mar 2012 essential wellness
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holistic digital magazine about healing and spirituality. March features Retreats & Getaways.TRANSCRIPT
march 2012 • resources for inner peace, health and healing
2 www.esswellness.com
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Laura Erdman-Luntz invites you on a 10-day Pravassa adventure
ItaLIan styLEVisit Italy, one of the most historically rich countries in the world this September and wake up your body with yoga in Rome’s Borghese Gardens, dip into the sparkling waters of Marina Piccola on Capri’s coast, and stroll the vineyards in the hills of Tragliata.
Vacation includes:
boutique hotel accomodations
ground
transportation
daily breakfast
some local dinners
daily yoga
tai chi & qigong
classes
coaching classes
tours of the Vatican
Colosseum Blue Grotto
airport transfers
taxes
9/13-9/16 RoMe Yoga in the Borghese Gardens, tours of the Vatican & Colosseum, and an introduction to Italian food.
9/16-9/19 CaPRIYoga & Qigong in the lemon groves, the beach and a tour of the Blue Grotto.
9/19-9/22 TRaGlIaTa Yoga & Qigong in the rolling hills, wine tastings, and hiking.
laura erdman-luntz has over 20 years experience in the fitness and wellness industries. Blending her life Coaching knowledge and vast yoga experience, she truly brings mind and body together for positive change. Currently residing in eden Prairie, MN, laura has studied with Judith Hanson lasater, Patricia Walden and Rodney Yee.
Pravassa brings together people who are looking for healthy, life-changing experiences
Register at www.pravassa.com [email protected] • 646-389-0208
early price available until 5/1/12 - $3,199+full price if paid after 5/1/12 - $3,399+
september 13-22, 2012
4 www.esswellness.com
6-7ABOUT THE COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY NANCY CHAKRIN
10-19Take a spiritual retreat to revitalize your beingBY LAURIE ELLIS-YOUNG
22-27Sacred journeys take us inwardBY IXCHEL TUCKER
30-33Ask yourself: What kind of retreat do I need?BY DR. ZEAL OKOGERI
34-36Surrender your busyness and return to your center BY CHARLENE TORCHIA AND JOHN HUFFAKER
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march 2012
march 2012 5
6-7ABOUT THE COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY NANCY CHAKRIN
10-19Take a spiritual retreat to revitalize your beingBY LAURIE ELLIS-YOUNG
22-27Sacred journeys take us inwardBY IXCHEL TUCKER
30-33Ask yourself: What kind of retreat do I need?BY DR. ZEAL OKOGERI
34-36Surrender your busyness and return to your center BY CHARLENE TORCHIA AND JOHN HUFFAKER
PlEAsE sUPPORT OUR AdVERTisERs!
6 www.esswellness.com
H E C O V E R image, by award-winning photog-rapher and land-scape painter, Nancy Chakrin,
was taken of retreatant, Lucre-ica Godoy meditating at sunset at Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. In 2008, they were both attending the annual Laurie Elllis-Young “Breathe The Change Wellness and Yoga Retreat” at The Villa Sumaya. Chakrin so loved this retreat that she returned in 2009 and 2010 and began serving as Ellis-Young’s event consultant. (See article beginning page 10). An international speaker, yogini and breathwork pio-neer, Ellis-Young and Chakrin began traveling the globe. Unbeknownst to them, these travels led to creating their gold medal book, FRIEND-
SHIP The Art of the Practice (TRISTAIN Publishing). They were compelled to explore vol-canoes, jungles, mountains, oceans, rivers, and cityscapes all in the pursuit of follow-ing their individual passions. Their photography experiences became vehicles for depicting and deepening connections with nature while honoring relationships—old and new showing how both friendship and yoga transcend age, gen-der, cultures, and language. Coinciding with their book, Chakrin produced two traveling interactive and expe-riential photographic exhib-its for healthcare and wellness settings entitled “Yoga ON and OFF the Wall” which fea-ture dazzling photographs of yoginis, ages 10 to 100, prac-ticing solo and duo poses.
“My artwork is focused on two unique but complemen-tary themes: Art as a Healing Therapy and Women Who Help Transform the Lives of Others,” states Chakrin. She is a member of the Midwest Arts in Healthcare Network and the International Society of Arts in Healthcare—organizations that demonstrate the valuable role of art in the healing process. Her assignments have in-cluded photographing polar explorer Ann Bancroft; David Gergen of CNN; Doctors An-drew Weil and Deepak Chopra and His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama. Chakrin can be reached at [email protected]. She lives in Minnetonka, MN. Her artwork is found in international collections. www.NancyChakr in .com www.BreatheTheChange.com
T
about the coverPHOTOGRAPH BY NANCY CHAKRiN
march 2012 7
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F YOU’RE feeling the urge to go on retreat you’re in good com-pany. People have felt the call to go on retreat for millennia; Moses,
Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, all needed to get away from it all. Yet never in history have people need-ed to get away from it all like they do now. Life can become so busy, so hectic, and so crazy that unless we consciously take the time to get away, non-busyness just won’t happen. Phones will ring, text messages will ding, chores, house-work, laundry, and e-communi-cation will build up and soon a feeling of overwhelm becomes a daily paradigm of existence. We can feel this angst from others
and we also pass it on in both close and distant relationships.
RETREAT: NECEssARY fOR sURViVAl
This overwhelm, this stress, aka “the invisible killer,” begins to wreak havoc on our health and in our lives. “Making a living” can be conducive to a slow or rapid suicide. A retreat in the face of this “adversary” can become necessary for just survival. What makes the retreat an “advance” then, is when where you go and what you do focuses on how to “be” in a way that creates a state of healthy thriving and true transformation. You arrive at a place of serenity and balance within yourself that
I
RETREATs ANd GETAwAYs
Take a spiritual retreat to revitalize your being
CONTiNUEd PAGE 14...
And when you come back home, you bring it with you, helping oth-ers to come back home to themselves, helping to change the world.
—Adyashanti
Photos: Nancy Chakrin
march 2012 11
BY lAURiE Ellis-YOUNG
Take a spiritual retreat to revitalize your being
Author laurie Young, second from right, shown with retreat group doing yoga tree pose in front of the Ceiba Tree in the jungles of Tikal, Guatemala.
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radiates outwards. As in the mi-crocosm so in the macrocosm. It is not grandiose to realize that taking this time for yourself to let go of disquiet and cultivate inner peace contributes not just to more peaceful relationships but to more peace on the planet.
BE iN THE TREEs
Whether it is for a week or an hour, one of people’s favorite
places to be for retreat is among trees of all kinds—oaks, ban-yans, weeping willows, pines, cedars, mangoes, baobabs, red woods. Glorious in their own right, they serve also as mighty metaphors. Sacred tomes, poetry, and every type of prose since re-corded history have utilized the tree as a way of understanding growth—both literal and figu-rative. It’s not unusual then to
think of the symbolism of the tree in regards to understanding a retreat as an “advance.” Refer-ring not to a withdrawal from de-feat of course, but to a conscious departure from the demands of daily life in order to revitalize. Now imagine, if you will, that a magnificent and astute cedar tree, we’ll name her “Shanti,” desires to share with us. Shanti resides at Renewal Retreat Center, nestled
RETREATs ANd GETAwAYsTake a Spiritual Retreat continued...
Big island, Hawaii: “Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky...”―Kahlil Gibran
march 2012 15
in verdant mountains on the edge of a tranquil body of water, miles away from the nearest metropo-lis. Like an elegant sentinel she welcomes retreatants as they first arrive on the premises. “How do you BE ?” she asks as a greeting. Amused by the amount of baggage most retreatants haul past her, Shanti always wonders: “What could they possibly be car-rying in all those suitcases? They’ll
never use even half of what they’ve brought,” she chuckles to herself. lEssONs fROm A TREE
Shanti is author of the primer “All I Need to Know About Re-treats I Learned From a Tree.” It includes just three lessons. She in-vites retreaters to gather near her graceful branches and on an ener-getic level she imparts her wisdom. LESSON I: You are here
for a yoga retreat. You may or may not have planned to go on a yoga retreat. That does not matter. It is still a yoga retreat. You may protest: “But I don’t do yoga!” Well, you might not do “asa-nas”—the postures of hatha yoga—but you DO do yoga as a “science of life” or actually, the
CONTiNUEd PAGE 18...
“The only way to bring peace to the earth is to learn to make our own life peaceful.” —Buddhist precept
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march 2012 17
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RETREATs ANd GETAwAYsTake a Spiritual Retreat continued...
“science of well-being in life” and the key is “being.” It is not often you take the time to experience yourselves as just that: a human BEING—as a gerund verb. And the ultimate key to this state is to be a conscious breathing human being—creating union of body, mind, and spirit. Quite simply and powerfully this is “yoga.” Try this exercise: Simplify your life down to the breath. Know when you are inhaling. Know when you are exhaling. Savor this state now and then find opportunities to integrate it
into your daily life such as when you first awake, when you dress and undress, eat, look in a mir-ror, open a door, etc. Pay atten-tion when you are waiting for anything: red light, computer to download, in line at the grocery store, etc. or when you get into bed. LESSON II: You are here for the three Rs: Reflect-ing, Releasing, Replenishing. Here’s another exercise to try: Reflect on the tree—its roots, trunk, and branches. Reflect on how “what is seen” has its foun-dation in “what is not seen.” Be-
come aware of your subconscious, conscious, and super-conscious states. Question yourself. Delve deeply into aspects of yourself that are hidden in the demands and complexities of your every-day life. What are your thoughts, feelings, and aspirations about your life? Do you think, feel, eat, act, work, play, and breathe in ways that nourish you? Make the intention to let go and release any “baggage” that does not serve or nurture you, replacing and re-plenishing only with what does. LESSON III: A retreat can be
meditating on beauty at Villa sumaya, lake Atitlan, Guatemala
march 2012 19
a lasting journey. The deeper you can tunnel your roots into “the earth’s sweet flowing breast” the more profound will be the fruit-fulness you personally experience and can offer others. By going home and utilizing these simple but powerful tools your retreat be-comes an “advance” that enriches everyone around you. It is a gift you give yourself and the world.
Laurie Ellis-Young, MTC, CYT, a pioneer in breathwork as an em-powering and healing modality, has been leading retreats and pilgrim-
ages on five continents for over 20 years. A tree enthusiast, journeying across an immensely defoliated area of Paraguay in 1995 profoundly impacted her with the ramifications of deforestation on the planet. This situation propelled her to begin a reforestation project on land she and her husband acquired for this pur-pose in Guatemala. As breath, trees and photosynthesis—“life”—are directly related to each other, she is dedicated to continuing reforesta-tion and welcomes opportunities to share her work for this purpose. Laurie is coauthor of the award-
winning book FRIENDSHIP The Art of the Practice (TRISTAN Publishing). She is currently liv-ing with her husband, George, in KAUST, Saudi Arabia and retains residencies in Minneapolis, MN and Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. www.BreatheTheChange.com 2012 retreats include May 4-6: Inner to Outer Peace, Villa Maria, Frontenac, MN. July 13-22: In the Mayan Paradise of Antigua & Lake Atitlan, Guate-mala. Oct. 12-14: Yoga, Wellness & Friendship Cove Point Lodge, Lake Superior North Shore, MN.
Ross Creek Cedar Grove, montana “Absorb, absorb, absorb. That is the secret of the tree.”—deng ming-dao, Everyday Tao
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S
Sacred journeys take us inward
RETREATs ANd GETAwAYs BY iXCHEl TUCKER
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
—Helen Keller
ACRED TRAV-EL is becoming a new way to travel, one that is beyond the or-dinary. It gives
us the opportunity to discover not only ancient lands, but also to discover more of ourselves. We find ourselves pulled to visit ancient temples of the gods and goddesses, shrines and places of worship, mysteri-ous mountains known for their power. We go to wells, fountains and waterfalls, places with heal-ing properties in their waters. We discover new ways of seeing the world as we con-nect with other cultures and begin to see through their eyes.
Along the way we learn an-cient, lost and buried stories and legends. We reawaken the old practices of honoring the Earth, the seasons, the elements and nature. We learn the archetypes that the gods and goddesses rep-resent and their attributes that we can embrace and also embody.
sACREd JOURNEYs TAKE Us iNwARd
During Sacred Travel we discover that we begin to lessen our hold on our outward reality and journey inside. We are out of the comforts and security of our daily lives. Our patterns and habits are interrupted and it be-comes an excellent opportunity to open to what is new. It gives us a chance to look at what we do and why. We can more eas-ily see through our illusions and
“Travel is more
than the seeing
of sights; it is a
change that goes
on, deep and
permanent, in the
ideas of living.”
—miriam Beard
CONTiNUEd PAGE 24...
march 2012 23
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RETREATs ANd GETAwAYsTake a Spiritual Retreat continued...
“Travel is more than the seeing
of sights; it is a change that
goes on, deep and permanent,
in the ideas of living.”
—miriam Beard
26 www.esswellness.com
the masks and roles we play and find what is behind them.Sacred and spiritual travel is an opportunity for transfor-mation on all levels. As Henry Miller put it, “One’s desti-nation is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” As you travel, consider new ways of looking at the world. Expand your thoughts, your
ideas, and your awareness. Travel with an open heart and with conscious awareness and you will discover a world that is beyond what you’ve seen and become accustomed to. If you’re feeling called to journey to a new land, to discover something new, go for it! Let yourself go, let yourself be changed!
Celtic Mystical Journeys was created by Finbarr Ross as a vehicle to facilitate personal and group travel to the sacred power sites of Ireland, Eng-land, Turkey, Scotland, Egypt, Peru and France. He describes these journeys as pathways of self-discovery, conscious aware-ness, and spiritual wisdom. www.celticmysticaljourneys.com
march 2012 27
Follow your Spirit. Let your Spirit and intuition guide you.
Pay attention to synchronicities and follow them. You may
meet someone new that may open a new path or direction
for you.
Listen to your heart. What would you love to do? What
brings you joy? Have you always wanted to visit Egypt, or
Peru, or Stonehenge? Do it!
Open to your other senses. Feel, sense, imagine—listen to
the trees, the birds, the wind, the streams. Touch the ancient
stones of monuments and temples, close your eyes and see
where they take you.
Sacred travel isn’t about just running from place to place …
it’s the time between the action … you may get more from
the experience if you take it easy, slow down a bit, take more
time for rest and reflection. Take a quiet day in the midst of
all the places you visit.
Journal and reflect on what insights come to you. Think
about how you can bring these discoveries back into your
daily life.
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Whether planning your trip, or while you are on it, there are simple things you can do to bring in more connection with the Sacred.
sacred travel
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WRITE IN 2012 FOR WWW.ESSWELLNESS.COM
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H I L E GOING a b o u t your daily rou t ine , you have
no idea of how much traveling is going on until you decide to either travel or visit a major airport. And then it hits you. “Where in the world is everybody going?” I have asked that question many times, especially at airports overseas, as I watch thousands of people rush to different terminals and gates.
QUEsT fOR REsTORATiON, sOlACE
In addition to going on busi-ness trips, returning home, or going to visit loved ones, many travelers are actually on a quest for restora-tion and solace. They are looking for a place to get away and nourish the soul. They want to let go of the television, phone calls, duties, and all the errands of daily living and
just experience peace for a change. Every year over 2.2 million Ameri-cans journey around the country and to foreign lands specifically for this reason. Some travel in groups while others journey by them-selves. The purpose is the same: To find a place for inner renewal.
VARiETY Of RETREATs AVAilABlE
A variety of retreats are avail-able today and people choose the one they feel will closely meet their needs. Those who want to retreat from this noisy world and tune inside may choose a silent retreat to experience what it feels like not to utter a single word for a week or two—a thought that ought to frighten those of us who love to talk. Families may decide to go on a religious retreat because they want their kids to mingle with other kids with similar values. Others can choose from a broad array of non-religious conscious
journeys. These are journeys be-yond tourism—beyond taking pictures and videos that you may soon forget. They are journeys of awareness—being cognizant of the significance and vitality of each new place, a total immersion and absorption into the environ-ment to experience its dynamism.
fiNdiNG YOUR KiNd Of RETREAT
How does one find a retreat and how much does it cost? There are packages tailored for every budget. They range from a sum-mer camp at a YMCA for less than $50 a night for the entire family, religious retreat centers that of-fer accommodation on a dona-tion basis, to traveling to ashrams in India or taking a life-changing journey to China for a 12-day luxury retreat for approximately $5,000. Some of these packages
W
RETREATs ANd GETAwAYs dR. ZEAl OKOGERi
CONTiNUEd PAGE 32...
What kind of retreat do I need?
BY
march 2012 31
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include outdoor activities like hik-ing, biking, kayaking, and water sports; others include meditation and emotional release workshops. There are a number of websites that list getaways and retreats around the world. Some of these are listed at the end of this article. People often target specific challenges while on a retreat, such as addiction, illness, or relationship issues. It is a time for inner reflec-tion to promote personal growth. And many retreaters say that get-ting away really helped them to tap
into their own internal resources to resolve or overcome some of their most challenging life issues. Personally, whenever I return from a journey abroad, I always feel as though my mind has been stretched like a rubber band. It is what is often referred to as an “expansion of consciousness.” In essence, traveling or getting away from your immediate area of resi-dence and going somewhere else that you’ve never been before, is a wonderful spiritual exercise. It helps to energize or activate
different parts of you that have been dormant, and in so doing, you find that you are awaken-ing to new perspectives. So, re-gardless of your choice of retreat, how near or far you are willing to travel, the rewards are enor-mous. In fact, you might just be making a life-changing decision! REsOURCEs ON RETREATs
w w w. r e t r e a t s i n t l . o r g Retreats International lists 340 retreat centers in the United States and Canada.
RETREATs ANd GETAwAYsWhat Kind of Retreat Do I Need continued...
Shamanism Training Program
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Drum Making Workshop February 19, Isanti
Basic Animal CommunicationMarch 18, Isanti
march 2012 33
2012 Essential wellness writers Guidelines
now available!
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w w w . u c a n l e t g o . c o m For a pampering retreat in Chi-na, Let-it-Go offers a 12-day retreat which includes medita-tion and Letting go (emotional wellness) workshops, sightsee-ing, and theater performance in China’s most important cities, including Beijing, Xi’an, Hang-zhou, Wuzhen, and Shanghai. There are hundreds of great family retreats in the United States, spanning almost all faiths and denominations. There are also hundreds of nondenomi-
national or meditative retreat centers with a spiritual but not a religious orientation. Here are some to get you started. For more information, log on to www.findthedivine.com, and review over 1,200 retreat cen-ters from around the country. w w w. n a rd a c e n t e r s . o r g NARDA, Ecumenical Chris-tian Association of Retreat and Renewal Centers and Leaders in North America, lists a few hundred Christian centers in the United States and Canada.
www.retreat f inder.com For retreats and retreat cen-ters spanning the spectrum of spiritual and healing traditions. When you find inner peace, you move the world toward peace. Dr. Zeal Okogeri is author of God’s Relentless Generosi-ties, and founder of Let-it-Go. He teaches the Light & Sound Current meditation and leads private and group conscious journeys around the world. He can be reached at: w w w . u c a n l e t g o . c o m o r w w w. d r z e a l . c o m
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HERE ARE good reasons to keep our eyes on the road while driv-ing, and to keep our minds on
the to-do list while navigating through our lives. Getting from here to there can be treacherous and challenging. So many dis-tractions can throw us off course, so we develop outer focus skills to live an efficient, effective life. Work disciplines help us hold everything together, to help us achieve our goals, to accom-plish our mission and purpose.
RETREAT TO TAKE TimE fOR REflECTiON
Yet, there are times we need to let the wheels come to rest, to grease the gears that keep us in motion and motivated. These are times we need to surrender our busyness, to rest and re-
charge. Going on a retreat can help us put down the list and the outward focus for a time, and to sink into a more internal place. Submerged in the waters of rest, relaxation and renewal, we can marinate in the juices of the things we really love and what matters most. We can luxuriate in letting our imagination flit-ter here and there, seeing pos-sibilities and remembering who we really are. Taking this time away from a busy life can help us breathe deeply and enjoy the life we experience each day. A retreat means removing ourselves for a time from our ordinary lives, to create a space around ourselves that allows re-flection. We can step back and observe how we typically inter-act with others and ourselves. Retreat provides the possibility of giving ourselves the nurturing and attention we so dearly need.
JOURNEY iNN OffERs THE PERfECT GETAwAY
For the past five years, we have enjoyed running Journey Inn, an eco-retreat. In the quiet setting we have witnessed many harried people arriving at our door. After relaxing into their time alone, with a loved one or engaging in a retreat/workshop weekend, they have left more set-tled and at ease. During their stay they may have received a mas-sage, learned to give a massage to their partner, walked our medi-tative labyrinth or nature paths, explored a creative practice, spent time in nature noticing the world around them or told their story to a guiding, listening ear. By slowing down and focusing on something other then daily du-ties, a calm rhythm was restored, an inner space created. From this
TSurrender your busyness and return to your center
RETREATs ANd GETAwAYs
CONTiNUEd PAGE 36..
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march 2012 35
BY CHARlENE TORCHiA ANd JOHN HUffAKER
Surrender your busyness and return to your center
36 www.esswellness.com
space arose the possibility for new insights, renewed energy, sense of self and bigger life perspective. Retreating away from home, at a place like Journey Inn, can provide a road map, a new model for life that involves a more in-ner focus, one that ultimately can feed a keener outer focus. In the retreat setting you experience a quieter mind and body, and the present moment is more at hand. Returning home and returning to the rush of life, you will remem-ber to pause, to give yourself what is needed to replenish body, mind and soul. Doing a retreat away can then be imported to home
and can become a natural, essen-tial part of everyday life, allowing
space to returning to your center.
Charlene Torchia and John Huf-faker are proprietors of Journey
Inn, an eco-re-treat. They recently opened EarthSky BodyMind Center, where they practice the healing arts of massage/energy therapy, life direc-tion coaching and The Passage Pro-gram for life tran-sitions. Through-
out the year they offer weekend retreats, such as Couple Massage,
Seasonal retreats, Meditation and more. Day visits are available, as are overnight stays in our nature-inspired Inn and Cottage. You can create your own retreat time at Journey Inn, picking from our menu of services and other opportunities: massage sessions, energy therapy, aromatherapy, life direction coach-ing, guided meditation, Japanese soaking tub, meditative Labyrinth, walking paths through meadows and woods, sitting in front of the woodstove fire during the winter and early spring, biking and hiking dur-ing the summer and autumn. 715-448-2424. www.journeyinn.net, www.ear thskybodymind.com
RETREATs ANd GETAwAYsSurrender Your Busyness continued...
march 2012 37
VIRTUWELLSWAP.COM GOES LIVES MARCH 15!
VirtuWellSwap is a barter marketplace website where folks seeking
wellness services or products (and related) can shop
to trade/swap for something of value with those who offer their wares.
Contact [email protected] for more info and intro prices!
www.virtuwellswap.com
Virtuwellswap is sponsored by Essential wellness/Twin Cities wellness, www.esswellness.com
38 www.esswellness.com
TOPiC
live well.