Telluride Inside... and Out

Your Ah Haa Moment: Healing with sound

[click "Play" for Susan's conversation with Jane Del Piero]

February 18 and again on February 25, 6 – 8 p.m. at the Ah Haa School for the Arts, acupuncturist Jane Del Piero teaches a very special class about how to heal using sound.

Sound as a means of healing is a technique –  or a variety of techniques –  recorded in the ancient Americas, Africa, Greece, China and Rome and dates back at least to 5,000 B.C. In the Yoga tradition, which dates back roughly 4,000 years, it is common knowledge that sound technique used in combination with postures intensifies practice, helps focus attention, deepens exhalation, increases circulation to the organs and balances the emotions. Vowels and consonants (varna), pitch (svara) and volume (bala) are the variables to be manipulated to achieve different physical and emotional effects. Higher pitched sounds tend to resonate higher in the body and energize the system, while lower pitches resonate in the lower part of the body and calm. Louder sounds tend to awaken energy and direct attention outward, while softer sounds pacifiy and internalize.

Telluride Christ Presbyterian Church hosts workshop 2/20

[click "Play" to hear Jeff Tretsven speak about Nonviolent Communication]

One of the best gifts one partner can give another on Valentine's Day is not roses or chocolate. It is listening so the other feels heard. The Telluride's Christ Presbyterian Church, 434 West Columbia, hosts a workshop on Saturday, February 20, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. that aims to teach that skill. The theme:  "Compassionate Communication." The facilitator: Jeff Tretsven, who has been coaching in the discipline for more than two years.

Compassionate Communication is based on  the work of Marshall Rosenberg, author of "Nonviolent Communication: A Language of LIfe." Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is itself based on the first of the five restraints or vows (yamas) in the ancient text "Yoga Sutras of Patanjali," thought-threads dating back at least 4,000 years. The grounding yama is ahimsa.

Your Ah Haa Moment: Massage and esthetician certification

[click "Play" to hear Susan's interview with Caycee Ames]

Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts wants to give you the tools to rub people the right way.

Director Caycee Ames of The Connecting Point (and spa manager at the Hotel Telluride) offers a 600-hour/ 20 credit esthetician certification, including coursework in skincare techniques (facials, waxing) plus reiki, ayurvedic therapies, reflexology, aromatherapy and spa therapies. Successful completion of the program enables graduates to sit for the Colorado State Board Exam to become a licensed esthetician.

Sunny Griffin at Telluride Mountain Village's Franz Klammer spa

[click "Play" to hear Sunny Griffin speak with Susan about skin care]

The Himmel Spa at The Franz Klammer is located in Telluride's sister town, The Mountain Village, a short gondola ride up the mountain from our box canyon.

On Wednesday, the Klammer is hosting Sunny Griffin, founder/owner of Astara Skin Care. The event takes place 3 – 5 p.m. and is open to the general public. Aestheticians are on hand to do free mini- facials (about 20 minutes each). Massage therapists will do chair massage. There is food and Astara gifts.

Fitness in Telluride: 8750ALT

[click "Play" to listen to Clint's interview with Nicole Stone-Lankes]

Nicole Stone-Lankes, partner in Telluride's 8750ALT, believes that the operating philosophy of many gyms is to sell memberships in excess of what the facility can sustain, in the hope that most members will visit only occasionally. In contrast, Nicole's approach is to set a limit on the number of members, then to engage her clients in ways that keep them active in the club.

TIO recently talked to Stone-Lankes about a just-concluded contest whose aim was just that: to provide a reason for regular participation in 8750ALT's activities. Listen to the podcast to hear Nicole's thoughts on engaging her members.

Kirtan with Russell at Telluride Yoga Fest

[click "Play" for Susan's talk with David Russell]

A sound experience –  kirtan – has been added to the schedule of the 2nd annual Telluride Yoga Festival, June 10 – June 12, 2009.

On Friday evening, 7 – 10 p.m., under the stars at the Mountain Village Sunset Stage, just a short walk from Yoga Fest hospitality, attendees and friends are invited to attend two performances of kirtan, one given by Durango's Prema Shakti, a 12-person energetic kirtan group. The second is led by David Russell and friends.

Plato pondered the powers of music and sound in "The Laws"  and other dialogues. Shakespeare also intuitively understood: several of his most poignant scenes dramatized music's soothing effects on troubled souls.
Pre-dating Western scholars, the Yoga tradition has known for centuries that sound is the new aspirin or apple –  only more so. Proof positive lies in the bible of Yoga, "The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali," where the great sage explains that the mystic sound "OM" is not just the name Isvara (a God analog), but is Isvara, the actual form of God. Humming"OM" is a summons: the sound brings God to you.

Kirtan is a group practice of singing Sanskrit mantras that are set to simple melodies. These mantras are sound vibrations which roll and vibrate through the seven energy centers (chakras) of the body creating well-being in body, mind, and spirit. It really doesn’t matter what the words mean because the sound vibrations alone are a direct plug-in to the experience of Source, or God Consciousness, or whatever you choose to call Isvara.

Amlavi among green sponsors supporting Telluride Yoga Festival

[click "Play" to hear Dayne Conrad & John Ehlers on Amlavi]

Listen, Telluride: It is no longer just about solar panels, wind turbines and bio-diesel. America's green revolution has infiltrated the world of beauty.

One of the Telluride Yoga Festival sponsors, Amlavi heads an alphabet of new labels representing super effective, eco-friendly cosmetics, bath products and scents, including companies making soy polish remover (Priti), producing make-up brushes fashioned from sustainable wood and brushed recycled aluminum (Ecotools Cosmetic Brushes), making nontoxic nail polish (Sula Paint & Peel), and producing mascara (Organic Wear).

Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library: Liz Lance on the Media and Beauty

[click "Play" to hear Liz Lance on the Media and Beauty]

On Monday, July 6:30 p.m., at Telluride's Wilkinson Public LIbrary, itinerant daughter Liz Lance plans a multimedia presentation of her Fulbright research on the subject of beauty and the way mass media affects ideas about body image and femininity in Nepal.

The conversation has never been more interesting. We live in a world of swizzle stick celebrities, binge diets and surgeons armed with needles, scalpels, lasers, whatever is desired or required to overhaul anyone with a chunky checkbook from head to toe. Make-up, skin and hair care, cosmetic surgery, health clubs and diet pills rolls up to a global industry worth over $160 billion per annum.

The Golden Door Spa at Telluride's Peaks Resort Makes a Splash with Summer Soirees

by Eileen Burns

Photos Courtesy of The Peaks Resort and Golden Door Spa

Poolside, at The Golden Door Spa in Telluride, is the place to be on weekends this summer with the launching of the Summer Soiree Parties, a new program for members, guests and locals.  The fun in the sun begins this Sunday,July 5th,  and will continue each weekend throughout the summer and feature an incredible line up of events including concerts, fashion shows, mini spa days, and much more.  Locals are encouraged to take advantage of the reintroduction of the single day pass at $45 or a five punch pass for $200.  Kids two and under are free.

Not only is there the popular indoor/outdoor pool with slide, there is now a new 'Deep End Grill and Pool Bar' with food and drink specials all day.  You won't want to miss Chef Dan's famous Mahi Mahi Tacos and Charred Pineapple Wedges with Vanilla Agave Nectar or the vitamin C smoothie samples being passed out during the day.  And what better way to spend a relaxing day off than by lounging by the pool and sampling the Spa's complimentary mini 'tapas' spa treatments being showcased.  The ISUN Organic Skincare line, produced in Ridgway, Colorado, will be featured, and you may choose from a relaxing hand or foot revitalization, cooling calming cucumber treatment or mini back nirvana.  You will also be able to enjoy alpine scented face towels, Evian face and body mists.  There will be a drawing for a ISUN Platinum Facial from The Golden Door Spa as well as for several ISUN products.  And, with the purchase of certain retail products you will receive a free gift with purchase.

For general information please call 970-728-2590. For a full menu of services, visit www.ThePeaksResort.com and click on the Golden Door Spa.

For more information and for details on the Golden Door Spa, Summer Soiree or Day Passes, please call: Kristi Dickinson at 970-728-6800 ext 6770.

Dr. Jeff Ptak: Non-surgical options for skin rejuvenation

[click to hear Dr. Ptak speak about skin rejuvenation]

Obama's stimulus package is meant to address our sagging economy. Telluride's Dr. Jeff Ptak, a board certified plastic surgeon with a private practice in town, has a stimulus package of his own to address your sagging skin.

Options for non-surgical skin rejuvenation using light and heat to resurface and tighten include IPL (Intense Pulsed LIght) for pigment and minor new collagen formation, Thermage (monopolar radiofrequency deep heat gun) to tighten  and shrink skin a few millimeters/treatment through deep heating below the dermis and a variety of lasers.

To learn more, click "play" and listen to Dr. Ptak's podcast.