Natural Connections March

Join us for Natural Connections on Saturday, March 9th at the Sandpoint Library, in the Community Rooms. Come for the full event or just stop in for the portions that interest you.

Check out our schedule for the day:

10 AM: The Little World Inside You: Crafting Internal Ecology Through Living Foods

Within us thrives a lush sanctuary brimming with microbial magic. Together, we’ll explore the frontier science of our microbiome’s remarkable sway – from immunity and metabolism to cognition and emotional balance.

Immerse in the art and alchemy of fermentation for rewilding inner wonder and taste probiotic richness. Witness transformation firsthand and depart with recipes to culture your own elixirs that enliven, uplift, and unlock full-spectrum well-being through the nourishment of our native flora.

In this illuminating hands-on workshop, together we’ll explore:

• The science behind our allies unseen – vital “good germs” now imperiled by modern life.
• The newly discovered gut-brain link – how our microbes sculpt our mental landscape.
• Prebiotic fibers as microbiome fertilizer.
• The ancient craft of fermentation for reviving probiotic-packed foods – a demo and hands-on experiment.
• Lifestyle factors shaping our inner garden.
• Nutrition tips to let helpful microflora thrive.

Whether you’re discovering fermentation’s power or are a practiced hand, leave empowered by community wisdom and new capabilities to nourish the microbiome – the root system propagated deep within that blossoms into our health visible. Balanced care of this inner ecology ripples into our energy, immunity, metabolism, comfort, and temperament.

About the presenters:
Kelly Greenway FNTP, MRWP of Dig Nutrition:

Kelly, a functional nutritionist, founded Dig Nutrition to empower individuals with gut health, food sensitivities, and chronic conditions expertise. Based in Sandpoint, Idaho, she merges outdoor passion with health knowledge. As a mother of three, Kelly integrates adventure and learning into her life and work. Influenced by nature and community, she creates wellness solutions. Kelly’s approach is relatable, simplifying health concepts with personal stories to inspire individuals on their health journey with knowledge, compassion, and humor.

Ally Forest at Mountain Life Wellness

Ally is a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, homesteader, entrepreneur, nature lover, balanced lifestyle advocate, and a mother & paw-rent to her daughter, Annabelle, 3 huskies, 2 cats, and many more goats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, and rabbits. After many years of health issues that continued to worsen, she transitioned to a balanced lifestyle leading to a focus on regenerative farming, playing in the lakes and rivers, cooking and crafting with friends, gardening, preserving, hanging out with the dogs in the snow, and seeking solace with her fiancé, Mike, in the mountains and forest.

12:30 PM: The Indestructible Body

You were designed to move, dance and live vibrantly. Yet movement limitations because of lifestyle, and dogmatic exercise approaches are leading active people into joint replacements at increasingly younger ages. Your health, well-being, independence and quality of life are dictated by how well you move. Joint mobility training is a unique strength training approach targeting key connective tissues deep around your joints that cause aches, stiffness, movement limitations, and degenerative joint issues.

Learn how to start training your joints to move better than you have in years, then participate in an easy 20-minute, equipment-free routine guaranteed to reduce aches and stiffness, and improve your total body control.

About the presenter:
Ryan Egan with Movement Gym

Ryan is the owner of Movement Gym in Sandpoint Idaho, and a licensed joint mobility and movement specialist dedicated to guiding people into healthier, happier bodies with less aches, and greater freedom to the things they love. Ryan and his wife Sarah, Sandpoint natives, chase their 3 kids on the mountain, trails, and the lake with love, smiles, and gratitude for life. Ryan is a former professional snowboarder and is passionate about helping people rebuild their bodies with joint mobility training.

2 PM: First Steps to Freedom from Trauma

Join us for an experiential introduction to Somatic Experiencing™, an experiential approach to trauma resolution developed by Psychologist Peter Levine, that aims to resolve symptoms of stress and trauma that accumulate in our bodies.

When we are stuck in patterns of fight, flight, or freeze, Somatic Experiencing™ helps us release, recover, and become more resilient. First, we will practice together simple ways to return to a state of ease and calm and stimulate the brain’s access to a restful state where the body can repair itself. Next, we will start to identify our body’s stuck places that may stem from an old pattern of the nervous system’s survival response, and practice to gently transition from this state of threat to one of ease and safety. A basic introduction to the nervous system will be shared to better understand your body and brain and how to work towards a reset for a healthy nervous system. Adults and teens are welcome to explore skills of self-care in the face of today’s overwhelm and chronic stress.

About the presenter:
Alison DeLong, S.E.P., M.A.

Alison DeLong, founder of Mother Element LLC, is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Parenting Coach and Wilderness Guide who supports families, especially mothers, teens and youth, to deepen their connection to each other and their feelings during big developmental changes through body awareness, nervous system education and wilderness rites of passage.