With the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting us all, Natural Awakenings turned to local small business owners to learn about what they have been doing to handle the crisis, as well as the future they might hope for.

For Goodness Sake, Bonita Springs

For Bruce Ford, owner of For Goodness Sake, a nosedive in the store’s daily sales posed a dilemma—perishable produce and a deli with uneaten soups and sandwiches. “I couldn’t understand why Publix, which is not locally owned, had lines of customers and not one customer took me, a local business owner, up on my offer to open the store any time for a private shopping experience,” says Ford. He reduced his staff and turned to an organic food delivery service for frozen and fresh whole meals, soups and salads. “While we carry pressure-sealed packages of frozen, grass-fed bison from Three Sons Ranch, in Punta Gorda, we are trying to be as vegan as possible,” advises Ford.

Along with reasonably priced, pressure-sealed, healthy take-out meals for $13.99, Ford’s other longer-term strategy includes his newly created coffeehouse ambiance. Locals are enjoying sipping coffee, kava and kratom, as well as kombucha, while relaxing and kibitzing.

 

Beautiful Health, Naples

Caroline Thonon, owner of Beautiful Health, was hoping for three outcomes from the crisis. “I hope people will consider becoming more responsible for their health and turning to natural immunity boosting activities such as more time outdoors, as well as using more organic and natural products for their health. Whether it’s food, skincare or supplements, I hope people will question the impact that toxins have on overall health, which is what Beautiful Health is about and what we teach. 

I also hope the global impact leaves people feeling more connected and in service to others in need, which creates a sense of community and oneness. I’d also like to see commercial and residential landlords working with tenants to offer reduced rents, as well as banks and credit card companies providing relief with reduced interest rates and fees. If these things are part of a new normal, we can all be better together.

As stores and restaurants reopen, Thonon counts on people understanding that supporting the local economy is a necessity not only for small businesses, but also for the social relationships created via face-to-face shopping. “Let’s get back to the days when we knew the first names of our local patrons and talked together about our families and lives,” she says.

 

Tree of Light Whole Body Rejuvenation, Naples

Dona Parker, Tree of Light owner, is also hopeful that the crisis will shift people toward prevention and wellness, as well as the new technologies and modalities that enhance health. “I stayed busy because customers who come here understand the importance of detoxifying the body with the infrared sauna and how my AARC pod, which provides photobiomodulation therapy with near-infrared, red and green light, helps to strengthen the immune system,” notes Parker.

 

AHA! Holistic Approach Center for Health & Wellness, Fort Myers

Cindy Carfore’s AHA! A Holistic Approach Center for Health & Wellness remained open to allow Dorothy Rodwell, a clinical psychologist, to handle mental health emergencies and Robert Murdoch, an acupuncture physician, to handle medical emergencies. In the absence of other health practitioners, Carfore covered the front desk.

Recently reopened for classes, only two of the center’s yoga teachers chose to return. Restructuring proved to be easier than anticipated, as the Fort Myers Beach Yoga & Wellness Project was looking for a new home. “Renee Heil, the owner, has practiced yoga for more than 20 years and has a masters degree in exercise science. Ours is a good collaboration,” says Carfore, who believes that all negative situations have some positive aspects. “I control what I can and let go of the rest. Fear suppresses the immune system and makes us more susceptible.”

Compassion for the community led to the offering of resources at no charge. “Dorothy offers free Conversations on the Edge via zoom on Fridays from 1 to 2 p.m. Renee offers free meditations Tuesdays and Fridays, and Cameron, our web designer and social media person, offers free, five-minute morning meditations,” advises Carfore.

“In Conversations on The Edge, (Facebook.com/AHolisticApproachCenterFortMyers) I’ve covered topics such as there’s no wrong way to meditate, how to break down barriers, and how to handle anxiety and fear, which is contagious,” says Rodwell, who explains that to move beyond the state of fear that many people are experiencing, the body has to change its autonomic nervous system “fight-or-flight” response. “The fight/flight response literally takes the logical and rational mind off-line.”

Yoga, tai chi, exercise, meditation, prayer and chanting can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, easing the fight/flight response. “When it subsides, the mind is back online,” says Rodwell, who approves of medication when necessary. “People need relief so they can think, which is hard to do when riddled with anxiety and fear.”

 

Holistic Chamber of Commerce (HCC), Fort Myers

Lainie Sevante Wulkan, president of HCC, took up walking during the pandemic. “I’d been busy and was neglectful in connecting with nature. While walking, I became a better listener and observer of my surroundings, as well as more appreciative and grateful for the beauty around me. It’s a delight to see nature rebooting and resetting throughout the world,” she says.

Working with her leadership team and HCC Director of Community Education Deb Martin, co-owner of Lotus Blossom Clinic, she began offering 10 weeks of free online panel discussions involving chamber members and topics such as how to deal with isolation, boosting the immune system, ways to stay positive and other topics (Facebook.com/HCCFortMyers). Along with regular panel programming on the fourth Saturday of each month, HCC now holds its monthly membership meetings online at 6:30 pm on each second Tuesday.

Wulkan, an optimist, believes the planet will self-correct as collective consciousness moves from a lower density to a higher state of vibration. “I’m hearing people express a new way of looking at life and how they’re making new choices and letting go,” she says.

 

Lotus Blossom Clinic, Fort Myers

Lotus Blossom Clinic was already a community of 20 health practitioners before the sheltering-in-place mandate. During the crisis, the community found a way to build on its strengths and creative new ways of being in service to the larger community it serves. “David, an acupuncture physician, was the only one allowed to stay open on a limited basis for urgent care,” says Martin, whose long hours during the shutdown included keeping the clinic’s vision actively moving forward, organizing and working with HCC on panel discussions and spearheading the clinic’s online Spoonful Experiences tele-summits. “We were successful with well over 1,500 views on tele-summits and up to 1,000 with HCC’s Thursday night panel discussions (subscribe to Spoonful Experiences on YouTube to see practitioners offer their weekly “teaspoons”).

During the shutdown, Martin did what she always does. She paid attention to and focused her energy and intention on what she wanted to create in her sphere of influence. “It’s much like what I hear David telling people who feel anxious and stressed. ‘Pay attention to the 15 feet around you and focus only on who and what is in that space, as well as what you can do within it, to feel better.’”

 

Mystical Moon, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers

A pause was out of the question for Laurie Barraco, owner of Mystical Moon’s two locations. “Without front desk staff, I worked seven days a week in Fort Myers and my husband worked in Bonita. We continued offering phone sessions and coordinating curbside pickups for online orders, which numbered 300 in April. Generally, we have 100 a month.

“To help keep our community connected, I created Laurie Barraco’s Astral Lounge, where I continue offering free guidance, support and mini-classes. Since reopening our doors, I’ve noticed an influx of new and repeat clients. I suspect we’re busier now than in season, because people are looking for new ways to grow and take more responsibility for their lives,” says Barraco, who hopes that the COVID-19 pause gave individuals the time to reprioritize their lives. “I’d love to see our local businesses thriving again and individuals healing from old wounds that are surfacing now.”

 

Path of Being, Fort Myers

“If we are to take anything from this crisis, it is that we are really the same. We all share the desire for peace, prosperity and happiness. Peace within and in our community. Everyone wants prosperity, to not worry that we can’t take care of ourselves and our family. We all want happiness,” says Teresa Ayers. The Path of Being owner notes that turning off the TV is the first step to subduing anxiety.

“As I’ve continued doing my healing work, I’ve noticed that I’m more hopeful now than I would have been if COVID -19 and racial unrest hadn’t happened. It’s shaken people out of their complacency, and now more of us are realizing that as members of the human species, we are connected and living together on this fragile planet, and that it’s time for those who have to help those who don’t have, as well as why we need to consider the good of all, rather than only the few,” she says.

Fareed Zakaria, an American journalist and political scientist, declared that the broader challenge is to lay down a long-term strategy that endures after the crisis of the moment. Perhaps living in the current turmoil and uncertainty will make us realize that our long-term strategy is to adapt and learn to live better with it, rather than rail against it.

 

AHA! A Holistic Approach Center for Health & Wellness, 239-433-5995. AHolisticApproachCente.com. 

Beautiful Health, 239-241-5111, BeautifulHealth.biz

For Goodness Sake, 239-992-5838, ForGoodnessSakes.com 

Holistic Chamber of Commerce, 310-490-6862. HolisticChamberOfCommerce.com. See ad, page xx.

Lotus Blossom Clinic, 239- 277-1399. LotusBlossomClinic.com. See ad, page xx.

Mystical Moon, Bonita Springs. 239-301-0655. Ft. Myers. 239-939-3339. TheMysticalMoon.com. See ad, page xx. 

Path of Being, 437-5141. ThePathOfBeing.com. See ad, page xx.

Tree of Light Whole Body Rejuvenation, 239-692-9367. TreeOfLightCenter.com. See ad, page xx.