NEWSLETTER - JULY 2011



IN THIS ISSUE:

- July at Wilbur
- Monthly Special

- Alternative Medicine

- Notes from the Caretaker

THE WILBUR PHILOSOPHY
Sustaining Wilbur Hot Springs Hotel and Preserve as the perfect place to relax.

Please be mindful and drive 10 miles per hour while on Wilbur property. We all benefit from your cooperation.



SUMMER CLOSEDOWN
Wilbur will be closed August 15-25 for its annual summer cleanup.

A FREE FORM RETREAT
Wilbur Hot Springs is a free-form retreat, unobstructed by structure or dogma, self-directed by mutual respect, and is the creation of everyone who comes here. In short, it's organic." - RD

TIME TO SLOW DOWN

Warm summer nights floating in the pool under a blanket of stars. July 1st brings us a new moon which affords optimal sky watching. July 15, the full moon illuminates pathways for a moonlit stroll without a flashlight. The Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower peaks on July 29. The waning crescent moon presents no obstructions to viewing. The trail of meteors are remnants of a comet that no longer exists, but it gives some of us a little thrill to "wish upon a shooting star."

MONTHLY SPECIAL - FOR JULY & AUGUST

Half Off Wednesdays are back for July and August! Stay two nights, including a Wednesday night, in a room of equal value, and receive 50 percent off the Wednesday. Not valid during holiday periods or combinable with other discounts.

THIS MONTH WE FEATURE THAI PRACTICITIONER - ROBERT DE NIES

About six years ago when I applied to do bodywork at Wilbur Hot Springs, I wrote in my resume: "My goal is to do some of my best work at Wilbur." While it may have sounded good at the time, it has actually come true. This is through not only my own dedication to the craft, but from an unusual synergy of circumstance. Karen Kingston, a well known feng shui expert, talks a lot about providing a healing space. She writes, and I paraphrase: "Ninety percent of your work as a healer should already be done when the client enters the space."

At Wilbur, we have that space! By the time I see a client, they have soaked in the mineral-laden springs, gotten quiet, their cell phones are turned off, and they do not have to get back in their cars. This way, they can be fully present for our session. Similarly, I as a massage provider have done my work; a soak, some breathing practices, a little yoga. Now we are ready to do something special together! During your next visit to Wilbur, I encourage you to connect with a massage provider you feel drawn to and let the waters, the environment, and the bodywork touch you on a deep level.

Robert de Nies practices Thai Yoga Massage at Wilbur Hot Springs. Visit him at BodyMindWork.com, where you can read more and get his Wilbur schedule.

Thanks for scheduling your massage when you reserve your room.

Dear Friends of Wilbur:
In 1972 when I first visited Wilbur Hot Springs, the pull of the land, the waters and nature was so great, that, in 1974, I gave up my successful clinic on Sacramento Street in San Francisco, and moved to Wilbur full time. I also had enough of the fear-driven socioeconomic stratification that was being created in our country, and I wanted out of the system. I knew from childhood experience that in the game of monopoly, the person who gets Board Walk and Park Place, and a few other choice properties, ends the game with all the money on the table and that was clearly the direction our country was headed.

In 1980, I came out of Wilbur, full of high energy, to turn back the cocaine epidemic which killed my friend, Roberta, whom I had met at Wilbur and who had met her husband at Wilbur.

Some of you may remember, that I then created the Cokenders Alcohol and Drug Program (CADP) which brought holistic health into national drug treatment. Instead of taking my profoundly addicted patients to an institutional hospital, I brought them to Wilbur, one week per month, for an intensive week of residential treatment and education.

During their one week, they participated in 30 hours of group therapy, which I personally led, and received nutrition training, aerobic training, meditation training, cognitive training, Yoga and massage. In addition to the loving atmosphere created by my staff, Wilbur's healing waters (balneology) served as the detoxification medicine. In the 1980s, I detoxed approximately 1500 people from all combinations of licit and illicit drugs without hospitalizing or medicating one person. We eventually turned the spreading cocaine epidemic. Of course other drugs, called prescription medication, stepped in and there was created an epidemic of prescription drug abuse, which is now inter generational and pervasive.

In the 1990s, I took the structure of the Cokenders Alcohol and Drug Program and designed personal private residential treatment programs which I have been conducting these past 20 years. My patients live on my property for various periods of time ranging from one week to one year. My research indicates that this intensive residential treatment yields significant and dramatic results which are difficult, if not impossible, to achieve in traditional office visits.

In the Fall of 2011, I shall launch a new health program at Wilbur Springs. The program will include consultations, consciousness expansion, nutrition, exercise, balneology, Nature Preserve experience, personal reflection, massage, yoga, journal writing and art. Also, a lifestyle changing weight loss program is on the drawing board.

Of course Wilbur will remain open to all of you for joyously "doing your own thing."

Wishing you great health,
Richard