August 19: Third Root’s FIRST Anniversary! Come out to Cortelyou Rd and Celebrate!

EVOLVING Healthcare August 19, 6-11pm: Third Root’s Anniversary Event

Third Root is about to turn ONE YEAR OLD! That’s right, we've been providing accessible, empowering, collaborative healthcare for a year already, and we’re having a party to celebrate! Please join us August 19 from 6-11pm for an evening of live music, testimonies of our work in the last year, a heartfelt goodbye to Green Weyland-Llewellin, a founding member of Third Root, and a Raucus Welcome to Telesh Lopez, new Community Development Organizer, and two other (yet to be announced, drum roll please...) new staff at Third Root.

Will there be Food? Will there be drinks? Yes! We are going to have a barbeque, and Sycamore is offering a special “Third Root” drink with rooty liquers and tastiness!

Bands to Perform:

• DanceAlisaDance (www.myspace.com/dancealisadance)


• My Gay Banjo (www.facebook.com/mygaybanjo)


• Bell’s Roar (www.myspace.com/bellsroar)


• The Rude Mechanical Orchestra (www.rudemechanicalorchestra.org)

Where: Sycamore Bar, 1118 Cortelyou Road between Westminster and Stratford (Q to Cortelyou)

Get out your calendars: August 19, 2009, 6-11pm

Do I get a take home souvenier to remember this momentous achievement? Yes! Local artists have designed Third Root posters to auction off, and we will have Third Root tote bags for sale! If you didn’t get a tote bag last year to cart your goods around the city, or want ample reasons to bring Third Root into casual conversation, we have your back!

How much? Will it be sliding scale? You know it! $10-20 at the door, with more opportunities to give if you’ve got it!

Can I bring a friend? Can I bring five? Oh yes please! This bar and this event is baby- and child-friendly so no need to get a sitter for this night! We have been building a Host Committee of people who commit to bring 5-7 people — if you’re not on it yet but want to be, let us know!

See you then on the 19th!

Angela, Green, Jacoby, Ji-Hye, John, Julia, Romina, and Telesh
Third Root Community Health Center Cooperative Members
380 Marlborough Rd (Q to Cortelyou)
Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York
www.thirdroot.org
info@thirdroot.org
718-940-9343

Important Announcement!

Hello Students,

We will be doing some construction on our basement in March and will need to cancel some 9am classes. We will not be having 9am classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays between March 5th and March 19th. All other classes will continue as normal. Tuesday and Thursday 9am classes will resume on March 24th. We apologize for the inconvenience; we are renovating our basement to be able to offer more services in the near future!

Enjoy the weekend!

Third Root Community Health Center
www.thirdroot.org

Community Workshop Change Jan 24 - Worm Composting!

Please note our schedule has changed! In place of the Kundalini Yoga workshop on Saturday, January 24 at 1.30pm, we are happy to host:

Table to Garden Compost Workshop with Stella Fiore, Master Composter
$5-$10 per person
Learn how to transform your food scraps into compost, an all-natural fertilizer and soil remediation tool. You’ll divert your waste from the landfill and nourish house plants and outdoor vegetables. This workshop will focus on indoor vermicompost systems for city dwellers. Come learn about worms and their compost bins at this fun and informative demo and Q&A. Bring the kids!

Stella Fiore is a Master Composter with the NYC Compost Project. She has an outdoor bin system plus two worm bins in her Gowanus kitchen. Stella is also marketing director of EmbraceOnlyLove.com and a freelance writer whose work has appeared in iVillage, DailyCandy and the Magazine of La Cucina Italiana. She is a member of the Park Slope Food Coop.

Please join us!

Third Root Community Health Center
380 Marlborough Rd
Brooklyn NY 11226
718-940-9343
www.thirdroot.org
info@thirdroot.org

Third Root Update - January 15

Hello and Happy Winter!

Things are booming at Third Root since the New Year, and we continue to get more press and more volunteers. In response to ally organizations and the interests of the community around Third Root, we are working on building more yoga programs for specific communities: Yoga for Re-entry, a program for the formerly incarcerated; Yoga for HIV and AIDS; and Yoga for Veterans! Currently we are building our relationships with these communities and the organizations that serve and represent them, so stay tuned this spring!

In this email:

• Put Third Root in Your 2009 Giving Plan


• Third Root's Herbal Education Program


• Yoga Program Update


• January and February Community Health Workshops

Put Third Root in Your 2009 Giving Plan!
Third Root Community Health Center has been built from small donations and loans from our communities. Although our services are now meeting our costs and paying us a (small) wage, we still have more programs to build, outreach to do, renovations to finish in the basement, and a few other details to seal. We are trying to raise $12,000 by the end of March 2009.

We know that you come to us for healthcare, for classes, and pay for our services. In addition to providing healthcare to you, we are also building a new model of holistic care, trying to prove that everyone can receive this care AND we can simultaneously sustain ourselves as a small business. Race, gender, immigration status, gender identity, ability, age, and so many other factors consistently push communities away from quality care — Third Root strives to address those factors in our very structure! Please consider making a donation of $20-$250 in the coming months to ensure that our doors stay open and we continue to offer you quality care and programs. Go to our website at thirdroot.org and press the “Donate” button or send it to our address at the bottom of this update — thank you greatly!

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Third Root’s Herbal Education Program Begins February 21!
Announcing Third Root’s Herbal Education Program! This will be a 12-week introductory herbalism course beginning on February 21. This course will take place Saturdays at Third Root from 3-6pm and costs $600. Scholarships and payment plans are available — just email us at events@thirdroot.org or call us at 718-940-9343.

You will learn about more than 30 local medicinal plants that grow through the cracks in our own streets, which body systems they help and how that system works, how to make medicine from these local medicinal herbs, and how to identify them in the wild. We ask that you be committed to the entire 12-week session and bring an open heart. If you are interested, please attend the Information Session at 3pm on February 7.

About the instructors:
Jacoby Ballard is one of the founders of Third Root Community Health Center in Flatbush, and has been an herbalist for five years after attending the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine. He has taught workshops around Brooklyn and the Northeast for the past few years and is excited to put it into one cohesive program! Jacoby believes in re-learning these ancient traditions of empowering healthcare that we have lost in our communities.

Karen Rose is a mother of three and a certified herbalist in Western Medicine. Karen is charismatic with a passion for teaching herbal medicine. Karen has been teaching herbal medicine since 2003. She combines challenging study with humor and a grand sense of adventure.

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Yoga Program Update
New Yoga Class: Yoga for Youth! Every Saturday 12.15-1.15pm, ages 11 to 18 for youth interested in building flexibility, balance, and strength. Beginners are welcome: wear comfortable clothes that can stretch.

Yoga en Español and Yoga Without Limits are frozen until further notice. These are both programs that we are committed to at Third Root, but with low attendance in the last few months have realized that we need to build more relationships with the surrounding Latino community and healthcare providers and community centers that serve differently-abled people. Please look for the return of these classes in the coming months.

You have asked for it: Third Root will soon be offering Prenatal Yoga. So far we have heard from our students that most prenatal classes in Brooklyn are during the day, which makes it difficult for pregnant people who need to work. We want to hear from you when will be the best time for you pregnant ones to have this class: Sundays at 12pm, Sundays at 3pm, or Tuesdays at 5pm? Let us know in the next few weeks; we hope to have this program going by the first week of February.

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Upcoming Community Health Workshops in January and February

January 17, 1.30pm
Prevention and Treatment of the Flu with Homeopathy with Erika Simonian
$5-$10
Homeopathy is a holistic system of healing that is incredibly effective in treating acute illnesses such as winter flus, coughs and colds. Remedies are chosen based on a combination of physical, mental and emotional symptoms, with an emphasis on what is unique about each individual case. We’ll discuss how to prescribe homeopathic remedies at home for these typical winter acutes, covering several remedy pictures and learning how to take an acute case in order to find the most specific remedy for each situation. Homeopathic remedies are natural, non-toxic and non-invasive and have been shown to be efficacious in rapidly turning around acute situations.

Erika Simonian is a classical homeopath with a private practice in Manhattan. She is a graduate of the School of Homeopathy, NY and her post-graduate study includes clinic work in India with Rajan Sankaran’s Bombay School. For more information, visit her website at ny-homeopathy.com.


January 31, 1.30pm
Fighting Fatigue with Summer Kriegshauser
$10-$20
A 1 1/2 hour workshop giving information about how to rid yourself of fatigue. Summer will discuss some causes of fatigue, from stress to unhealthy diet, and how everyone can make adjustments using diet and lifestyle and fight the fatigue that is found in their daily lives.

Summer Kriegshauser is a chef and nutrition coach that specializes in healthy, whole, organic food and the power of food and natural remedies to heal the body and bring it back into balance. She cooks for people who are fatigued, giving them a diet that will assist their personal needs, and she coaches people via phone who fight fatigue regularly.


February 7, 1.30pm
Build your Immune System Naturally with Karen Rose, local herbalist
You can prevent the flu and other ailments! This workshop will cover the use of herbs, how the immune system works, and which herbs benefit the immune system. Come learn how to take care of yourself and your loved ones this winter season!

Karen Rose is a mother of three and a certified herbalist in Western Medicine. Karen is charismatic with a passion for teaching herbal medicine. Karen has been teaching herbal medicine since 2003. She combines challenging study with humor and a grand sense of adventure.


February 14, 1.30pm
Partner Yoga! with Ambyr and Rebecca, Third Root Yoga Instructors
$25 for two, $15 for one
Take some time to have fun and unwind this Valentine’s Day. Bring a partner with you — or find one at the workshop! Stretch as a team, and find your inner strength together. The first half of the workshop will include a warm-up, deep breathing, and some partner yoga poses. The second half will be an introduction to thai yoga massage, allowing time for each partner to give and receive a massage. Thai yoga therapy is a great way to release tension in the legs, hips, and lower back, and is done with loose-fitting yoga-type clothing on the floor. Please wear long yoga pants to the workshop.

Ambyr D’Amato received her 500-hour Advanced Teacher’s Certification from Atmananda Yoga in New York City. Ambyr is an Anatomy for Yoga teacher and also teaches Prenatal Yoga and Thai Yoga Therapy. She credits yoga and healthy lifestyle as the primary method for successfully losing over one hundred pounds. She inspires her students to understand that a safe, fun, and vigorous Vinyasa flow is part of a healthy practice for most body types. A composer, singer, and songwriter, Ambyr holds a degree in performance arts from American Musical and Dramatic Academy.


February 21, 1.30 pm
Leisure Awareness with Joel Jules, Third Root Yoga Instructor
$10-$20
This is an interactive workshop where participants are given a chance to explore the different ways that they use leisure/recreational activities for overall wellness. Discussion is made on how different cultures perceive leisure participation and the effect it has on the culture and its individuals. Hand outs will be given, and participants will share how they are involved with leisure participation in these five areas: physical, social, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual.

Joel Jules has had an M.A. in leisure awareness and therapeutic recreation. He has conducted this workshop with the mental health community, seniors, differently-abled people, and social services.

Thank you once again for all of your support in a myriad of ways. So many people have helped us build this place, from dozens of volunteers to those who have given small loans and gifts. Thank you — you are part of Third Root.

Much love to our Beloved Community,

Angela, Green, Jacoby, Ji-Hye, John, Julia, and Romina
Third Root Community Health Center Practitioners and Cooperative Members
380 Marlborough Rd, Brooklyn, NY 11218
Q Train to Cortelyou Rd.
718-940-9343
www.thirdroot.org

P.S. To our Loose Leaves blog readers: If you want to receive these updates via email, drop a line to jacoby@thirdroot.org and ask to be added to our mailing list.

Third Root Update - December 11

Greetings and Well-Wishes Third Root Supporters, Students, Clients, Partners, and other Wonderfuls —

In November, we added 6 new yoga classes, after gathering input from the students. One of these classes is New York City’s first and only yoga class for differently abled people, called Yoga Without Limits. We have had some outstanding workshops on Saturdays — on topics ranging from Herbs for Children to HIV Prevention Justice — partnering with local practitioners and organizations to empower the health of the Flatbush and Kensington neighborhoods! Check our website or stop in to see what’s next!

If you have had a grand experience at Third Root as a client or working with us as an organization, help us by spreading the word— give us a testimonial to post on our website by emailing feedback@thirdroot.org or post a review at yelp.com. This will help bring more people to us and keep us moving towards more of our goals!

In this email:

• Gift your Favorite Activist!


• In the spirit of giving: give a Community Health Scholarship!


• Third Root on ABC!


• New Years Day: Special Yoga Classes


• Third Root Holiday Schedule


• Third Root Herbal Education Program


• Upcoming Workshops

Gift your Favorite Activist!
One of Third Root’s priorities is to support social justice organizing with an attention to self-care in a space where your work and identity is acknowledged and loved. As we head into the holiday season, consider giving your favorite activist a few yoga classes, an acupuncture session, or a nutritional consultation at Third Root. We now have gift certificates available for you to spread the love! We know activists, organizers, and other social workers work so hard — they need some self-care!

Of course, even if your loved ones aren’t activists, give the gift of self-care this holiday season. Do you have family coming home for the holidays? Does a special someone have some days off at the end of the year — the perfect time for a yoga class or acupuncture treatment? In the chaos of New York City and the excitement and bustle surrounding us, everyone could use this gift!

Stop in for a gift certificate or you can buy one online at www.thirdroot.org — click the donate button. You don’t need to have a PayPal account — just a credit/debit card. Enter the amount of your donation, click “Update Total,” then look for the credit card signs on the lower left of the page, and click “Continue.” You’ll be asked to fill in your billing information. Once you’ve submitted that information, you’ll receive a confirmation email in your Inbox shortly.


Third Root Community Health Scholarships — Give the Gift of Health!
Third Root knows that healthcare can be expensive and out of reach for many people. To this end we have a sliding scale fee process, as many of you know. However, many cannot afford the bottom of that scale, and for those folks, we offer Community Health Scholarships. These scholarships are paid for by generous Third Root supporters who want another person in the community to receive the healthcare that we offer.

We are receiving more and more scholarship applicants and would like to be able to support them all. Many of these applicants have not received adequate care for years because of the cost. Please consider a gift of $50, $100 or up to $500 toward the healthcare of another in the Flatbush community. Your entire gift will go directly into the scholarship fund!


Recent Media on ABC!
We had some surprising and effective news coverage from WABC New York three weeks ago. The one-minute segment played at 6am on a Monday morning and looped through New York City taxi cabs for the next week and covered a yoga class, some herbal medicine making, and a community acupuncture treatment and interviewed several . We were especially pleased to see our Sliding Scale featured — bringing the conversation about disparate incomes to mainstream television. To see the segment, go to http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6509152.

Special New Year’s Day Yoga Classes:
A Practice for Change: 11am-12.30pm
Opening your Heart to This Moment: 12.30-2pm
The parties are over, the presents are opened, and it’s time to begin the new year. What better way to start than with a beautiful yoga and meditation practice! Join Third Root for a class focused on connecting with the body and breath and setting intentions for the new year. Start off 2009 with balance and equanimity, sealing in your intentions for the year! Together we will create a quality of joy, justice, and community that we can carry forward to our lives in the months ahead. Pre-registration is recommended in order to guarantee your spot.

Third Root Holiday Schedule
Third Root will continue to offer our herbal and nutritional consultations, massage, and private acupuncture services throughout the Kwanzaa, Christmas, Solstice, Hanukah, and New Years season. Call us for an appointment!

We will be offering Community Acupuncture on December 24, 26, and 31 by appointment only. Please let us know if you are interested in coming in by emailing appointments@thirdroot.org.

Our yoga program will be limited to 1 class per day from December 22-January 1. Please see our website for details.

Announcing the Third Root Herbal Education Program
After two successful workshops on Herbs for Infants and Herbs for Children, Third Root herbalist Jacoby Ballard and Third Root Community Advisory Board Member Karen Rose are teaming up this spring to offer an ongoing herbal education program. Many of you have been hankering to dive deeper into how to use medicinal herbs and holistic methods for differing circumstances. Keep a look out for our 13-class program to be launched in March of this coming year or email jacoby@thirdroot.org for more information.


Upcoming Workshops in January
Please register with Third Root if interested at info@thirdroot.org or 718.940.9343
**more workshops to be added soon!**

January 3, 1pm
Yoga for Young Adults (ages 14-23) with Jenna Ritter, founder of Dhara
Free
Donations Welcome
Bring in 2009 by learning about the power of your own breath and connect in with your own self-healing! Practices taught bring immediate stress relief, relaxation and balance to your body and mind. In this class you will learn a breathing practice to bring relaxation and focus, as well as easy to learn gentle yoga stretches and qi gong sequences that reinvigorate the whole system. The session will close with a guided
meditation. Movement and breathwork taught can easily be integrated into daily life.
No prior experience necessary.

January 10, 1pm
Wild Fermentation with Sandor Katz
$5-10
Come experience how simple it is to make your own kimchi, kefir, and other fermented
delicacies. Learn about the healing qualities and nutritional importance of live-culture ferments, as well as their illustrious history and integral role in human cultural evolution. Empower yourself with simple techniques for fermenting these healthful foods in your home. Be part of the fermentation revival!

Much love, warmth, and nourishing change as the new year approaches,

The Third Root Practitioners: Angela, Green, Ji-Hye, Jacoby, John, Julia, Romina
Third Root Community Health Center
380 Marlborough Road (Q to Cortelyou Rd)
Brooklyn, NY 11226
www.thirdroot.org
info@thirdroot.org

Thanksgiving Holiday Closings

Greetings friends,

In observance of Thanksgiving, Third Root Community Health Center will not offer yoga classes or community style acupuncture on Thursday or Friday 11/27-11/28. All other days that week will have regular schedules for yoga and community acupuncture, including Wednesday and Saturday.

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

John Halpin
Third Root Practitioner

Third Root is going to be on TV!

Hello Third Root Friends and Family!

This past Tuesday, a TV crew from WABC came into Third Root and filmed a treatment, herbal medicine making, a yoga class, and did a few interviews! We are going to air on Monday, November 17th at 6am, so I am looking for kind earlybirds out there who may have access to a TV and VCR, and would be willing to tape it for us?! WABC itself isn’t allowed to give out tapes of what they show, they told us, because that would be all they did — make copies of their shows for people they featured on it.

Thanks! Let me know!

Jacoby