I ride my crusty cruiser over to Kaunala Street. It's one block over from Crazy Lane (that's not the real name of the next street, but it's what the surrounding locals like to call it). I pass some nice remodeled houses and even a family of chickens. I arrive at the end of the road where the pavement ends, I get off my bike and make the short trek of rock and dirt up to Positive Energetics Foundation.
Positive Energetics Foundation opened five years ago on Oahu's fable North Shore, with 14 acres of land and an incredible view of the sea. Nathan (Nate) Toler and Jenny Useldinger had a nonprofit vision of greatness; an alternative wellness center to help people who needed health care and couldn't pay for it. They also wanted a beautiful farm to grow organic food for people who couldn't afford to shop at Whole Foods.
Today I see the once dreamed vision now in fruition, and I'm told that the house that Nate and Jenny currently live in will one day be a hospital.
When I arrive, Jenny (AKA mother of three, big wave surfer, gardner and yurt seamstress) gives me a quick tour of the indoors; a very modest home which doubles as an alternative doctors office and treatment center. Towards the back of the house I run into a yoga friend of mine, sitting on a small deck looking down at her feet while they soak in a bath called Chelation Therapy (pronounced key-lay-shun) or Ionic foot detox. It's wild! I had never seen anything like it -- colors with texture of brown, black, orange, red flecks, white foam and yellow-green came floating up from beneath her feet. The foot bath cleanses out heavy metals and toxins affecting liver, joints, gall bladder, blood, and the many more functions of our body. I start to realize that there is more happening here then organic farming and sustainable living.
I come to visit, and interview Nate with the goal of learning all about the yurts they are making on sight which, by the way, are absolutely incredible.
- Light Weight
- Easy to transport
- Great for living off the land
- Engineering stronger then anyone else (claims Nate)
- Buildt for Hawaii climate
- Sizes range from 8 feet to 30 feet
- 2 story yurts or 3 story yurts
- Inter Island shipping
- Affordable: cost ranging from $5,000 to $16,000 (about half the price of mainland companies and much cheeper than building a house- plus you are allowed one un-permitted yurt on a parcel!)
- Sunbrella Fabric (only the strongest and manufacturer warranty of 15 years)
- 8 windows, tall walls 7' 2", customizable (bells and whistles)
- All covers made on site. Pick out your own fabric!
But at the end of the interview, I realize that the yurts are just part of the bigger picture of helping people return to the land and living connected to the earth.
I leave feeling that we have gone further away than we ever should have from the natural world and slowly we are desperately needing to get back.
Nate agrees with me. "This is the trend we are seeing. Very wealthy, rich people are wanting to try and find a way back in synergy with the earth, I know it sounds hippyish but I think there is a big calling to go back to nature. I think that people are recognizing that hypertensive lifestyles lead to disease and cancer..."
This is the most sane thing I've heard in a long time, and as far away from crazy lane as you can get.
To learn more about whats happening here at Positive Energetics, please visit the website at http://www.positiveenergeticsfoundation.org