Medical Guide: Naturally Yours

Dance, Dance Revolution

Amidst a world of "no pain; no gain" exercise, MuvE fitness center offers an alternative voice that lets your body speak for itself. Nia, a type of fitness class that combines healing arts, dance arts, and martial arts to create a fitness-fusion, is good for the body, mind,
and soul.

The fitness technique is designed to help relieve stress, increase flexibility, tone muscles, and improve cardiovascular systems, not to mention provide the mental benefits of well-rounded exercise. No membership is required for Nia classes at MuvE, and classes can be purchased individually or in a package, so it's easy to get started enjoying the exhilaration of movement.

Over the Counter

Creative Health, a center for alternative medicine, is changing the way Greenville views health, one customer at a time. With services ranging from Iridology (the study of the coloration of the eye) to massage therapy, the employees of Creative Health view wellness holistically and are passionate about helping their clients live healthier, happier, and more natural lives. Other services offered are nutritional counseling, colon hydrotherapy, acupuncture, stress management, life coaching, and holistic facials, not to mention a store stocked full of herbal medicine, natural foods, and more.

Terry Hall-Hines, owner and cancer survivor, says of her employees, "Everyone was brought here because of their own search for health." For that reason, the staff is exceptionally passionate about helping people find theirs, whether it's discovering a natural remedy for a preexisting ailment or, even better, guiding people toward a more holistic lifestyle with preventative measures for healthy living.

Acupuncture Ardor

Dr. Marina Ponton, acupuncture physician, works with everyone from cancer patients to those battling stress, and with twelve years of experience (plus a doctorate from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in Portland), she is passionate about helping people discover healthier lives. In addition to her acupuncture specialization, Ponton also offers aromatherapy, nutritional counseling, herbal compounding, and massage therapy at Greenville Natural Health Center. But most importantly, she works with patients to determine their specific health needs and how to best treat them, in her office or outside it.

Shiatsu Style

The practice of Shiatsu may not be as familiar as other forms of alternative medicine on the block, but Greenville's own Lorrin Okinaga of Healing Points is doing his part to change that. The Eastern medical practice, he says, considers the body as a big house with lots of closed doors. The purpose of Shiatsu is to open all those doors so the body can operate more freely.

By using specific massage techniques, Okinaga, who specializes in chronic headaches and lower back pain, works to open up meridian lines, streams of energy that run throughout the body, to work the whole body. Aside from the Shiatsu specifics, Okinaga tells patients the most important things they can do are laugh, breathe, and pause to smell the roses.