halcyon house

a worker owned cooperative holistic wellness center

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  • Sara’s Sensory Corner – Proprioception

    Sara’s Sensory Corner – Proprioception

    Did you know your brain can feel your body’s position?

    Continuing my theme of our sensory experience, another of our eight senses is a sense called Proprioception.  This is the sense that tells us where our body is in space, how our muscles are working, helps us with our posture and assists in how we move through the world.  It helps us feel grounded to the earth, coordinated and connected to ourselves.

    Sensing Spring

    Here in the Northland, May brings the promise of newness. Green grass pushes up through the ground. Birds have returned and we wait for the bees to wake. The world is alive with subtle movement and our bodies are waking with it. When we intentionally notice our body position- bending, stretching, reaching and carrying-we connect more to ourselves after winter’s stillness.  Even simple actions like balancing on uneven ground, or lifting your face to the sun tune your proprioceptive sense and invite steadiness.

    This month, position yourself with intention.  Your nervous system in learning to trust expansion and growth-and mindful awareness of your body’s positions can help you step into the season fully.

    But what do I know?

    My passion as an occupational therapist in Duluth is helping people to understand how they sense their environment, their body, and their emotions and how they process those signals. When we are either having difficulty sensing any of those things or having difficulty processing what we are going through, it can be uncomfortable (as we all know). I’m here to help educate and work with you towards better well-being!

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  • Liver Season is in full swing in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

    Liver Season is in full swing in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

    This is a time for renewal, growth and awakening. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) the Liver governs smooth flow of energy throughout the body. If it gets out of balance you might experience:

    • Tension in the form of headaches, eye issues, jaw tightness, neck tension.
    • Emotions might come through as increased irritability, frustration, struggles with sleep and feeling stuck.
    • Digestion issues with increased bloating, indigestion and gas.

    Spring is a good time to clear out energy that no longer serves you:

    • Clear out physical clutter, organize one area of your house that always seems a mess.
    • Mental clutter that might be ready to be released, fears and stories you might tell yourself that no longer serve you, limitations you placed on yourself you might be ready to push through.
    • Set digital boundaries for yourself, prioritizing more time outdoors, taking in fresh air and allowing your bare feet to touch the earth.
    • Create a list of what you were grateful for from this past season

    TCM and Acupuncture in Duluth, MN

    I’m always interested in talking about nutrition as it pertains to Traditional Chinese Medicine. Check out my other blog posts for recipes!

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  • Listening, Intuition, Knowledge, and Learning – Massage in Duluth MN

    Listening, Intuition, Knowledge, and Learning – Massage in Duluth MN

    In the practice of Zen Shiatsu, the founder Shizuto Masunaga was very adamant about reading the Ki and rebalancing it using a “mother” hand that is listening and a “son” hand that is working.

    The technique

    I have been practicing massage using that concept for over 20 years (10 years of practicing massage in Duluth MN) and am still humbled by the power of this simple technique; one hand listens to what the body is saying, the other is creating a change.  Recently, I have been practicing this technique with the Zen Shiatsu Bladder Meridian Channel along the spine all the way down to the little toe. My mother hand listens from one of the points along the thoracic spine while my son hand works the meridian until I feel the Ki moving under my mother hand. This has produced surprising changes in some clients. I wasn’t sure why this meridian was so universally powerful until a conversation I had with Jakki, our Acupuncturist, sparked a connection.

    The meridian

    Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has mapped Shu points along the Urinary Bladder (UB) meridian. These points interact with each of the other 11 meridians. Balancing the Shu points can have a systematic effect on the body. What I had picked up through intuition and listening has a long history of knowledge and treatment.

    I don’t claim to have this knowledge, I am still in discovery mode. Next summer I am diving deeper into TCM education with the distance program at the Zen Shiatsu school in Evanston, IL. This Summer I am taking the Beginning Zen Shiatsu class to brush up on my Shiatsu knowledge. I am excited to bring my practice back full circle to my first love of massage which is Zen Shiatsu. This time with 20 years of massage experience behind my touch. If you or someone you know is interested in doing this program at the same time please reach out to me! I would love (a) study partner(s). The Beginner Shiatsu Class is open to everyone with no prior massage experience necessary. I am doing the July intensive. https://zenshiatsu.edu/ce/beginning_zen_shiatsu/

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  • Upcoming Presentation “Body as Place”

    Upcoming Presentation “Body as Place”

    Sara and I were invited to present at Svalja Whole-being’s Community Conference in Duluth.  We are so excited to explore “body as place”.  We will experiment with what makes you feel at home and safe in your body.

    The conference starts Friday 5/29 from 6:00-9:00pm and continues 5/30 from 8:00-6:00.

    Contact http://www.svalja.yoga/community-conference for more information Join us for a two-day immersion into the heart of our community.

    Flourish is an invitation to ground ourselves in the wisdom of this place while leaning into the possibilities of what we can create together. From a soulful Friday night of live music and poetry at SOLCA to a Saturday filled with movement, guided storytelling, and deep reflection, this gathering is designed to nourish your nervous system and spark your creative spirit.

    Throughout the weekend, experience a curated Art and Poetry Exhibit coordinated by Savannah Ottillia, offering a visual and written landscape of our shared journey.

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  • Article about Halcyon House from MCCD

    Article about Halcyon House from MCCD

    Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers wrote a nice article about Halcyon House recently. MCCD has been a great resource for all things cooperative related and advise cooperatives in urban and rural areas throughout Minnesota. Fun fact: Minnesota leads the rest of the country in cooperative formation.

    If you’re interested in reading a little more about our formation and development as a cooperative, check it out!

    Parking Downtown Duluth

    Following up from my topic from last month regarding the parking changes downtown, we’ve let the Duluth Parking Commission know how the changes have affected us and are advocating for improved accessibility downtown and longer maximum limits for on-street parking. If anybody would like to give them a call and voice your opinion as well… 😉😉 For those of you who usually opt for 90 or 120 minute sessions, we’re recommending the Muffler Clinic lot located on Michigan St. or the Tech Village lot behind Pizza Luce.  Scan the QR code on their sign to set up your parking. We wish their online payment system was better. We’re happy to help you with it!

    Muffler Clinic Lot


  • Opening Reception – Artist Paul LaJeunesse

    Opening Reception – Artist Paul LaJeunesse

    May 9th at 5:30PM

    Paul LaJeunesse creates large-scale, site-specific murals that reflect the historic, identities, communities and locations. His work is rooted in research, collaboration and storytelling. Through his process he transforms public spaces into a shared narrative.

    “My research revolves around the concept of place and how places are assimilated with personal values to create meaning for our lives.”

    Join us to welcome this talented artist into the Halcyon House gallery. Meet Paul, drink some tea, have fun, look at inspiring art.

    Bio:

    Paul LaJeunesse received his Master of Fine Arts in painting from Bowling Green State University in 2006. He is an Elizabeth Greenshields grant recipient, and a 2007 Fulbright fellow where he created a body of landscape paintings in Iceland. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, with solo exhibitions in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota and Iceland and group exhibitions in Saitama and Tokyo Japan, and numerous states in the United States. Paul is a public artist with 7 murals and multiple community murals. He has taught at Western Oregon University, Georgia State University, The College of St. Scholastica, Anderson Ranch Studio and The Grand Marais Art Colony, and currently at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. His artwork investigates the relationship among individual memories of time, space, and place as a way in which we assign meaning to experiences and construct our sense of identity.

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  • Updated Website

    Updated Website

    We’re migrating our website for easier updates and adding blog posts. Some of you my recognize some of them from our monthly newsletter. The updated website will allow us to share information quicker, flesh out our FAQ page, and add more about us and our events!

    Let us know if you have any issues with the updated website. We’ll be adding more as we go.


  • Downtown Parking Update

    Downtown Parking Update

    It has happened – the city of Duluth has removed the parking meters on Michigan Street. I had made a social media post with the same information as follows, and what do you know? It was our most viewed post to date. Parking is a hot-button topic in Duluth! We do love to talk about urban planning, but this is more for informational purposes only.

    This update has a few ramifications for our clients.

    1. There were a few “free spaces” where parking meters were missing that will no longer be free. It is now using zones only instead of space numbers. Sorry! We’re sad to see those go, but they often were filled with Minnesota Power employees who started their day early in the morning.
    2. Luckily, it looks like the maximum time limit is still 2 hours as it was before. However, for those who schedule 120 minute massages, we don’t have the ability to add time past the 2 hour limit. If you do schedule 120 minute massages, we suggest parking in either the Muffler Clinic lot which is along Michigan Street or the Tech Village lot with the entrance on 1st Street.

    We plan to get in touch with parking services to advocate for clearer signage, posting the enforcement hours, clearly mark parking spaces, and find out if they intend to install a kiosk on Michigan Street.


  • What are fight or flight muscles?

    What are fight or flight muscles?

    These are muscles that activate when we are in a sympathetic reaction (fight or flight). This can be in reaction to something in our environment that doesn’t feel safe, something happening internally (a physical stressor) or in our mind (stress).

    One of these muscles is the Psoas. This muscle does several actions that support us in fight or flight. It helps lift our knees up to run (flight) or defends our core (fight). If these muscles activate and then turn off again, we might not feel any consequences. It’s when these muscles turn on and stay on that we will notice symptoms. These could include hip pain, back pain, restricted breathing, fatigue and nervous system dysregulation (anxiousness, depression).

    The tightness of the psoas muscle will also be increased with prolonged sitting.

    The Halcyon House staff have many practices/treatments that will support you in releasing tension in the psoas:

    • Acupuncture
    • Massage
    • Craniosacral therapy
    • Somatic based movement/yoga
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  • Our bodies are truly amazing

    Our bodies are truly amazing

    Ready for some massage education?

    Every time I do a deep dive into a system I thought I knew well, I am reminded of the subtleties of how everything works together in a beautiful symphony. This is especially true of the pericardium. In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is sometimes referred to as the Heart Protector and indeed it does that job well.

    Recently, when Jakki needled my PC-6 acupuncture point, I felt a surge of energy shoot out of my middle finger, right where the meridian is mapped in the acupuncture charts. 

    But my practice is all about the fascia, so I started studying more about how the pericardium works, and how it is designed.

    The pericardium is:

    • a ball of dense fascia,
    • a thin layer of fluid,
    • and a soft inner ball with the heart suspended inside the soft inner ball.

    The outer ball has a facial connection into the top of the diaphragm. Both the diaphragm and the pericardium are innervated with vagus nerve attachments, further pointing to their importance in nervous system regulation. 

    Visualize:

    Every inhale is by design tugging on pericardium and pulling it gently downward. Every exhale releases it back to its neutral position. When we bypass primary diaphragmatic breathing for secondary thoracic breathing, we are stalling this natural rhythmic pulsing of the fluid surrounding the heart. If this function was not very important, the pericardium would not be connected to the diaphragm, as there are plenty of other anchor points available inside of the rib cage. 

    I have been imagining my pericardium is a jellyfish, with every downward movement of my diaphragm on the inhale gently tugging the jellyfish downward. Each exhale releases the diaphragm and allows the jellyfish to float upwards. Every breath soft and gentle moves my imaginary jellyfish up and down in my internal ocean. Just a few minutes of this breath imagery can really calm my spirit. 

    The more I learn about the body, the better I understand the systems within, and the better I can provide massage education to my clients or anyone who will listen!

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