Upcoming Couples Workshop

See all the details for next month’s workshop for couples in the Imago tradition, “Getting the Love You Want.” The early bird registration deadline is close at hand (December 22nd), so to get the best price, please register ASAP!

Space to Rent Available!

Caritas has a beautiful 16′ x 32′ classroom for rent by the hour or day. It’s perfect for classes, workshops, meetings, events. It has private parking and features many windows that open, with screens! Contact us for details at 520-624-2743 and mention this newsletter for a 10% discount off the daily rate!
Find out more!

One of the best ways to bring light into our dark  nights of the soul is to practice gratitude. For fun, real-life examples of gratitude’s power, check out this video which will likely fill you with this season’s spirit of universal LOVE and LIGHT.

Burning Bright and Giving Light!

Amidst all the possibilities of what I could share on this 21st of December, the darkest night of the year, a message from Rumi seems the most apt as I reflect on this season and this year. Like many of you, I have gone through a variety of trials and tribulations this year. One of my sources of strength has been to frame the entire process as a “refining fire.” Rumi reminds us that the process of burning is a prerequisite of bringing light to the world. St. John of the Cross had a similar thought when he wrote about the “dark night of the soul.” Making sense of our pain and struggle–as individuals and as a collective–is the better part of healing. For this reason, I am profoundly grateful for the wisdom of Rumi and St. John, and so many other spiritual teachers with a similar message. My gratitude extends to the many souls who have dared to share their own struggles with me and their intimate partners–creating an alchemy that fills me with awe and wonder every time. As I have witnessed great courage and vulnerability in both couples and individuals, I have seen light and grace multiplying.  In my own struggles, I remain ever grateful to those who have cast a supportive net of love and understanding under and around me when I needed it most. Bright burning LOVE continues to be my guiding light  in what has often felt like the darkest of times, 2021. Tonight–and in the three days leading up to it–I am feeling a shift and am ready to celebrate the great mystery of life and welcome in a New Year. Like the snake  shedding its skin in order to emerge anew, I feel alive with hope for leaving behind what no longer serves and embracing new ways of being that serve the greater whole with even more LOVE (from the Latin word, Caritas). Please join me in lighting a candle tonight and radiating LOVE to everyone, everywhere. If you want to chant, “Burn, baby burn!” with me as you let go of whatever you’d like to release, perhaps with an intention of lightening your load, I’d welcome the company!  With gratitude, I offer a toast to the power of light, love, and renewal! With much love and gratitude, Karen P.S. This prerequisite burning is similar to a central tenet of Imago therapy, which is that relational struggles are a necessary step in creating conscious LOVE (For a deep dive into the theory and practice of this, check out our next couples workshop, January 14-16th.)

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Seasonal allergies and hay fever are on the rise. Itchy, watery or dry eyes, runny noses, sneezing, tickly throats, coughs – you name it. Today’s Post offers specific tips, tricks, strategies, and remedies to relieve symptoms to help you feel your best!

Read More…

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Get into a healthier lifestyle with QiGong, Breathwork, and Dream classes!

We look forward to seeing you!

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• Mind
• Body
• Spirit

They form together into a “whole-istic” picture of the individual. They work together to create a healthy “you.” Holistic health addresses mind, body, and spirit. Spirit means your enthusiasm for life that arises from your deepest inner reaches; or spirituality, the practice of expanding and rejuvenating the spirit.

Ask a holistic health practitioner if the body can be treated separately of mind and spirit and the answer is likely to be “yes, but if the root cause of symptoms in the body are in the mind or spirit, they must be treated together.” Otherwise, the symptoms are likely to resist treatment. Doesn’t matter how many acupuncture sessions you book or yoga classes you take, you must treat the whole person.

Ask an allopathic physician the same question and–if they subscribe to the dominant paradigm in Western medicine–they’re likely to say that the body can be influenced by other aspects, but acknowledge that they are trained primarily in treating the body as its own unit and to intervene primarily with pharmaceutical agents or surgical procedures. Increasingly, thanks to the influence of a grassroots movement, increasing scientific evidence, and leading voices like Dr. Deepak Chopra, and Tucson’s own Dr. Andrew Weil, there are programs such as University of Arizona’s Center for Integrative Medicine that offer training to M.D.s in more holistic approaches. Additionally, more and more physicians are familiar with and more open to a broader variety of treatments even if they were not trained in them.

Fortunately, plenty of evidence is accumulating to convince at least some members of the evidence-based (allopathic) medical community of the efficacy of the holistic and integrative medical approaches.

Listening to the Body: Somatic Metaphor and Clinical Somatics

What if the medical symptoms a person experiences fall outside of the standard model for cause-and-effect? For one, it means that traditional treatments will not help them as much as they should and are unlikely to address the root issue or source. For these symptoms and issues, the source is sometimes found in how the body expresses a problem that ultimately connects to the mind, emotions, and/or spirit.

Dr. Larry Burk, a board-certified radiologist, is an expert in somatic metaphor: how the body speaks through the patient’s story. Clinical Somatics is another term associated with this emerging field of medicine. In other words, you see a health practitioner because of a health problem, and in describing your life, you reveal the source of the problem.

Somatic metaphor is only beginning to catch on with the medical community at-large, but for Dr. Burk and others who listen closely to their patients and their life stories, the proof is in the results. They are able to step in where traditional medicine falls short. For example:

• A woman with ovarian disease talks to her physician about her empty marriage and unfulfilled desire to have children. The organ affected by disease is the same organ associated with her unfulfilled desire. Her body tells her where she is emotionally and spiritually wounded. That’s somatic metaphor.
• A patient seeks treatment for a bad rash and talks about a recent car crash. The crash didn’t cause the rash directly. The source of it is the patient’s wrecked nerves.
• A man seeks help for chest tightness and speaks about the stress of his job. The somatic metaphor is found in his body’s expression of the feeling that the life is being squeezed out of him.

In these cases, you can’t treat the symptoms of the body and avoid the mind and spirit. Holistic health means “treat the whole person.” For holistic health practitioners, it means really listening to their patients and reading between the lines.

Bottom line? If you have symptoms that aren’t being helped at all or as much as you’d like by traditional medical treatment, the causes might go deeper. A holistic health practitioner might be able to help you.

Explore further:

Cases studies in clinical somatics.

In-depth case study.

Holistic practices can help with health issues after they have manifested, but preventative medicine is the best cure. How? You’ve heard it before:

• Good diet.
• Regular exercise.
• Fun.
• Fulfillment.
• Relaxation.
• Challenge.
• Healthy relationships.
• Healthy work environment.

You know this already. It’s common sense. But for many people it’s easier said than done. That’s why establishing a relationship with a holistic health practitioner is better done now rather than later.

You can benefit by visiting the holistic health practitioners at Caritas Center for Healing in the Armory Park neighborhood of Tucson. We offer massage therapy, acupuncture, counseling, exercise classes (meditation, qigong, Egoscue), Traditional Chinese Medicine, herbalism, and many more modalities. 

Learn more about Caritas Center for Healing and the caring, skilled holistic health practitioners who work here and call Tucson home.

Finally, check out our events page for classes and workshops. Caritas hosts a wide variety of holistic health events.

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When we say we offer massage therapy at Caritas Center for Healing in Tucson near downtown in the Armory Park neighborhood, “therapy” is the operative word. Therapy is a medical treatment, and massage therapy can be used to treat a wide variety of medical symptoms and conditions.

That’s not to say that you can’t get a Swedish-style (relaxation) massage from a therapist at Caritas and get great benefit from it. But we want to emphasize its role as a medical treatment. Our therapists are extensively trained and highly experienced.

Massage therapy works through manual manipulation of soft body tissue such as muscles, tendons and ligaments, to enhance a person’s health and well-being. There are dozens of types of massage therapy methods.

Massage therapy is used to reduce tension, stress, and anxiety, relax muscles, rehabilitate injuries, reduce pain, and promote overall health and wellness.

It is especially helpful for the treatment of low back pain, neck pain, and tension headaches.

According to Mayo Clinic:

Massage is generally considered part of complementary and alternative medicine. It’s increasingly being offered along with standard treatment for a wide range of medical conditions and situations.

Studies of the benefits of massage demonstrate that it is an effective treatment for reducing stress, pain and muscle tension.

While more research is needed to confirm the benefits of massage, some studies have found massage may also be helpful for:

• Anxiety
• Digestive disorders
• Fibromyalgia
• Headaches
• Insomnia related to stress
• Myofascial pain syndrome
• Soft tissue strains or injuries
• Sports injuries
• Temporomandibular joint pain

Beyond the benefits for specific conditions or diseases, some people enjoy massage because it often produces feelings of caring, comfort and connection.

Or, in the words of a leading massage therapy website:

There’s no denying the power of bodywork. Regardless of the adjectives we assign to it (pampering, rejuvenating, therapeutic) or the reasons we seek it out (a luxurious treat, stress relief, pain management), massage therapy can be a powerful ally in your healthcare regimen.

Experts estimate that upwards of ninety percent of disease is stress related. And perhaps nothing ages us faster, internally and externally, than high stress. While eliminating anxiety and pressure altogether in this fast-paced world may be idealistic, massage can, without a doubt, help manage stress. This translates into:

• Decreased anxiety.
• Enhanced sleep quality.
• Greater energy.
• Improved concentration.
• Increased circulation.
• Reduced fatigue.

Furthermore, clients often report a sense of perspective and clarity after receiving a massage. The emotional balance bodywork provides can often be just as vital and valuable as the more tangible physical benefits.

Learn more about the medical/health benefits of massage through the National Institutes for Health.

Watch the following short video: Do Massages even Work?

Meet Tucson’s best massage therapists

Griselda Wegener:

Griselda Wegener most recently worked at the Four Seasons in Phoenix, AZ as a licensed massage therapist. After seventeen years of working in this field to help people relieve their bodies of tension and stress, she is now focusing on life coaching, chakra alignments and intuitive readings. However, she still offers massage therapy.

Contact Griselda: (480) 306-2920

Website: GriseldaWegener.com

Nanie Carillo

Nanie Carrillo is a cornerstone of Caritas, providing services to Tucson community members here at Caritas since 2007. She provides compassionate health care using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and massage therapy.

She also offers clients acupuncture, Chinese herbal therapy, massage, moxa, cupping, and counseling in nutrition and exercise.

Contact Nanie at: (520) 979-7078

Website: Acupuncture Del Soul

Learn more about Grisleda and Nanie on our practitioners’ page, or visit their websites linked above.

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Acupuncture treatment and therapists in Tucson

Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese Medicine that stimulates the body’s ability to heal itself. At Caritas Center for Healing in Tucson we have professional acupuncturists who are experienced at using acupuncture to relieve pain and improve health.

Acupuncture works by stimulating acupoints on the body with the insertion of fine, sterile needles. It might sound painful if you have never experienced it (did I say “needles”?), but it actually helps to relieve pain. That’s one reason it’s used as an alternative to pain-relieving drugs such as opioids, and why acupuncture is covered by many insurance plans. So how does it work? According to the UCSD School of Integrated Medicine:

Energy, called “qi” (pronounced “chee”) flows along specific pathways, called meridians, throughout the body. …If the flow of energy gets blocked, like water getting stuck behind a dam, the disruption can lead to pain, lack of function, or illness. Acupuncture therapy can release blocked qi in the body and stimulate function, evoking the body’s natural healing response through various physiological systems. Modern research has demonstrated acupuncture’s effects on the nervous system, endocrine and immune systems, cardiovascular system, and digestive system. By stimulating the body’s various systems, acupuncture can help to resolve pain, and improve sleep, digestive function, and sense of well-being.

Another school of thought claims that acupuncture works by stimulating blood flow and the nervous system. The following short (under three minutes) video summarizes that view of how acupuncture works.

Either way, acupuncture is a proven treatment. It can be used as a stand-alone treatment or in conjunction with other treatments. At Caritas, we also offer qi gong classes, which stimulate the flow of qi through movements of the body and mental focus. The best of both worlds!

While experts disagree on why and how acupuncture works, they agree that it does work. That’s the bottom line.

Connect with two of Tucson’s best acupuncture therapists, who practice at Caritas!

Meet our acupuncturists — caring, experienced, licensed

Websites and contact info:

Nanie Carillo

Website: Acupuncture Del Soul

Contact Nanie at: (520) 979-7078

Britta Van Dun

Website: Essence Acupuncture

Contact Britta at: (917) 519-2432

Email: britta@essenceacupuncture.com

Conditions Treatable with Acupuncture

See below for a complete list of conditions that acupuncture is used to treat, which is quite extensive.  The National Institute of Health (NIH) recognizes acupuncture’s effectiveness.

• Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
• Biliary colic
• Depression
• Dysentery
• Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
• Headache
• Hypertension,
• Knee pain
• Leukopenia
• Low back pain
• Malposition of fetus
• Morning sickness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Neck pain
• Pain in dentistry
• Periarthritis of shoulder
• Postoperative pain
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sciatica
• Stroke
• Tennis elbow

Limited but probable evidence supports acupuncture’s effectiveness for treating:

• Abdominal pain
• Acne vulgaris
• Alcohol dependence and detoxification
• Bell’s palsy
• Bronchial
• Asthma
• Cancer pain
• Cardiac neurosis
• Cholecystitis
• Cholelithiasis
• Competition stress syndrome
• Craniocerebral injury
• Diabetes
• Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease)
• Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection
• Female infertility
• Facial spasm
• Female urethral syndrome
• Fibromyalgia and fasciitis
• Gastrokinetic disturbance
• Gouty arthritis
• Hepatitis B virus carrier status
• Herpes zoster 
• Hyperlipaemia
• Hypo-ovarianism
• Insomnia
• Labour pain
• Lactation, deficiency
• Male sexual dysfunction
• non-organic Ménière disease
• Neuralgia,
• post-herpetic Neurodermatitis
• Obesity Opium
• cocaine and heroin dependence
• Osteoarthritis Pain due to endoscopic examination
• Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans

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Happy Anniversary!

Since 2007, Caritas Center for Healing in the historic Armory Park neighborhood of Tucson has offered healing services of all kinds, providing support, guidance and knowledge as our clients walk their own path of healing.

Join us to celebrate this 10-year milestone. We are opening our doors for an Open House followed by a special presentation by Dr. Robin Murphy, an internationally renown naturopathic doctor (ND) and director of the Lotus Health Institute. Dr. Murphy literally wrote the book (Nature’s Materia Medica) on homeopathic therapy!

• October 9, 2017
• 5:30 pm: Open House
• 6:30 – 8:30 pm: Dr. Murphy’s presentation

Open House

• Hors d’oeuvres
• Meet Caritas practitioners
• Raffle to win services and products

Dr. Murphy Presentation

Our 10-year anniversary celebration will concludes with a rare presentation by Dr. Robin Murphy. He has traveled the world speaking of homeopathy and other healing modalities that activate the vital force, catalyzing our own innate power to heal and restore balance within our system.

Caritas founder Karen Olson has known Dr. Murphy since her high school years, and it is a fitting tribute to his early influence to have him presenting for the 10-year anniversary celebration.  Dr. Murphy is a lifelong student of healing—from ancient wisdom like Qigong and Egyptian tonics, to modern technology like the BEMER device.  Join him for an active presentation that includes demonstrations as well as lecture.

A taste of what he’ll be addressing:

BEMER Therapy

• “Bio-electro Magnetic Energy Regulation”
• State-of-the-art healing device
• Pulsates therapeutic electro-magnetic frequencies into the body.
• Increases the body’s micro-circulation and energy production, which enhances the immune system and aids the nervous system.

Medical Qigong

• Movements and postures for energizing and healing.
• Tibetan practices for health, healing and rejuvenation.
• Qigong Superfoods and tonics
• CBD hemp oil

Celebrate Our Success

Our success shows with the many people who have found health, healing and happiness with us, and with the top-quality professional holistic practitioners who call Caritas home. Please share in it with us on this special night.

Learn more about us.

Meet our practitioners.

See our fall 2017 calendar of events.

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Yoga fundraiser Saturday September 9th, 2017

All proceeds go to Hurricane Harvey relief

Do good. Feel Good.

Yoga and meditation to support victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Saturday, Sept. 9 from 9:45am – 11:00am at Caritas Center for Healing, 330 E. 16th St.

All proceeds from the class go to the JJW Foundation, which distributes 100% of donations to help people recover from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.

Bring a check payable to JJW Foundation with you to the class, or go directly to the JJW website, donate, print the receipt and bring it with you.

Suggested donation is $20, but please give what your budget can support.

Arrive 15 minutes early for the class (9:30am) and bring a yoga mat if you have one.

Get ready for “inside out” yoga

Leslie’s “Yoga from the Inside-Out” class offers a blend of lyengar and Ashtanga styles. Seasoned yogis and newcomers are all welcome. Different ways of doing each yoga form (pose) will be offered so anyone can join in — even if you’ve never practiced yoga. The class facilitates inner exploration while offering a fun and engaging asana practice with contemporary music.

The instructor

Leslie Shipley has been practicing yoga for 40 years and has attained the highest level of yoga teaching certification recognized by Yoga Alliance (E-RYT 500).

She is donating her time.

Class conducted at Caritas

Caritas Center for Healing, 330 E. 16th St., in the historic Armory Park neighborhood near downtown Tucson, offers a wide variety of holistic healing therapies including massage, acupuncture, and counseling, as well as workshops and classes in yoga, qi gong, meditation, body movement and stretch.

Our goal at Caritas is to provide you guidance, knowledge, and support as you walk your own path of healing.

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200 hr.  fall 2017 to spring 2018

“Transformative”  “Life changing”  “Deeply personal”

You’re invited to join this 200-hour training that will become the foundation of your yoga practice from this point forward.

You’ll examine and enrich your personal practice through a new understanding of alignment principles, breath and mantra work, meditation and philosophy.

***

Teacher Training Application

Apply Now

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Fall 2017 – Spring 2018 teacher training schedule

October 27, 28, 29

November 17, 18, 19

December 15, 16, 17

January 22, 23, 24

February 9, 10, 11

March 2, 3, 4
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Yoga Teacher Training Pricing

Deepen your own practice and learn the teaching and communications skills to share your gifts with others.

Payment in full by October 1 offers $250 discount = $2750

Payment before September 15 is $2750 plus a Manduka Black Mat Pro!

After October 1, $3000

Payment Plan available.  $1000 by October 1, $400 payments monthly ending 3/18.

Personal Practice Mastery

First 3 Yoga Teacher Training 3-Day Weekends

If you would like to deepen your practice and enrich your perspective and knowledge … but don’t choose to teach — this course is for you.  You’ll work along side those who are becoming teachers but not invest the time in the final 3 weekend session to learn teaching skills, business of yoga and other training that may not be useful to you at this time.  The door is always open if you change your mind and choose to continue your training. $1250

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Yoga Teachers — Earn 90 CE Credits — contact hours!

Personal Practice Mastery is available to Yoga Teachers as a way to reconnect with your own practice. Additional coaching included. $1500

About Your Instructor, Leslie

MA – E-RYT 500 – YACEP
(E-RYT 500 is the highest designation recognized by Yoga Alliance representing advanced training and more than 2000 hours of teaching. YACEP designation is only for approved continuing education providers.)

Leslie Shipley is a Master Yoga and Meditation Teacher with thousands of hours of teaching experience and more than 40 years of practice. Her classes at Caritas Center for Healing, in Armory Park near downtown, will begin in September with Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday offerings. See the events calendar for full details.

Leslie heralds from Southern California where she founded the first yoga healing center in the region. In addition to therapeutic classes she offers all levels yoga classes that are fun, spirited and guide students more deeply into their practice.

She’s lead trainer and program director for Inside Out Yoga Institute, a Yoga Alliance accredited Yoga Teacher Training.

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