cha magazine ~ Cape Healing Arts Magazine ~ Local Culture for the Planet ~ A Cape Cod magazine showcasing the best of the wellness community, green resources and sustainable living. Listings for Cape Cod events, classes, workshops, include health & wellness, yoga, reiki, acupuncture, fitness, healing, bodywork, conscious living, food, travel, resorts and spas, green businesses, and more.

Stories of Home

Books for your holiday gift list “You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book… [more]

Gluten-free at IDGY’s

Have your cake & eat it,too! Chances are if you haven’t gone gluten-free in your diet… [more]

On the Threshold of 2012

Here we are on the threshold of the warily awaited mega-year 2012, counting down to December… [more]

Art of Dissent

Cocodrillo I have no idea where my house keys are. I’m sure they’re somewhere but I don’t… [more]

Why Writers Write

Much has been said about the torturous aspects of writing.… [more]

Something to Smile About

Most people don’t expect to gain a deeper understanding of their whole health from… [more]

Featured Stories

Stories of Home

Books for your holiday gift list “You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” – C. S. Lewis To bring this list to you, several independently owned bookstores on the Cape were polled for their suggestions on the latest books that are currently receiving good customer reviews. We asked for books that would be about Cape Cod, set on Cape Cod, or written by Cape Cod authors. Here are some of the top choices, in no particular order. A Cape Cod Notebook by Robert Finch This collection of essays is culled from the award winning (Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in radio writing) WGBH radio … [Read More...]

Gluten-free at IDGY’s

Have your cake & eat it,too! Chances are if you haven’t gone gluten-free in your diet yourself, you know someone who has. At one time it was thought you had to have celiac disease to have issues with gluten; now we know better, and folks who are “gluten sensitive” are also eschewing it as well. What exactly is gluten? It’s a mixture of proteins that are found in wheat, rye and barley, which are not soluble in water and give wheat dough its elastic texture. For people who have celiac disease, or are gluten sensitive, their bodies react to gluten as an invasion, gearing up their immune systems to fight against a perceived toxin. … [Read More...]

On the Threshold of 2012

Here we are on the threshold of the warily awaited mega-year 2012, counting down to December 21, 2012. This date and its mystique have captured the public’s imagination like no other. With misinformation, speculation, fear, hope and hype abounding, many are fearing cataclysmic Apocalypse, while others are envisioning a seamless transition into a golden age of paradisal bliss in the twinkling of an eye, and others are rolling their eyes at all the nonsense over yet another world expiration date. So what’s all the hubbub about? A host of factors contribute to all “the end of the world” buzz, not the least among them are the deeply disturbing … [Read More...]

Art of Dissent

Cocodrillo I have no idea where my house keys are. I’m sure they’re somewhere but I don’t care to lock the world out. I tell you this because what could anyone possibly steal? Forty two dollars in my sock drawer? The kids drawings off the fridge? Thieves would get lost in the mire of a modern life, the laptops we peek over to make sure we’re still married. “Are the kids setting any fires?” We used to run drunk and naked around this neighborhood. I felt alive, howling and falling over laughing. This is stupid. Come with me and we’ll strip off these clothes, walk into the woods, live on blackberries and small mammals, toadstools … [Read More...]

Why Writers Write

Much has been said about the torturous aspects of writing. Ernest Hemingway joked, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Oscar Wilde lamented, “I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.” Virginia Woolf agonized, “For it would seem that we write, not with the fingers, but with the whole person. The nerve which controls the pen winds itself about every fiber of our being, threads the heart, and pierces the liver.” So why do writers begin to write at all if the act was … [Read More...]

Something to Smile About

Most people don’t expect to gain a deeper understanding of their whole health from a visit to the dentist. They don’t expect to be treated in a comfortable office setting with picture-window views overlooking a gentle river, or have complementary health services available on-site. But then, most people haven’t been to Herring River Holistic Family Dentistry, 129 Route 28 in West Harwich. Dr. Ralph Tomasian has practiced in Harwich since 1972 with his recently retired brother Dr. Thomas Tomasian, Jr., who was instrumental in developing this unique oral health center. The two had been at the Herring River location since 1980. … [Read More...]

Food as Gift

An invitation to explore the healing power, joy and possibility for connection made available to us when we gather around food with our families and our community “The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.” –M.F.K. Fisher When I first learned my father had died, all I could think to do was go into my kitchen and bake a fresh loaf of bread from scratch. The mixing of ingredients, the kneading of the dough, the warming of the oven and then the rising and baking of the bread encouraged inner reflection. We gathered in the kitchen to talk about the precious … [Read More...]

Celebrating Birth ~ From Home To Hospital

It is nothing short of amazing when a child is born. Through the long months of waiting, through the hopes and fears, through the powerful tumult of labor; suddenly, a new life emerges – small and wet – and a family is transformed. “It’s such a magical moment when that baby comes into the world,” says Ruby Corrigan Anastasio, a doula birth attendant who lives in Brewster. “It’s like the world stands still and takes a breath.” For generations, aunts, sisters and midwives have helped women through the passage of childbirth. While advances in obstetrical medicine have saved lives and the health of mothers and babies, among a growing … [Read More...]

Passages: Conscious Approaches To End-Of-Life Care

Taking back the caring for and burying of our dead; completion of life at home and the greening of our cemeteries Out in the woods behind my house there are two marked graves, women from the 1800s whose headstones tell us their names, their spouses’ names and the dates of their deaths. I visit them from time to time; I like knowing they’re out there, connecting us through time, reminding us. Inside, on the sill of an enormous atrium window, two teapots holding ashes sit facing one another – one of my sister, who died in this house, and the other, of my brother-in-law, who built it. They look like they’re about to kiss as they watch over … [Read More...]

Yoga for the Rest of Us

Yoga Showcase: The Moving Meditation Maureen Hammett’s yoga studio, The Moving Meditation, welcomes students into a simple, serene oasis that feels comfortable, rather than intimidating. Sunlight filters across the room from the corner windows, illuminating the warm sand-color walls and earth-toned carpet. Music plays softly. Instead of hushed anticipation before class, there’s amiable chatter. No one is stretching a lithe leg overhead to warm up: the mainly mid-life students sit comfortably on their mats. The apparently casual attitude and Hammett’s gracious demeanor, however, belie her serious focus on making yoga accessible to a broad … [Read More...]

Body Mind & Spirit

MINDFULNESS: The Inside Out of Consciousness

It was a phenomenal exhibit of the intricacies of the human body! Those plastinated bodies of once-living people left Boston when Body World 2 closed its doors at … [Read More...]

Ancient Wisdom: The Journey Within

Nineteen years ago I put my daughters to bed and sat in the quiet to have a cup of tea. It had been a busy day, spent at a friend’s summer barbeque, surrounded … [Read More...]

Stress Reduction

For hundreds of years Cape Cod’s pastoral setting has beckoned to the ordinary and famous alike to come shed their cares, unwind and breathe deeply of a simpler … [Read More...]

Dribble and Shine

Integration & Healing I was recently emailing a friend about the many ways I had changed. I was relaying a story my yoga teacher … [Read More...]

Where Two Worlds Touch

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want. Don’t go back to sleep. People are going … [Read More...]

Daré Provides Healing

Cape Cod Community Daré Provides Community HealingDaré (pronounced dar-ray): African Shona word indicating a sacred gathering for healing purposes The inspiration … [Read More...]

Resources

Expanded Directory

animals Dr. Mark E. Russo Healthy Veterinary Alternatives Acupuncture and other natural & holistic treatments to promote healing, … [Read More...]

Easy Reference

Acupuncture Jennifer DiMeo, D.C., L.Ac. acupuncture & craniosacral therapy Ptown 718-813-6602 Group Acupuncture WellfleetPtown 774-722-3700 20-40 sliding … [Read More...]

Easy Green Reference

Barnstable Office Cleaning Organic & Natural. Free recycling Personal/caring attention to your office. Terry 508-420-1419 Solar Energy Blue Selenium … [Read More...]