Posts by Sarah Vogel
MOUNTAIN MEDICINE PART 7: If it Ain’t Broke
Click here to read the whole article Any good doctor, veterinarian, or mechanic understands that wellness isn’t just about fixing what’s already broken. Maintenance and preventative care are vital, if not the most important components of a healthy lifestyle. My truck often gives me grief — unsurprising, considering its age and the odometer reading. Several…
Read MoreMountain Medicine Part 6: How Nature Heals
Click here to read the whole article A Different Kind of Granny Witch No medicine, no hospitals, no doctors. That was life for early European settlers of the Appalachian mountains, and they preferred it that way. The fiercely independent Scotch-Irish immigrants wanted nothing to do with the ruling elite of the northern industrial cities and…
Read MoreMountain Medicine Part 5: Labyrinth
Appalachian Ecotherapy and Why We Need it Now Click here to read the whole article The beeping of the EKG machines were testing the last remnants of my sanity. Chinese water torture in the form of sound, a shrill metronome marking the growing distance between myself and reality. Forty-eight sleepless hours in the ICU. I…
Read MoreMountain Medicine: Part 4 – This is Your Brain on Nature
Little Occoquan Run – Photo credit: Sarah Vogel Appalachian Ecotherapy and Why We Need it Now Click here to read the whole article I dipped my paddle into the water. No rhythm — a couple of haphazard and lazy strokes every now and again was enough. Propel, drift, repeat. Occasionally, I made an effort to…
Read MoreMountain Medicine: Part 3 – This is Your Brain on Tech
Appalachian Ecotherapy and Why We Need it Now Click here to read the whole article False Promises and Re-thinking ‘Normal’ When Plato looked at the night sky, his heart brimmed with optimism that human curiosity would “compel the soul to look upward and lead us from this world to another.” A lofty notion perhaps, but…
Read MoreMountain Medicine: Part 2 – Why We Need Ecotherapy
Appalachian Ecotherapy and Why We Need it Now Click here to read the whole article Part 2: Why We Need Ecotherapy As I sit here pecking at my keyboard in the darkness of my basement apartment, F.lux dims my computer monitor and transitions to a warm, yellowish glow. Every evening when the sun goes down,…
Read MoreMountain Medicine Part 1: Pura Vida
Appalachian Ecotherapy and Why We Need it Now Click here to read the whole article “¿Cuál es tu trabajo?” Cocho asked me. What do you do for work? It was a difficult question to answer, especially since my Spanish skills amounted to the capabilities of a toddler. Before I began traveling, I was a qualified…
Read MoreInside the Shutdown: What’s Happening in Shenandoah and the Smokies?
Since the partial government shutdown began three weeks ago, visitors to the national parks have been greeted by empty fee stations and red-lettered notices posted to entrance gates. The notice advises visitors to “use extreme caution” and that “any entry… is at the visitor’s sole risk.” While many national parks, including Shenandoah and the Great…
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