by Bruce Stapley

A Hands on Approach to Healing

Free Press Readers who make a habit of perusing our ‘Better Health Care’ page each month will be greeted by a mix of services and practitioners who offer everything from fitness, dentures and orthodontics right through massage therapy using the principles of Ortho-Bionomy.

Today most people believe that a mix of traditional and alternative practices is required to achieve optimum health. Duane Swynarchuck is an example of a healer who marches to the beat of a different drummer.

Practising out of Phoenix Fitness on the service road next to Bruce’s Auto in the town’s west end, he bills himself as a certified reflexologist, energy worker and health consultant. Under his name on his business card are printed the following words: Healing the World One Soul at a Time. 

While his formal training is in the field of reflexology, he would rather talk about his personal journey as a healer, a process which saw him live alone in a remote mountain spot in British Columbia for five years, while studying with  shamans in the mountains of Peru and the jungles of Bolivia for another  four years.

Duane believes that true healing involves the engagement of mind, body and soul. Out of curiosity, I booked a session with him. He delved into the connection of the emotional with the physical, offering a personal assessment relating to my physical symptoms.

Divining a flaw in my right shoulder, the result of an ongoing rotator cuff irritation, he went to work using a combination of touch, and yoga-like breathing and meditation techniques. I was amazed to find that when I went to throw a football to my son the next day there was no soreness as there had been for the past four years, a condition I had come to accept as permanent. A month later I can still throw without a hint of pain.

Close friends and relatives have experienced their own transformations after seeking the services of alternative health care providers.  It is obvious that healing comes in many forms, and that there are those who use touch, natural products and other alternative techniques with great success.

As with finding a general practitioner or specialist in any field, it is important to do your homework and get a reference or two before choosing an alternative health care provider. There are many such qualified providers to consider in Whitchurch-Stouffville.

Five Years of Delicious Delicacies

Reesor Farm Kitchen celebrated its fifth anniversary on Ringwood Drive Nov. 7 with an open house featuring an array of scrumptious offerings.

Owner Jay Reesor, who also operates the Reesor Farm Market on Ninth Line just south of Stouffville, has developed a philosophy of food preparation best summed up by the store’s motto: It’s good to know your food. The kitchen’s 100 plus culinary creations are made with ingredients “just like you would use at home”, according to Jay. The shelves are also stocked with food items, coffee, honey, maple syrup and jams made by other local producers.

What is the best seller in the Reesor line-up? “The Molasses Crinkle Cookies and the Chicken Pies are still the favourites,” said Jay. The store employs 10 people, six of whom create the wondrous baked goods, entrees and other original food items. And if you haven’t tried their Rhubarb Streusel Muffins, available Mondays and Fridays, you’re in for the treat of a lifetime!

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