Feel Good Guru

What, exactly, is a “green city”? Is the term not an oxymoron? If a green city is an ideal whose time has come, why, then, does it still feel so impossibly Utopian?

My definition of a green city is “a self-sufficient high-density urban area that functions in harmony with nature, where every resource used is renewable, no thing is wasted, zero emissions are released into the atmosphere; and humans and animals are treated with utmost respect.” Nope – no such thing – yet. (more…)

Had I not been staying, several years ago, in a 17th century French “magnanerie” or silk production workshop, now a gorgeous Provencal vacation home, I may never have been awakened to the dark secrets of sericulture and the plight of the industrious little silkworm…

“For centuries, the walls in here were covered in mulberry leaves,” said our charming host, Bernard Cay-Maubuisson, indicating the thick stone walls of his rustic and cozy living room. I imagine a lush interior garden with climbing vines and ripened berries hanging just so over the frames of his beautifully restored antique art. “And tens of thousands of silkworms munched on the mulberry leaves,” he added with a smile. My thoughts of an indoor Eden are replaced with visions of slimy larvae slithering over the furniture.  (more…)

I am a free spirit. I am a free spirit hanging from a tree. I am a free spirit sphere dangling in the dense rainforest of Vancouver Island, suspended like a dream-state…handcrafted, untamed…swaying gently, providing sanctuary for souls…

I am Eve, and I am available for overnight rental. I am located just north of Parksville, near the gorgeously serene Qualicum Bay. I have a spirit brother, Eryn, who also provides luxurious outdoor experiences to magical beings. Need I say more?

Oh, I am totally groovin’ with the woowoo!

=Heart-Warming Coolness! Cold February nights in Toronto call for more than another log on the fire and a snuggle on the couch with hot cocoa and another episode of whatever. Cold February nights in Toronto call for a huge dose of foolish joy to jolt you out of the rabbit hole of hibernation and depression. I’d say even a little insanity is necessary to match the derangement you’ve been feeling at the thought of another eight weeks of winter. And Toronto the Fabulous has the perfect prescription for your family and friends on suicide watch: WinterCity Festival! Worth a trip out of hibernation just to see Pi-Leau by Close Act of The Netherlands transforming Nathan Phillips Square into an underwater fantasy where the sea level is rising and all creatures struggle for life and love… (more…)

This is not your showgirl Vegas. This is not mindless entertainment, self-indulgent fun and games, nor a place to place a bet. In an odd way, this is the most narcissistic hour or two you might spend in Sin City – but it’s time so well spent you’ll walk away with a great deal of respect for yourself in the morning. You’ll see yourself in a brand new way, and “body beautiful” will take on a whole new meaning…

Bodies…The Exhibition is an intimate and fascinating look under the hood, or under the skin, of the human body. Real human specimens are used, giving viewers access to their intricate selves normally reserved for med students. (more…)

I’m struttin’ solo down the boardwalk in vintage cowboy boots and ragtag tassles, past the vendors of t-shirts, toerings and tattoos, off to see some crazies singin’ songs and recitin’ poetry over a plastic cup of chilled California Chardonnay. Howdy! It’s several blocks of rolling incoming Pacific tide headin’ north, so I smile, and say to the guy glidin’ by on his purple air-brushed beach cruiser blastin’ reggae for children Eensey Weensey Spider, “Hey dude! Double me to Seven Dudley?” Dude smiles and blows me a kiss through his headphones, “Hey girlfriend! Lookin’ good girlfriend! Bonjour Paris!” (more…)

I once attempted a do-it-yourself African safari in Maasai Mara in south-western Kenya. I hitched a ride with park staff into the park, then got stuck for days in a torrential downpour having to hang out at a five star safari lodge watching a leopard devour a dangling piece of meat as entertainment for the high-paying guests.

I have friends who have paid ten grand each to head into the African wilderness with a guide for first-hand close-ups of elephants, lions, hyenas, impalas and water buffalo. Wildearth.TV will get you there without the airfare and lodging expenses. I discovered this site a couple of weeks ago and it’s groovin’ with the woowoo! (more…)

I’ve just become friends on Twitter with a Donkey named Pepper Sant Blai. She’s totally groovin’ with the woowoo, and has invited me to her magical country retreat in Mallorca, an island in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain. She speaks Spanish, Catalan and English, and shares her home, Sant Blai, with her 4-month-old daughter, Sugar, her human family, a lot of chickens, a pony, a couple of dogs, rabbits, cats and goldfish.

Until recently, the property where Pepper lives was dedicated to farming. Her humans have converted this traditional farm into a warm and relaxing guest house with barns, stables, sheds, storage outhouses and grain depository transformed into accommodation of rustic style that evokes an atmosphere of simpler times. (more…)

Dear Susur Lee,

Thank you for the fabulous dinner at Madeline’s in Toronto the other night. I came as part of a party of 4 not knowing what to expect, hoping for the best after reading some not-so-glowing reviews (my friends picked the restaurant), but thinking that I’d go home hungry due to lack of vegetables on the menu, tiny tasting portions and not enough money in my wallet.

I haven’t been much of a “fine dining diner” due to the above and the fact that I really do prefer my own cooking to most celebrated chefs’. (more…)

Sir Richard Branson is Sir Seriously Groovin’ with the WooWoo. His private game reserve in South Africa, Ulusaba, just earned the leading luxury travel network, Virtuoso’s Best of the Best Award for Most Socially Responsible Hotel recognizing its “Pride ‘n Purpose” program which contributes enormously to neighboring local villages and communities.

If you’ve been saving up your whole lifetime to go on that African Safari in search of the elusive “Big 5″ – that’s lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo and rhinos – this is THE place to do it. (more…)

Yes, I’ll admit it. I’m a tree hugger. I’m almost 42 and I still climb trees – I’ve been called “Monkey Girl” more than a few times – and yes, I hug them if I’m invited. I’ve been known to cry at the sight of a magnificent old redwood being ripped from her roots. And ever since I can remember, I’ve fantasized of living in a tree house.

So when I finally make it to Costa Rica, land of forest, jungle, woods, thickets, groves, parkland, trees – and tree-hugging howler monkeys, I will stay at the Costa Rica Tree House Lodge nestled inside a wildlife refuge on the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. (more…)

Already cursing winter? Not gonna make it to spring? Need a distraction of the South Pacific kind?

Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort is just the place to get you through the long winter ahead of soakers and frostbite. Go to the website and daydream of your oceanfront cottage complete with thatched roof and sultry breezes. Imagine a poolside “bobo” massage, a traditional healing practice done with rich tropical oils and percussive, long strokes to stimulate circulation and release tension. Fantasize of diving in the clear, warm waters of Savusavu and seeing the largest variety of fish and coral anywhere in the world…Or stop dreaming, get out your credit card and just book! (more…)

Now that the colors of autumn are fading, the sky’s about to turn slate gray for months and holiday madness is about to get silly on us, why not escape to a Green Territory in the middle of the aqualluring Caribbean Sea and ponder peace?

Fly away to Maho Bay…on the island of St. John, the least populated of the US Virgin Islands.

Airy eco-tent cottages, 114 of them, are tucked away in the lush foliage and joined, spider web-like to each other by an extensive elevated network of stairs and boardwalks, sensitively built with the environment in mind.  (more…)

Come down to the southwest, he said, where epic summer thunderstorms roll in over the mesas with no warning, darken the sky, shake the earth and drench the sun-parched land in biblical twenty-minute downpours, with great flashes of lightning and booming thunder, then dissolve away into sweet, gentle sunshine, nearly all moisture evaporating instantly.

We’ve got pretty good soy lattes down here, he said. Only pretty good because at this altitude (7000 ft) water steams at a lower temperature. Doesn’t affect the tequila, though. (more…)

Meet me in Big Sur on the ledge of the earth on the edge of the razor on the verge of crazy in the pillow clouds where time means nothing and Sea Foam Green is a swirling reality not a Ralph Lauren paint color.

Meet me in Big Sur where ragged rocks threaten like menacing bladed soldiers and protect like a sharp barnacled cliff wall billions of tides strong; where California condors soar over ancient redwood spears on the spicy eucalyptus wind that comes cold and furious like a sea-chilled gale, then suddenly bows soft on your face with a scented kiss of sunwarmth peeled from a thermal layer ridden by a solitary (more…)

Yes, it’s happened to me as it’s happened to many who’ve dared stray from their urban comforts to venture this far north. I’ve been struck by the Spell of the Yukon. It doesn’t hurt, but it does nag at you once you’re back in the car-honking, people-elbowing, lung-congesting city. And each year, when the days grow long and I think of the midnight sun, low on the endless Yukon horizon, casting purple-hued shadows across the silent land…well, I get itchy feet. You know the feeling.

Three seasons in a row, I’ve ridden solo up the Alaska Highway on my trusty Buell, (more…)

George Van Tassel built this in the 50′s and 60′s as a chamber of “rejuvenation and time travel,” describing it as “a machine, a high-voltage electrostatic generator that would supply a broad range of frequencies to recharge the cell structure.”

Now, at this local landmark near Joshua Tree, you can relax in the Integratron with a “Sound Bath” administered by one of three sisters who bought the building fulfilling a dream to live in the desert. Joanne Karl, a former nurse and cardiac researcher from the Hamptons, says “there’s more space between the molecules out here.” (more…)

If you’re vegetarian and you’re looking for a Caribbean vacation, look no further than The Lodge in Grenada. My partner, Ron and I had the incredible privilege of being Mary and Mark’s very first honored Canadian guests back in the winter of 2004 shortly after they had opened for business, and ever since, we’ve been looking for an excuse to return. For the short time we were there, I thought I’d died and gone to vegan heaven.

The Lodge in Grenada is the only exclusively vegetarian accommodation in the Caribbean. It’s also one of the most magnificent places I’ve ever been in my life. (more…)

You can’t get much further off the grid than the Dawson City River Hostel.

Dieter Reinmuth, an avid outdoorsman, photographer, guide book author and world traveller who settled in the Yukon 20 years ago to make his living panning for gold, built this funky off-the-grid retreat as an ode to fellow explorers who arrive from all over the globe seeking adventure and a genuine Klondike experience.

This place of rustic luxury is one of my favourite secret getaways in the far north. The bath house, pictured above, is a not-to-be-missed ritual. I make a point of (more…)

My dear friends Nicola and Andy built their dream home off the grid near Rice Lake about 2 hours out of Toronto. They now hold meditation workshops and teach people how to walk lightly on the planet. Their body work studio has floor-to-ceiling windows so while you practise your qigong, you can see the passing deer and occasional wolves playing in the rolling hills.

The cuisine is out of this world, and you can even spend a weekend learning how to create fabulous organic foods. Both Nicola and Andy are authors – all their books are (more…)