Creative Healing: an Overview of Week One

Well, I didn’t realize how quickly this week was going to catch up with me. I didn’t post once yet on the blog (whoops!), so I decided that I’ll just write a long post about my first week on project. I’ll do three posts next week...sorry!! So here we go:

I’m doing my project with Erica Duff at The Creative Healing Center, which is an alternative medicine/healing center, in Chagrin Falls. The owner, Cindy Wheatcraft, is our sponsor, and she has been great throughout our first week, and it’s been interesting to learn about her views and beliefs about medicine and healthy living. Since the Center is a place for alternative medicine, there are many different types of “healing” and support offered, which include:
-Nutritional Microscopy
-Jin Shin Jyutsu Acupressure
-Alkaline Diet and Lifestyle Consultations
-Yoga Therapy
-Thai Yoga Massage
-Rain Drop Therapy
-Yoga
-Reiki
-Angel Readings
-Bellanina Facelift Massage
-Relaxation Massage
-Therapeutic Massage
-Tai Chi Qi-Gong
-Reflexology
-Pilates
-Drumcircles
-Meditation Groups
-Book Clubs

I’m still not sure what over half of these are, but I’m sure Erica and I will learn more about them as time progresses in our project. Cindy wants Erica and me to partake in a lot of the services that the Center offers, as a type of experiential learning, and we are helping in the vegan/raw foods kitchen. We are also helping with marketing and advertising for the center, so we began to make a Facebook page and will update their website as the project progresses. The fb page is very bare right now, but if you guys want to check it out and maybe even “Like” it, it would be appreciated - http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Creative-Healing-Center/223922000956994.

On Monday, my first day at the center, I had to start the project by myself because Erica had the AP Psych exam, and my sponsor didn’t get to the Center until 10:30. I had to go find Tom, the guy who’s in charge of the raw foods kitchen, and help him until Cindy arrived. This was quite possibly the most awkward and strangest experiences I’ve had in awhile. After I introduced myself to him, he put me straight to work. I cleaned cucumbers for a good hour and half—first soaking them in cold water, then wiping them with a wet washcloth, then putting them in another bin of cold water, then letting them drip dry, and finally peeling the skins off. How tedious. I then helped Tom and another worker, Jacob, juice cucumbers, parsley, cilantro, celery, and lemons. This is a “detox” drink that all of Tom’s customers have daily. Erica and I are expected to drink a pint of it every day too…I’m not the biggest fan. Tom also lectured me about my “unhealthy” eating habits, since I eat meat and I’m not a vegan. He told me all of the benefits of following a vegan diet and has given me DVDs to watch as well. Although I have watched a few videos and heard what he has to say, I still want to eat meat. (Sorry vegans, your diet is not one that I can stick to.)

The project started to get better as the week went on though. We ended up attending two different yoga classes and a pilates class together. The largest class we were in had a total of five students and an instructor, while our smallest class was just the two of us—the personalized attention in these classes was, therefore, incredible. We were also able to use the Center’s infrared sauna for awhile on one of the days, which was pretty fun. Hopefully next week we will expand the Facebook page a bit more, get to participate in more classes, and learn how to make other types of vegan food!

Maybe some of you can visit us sometime too - we work on certain weekends/at night sometimes :)