the entry on Sebastopol

[Guest guest]

Outside Magazine, August 2006

 

Best Outside Towns 2006: Wellness

Sebastopol, California

Population: 7,794

 

Intro | Bellingham, WA | New Paltz, NY | Boulder, CO | Sebastopol, CA | Madison,

WI | Bend, OR | Asheville, NC | Durango, CO | Truckee, CA | Haleiwa, HI | The

Gore-Tex Vortex

 

 

From left: Russian River real estate; Coffee-shop chic (Thayer Allyson Gowdy)

 

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Apple orchards put this Sonoma County refuge for freethinkers on the map, but

these days local pursuits in the name of holistic living go way beyond picking a

few Gravensteins and baking a pie. At first glance it's a pleasantly retro

Russian River Valley farm town: good schools, a Methodist church framed by palm

trees, rolling vineyards, quirky folk-art sculptures assembled from salvaged

junk in front yards along Florence Avenue. Even in the post-hippie enclaves of

Northern California, though, you won't find many small farm towns that contain

half a dozen yoga studios, two massage schools, several home-based meditation My

Town: Sebastopol

" I definitely live in Sebastopol because of the community's alternative

thinking, " says Devorah Blum, owner and instructor at downtown's Yoga Studio

Ganesha. " There's a nice energy here. I can feel the difference. "

groups, an Ayurvedic healing center, a Buddhist zendo, a spa offering Japanese

enzyme baths, two " equine experiential learning institutes, " and a clinic that

treats cancer patients with not only conventional Western protocols but also

Chinese medicine, acupuncture, osteopathy, and jin shin jyutsu. " Sebastopol is a

hotbed of green/eco/health-conscious lifestyles and businesses, " says David

Klein—and as editor of Living Nutrition magazine, which espouses a raw-food

diet, he would know. Not too surprisingly, greens dominate town hall, and

organics prevail at Andy's Produce Market and the Sunday-morning farmers'

market. Even an alliance of vegan jocks, OrganicAthlete, is headquartered in

town. Local businesses doing well by doing good include Traditional Medicinals

(herbal teas) and Gourmet Mushrooms Inc. (suppliers to chefs and nutraceutical

labs). If a career in the healing arts isn't your bag, you can always become a

cellar rat: More than 100 Sonoma County wineries are a short commute away.

 

 

 

From left: Backyard at Hardcore Espresso; Local vineyards (Thayer Allyson

Gowdy)

 

 

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REALITY CHECK:

Recent transplants from Marin County have helped inflate the median home price

past $650,000. But with lots of under-the-radar options—granny units, barns,

the occasional yurt—locals aren't packing their bags.

 

NEXT BEST:

Santa Fe, New Mexico. A longtime draw for second-home-owning Texans, spa-goers,

art collectors, artists, and ski bums with a creative side, the City Different

is also a vibrant education center for alternative medicine, with schools like

the University of Natural Medicine and the New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts.

 

 

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances,

there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in

such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest

we become unwitting victims of the darkness.

William O. Douglas