A bit on some great SE Portland services.

Posted on January 26, 2012 by danielcaplan
From Karen Hery at The Sunnyside Swap Shop.  I’m always grateful for the mention.
DC
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I don’t know which is more common: making New Year’s resolutions or breaking them.  When I look back at the major changes I’ve been able to make over the years, every success I’ve had has been with some really key support along the way.
Let’s face it, if we could easily make the change we need all on our own . . .  we already would have done it.
So I rely on friends to see me through.  I think most of you reading this could agree that I have a very broad definition of friend which has served me well and I hope, by the end of this email, will be serving you well too.
In the eat better, exercise more, hurt less and enjoy our lives to the fullest effort, there are no shortage of ways to get there . . .  just a shortage of hours in the day and dollars in the bank to help get us there.
Whether you need an affordable place to work out, massage, accupuncture and medical care that is as effective as it is frugal, a great source for healthy food that stretches your food budget, or even a path to fertility that doesn’t match up with college tuitions . . . this is a well rounded list of Roost Sponsors who have become great friends along the way for many of us.
I’ve enjoyed celebrating the one year anniversary with Dan Caplan, the man behind our super local health club, the Green Micro Gym.  Tucked between the Side Street Tavern and a little clothing store just off Belmont on 34th, his main floor of weight machines and loft full of cardio equipment is in it’s second winter.  Everything’s going great and, thankfully, still not crowded even in the peak of the January exercise fever.
There is no slick advertising campaign going on to drive up the cost for those of us already lifting, spinning and treading.  Sponsoring teens at The Roost and good old fashion word of mouth is all Dan has used to fill this “club for the rest of us” as he likes to call it.  This is a get right to business gym.  He knows we don’t have all afternoon or evening to socialize at our health club like we maybe used to B.K. (before kids).  This is the kind of place you can come and go at your own pace with great support from him as the owner and a long time personal trainer.
Want to see a certain piece of equipment added to the mix . . . ask.  Need to adjust your workout to some new needs you didn’t used to have, he’ll understand and have suggestions.  If you need a personal trainer to stay motivated- there are five great ones to chose from and surely one who is going to be a good match for you.
The $100 joining fee can be shared by two people (paying on the same card) and monthly contributions are $36 for one person, $66 for two.  Tread around long enough on the cardio equipment (most of which feeds electricity back into the grid) and you can earn some of that back in $10 gift certificates (no additional purchase necessary) for some great businesses on or near Belmont.
My only request is that you stay off the rowing machine while I’m there because our Roost sponsor masseuse, Dana Buhl, and I fight over it every time we get there at the same time.  But the nice thing about our tug-of-war is . . . when Dan isn’t there to show me how to best row . . . Dana is.  She’s been my “body mechanic” for several years now.  If you need someone to really listen to what hurts and gently get you back to a better place, I can’t think of a better person to recommend.  She has discounted rates for Swap Shop families and for anyone who walks or rides to her top of the Victorian house studio on 30th between Belmont and Hawthorne.  If our current weather pattern holds, you might even get some vitamin D on the way.
If you time it all just right, you can get out of your massage appointment and just keep walking to Brion Oliver’s front porch on Salmon and 24th to pick up your monthly assortment of well sourced organic food at better than grocery store prices.  Anybody reading this who is guilty of bad snacking habits (like me) may find that Our Community Pantry food orders are a great cure for bad calories.  Brion takes the time to figure out where the freshest organic nuts, dried fruits, easy grains, quick snacks of seaweed and more are all around the planet and goes out of his way to support local providers and vendors.  The locally made ready-to-eat beans are my favorite – heated up faster than kids can start whining and one of the quickest, healthiest lunches I eat.  They are available weekly and the rest once a month in quantities you can munch on all month long and still have a few bites left by the time his next email comes in to remind you it’s order time again.
We have Brion’s passion for well sourced food to thank for the fact that our money is going more directly to small growers and producers, less to buidings, overhead and food conglomerates so you can get better food from well treated people at lower costs.  If you are ready to give something new a try, On-line orders for this month are due by noon this upcoming Friday.  Whether you delight in good food stewardship or just need to get business done . . .it’s shopping you can do from your computer late at night and a bag of groceries you can pick up with your kids still in the car.
Sometimes a good workout, a paid or gifted massage and some healthy food just aren’t enough.  The fear of a down-the-road trip to the ER or even the cost of a basic doctor’s visit to sort it all out is financially daunting.  The most accessible and flexible option I’ve found for everything from that issue that just cropped up to the really chronic stuff is the combination of services at The Herb Shoppe on Hawthorne.  If this is the year that you are determined to grow your own knowledge of herbs for you and your family, hop on line to find out about their free evening lectures that go on almost every week in the back of the shop.
For what ever ails you, just 5 minutes talking to their staff in person or on the phone and you can have options for all sorts of medicinal teas, tinctures, salves and capsules patiently prepared - not only for your unique symptoms but also for the most likely ways for you to take your medicine.  Dr. JJ Purcell and our own co-op member Dr. Jeniffer Curtiss are full service medical providers with traditional and alternative forms of treatment to offer in full hour appointments (not 15 minute fly bys) for very reasonable rates.
Sometimes we need something so unique, we don’t even know where to start looking.  Whether the word fertility inspires you to read on or makes you think the next paragraph coming up is not for you . . . there is one thing for all of us in the description below for co-op member Reyni Racklin’s upcoming fertility yoga series.  Just take the words yoga, fertility and reproduction out of her class description, insert you most pressing life issue instead and ask yourself how many of the things being offered would make a difference in your life.  In our most trying times we aren’t so sure someone else will really understand and we can’t always see how a journal page or a bit of seaweed or that weird funky stretch or a room full of other people chatting is going make it all better.  The best thing I’ve learned to do is try something new each year long enough for it to sink in and shift my life around.
So here is is . . . the fertility yoga class description for a March – April class.  May you find your next life step in it. . .
Yoga can be a powerful and transformative practice. Whether you are trying to conceive naturally, through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), or with the assistance of third party reproduction, this six week series will support you physically, emotionally, and spiritually along your path. The benefits of yoga for fertility include: stress reduction, increased blood flow to the reproductive organs; energy, hormone, and mood balancing; release of emotional tensions and toxins, and social support. We will come together using asanas (poses), breath work, meditation, journaling, and art to create a safe and nurturing space for healing and fertility enhancement. Please bring a journal or notebook to the first class. Art supplies will be provided. 
If you are curious about fertility yoga, you can find Reyni to ask her about it at our monthly general co-op yoga class this Friday 11:15-12:15 in the parlor room down the hall from the swap shop or read about registration at PureHeart Yoga.  All our other health enhancing sponsors are listed below and on our web site: www.sunnysideswapshop.org
May 2012 be a year of health and balance and (for the sustainability of our co-op) lots of fertility.
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The Herb Shoppe:
3327 SE Hawthorne Blvd.  Portland, OR 97214
503-234-7801
(Enable Javascript to see the email address)Shop hours:
Monday-Friday 11-7pm, Saturday 10-6pm
Sunday 12-5pmDoctor’s visits by appointment.

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Our Community Pantry
Real Food Purchased Together
www.ourcommunitypantry.com  for orders by this Friday at noon
(Enable Javascript to see the email address) for getting on the email newsletter list
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Dana Buhl, LMT
1128 SE 30th Ave. (just 5 blocks from the Swap Shop)
(Enable Javascript to see the email address)
Dana has afternoon and evening appointments on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Morning and afternoon appointments are available on Fridays.
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The Green Microgym
Daniel Caplan
828 SE 34th Avenue, Suite B
http://belmontpdx.thegreenmicrogym.com
(Enable Javascript to see the email address)
(503) 313-6216
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One Year.

Posted on December 1, 2011 by danielcaplan

Thanks to everyone for their kind support and assistance on our one year anniversary.  In particular, thanks to all our members.  You’ve made this place live, breathe and grow.  You’re THE reason we’re the best gym in Portland.

 

DC

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Press that truly matters.

Posted on November 1, 2011 by danielcaplan

As much as I love my gym (and love endeavoring to make it better and better), I’m still a bit sheepish when it comes to self-promotion.  It just doesn’t come as naturally to me as it does for some.  That said, thank god for people like Karen Hery and her wonderful organization, The Sunnyside Sway Shop.  I’m a long-time and proud sponsor, as you may know.   Here’s another glowing write-up she recently submitted to her members.  Karen’s a gym member, neighborhood resident and tireless community advocate.  She knows and loves this neighborhood like no other, so to get her continued endorsement means everything.  Thanks again, Karen.

 

DC

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The rain brings happy families into the swap shop, our middle schoolers even more happily into The Roost and many of us back into the work out gym too.
If all you need is a reminder that the Green Micro Gym exists (a mere block from the Swap Shop) then I have done my duty as a promoter of our fine local micro business scene.
If you need a reminder of what personal time even looks like . . .
The Green Micro Gym just might be a place to get some of it back.
When Dan Caplan picked out the equipment and opened up a green minded work out spot last fall, he wasn’t setting up a work out room for the guy who spends hours and hours in the gym “pumping iron.”  He was thinking of the rest of us who have a precious bit of time to exercise and want to spend it well.
When you get a tour of the Green Micro Gym it won’t be from the most recently hired employee making just a bit above minimum wage.  Dan is a simple, straight forward, one-man show.  He knows you are going to stay where you feel welcome and use the machines you really understand so he takes the time to tailor your tour to what you most need to know.
If you know you’d do better, especially at the start, with a personal trainer, Dan, or a few other great people who have gotten involved in the last year, can be that important force of inspiration for a reasonable fee.  If all you really need is to be well trained on the equipment (as a first timer or lapsed gym goer), Dan does that very well on an ongoing basis for free.
I appreciated the tour he gave me when I joined last fall.  I’m my own one woman flash mob when I work out . . . . in and out before anyone even realizes I’m there (or my muscles get a chance to protest).  When I joined Dan helped me find several major muscle group ways to hit all the important spots without a lot of repetition.
This week I asked him to show me one more thing to do that wasn’t already in my routine.  He listened to what I was doing and added another arm and shoulder exercise.
Even if you can’t imagine adding one more thing into your life, Dan has a way of making working out almost painless.  Pandora is waiting for you to type in your favorite artist on the sound system.  You have a four digit code to the front door (just like we do at the swap shop) and you can come in  5am to 11pm any day of the week.
The two three month memberships that Dan generously donated to the Autumfest have been scooped up already so you will have to pay the $100 joining fee (good for two people if you are taking the road to better health with a loved one) and $36 for one person, $66 for a couple.  All for the privilege of working out in an easy place to care about the environment since the cardio machines feed back into the grid and the lights only get flipped on in the areas someone is really using.
Taking some personal time to work out needs to be easy or we won’t do it with so many other things asking for our attention.  So glad Dan is running a great gym in Sunnyside.  Hope you are too.
The Green Microgym

Daniel Caplan

828 SE 34th Avenue, Suite B (just off Belmont across the street from the Hobnob Grill)


(503) 313-6216
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Bodyworlds inspiration.

Posted on October 28, 2011 by danielcaplan

If you peruse past blog posts you’ll notice a slight fixation of mine on the brain/body connection and its relation to exercise.  Don’t get me wrong, how the body adapts to movement holds a very important place in the field and in my own practice.  But what’s left to learn about the brain, emotion, cognition, productivity and exercise could take teams of researchers many lifetimes to fully cover.  I predict exercise physiology will start shifting research in this direction over the next many years.

 

All that said, I want to share one thing (of many) that stuck with me this past weekend when I toured the Bodyworlds exhibit at OMSI.  This particular show (which was awesome, please go see it) focused on the brain.  Fun fact from the show: our minds peak creatively during physical exercise.  Experiencing a creative lapse?  Try to experiment this week with exercise and your creative outlets.  Walk, run, play a sport, go to the gym and either during or immediately following devote some time to your craft and measure how ideas and concepts seem to flow.

DC

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Another nice piece from The Swap Shop.

Posted on August 10, 2011 by danielcaplan

Thanks to Karen Hery from The Sunnyside Swap Shop for another flattering mention!

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I can think of only a handful of reasons to go indoors this time of year in Portland. It’s a wise time of year to cook, eat, play and exercise outdoors as much as possible to stock up on some great summer memories to hold us over in the colder, wetter months that have already squeezed our summertime enough this year.

Still, I’m sitting down at the computer on a Saturday in August to urge, encourage, cajole and coax as many swap shop members as possible to remember our Roost sponsoring massage therapist, Dana Buhl and sponsoring work out place, the Green Micro Gym in the middle of the summertime.

For the same reason that I seem to forget during the holiday season what a successive diet of sweets and fatty things can do to me, I can also forget that sunshine and running around aren’t the only pillars of good physical health in the summer months.

Dana is fond of saying that motion is the lotion for all our joints and muscles. Without it, our muscles get all sorts of little abrasions that give us that stiff, stuck feeling. To get back on track or to stay there, we really need a steady diet of muscle massage and exercise.

We certainly don’t need to head to the gym to go running or rowing or cycling this time of year. Still, unless I spend as much time on the jungle gym as my kids do, I do a whole lot better when I keep reaching for the weights and visiting my masseuse all year round to help keep my muscles and joints remembering what they are good for.

I like to think of the Green Micro Gym as my jungle gym. It’s a jungle gym for adults, just a block off Belmont and a few blocks away from the swap shop, with Dan Caplan – owner and long time personal trainer – ready and waiting to give tours and help set up a quick weights-only summer workout that leaves each of us plenty of time to run around outdoors.

It’s been a while since I joined so I went on line to check rates and was delighted to find you can actually join on line (and be working out tomorrow). $100 joining fee (couples join on the same one joining fee) and $36 per month, pretty similar to a swap shop membership.

If Dan’s place is our jungle gym, then Dana’s house-top massage studio is our nap time. One hour on Dana’s massage table is like 20 toddler naps rolled into one. What ever I’ve done to overwork or ignore various parts of my body, she has a beautiful way of setting it all right again.

Of course, the way we busy adults live our lives, an hour of laying still while still awake could be worth paying for even if it didn’t come with Dana’s many years of experience with all types of massage and cranial sacral therapy. She charges $70 for the hour, $65 if you let her know you are a swap shop member (the same local’s discount she gives for biking or walking to her studio instead of driving.)

And here’s my real pitch for the week . . . parents need a break from kids and vice versa. Time at the Green Micro Gym or Dana’s massage studio is kid free time and there isn’t enough to be said about how important that is. We’re better, healthier parents when we take great care of ourselves. Sometimes we need a little nudge (or a gift certificate or annual membership from a loved one) to remember that.

The Green Micro Gym makes it easy to find kid free time with 5am to 11pm access (no perky attendant wanting to see your card just the same simple keypad access as the swap shop).

One of Dana’s greatest joys these days is teaching couples massage. Just think about the possibilities. You can pay her to not have to pay her as much and enjoy great couples massage for years to come.

I’m hoping and planning to have a long life full of pain-free mobility and wish the same for everyone I know. I’m a happy, happy regular at Dana’s house and Dan’s place. Grateful for what they do for neighbors and couples. Hope you get a chance to meet both of them and benefit from all they do to help keep us all in good health.

You can reach these two great neighbors at:

The Green Microgym
Daniel Caplan
828 SE 34th Ave, Suite B

http://belmontpdx.thegreenmicrogym.com

(Enable Javascript to see the email address)
(503)313-6216

Dana Buhl, LMT
1128 SE 30th Ave. (just 5 blocks from the Swap Shop)
(503) 807 6697

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