The Carnelian Center is a non-profit organization, run by a five-member Board. The Carnelian Center fulfills Dixon’s long standing dream to bring affordable holistic health care to the local community.
Our holistic health care spectrum includes cultural and self-development education; movement classes such as dance, yoga, Tai Chi, and Pilates; a full range of body treatments; and a nexus for health-centered educations such as preservation of locally grown foods, herb walks, nutrition, cooking, gardening, counseling groups, and literary & visual art education.
The Carnelian Center provides local practitioners with an established place of business and an affordable work space. We offer greatly needed financial assistance to the community’s local clients and provide a space for local practitioners and educators to work within their own community.
Board of Directors
Lluvia was born in the Verde Valle of Arizona in 1973 and moved to New Mexico (with her parents) when she was two. She has lived in the Embudo Valley for the last twenty years except for a few years in Albuquerque where she studied Massage at the New Mexico School of Natural Therapeutics (graduated 1995) and Pre-med at TVI (Degree awarded 1996). She has been a practicing Massage Therapist ever since. Lluvia lives in Ojo Sarco with her husband Scott and daughters Lorali, Salome, and Hannah Aby.
Solidifying a Collective Dream
by Lluvia Lawyer Aby
Based on the questions we have received and the answers we have given so far, we realize that clarification of our vision for The Carnelian Center is one of the first things that needs to be added for the general excitement. Through the years many different groups and individuals in Dixon have had similar ideas ranging from spa, healing center, retirement home, retreat center and even an HMO-type organization. This basic dream has repeated itself through the years and in various circles. A few years ago the picture began to solidify for a group of us. Our informal meetings slowly transformed into official ‘Board Meetings’. This group is feeling the drive to bring this long-time dream to fruition. So, inspired by the dreams of many, our vision of a spa and holistic healing center is what I will describe.
The Carnelian Center will be a financially self-sustaining non-profit spa with hot pools, primarily facilitating self-awareness and resolution of health issues rather than facials and beauty treatments. This facility will provide full-time and part-time employment to a number of people including cleaning, pool maintenance, grounds-keeping staff and office personnel.
The income of the organization will come from membership fees and day passes with a percentage of the income of independent contractors (e.g. therapists, teachers of various arts) going toward paying for the space they use. One critical source of outside income will be workshops held and coordinated by a staff member with a portion of the profits going to the coordinator and a portion going to the facility. There will be at least one grant writer working with the center at all times as a source of additional income. A large portion of this income would provide financial assistance for holistic health care to people within the Rio Embudo watershed.
The facility would offer a place where treatments such as massage, acupuncture, etc. could be given. As you enter there will be a shop abreast the waiting area where people can purchase locally crafted items. As you waited for treatments you could browse a library of health-related, self-help, and cultural or artistically inspiring literature. Our vision includes grounds containing edible landscaping and spaces of sanctuary. The center will include hot pools, a cooler pool for various treatments, and a stationary lap pool. Within the facility there will be a small, separate space for workout-type strengthening exercise which can also be utilized for personal training. The water treatment will be state-of-the-art and well-researched for maximum therapeutic benefit and employing the most ecological use of water resources. Classes in dance, yoga, Pilates, and other health-focused movement would be offered in a spacious room that can also house workshops. Workshop participants would stay in nearby bed and breakfasts, and Locals could cater such events.
The health-care spectrum would include cultural and self-development education, from classes in canning and herb walks to counseling groups, poetry and art classes. The participation of a western medical doctor would be of great value in many ways. This would allow for valuable idea exchange, cross-referencing, and enhanced access to preventative health-care for community members. Independent midwifery and additional western medical services would add desirable independence to this rural community. For health care practitioners the center will act as a nexus for referrals and idea exchange. We will provide them with an established place of business and an affordable working space. By offering financial assistance to clients we could make it possible for holistic health-care workers and educators to work locally.
People will enter a space that is high-class and welcoming to all people, a space in which people can have the feeling of helping the organization and other clients by being regular patrons. The facility will utilize gray-water systems, passive-solar architecture, and alternative energy support wherever possible. The initial cost of alternative energy may be greater, but its use is a matter of ethics that are worthwhile to include from the start.
We are driven by the feeling that it is time for something of this nature to happen as an additional asset for an already beautiful community.
If we could do this, it would be so good, good enough to make a great effort worthwhile.