Circles of Healing

Wendy Hammarstrom

Special to the Village News

This is the first in an on-going exploration of wellness practitioners, past and present, in Fallbrook.

What is it about Fallbrook that attracts healer types?

When my family and I moved to Murrieta for my former husband's job as associate administrator at Inland Valley Hospital, I wanted to live in Fallbrook. It was green and hilly and reminded me of rural Pennsylvania.

Save Our Forest has planted more than 6,200 trees and shrubs since 1993, in addition to the native oaks, sage and other flora. There are 60 wholesale and retail nurseries in Fallbrook, hopefully pesticide free. Fallbrook is near the Pacific Ocean but far enough away from crowds and traffic, and we have a Mediterranean climate, avocados, vineyards and fruit orchards. Fallbrook is a green zone.

I have learned that when workers were digging a trench to install a water line on Fallbrook Street, they discovered giant smoky quartz crystals. Could that be affecting us? Ley lines, energetic lines below the earth, meet in a vortex nearby. De Luz Hot Springs attracted people looking for healing in the late 1890s and due to earth shifts has closed over. Lots of earth energy.

The village feel, starting when Fallbrook became a town around 1890, still prevails. Judy Way, who has been working in Fallbrook since 1990 and now specializes in craniosacral therapy and Pilates, has created a book called "Wise Women of a Small Village, A Celebration of the Women of Fallbrook" that is a beautiful example of this connectedness.

Bodyworkers Barbara Findler and Craig Lozzi held their grand opening of Fallbrook Wellness Spa in 1996. Kathy Richter, iridologist at Wellsprings Herbs, tells me there were one or two health food stores, Finnegan's Rainbow on East Mission and Rocky Peak Farms on Main Avenue. Today there are several places to get healthy snacks and a new farm-to-table restaurant is opening on North Main.

When I moved here two years ago, I was impressed to learn that yoga instructor Sandra Buckingham created and maintains a Fallbrook Wellness Directory. Today there are 65 practitioners offering over 100 holistic services, from massage and yoga to acupuncture, nutritional support and a myriad bodywork systems, from craniosacral to Bowenwork, lymphatic drainage, reiki, Rolfing, MELT, tai chi to vegetarian cooking, spa days and pet therapy, Fallbrook has it. To find a practitioner, visit http://www.fallbrookwellnessdirectory.com.

True, there is no hospital here, but Fallbrook Regional Health District hosts Woman of Wellness events, and there has been talk of Fallbrook becoming a Blue Zone. A new wellness center is in the works at the former site of a Lutheran church on East Mission.

By emphasizing nutrition and exercise to stay healthy, as well as by building connection and community, Fallbrook is bringing together a mix of ages, ethnic backgrounds and income brackets, for healing for all.

Wendy Hammarstrom has been practicing, teaching and writing about bodywork since 1976. Her book, "Circles of Healing, The Complete Guide to Healing with Massage and Yoga for Practitioners, Caregivers, Students and Clients" is available on Amazon or her website at http://www.circlesofhealingbook1.com.