What a success! The Times Argus newspaper featured the Expo. We are grateful to all who contributed and attended. See you next year.

You can see the article online by following this link or simply read the text below.

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100328/NEWS02/3280362

Vermont Healers Spring Expo March 27th, 2010

Practitioners show gamut of alternative medicines

By Thatcher Moats Staff Writer - Published: March 28, 2010

MONTPELIER – What do a psychic, a hula hooper, an herbalist and a masseuse have in common? They're capable of curing what ails you, according to several people who attended the first ever VermontHealers.org 2010 Expo in Montpelier on Saturday.

People with a wide range of expertise who are all focused on making people physically, mentally and spiritually healthier comprise VermontHealers.org. The organization formed about two-and-a-half years ago when the Web site was launched and now has about 100 members.

Saturday's expo at the Vermont College of Fine Arts gymnasium, which the organization hopes to turn into an annual event, was a chance for this disparate group of practitioners to network in the non-virtual world and show people what they offer.

VermontHealers.org board members say there's a growing demand for – and acceptance of – alternative health care practitioners, such as yoga instructors, herbalists and health counselors.

According to Lisa Mase, who is a board member, an example of the growing demand is that the Montpelier Health Center now includes an acupuncturist.

"It's not just one healer who can do it on their own," said Mase.

Mase and others insist they don't view alternative medicine as a replacement for traditional Western medicine, but simply as a different solution.

For this reason, Mase refers to what the various healers offer as "complementary alternative medicine."

Alternative solutions, such as focusing on the food a person eats, tend not to offer a magic cure-all, but require a more sustained approach, said Marie Frohlich, a health counselor who is on the board of VermontHealers.org.

"These are not quick fixes, these practices," said Frohlich. "They require lifestyle changes."

At the expo Saturday there were workshops where attendees could learn about Bach Flower Remedies for stress reduction; Reiki, a spiritual healing practice; and a technique called Nutrition Response Testing that addresses nutrition deficiencies.

There was also something that many people consider pure fun: hula hooping.

Lizzie Brood, who is new to the area after bouncing around New England, led a workshop on Hoop Dance, which includes hula-hooping while wearing a blindfold and listening to music.

Hula-hooping is good exercise and gets the body moving, which is therapeutic, Brood said, but she struggled to put into words the healing properties of twirling a hoop around one's body. But Susi Wahlrab, a yoga instructor from Calais, did not.

"It's, like, totally back to being a child and raw delight," she said. "It makes you feel so happy. It's a feeling of freedom."

Doris Sater, who is from Danby, was buying a colorful hoop from Brood. She said hula hooping makes you feel "great."

"It's very freeing," she said. "You can breath right. You feel so much better."