Green Lotus founder Marcia Appel was never content to do just one thing. An accomplished corporate businessperson, journalist, and marketing guru, she wondered what else was out there. When her father got sick with lung cancer, she quit her job to help care for him and began doing yoga. “It fed the curiosity,” she says. “His illness gave me an opportunity to explore. That was a gift to me. It was a gift to him, because we spent a lot of time together.”
The gift to the community is that, with the help of business partners, she launched Green Lotus Yoga and Healing Center, which continues to grow. Here are five reasons why.
They’re not anti-Western medicine.
“When I started, my goal was to have this type of service facility for every 10 Western clinics,” Appel says. “Now I see we need one for every seven.” But Western medicine and Eastern methods “can live side by side.”
Everyone is welcome.
“Not everyone wants harder, faster, hotter yoga all the time,” Appel says. “They’re already stressed!” The yoga staff offers classes such as slow flow, seniors Pilates, and yoga nidra, a guided calmness/meditation that works on everyone from stressed execs to children with ADHD.
They cross-pollinate.
Massage therapists have gotten reiki or yoga training. An acupuncturist learned about pure-grade essential oils. One of the therapists recently told Appel, “I often would want to say to someone, you also need acupuncture. But the clients wouldn’t make another appointment and go elsewhere. Now I send them down the hall!”
They offer a concentrated energy healing menu.
Green Lotus shines when it comes to their offerings in energetic bodywork—think reiki and aura readings. Their practitioners are well respected, including Bobby Sullivan, who trained with renowned psychic Echo Bodine. His insights and analysis will make your hair stand on end—in a good way.
They offer a menu of intriguing workshops.
Acu-yoga: Points and Poses. Kirtan. Sanskrit for Yogis. Dip your toe into wellness waters for a small fee.
Green Lotus Yoga and Healing Center, 18480 Kenyon Ave., Lakeville, 952-373-0005; 750 Main St., Ste. 100, Mendota Heights, 651-319-9525; greenlotusyogactr.com
