New Year/New You, #70

Antonia Anderson:

program, but they come so they can be the best that they can be, making sure that they have wonderful energy and then they have a sense of wellness that carries them throughout the week.

Lucille Holt-Sottery:

It was the whole holistic environment that took me in and dealt with multiple levels of things for me to be able to really think about health and wellness as a package and not just about going in and exercising.

Jack Leonardi:

I think I would see something that I thought was beautiful, but I wouldn't let it sink in. The way that sunk in with me and kind of hit home a lot more deeply than other art that I had been engaged with before. That really was something that kind of elevated my feeling and connection to it a lot more.

Sophie Nelson:

I think that we all need a reminder of things that we know to be true or shedding some of the things that you accumulate throughout your life and remembering sort of the person you were originally, someone without judgment, full of love and getting back to that state.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 70, airing for the first time on January 13, 2013. A lot of 13s in this today and today's show is called New Year, New you, which seems pretty appropriate for a January show. Today we will be speaking with Antonia Anderson and Lucille Holt Soddery with along who will be discussing the work they have done with and through the Body Architect here in Portland. Also, Jack Leonardi, one of the founders of Art Collector Maine and Sophie Nelson, the assistant editor from Maine Magazine. As a physician, this is one of my favorite times of year. This is the time of year when patients come to me with things that they're looking to change in their lives. They really do think about the the new person that they have within themselves. And as we talked about in our New Beginnings show, people really are changing every seven years with that cell turnover we described. People are really new people on the other hand we're also deeply ourselves. Most of us have the same passions that we started our lives with. In my case, I was always a wanderer. I would wander through the woods and I would make up stories in my head and I was a reader and I was a singer. And all the things that I used to love to do when I was younger, I still love to do now, several decades into my life. What that tells me is that the newer we want to make our lives, the more we should kind of go back to where we were before and maybe think about who we were when we were new, who were we when we were young. And this is the type of thing that I talk with my patients about in my practice at the Body Architect on a regular basis. So I'd like you today to listen carefully to things that Antonia Anderson and Lucille Holt Sodery have to say about becoming new again at the Body Architect and also what Jack Leonardi how he brings together the idea of art and wellness from art collector Maine and Sophie Nelson as the assistant editor describing the Wellness issue at Maine Magazine. Think about the things that you might want to do in a new way as 2013 rolls on, but also think about the things that you did when you were new yourself, when you are a new person in this. And you'll find sometimes that the same things that inspired you when you were new new on this planet will continue to inspire you as you continue to move along. Thank you for listening to our show today. For those of you who are listening who are familiar with my practice at the Body Architect, I engage in a regular practice myself and also teach something called qigong. Qigong is very similar to the practice of Tai Chi, which is like a martial art in some way, but it's all about qi. It's all about energy. When I think about New Year, new you, I think about really going back and inspiring that energy and waking it up, the energy you already have within your own body. If you're interested in learning more about qigong and waking up the Qi or the energy within you, I encourage you to come see me at the Body Architect or give us a call and learn a little bit more about our practice. Our phone number is 207-774-2196 and we'd be happy to talk to you about waking up that chi through Qigong and other means. January is the time of year when most of us think about making big changes in our lives and and thus the whole idea of New Year's resolutions and losing weight. People want to stop Smoking. They just want to do things differently. And I have with me today two individuals who have made a lot of interesting changes in their lives and have also made changes that have enabled other people to make changes. It's this whole interesting snowball effect and all very positive. So we have Antonia Anderson, who is the co owner, manager and holistic lifestyle coach at the Bodi Architect Fitness center here in Portland. Thank you for coming in, Antonia, and joining me.

Antonia Anderson:

Well, thank you for inviting me. Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And we have Lucille Holt Soddery, who is owner and founder of Collaborations and also a long term member at the Body Architect. So thank you for coming in.

Lucille Holt-Sottery:

Thank you for having me, Lisa.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's always interesting for me to spend time with people who believe in health and wellness the same way that I believe in health and wellness. And it's all about starting with, well, there's an emotional component, a spiritual component, but a physical component and they're all woven into one. And you do that as a body architect?

Antonia Anderson:

Yes, absolutely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So tell me, why is it that you went in this direction with the Body Architect?

Antonia Anderson:

Interesting. Stephen, who is my co partner and my husband, the body architect, I think that's it was our natural self. That's how we wanted to, you know, how we led our life. And we wanted to create. We found that there was really nothing around that sort of satisfied that need for a holistic refuge, so to speak. So we opened Body Architect with the idea that we would address all the components, the physical component, the mind, and for want of a better word, the spirit. And people bring everything. When you come into a room, when you go anywhere, you bring the whole of you there. You don't leave your mind behind or your spirit behind or half a leg. So we have to address all, we really wanted to address all of, all of the person and how the person comes into the space in many different ways. Sorry, I'm Italian. You ask me a simple question, I give you a dissertation. Always.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you also, if people, obviously nobody can see you sitting across the microphone from me, but you also use your hands a little bit too. There's a little bit of it at a time, but that's okay. I think also you brought with you an interesting sense of visual aesthetic and spatial aesthetic that not everybody has when creating a fitness facility. Where did that come from?

Antonia Anderson:

Well, I do believe that we are influenced by our environment and by our surrounding. And there are many, many studies that show that that is so. And also the details of a place influence how we are and how our mood is affected. So I felt that was an important part to bring to the space. Creating, having large windows, having lots of wonderful sunlight, a sense of wellness and a sense of well being is so important. And the surroundings will definitely influence that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Lucille, I want to ask you about why the Body Architect in particular. But I first would like to ask you about what in your life prompted you to start making these significant changes that you have told me you needed to make it at one time.

Lucille Holt-Sottery:

Well, I was gifted and I say that because a very dear friend of mine gave me a gift card to the Body Architect and I resisted it for an entire year. And I was totally embarrassed because she would ask me every month, did you go to have your personal training session? And this was a very big birthday present. And about a month prior to my making my appointment, I had a doctor's appointment and I found that my blood pressure was escalating. And that was a pivotal time for me because I did not want to take medication. But the doctor did say, lucille, you do need to be on medication. And so I took the medication and I took my gift certificate and I went off to the Body Architect and where I met Antonia for the very first time. And that was eight years ago. And I had joined on my first entry into that doorway. It is a phenomenal space and I think Antonia is totally spot on when it comes to you have to react to your environment. And that was a perfect setting for me because I had resisted it and it was just enveloped me, totally embraced the concepts. And it's been eight years since and I am off the medication in five months and leading a very healthy lifestyle, which I'm sure we'll talk more about.

Antonia Anderson:

And you hadn't really worked out before.

Lucille Holt-Sottery:

Sporadically, very sporadically. Nothing like I'm doing now. Thank you, ants.

Antonia Anderson:

You're very welcome.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, what happened when you walked through the doors of the Body Architect? You had a personal training session. So was it the training session itself, was it the body Architect that brought you in?

Lucille Holt-Sottery:

I think, as Antonia said, it's the entire environment. It brought in all of the aspects of my life, which happened to be that I was open to all of this, because I think you do need to be open to it, fulfilled every need. It was not the kind of environment that you expect going to a gym. This is more of a salon and very personal, personalized training, very skilled. Also, it had the spiritual content of qigong. Obviously, when you're entering hypertension or some sort of medical issue, there are other obvious things that are going on. I was dealing with A lot of stress in my life. And so qigong brought in a whole different level. So it wasn't just the exercise part of it. It was the whole holistic environment that took me in and dealt with multiple levels of things. For me to be able to really think about health and wellness as a package and not just about going in and exercising. And then, of course, the environment, it's absolutely beautiful. And when I put my hand on that door, I totally relax. So therefore, it was an experience that I have never had going to another kind of a gym before.

Antonia Anderson:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What are some of the touches that you've put into place? I know when I first came in and I went in with Kevin Thomas, who's a member at the Body Architect and one of the sponsors with Maine Magazine, you gave me a tour and you said this over here and this over here. And of course I took everything in. But what are some of the things when you give people a tour that you point out because you think they're important touches?

Antonia Anderson:

Well, we like to look after our members even when they don't realize they're being looked after. And everything affects us. Like the air that we breathe and we do it automatically without thinking about it. But, you know, try holding your breath for. And you can't do it for very long. So we have state of the art Japanese air filtration units that filter the air better than an operating theater or a clean lab. And the air is always fresh and invigorating and we want to feel good all the time. So that is really important for us. We don't sell water bottles. We give the best water you can drink in Portland to our members with Japanese state of the art water filtration systems. So there's plenty of good water. You know, we're mostly water. Our brain is between 90 to some people say up to 98% water. So the quality and the quantity of the water we ingest every day is critical to our well being, our energy, our focus and concentration. So we like to make sure that our members have the best in everything that there is. The training that we do, which I really shouldn't talk about because that's where Steven comes in and he's the expert in that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And Stephen has been on our show. So people who want to go back and listen to Stephen talk, I think he was on our light show last year and also on our summer sports injuries show so people can go back and listen to Steven Spring speak about that.

Antonia Anderson:

So we train. Our training is based on functional training because why do people come to a fitness facility not just to be there as much as the space is beautiful and we love having our members there for whatever reason, but they come so they can be the best that they can be. Is that the right way to say it outside? And that's how we support all our members. And everyone is different, so that means something slightly different for each person. So that's what I mean by functional training. So if someone the greatest joy is skiing down a mountain so they can be the best skiers, if someone else enjoys carrying their grandchildren or their children or their dog, that they can do that in the best possible way. Or someone wants to dance so they can dance in the best possible. That's how we support all our members and making sure that they have wonderful energy and that they have a sense of wellness that carries them throughout the week, not just while they're at the Body Architect.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I think it's interesting that you're talking about moving your body and at the same time it somehow is creating new connections in your brain that enabled you to work towards collaborations, which again is all about connections. Is this something that you see frequently, Antonia, with the coaching that you do with people, is that they start to reconfigure things in their body and all of a sudden life starts to change around them?

Antonia Anderson:

Yes, absolutely. Because as one has a greater sense of well being physically, that translates obviously the endorphins to kick in, that does translate to a greater sense of well being. Mentally, there's better focus, better concentration. Those are all improved. There's more mental energy as well as physical energy. So I think those do have obviously a bearing. And you know, our culture looks very much at the outside, but what goes on on the inside is probably, you know, it is more actually more important. And Lucille mentioned qigong. Qigong promotes the reduction of stress or releases stress, but also goes to heal the internal organs. And that is really anti aging. That's what aging and energy is about. So those are things that I do believe make a difference and go to create what Lucille help. Help to create what Lucille just talked about.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So if you bring the energy back to your body, then it's going to help create these connections in your mind and it's going to make things possible that maybe weren't possible before when your body was kind of stuck. What are the types of things that you see people being stuck in when it comes to their lives? What are some of the problems they present to the body architect with? And actually, Lucille, I can ask you this question too, because I think both of you work in a business where you're dealing with people who have things that need to be solved.

Lucille Holt-Sottery:

Exactly. I think that I'll use an area where I was stuck. I was having some back issues. And you know, it's the old theory, if you keep doing the same thing, the same way, you get the same results. So I needed to change things around and strengthening my core and really focusing in on that really alleviated a lot of the back stress that was happening. And now with trx, which is a miracle class, and I suggest everybody run to the body architect and take the class. It is absolutely amazing. It has totally relieved the stress of my back that I'm able to do things in six months that I really wasn't able to do a year ago. So I think that all is very impactful.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How can people find out more about your business collaborations with Seal and also the Body Architect, Antonia.

Lucille Holt-Sottery:

Well, give me a call. And we do have a website. It's collaborations1.com and I welcome anyone to talk to me as well about health and wellness. I happen to also have some expertise in this field in working with many area professionals in the field. And also my husband comes from a scientific background. So this has been kind of fun, kind of a parallel for me to see people and help people not only in their business and career development, but also incorporate some wellness for them going along the way. So it's been a lot of fun in that area.

Antonia Anderson:

Well, for the body architect, it's thebodyarchitect.com or you can call draw7 obviously 774-2196. I'm always delighted to be able to assist and help anyone that would like to be helped.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you have a Facebook page as well.

Antonia Anderson:

Yes, we do. Yes, we do.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, we've been speaking with Lucille Holt Soddery, who is the owner and founder of Collaborations, and also Antonia Anderson, the co owner, manager and holistic lifestyle coach with the Body Architect Fitness center here in Portland, Maine. So thank you for coming in and spending time with me today.

Antonia Anderson:

Thank you, Lisa. Thank you very much indeed.

Lucille Holt-Sottery:

Thank you. It's been great.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it's January 2013 and as we've mentioned on previous shows, this is a time for new beginnings. This show is called New Year, New you. And we've brought in to speak with us today Jack Leonardi, one of the founders of Art Collector Maine, to talk about a relatively new within the last year and a half, I think project that's been going on within the Maine Media Collective. So this is Jack Leonardi. Thanks for coming in and talking to us today.

Jack Leonardi:

Thanks for having me, Jack.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

There is a larger discussion about art and wellness that I think it's important to start out with because some people would say, well, art is art. What does it have to do with living a healthy life or being well? Why does it belong? On the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour, what would your response be?

Jack Leonardi:

I think from my discussions and interactions with the artists in Maine, because Art Collector Maine is about Maine art, specifically, both those who are part of our program and those who I've just spoken with in the general community, that there's a couple of common themes that I think come up when speaking with the artists and understanding how they think about their art. And that's at kind of the root of both sides of this. And one is, I think artists in general get great satisfaction out of the process and the work that they produce in being an artist, whether it's paintings or sculpture or some other medium. And I think while they feel a strong sense of how good, good that makes that whole process makes them feel, I think they feel, I don't want to say necessarily an obligation, but a strong desire to share that and convey that inner feeling that they get and satisfaction out of painting to the people that view or buy their art. And that's really a really common core theme in how a lot of these artists kind of feel about where art, what art's presence is in the world. And it's really, really important part of why they do what they do.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So they're trying to share something that they see in the world with other people and perhaps help them to see something similar or maybe be inspired or

Jack Leonardi:

I think in my mind, it comes down in these discussions to two kind of variations of that. Some of the artists want to convey and paint or create a sculpture that creates a specific feeling of time or place, and they want that same time or place in that feeling to be conveyed through that art to others. The alternative to that in some of the artists thinking is that they want to create kind of a blank vessel, that they want to create this painting or sculpture that is very interpretive. And they very much want the viewer of the art or the buyer of the art to engage in the art and relate that art and that picture or that sculpture back to something that's important and something that makes them feel good. Maybe it's a childhood memory, maybe it's some other memory that they have, but they want that to be just a vessel for them to create their Own peacefulness in viewing the art. So I think it can be both of those things.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Was this one of the reasons why you became interested in art yourself?

Jack Leonardi:

I think, you know, not consciously, but I know now reflectively that it is what I think most. Why most people engage in art is because it makes them feel good. It either makes them smile or it makes their, you know, their heart warm about something that they remember or a place. And I think I didn't consciously think that when I decided to get involved with this project, But I think I now recognize that that was kind of just under the surface and part of the whole reason why it was appealing to me to try this.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you came originally from Massachusetts. You worked in business for quite a long time, Correct. You took some time off. You built a house, I believe, correct?

Jack Leonardi:

Yep.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

In kennebunkport. And you could have gone in any direction, but for some reason, you, business guy, MA background, chose this.

Jack Leonardi:

And it was really somewhat accidental. When I moved to Maine and left my job in Massachusetts, I actually commuted for five years back and forth to Boston for. But when I decided to leave that job and focus on something up here, take a little break and try something different, I really had no predisposition as to what that might be. This whole project really started by happenstance. I was looking for. I just built my house. I was looking for an outdoor sculpture for my backyard. And I found the process of searching main art and artists to be overly complicated, fragmented. I'd have to go to a gallery website here. I'd have to visit a gallery there. I'd find an artist by a google search. But there was no kind of centralized, simple way to do it. And what I related it to was the real estate business. When you're looking to buy a house or land or what have you, a condominium, you can go to Basically one site, realtor.com as an example. There are others. But realtor.com was kind of the model point, the starting point for what I thought about art collector main in that you can go to that site and you can basically search everything that's available for sale within 1 or 2%, maybe. And I thought, why isn't there some commonized place for people to find art main art specifically on the web. And that really was the beginning of the idea. I thought about it for a little bit, did a little bit of research on my own, and then I reached out to Kevin Thomas, the publisher here at Maine magazine, Maine Home + Design. Because Kevin had been involved in the process in his prior life, he was a builder and he was actually the one who built my house. And I knew from that process that Kevin had a great sense of business, he had a great sense of the art community through the interaction that the magazines here have with the art community in Maine. So I emailed Kevin and said, hey, I've got a crazy idea, just want to bounce it off you. And I had no thought that we would come together to do it together. At that time I really was just looking for his respected opinion as to what he thought of the idea and whether it had any merit. And at that point I was just thinking of it as a website. I hadn't really fully thought out the idea, but quickly when I came up here and met with Kevin and Susan Grisanti, that we kind of turned that idea into not just a website, but an entire kind of marketing platform to promote Maine art and artists, not only in Maine and New England, but really nationally from an exposure point of view. So that was. And that happened over a two or three month period of time. But it was really just by that initial contact, looking for an opinion that the whole idea really came to fruition here. And the nice part about. Well, several nice parts about that, but the nice part about why it made sense from all of our reasoning was that there's a lot of infrastructure here, there's a lot of tie in pre existing tie in to the R community. So it made a lot of sense, both from a financial point of view and a kind of structural point of view to do it together and incorporate the resources here that exist with main media collective, the magazines, the branding company. It all kind of tied together very nicely to make it a much easier launch of the product.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me about the first time you saw a piece of art that gave you that feeling that you were describing, that just feeling good, feeling inspired, feeling joyful.

Jack Leonardi:

Let me think about that a little bit. First time, I think it was really a glass vase kind of sculpture that I saw and it was nothing here in Maine. It was something that I saw when I was visiting out in California. There's a very famous glassblower out in the west coast, nationally internationally known, Dale Chihuly. And when I saw some of his work, the first work that I saw of his was the people that some of the people that I worked with had a house out in Palm Springs, California. And they had this gorgeous estate with a little pond on the estate. And in that pond they had a canoe resting on the shoreline of the pond, which was just full of the. These super colorful, odd shaped glass blowings that were just kind of integrated into this giant, you know, kaleidoscope of color in this canoe. And that was really the first thing that made me think, wow, that is so beautiful. And it just made you smile looking at it. And I think that would probably be where that first happened for me. And that was probably 10, 12 years ago when that happened.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Were you surprised by how that made you feel?

Jack Leonardi:

I guess I was, because I really, prior to that, I, you know, I think I would see something that I thought was beautiful, but I wouldn't let it kind of sink in the way that sunk in with me and kind of hit home a lot more deeply than other art that I had kind of been engaged with before. That really was something that kind of elevated my feeling and. And connection to it a lot more.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And is this similar to the feeling that you think people in the Maine community are getting when they're connecting back with some of the artists who are represented by Art Collector Main or some of the artists that have been featured in Maine Home Design Maine Magazine? Is this feeling of maybe happiness, joy, surprise?

Jack Leonardi:

One of the things that I get the most satisfaction out of in this process of building this product and this program together here is that when I see. When we have events, one of the things that we do is we host several art shows and events around the state during the year. Last year we did two. This year we're doing 15 or 16. So we've really kind of ramped that up and expanded that process. But inevitably our goal is to bring not only art buyers and collectors to those events, as in order to generate transactions for our member artists. But we're also trying to create this networking and engagement amongst our members because we have both gallery owners and individual artists who are members. And what I get the most satisfaction out of is when a gallery owner that is a member of our art Collector Maine community meets an artist who's a member of our community who they're not familiar with, who is sitting right here in Maine. And they see this other they meet, they engage, they have a conversation with this artist, and then they go back and they look at their work and they get blown away by this great artist's work that is maybe 20 miles away from where their gallery operates. They have no idea this person existed in. A month later, that artist is now represented by that gallery. A great relationship forms that I get as much satisfaction out of that part of this process and seeing that happen as I do getting the inquiries that come in through the website for someone who's just loving something that they see on the website and want to buy it. So I think both of those things provide a lot of satisfaction for the process.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you are in the process of. And I think you're just about to launch the Art Collector Main annual issue.

Jack Leonardi:

Annual Art Collector Main Annual. It's our first edition of our annual. One of the products that we produce around, you know, within the Art Collector Main services is an annual hardcover book, beautifully designed, kind of collector's item, coffee table style book. About 300 pages in this year's first edition. Each year each artist gets a two page spread in the hardcover book which is beautifully designed with one image, what we think of as the signature image that represents that artist's work. And then on the opposing page, a little biographical information on the artist. And we have, you know, 500 or so of those books pre sold from people who we've had a preview, a demo, you know, digital copy on our website for a while and we will distribute those through our gallery members, our artist members, and then a host of retail locations throughout the state. And we've really. I think Kevin would, Kevin Thomas would tell you that there's been kind of this itch that's been existing for a few years for. And he's been approached about creating a book like this that highlights only Main artists in a very kind of superior production, you know, product. And for whatever reason, there's been no kind of impetus to do that. So it made a lot of sense when we created our Collector Main to incorporate the production of that annual book. So we're, we're super excited about it and we think people are going to really enjoy it and it's going to be something that they reference, you know, for years. And we'll do that once a year in each year. Obviously it will change somewhat stylistically, but we think that's a really important part of what we're doing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And so through these events, and I know that there's an art presence at the Kennebunkport Festival. I know that there's a relationship with, with Cellar Door up in Lincolnville, Camden, Rockport area. I know that you're going to have various events that are available on the Art Collector Main website and also Maine Magazine people, if they want to learn about that, they can go to those websites.

Jack Leonardi:

Sure. I think you highlighted the Kennebunkport Festival. We incorporate an art show into that each year. Last year we did that at the Colony Hotel and it was a two day show featuring, you know, really all of the art collector main artists that wanted to participate. I think we had 67 odd artists work at that show. It was, you know, it's a tough environment to put up a show and take it down two days later. So this year what we've done is we've partnered with River Tree Arts, which is an community art association down in Kennebunk, just across the bridge from Dark Square. And we've partnered with them and whereby they're going to allow us to have an art collector show at River Tree Arts and have it be up for the entire month of June, which is a real. Which is a significant step beyond where we were last year. And we're really happy about that and we think they're a great partner. They've got built in community down there that again with their, you know, running shows and their activities that they do. It's a great organization. So that's one kind of significant step up from us. And then the whole Celador series is really, we think elevated not only the profile of art collector Maine and the art community here, but also it's elevated really the type of services we're providing. We thought about this idea with Celador that Celador runs a great operation up in Lincolnville and they have a villa location which is more of a retail location on Route 1 in Rockport. And we had the idea that we could incorporate art into that environment at the villa on Route 1 in Rockport. And by doing a series of monthly art shows bringing great artists who aren't represented up in that area, bringing Southern Maine artists up there, maybe someone from MDI down there that doesn't have local representation there and really not only service our need to provide great venues for our artists to sell their work, but also the reciprocation of that is to hopefully create reasons for people to continually revisit that cellar door facilities for whether it's a wine tasting, view the art at the same time and create repeated traffic for the Celador property as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you have the events, you have the annual book that's coming out very soon for people who want to order it. You have the interactions with the artists and just in the community in general that you champion. What type of an impact do you think that you're making on the wellness of the state of Maine?

Jack Leonardi:

Well, I think in general, the more exposure we can provide for our main artists, the more we create the vehicle for people to connect and get those great feelings from interacting and engaging with the art. So we think more exposure creates more Engagement, more feelings that, you know, both the artists and the people who are viewing the art are looking to create. And we've got, I mean, a couple of specific examples. One of our art collector main artists, Francine Schrock, who was engaged by a local assisted living facility here in Portland, Fallbrook, to create a giant mural inside the lobby of that facility. They were looking to basically bring the outside environment into the interior of the building. And I have a great quote here from the administrator at the facility at the conclusion of the project. That's part of a story that I saw recently, and if I could just read this to you, I think it speaks clearly about what, you know, one of the things that, you know, art does for. From a wellness perspective. They say the construction of this mural is profoundly grounded in the engagement of the community. From preliminary meetings with the residents, throughout the painting construction process to the final painting and celebration, the residents were engaged in numerous conversations. They were engaged in conversations with each other, with the staff, with their families, with and with the artist. It transforms their daily lives. One resident in particular, Gwen, who has difficulty in formulating thoughts and sentences, miraculously had complete sentences and engaged in a dialogue conversation with the artist, another resident and a staff member. It was truly miraculous. This is the power of art functioning in the world. Art is the platform for transformation and human connection. And I think that's a perfect illustration of, you know, what we think art can do in the community, beyond the simple kind of, you know, initial engagement and, you know, feeling that that creates. It can go much deeper than that. And I think we're seeing more and more evidence of that. And I'm not. I won't try to cite any particular studies. You're probably better suited to do that for me. But there's a lot of evidence that art can have a really significant impact on wellness in different applications.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Jack, it's been a privilege to sit and spend some time hearing about Art Collector Maine and the work that you're doing to provide joy and inspiration and wellness through art in Maine. I encourage our listeners to go to the Art Collector Maine website and what would that be? Artcollectormain.com and I also encourage them to take a look at some of the work that's being done in Maine Magazine, Maine Home Design, and perhaps even think about ordering the book that you're describing. It sounds like a inspiration.

Jack Leonardi:

People can order it right through the website.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with Jack Leonardi, one of the founders of Art Collector Maine. Thank you for being part of our new year new you show.

Jack Leonardi:

Happy to do it. Thanks.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

In the studio with me today, I have Sophie Nelson, who is the assistant editor for Maine Magazine and someone that I've known for probably about two years, I think. Is that right, Sophie? Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah. And somebody that I've come to spend quite a lot of time with at various events. I've gotten to know your boyfriend, Max Garcia Conover, who is a local musician and also teacher at the Breakwater School. I've gotten to know you and some of your background, and you're one of the bright, shining faces. I think that makes Maine a wonderful place to live. But you're not from here originally.

Sophie Nelson:

No, I'm not. I'm from western New York. I grew up on Chautauqua Lake, a long drive, day's drive away, and came to Maine to go to college and sort of existed in the bubble that is college for those four years, but have had the. Have explored Maine since and moved away for a little bit, but have come back to Portland and really love living here, doing the work I do with all these great people.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And anybody who wants to read some really good writing should read some of your profiles in Maine Magazine.

Lucille Holt-Sottery:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it's interesting to me now. Where did you go to? You went to. Did you go to Bates?

Sophie Nelson:

Yes, I went to Bates.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. And I think that they do do an emphasis on writing up at Bates. But there must have been something about writing before you even got to college that kind of drew you in.

Antonia Anderson:

What was that?

Sophie Nelson:

I've always been writing and I took lots of English courses in high school and it was sort of a focal point for me. But in college I was excited to try anthropology and sociology and all these sort of outside of the box topics. But I just, I went back to writing in English and ended up concentrating in creative writing. So, you know, wrote a senior thesis that was a collection of short stories, and this was sort of one of my first forays into journalism. But I think I've been lucky. I feel like people have appreciated my sort of, perhaps my fiction background has actually helped me enter writing profiles in a different way that I think has been valuable and it's been really fun to. I've loved writing for Maine Magazine. It's been great.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. And I imagine that they both sort of inform the other, where fiction is a lot about character. And then if you do profiles, obviously these are actual, real people. So tell me about some of the profiles that you've done that have been your favorites.

Sophie Nelson:

Some of the first profiles I wrote were about musicians, local musicians. So it's just a real honor and privilege to sit down with people like Amelia Dahlin and Eric Bettencourt. It was great. And to get to know them. And it's a challenge to try to figure out what you could actually feel comfortable saying about someone after having met them for an hour or something. But certain things come to the surface and people in some ways, I think people. It's easy to get to know people. And I also have written the wellness column profiles in that section of the magazine. We pretty much run a profile in every issue, a wellness profile in every issue of Maine Magazine. And through that venture, I've gotten to know Susan Feketty, a really amazing woman. And I've gotten to know Chip Cochran, who is a ski coach at the Carabasset Valley Academy, and Kathryn Cloudman of Apothecary by Design, who is really lovely, really sort of inspirational. And I wrote some pieces in the. Well, our January issue is the dedicated Wellness issue in that magazine. I wrote a piece on Dr. Dora Mills, Dora Ann Mills, and I also produce the Q and A section of the magazine. So through that I've also I get to sit down with great people. And the person in the wellness issue is Michael J. Chase, who is the founder of the Kindness center and had wonderful things to to say that really put a nice. The Q and A falls at the back of the book. And I feel like it was a really nice way to end the end the magazine.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, people who have been reading Maine Magazine for a while know that wellness has become a focus for this magazine and even Maine Home Design, really, and even all the work that the Maine Media collective does. And there's something that's really beautiful about the front cover of the wellness issue. For people who haven't picked it up yet, I highly recommend that you do. And it's interesting. It's ice fishing on the Kennebec. But even this, even though it may not seem like it's directly related to wellness, is somehow inspirational. It somehow makes you want to get out there and be part of Maine and live a, well, life. Do you Think that's part of the reason why Maine has gone in the direction of wellness?

Sophie Nelson:

Yeah, I think so. And it's kind of interesting to look at that cover and try to think what that might say about our approach to covering wellness. I think, yeah, it's. I mean, it's ice shacks on the Kennebec. It's not sort of what you'd expect to accompany, you know, the words the wellness issue, but it is. It's colorful. There's, like, the shacks are glowing, and it's winter, and it's like people are making the most of it, sort of. And I think that, you know, we've covered a range of. Of people in our wellness coverage from, you know, Susan Feketty, who is a registered nurse and has done all kinds of really great work, sort of across genres and wellness, to Chip Cochran, who is just someone who's really passionate about the outdoors and has found a way to kind of sustain himself on that and has created a life that allows him to. To do what fulfills him and that, you know, is to be outside. So, yeah, I think that we really make an effort to sort of come at it in lots of different ways.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And there's also a light behind the words that people have given to the magazine when asked for their quotes about wellness. Is that true?

Sophie Nelson:

Yeah, that was a really fun part of putting together the wellness issue was sort of grabbing quotes from different people across the state in the field of wellness or medicine. And I think. I mean, I think it's just really nice to read those kinds. I think that we all need a reminder of things that we know to be true in the Q and A. Michael J. Jay Chase spoke with me about kind of forgetting some of the things that you or shedding some of the things that you accumulate throughout your life and remembering sort of the person you were originally, you know, without someone, without judgment or without, you know, just kind of full of love and kind of getting back to that state. And he spoke to that and people at the beginning of the magazine did also.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, one of your questions to him was, how do you define kindness? And he replied, it's love in action. It's love in motion. In the moment that you are emitting compassionate, loving energy, you can't feel depressed, resentful, angry, jealous. In the presence of kindness, all the negative emotions that human beings experience go away. There is a difference between being kind and being nice. A truly kind heart expects nothing in return. Those are pretty profound words for, really, a magazine that you might just pick up off your coffee table. How do you think that the wellness issue might impact people who start going through its pages?

Sophie Nelson:

I think it has, it's a combination of really profound quotes like that, thoughts like that. And also I think it's a real. In, you know, the profile on Dora Mills, I hope that we demonstrated our. Or that, you know, I demonstrated my appreciation for the work she does because in some ways it's, it's harder to distill what she's done. You couldn't, you might not be able to button it up so nicely as, as a quote like that about kindness, but she's just demonstrated it in so many ways and, you know, just long, grueling hours at work, you know, in a sort of in a very public position. And I think we're also, there's a piece about the main track program and we highlight three, I think, fourth year medical students from Maine who are, you know, committed to continuing to work in Maine as doctors, who are committed to, you know, issues of rural health in Maine. And I hope that we also kind of, I'm just so grateful for their intelligence and their commitment and they're going to make this state a healthier place.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Do you think that as part of what you're doing, not only in the Q and A section and the profiles for the print version of Maine magazine, but also the online work that you do, The Q&As that you're doing with people like Maxwell Chicun, who also is on our show. And actually, I should mention you and I have a lot of overlap between people. We had Dr. Dora Ann Mills on the show. We had Susan Feketty on the show. So do you think that you're helping bring wellness to the state of Maine yourself?

Sophie Nelson:

I hope so. It really is. And I kind of say this every time I meet with someone, but it's really one of my favorite parts of my job is just talking to people. And it's a challenge to, I'm sure that you guys know this challenge well to cut down what they like. There's so much good stuff that comes of our conversations. It can be hard to leave anything out. But yeah, I really hope that people are getting something from that. And I think they are. I mean, I think that to be able to introduce people to many, Maxwell or, you know, even a handful more people who might not have known him is really, really great.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I encourage people who have been listening, who have been joining us in our conversation today to go out and pick up a copy of the January 2013 copy of Maine Magazine, the Wellness issue. You'll enjoy this very lovely glowing picture of ice fishing on the Kenneback and all the wonderful quotes that that you've talked about and the profiles of the Q and A section. It's an inspiring magazine and as we go into the new year, it's

Lucille Holt-Sottery:

one

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

way that people can really seek to find joy and wellness. And we appreciate your coming in and spending time with us today. Sophie Nelson, the assistant editor at Maine Magazine and the work you're doing in the wellness world.

Sophie Nelson:

Thank you so much. This was Great.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you've been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 70 new year new you, airing for the first time on January 13, 2013. Our guests today have included Antonia Anderson and Lucille Holt Soddery from the Body Architect, Jack Leonardi, founder of Art Collector Maine, and Sophie Nelson, assistant editor at Maine Magazine. We hope that you've found some things to inspire you to live this new year in a way that's consistent with the you that you once were when you were new, that is your younger self. Perhaps it's through reading an article in Maine Magazine about wellness. Perhaps it's through joining a wonderful place to exercise like the Body Architect. Or maybe it's by being inspired through art. At any rate, we know that you're going to find some new inspiration that's going to make this year a joyful one for you. For more information on our guests, go to Dr. Lisa.org like our Dr. Lisa Facebook page. Follow me on Pinterest or Tumblr or Twitter or read my bountiful blog bountifulpath.com or perhaps even come to see me or give me a call at the Body Architect, 207-774-2196. Please make sure that you let our sponsors know that you appreciate the efforts they're making to help this show come to you on a weekly basis. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. Thank you for letting me be a part of your world. May you have a bountiful life.