now being shown on our new website! www.integrativetouch.org
Benefit in Chicago, Illinois
On October 26th, the 3rd annual benefit for Integrative Touch for Kids was held in Downtown Chicago. This year it was at the Standard Club, a 5 star, private, members only club. Hillary Clinton was upstairs for a special event so the media turned out in droves! Boy we have come a long way. Our first benefit event started at a small conference room in the Days Inn Hotel and now we're practically having lunch with the Clintons (HA!) A tribute to the amazing and wonderful work being done in Chicago headed up by the event chair Lesley Beider the event planning committee Leslie Shapiro, Dana Sackar, Jennifer Netzky, Jackie Shear and second co-chair, Shay Beider. We had more than 130 attendees at this year's event and everyone was very generous in providing us with some of the starter funds needed for the 1st Pilot program for the center. Very exciting!
New Tucson Committees
Our two lead committees in Tucson had their first meetings the week of November 17th. Both the Pilot Planning Committee and the Event Planning Committee had a great turn out and began their work with enthusiasm and a sense of purpose.
The Pilot Planning Committee is working on designing the 1st retreat for kids and their families, planned for the summer of 2009. The committee is comprised of nurses, doctors, healing arts professional and others with diverse backgrounds in education and administration. They are artfully crafting the healing experience top to bottom. No small feat, but we have a highly educated and motivated group to get us where we need to be.
The Tucson Event Planning Committee had a great showing with many wonderful and creative ideas for our first annual benefit in Arizona. We will be having a point of entry event for the community on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at the Peter and Paula Fasseas Cancer Center. Our first benefit event in Tucson will be on Saturday, April 4th, and will include some springtime kite flying! We hope to see you there. This event will help us to build the financial base we will need to begin to create the center and its programs. On January, 30th, 2009, we'll be having a special meeting for the healing arts practitioners who will be working directly with the kids and their families to provide healing treatments for the center. This is a chance to discuss our plans and begin to work collaboratively as a team. We couldn't do it without you! If you would like more infomation or would like to be involved please email us @ www.integrativetouch.org
Well, there you have it! the latest updates and happenings on Integrative Touch for Kids, as we put into motion the plan for a first of its kind healing retreat center for children with special needs and their families! Thank you Shay for having the vision that has brought us all together for this wonderful work that lies ahead. I know myself and many others are very excited to be working for this great cause. |
| Modaltiy Awareness |
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Reiki
Our first edition of Modality Awareness we would like to introduce you to Reiki, its applications, history and levels of practice. We hope with each new edition to bring you closer to some of the practices that are available for healing work, practices we may encounter in our work with the Center. This first article was written by one of our Healing Practitioners, Eric Mackey. Eric is one of our fearless committee members for the Pilot planning committee, he has been a Reiki Master for 10 years now and hopes to work with the families of our retreats teaching some Reiki techniques that they can continue themselves at home.
Reiki (pronounced "ray-key") is a Japanese word that is actually formed from two words: "Rei," generally interpreted to mean "universal" (pertaining to spiritual knowledge or consciousness), and "Ki," meaning the same as "Qi" in Chinese or "Prana" in Sanskrit (pertaining to the life-force, and the non-physical energy used by all healers). Put together, the word "Reiki" roughly means "Spiritually Guided Life Force Energy," and is a powerful yet gentle system that works to bring balance and healing to all four levels of being - Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Spiritual - using energy that is present throughout the Universe.
During a typical treatment the client lays fully clothed on the table while the practitioner gently lays hands on (or above) specific pathway points on the body. The practitioner is not giving his or her own energy to the client; rather, the Reiki energy flows through the practitioner's specially attuned energy pathways and chakras to the practitioner's hands, and then to the client. A treatment usually lasts 60 to 90 minutes.
While Reiki is spiritual in nature, it is not a religion, and it contains no intellectual concepts or dogma; the learning and using of Reiki is not dependent upon one's beliefs. It is simply pure energy that is transmitted to the client. The great value of Reiki lies in the fact that the energy knows exactly where to go and how to respond to restrictions in the flow of life force energy (ki).
Reiki is not taught in the typical manner. Reiki is transferred to the student during a special sacred initiation (ritual) called the "attunement" process by the Master Teacher, in which the student is precisely aligned to receive the energy. There are three levels at which Reiki is practiced- Level One, Level Two, and the Mastership Level- each with their own attunement.
There are many different schools of thought about where Reiki originally came from. It is widely believed to be an ancient healing technique several thousand years old that may have originated in Tibet, or possibly ancient Egypt. At some point in its history, the method of healing with Reiki was lost and then forgotten. Reiki was rediscovered around the end of the 19th century by Dr. Mikao Usui, a professor of Christian theology in Kyoto, Japan. His students challenged him to prove his beliefs that Jesus and Buddha healed people, realizing that he needed to search further for answers. He resigned from the University, and began his quest for the truth. That quest led him on a seventeen year-long journey in which he discovered (in Indian Sanskrit) the mention of a sacred source of healing power. At Mount Kurama-yama after fasting and in meditation for 21 days, Usui had a deeply powerful and profound vision in which the gift of healing was revealed to him. He then practiced the form of Reiki we see today.
In its traditional lineage, Reiki has been passed down from Dr. Usui, to Dr. Chujiro Hyashi, to Madam Hawayo Takata, (who brought it to the United States). Madam Takata, before her passing in 1980, initiated 21 masters, who went on to teach and initiate other masters, spreading Reiki throughout the world. | |
| Community Member Spotlight |
In each edition of our newsletter, we would like to spotlight one of our Integrative Touch Community members. It is one way we can all get to know one another as we are spread out across Arizona, Illinois, California & beyond!
In this edition we would like to introduce you to Beth Muehlhausen, a graduate of Loyola University-Chicago with a B.A. in Communications. Living in Tucson, Arizona with her husband Tim and their 2 beautiful children Max-8, & Sydney-5,
Beth is involved in many projects. She is not only one of our fantastic event planning committee members in Tucson, she is the Tucson city manager for a company called mommymixer that links local college students with busy moms for quality babysitting options. Beth is also part of the marketing and fundraising division for a project called PATH, an organization designing curricula and training for K-8 teachers along with educational support that empowers children to actualize a truly happy and meaningful life. If that weren't enough, Beth also helps out in the classroom part time for the local elementary school.
Beth has worked with various corporate firms developing and executing Marketing and Sales campaigns including the Hilton and Sheraton hotel chains, ABC and Warner Bros. Television networks, radio stations and other cable network companies. Beth has generously offered her many talents to Integrative Touch for Kids as a community member of our Media Relations Sub Committee.
When asked why she is passionate about the work we are doing here at Integrative Touch for Kids, Beth says that she sees this work as a "revolutionary program that will allow families to spend quality time in a positive and healing atmosphere." This is something that is greatly needed in this day and age of fast paced routines that leave little time for families to relax and play together, let alone focus on healing!
Thank You Beth. We are thrilled to have you as part of our community and for those who have not met her yet, watch out for that quick wit and infectious humor. |
| Save the Dates! |
| Saturday, April 4th, 2009
Community Celebration and First Annual Benefit for the Healing Retreat Center in Tucson, Arizona
Friday, February 13th, 2009
Community Informational Event on the New Healing Center
To be held at the Center for Expressive Arts from 1:00pm-2:00pm
Friday, January 30th, 2009
Opening Gathering of the Healing Arts Practitioners for the Center
To be held at the Center for Expressive Arts from 5:30-7:30pm
*For more information contact us at 520-303-4992 | |
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