A vision of healing and peace
A simple and unassuming new building has joined the landscape of Sharon Township, with a wide-ranging vision for the future.
The Emerald Temple Healing Center, located on Sharon Hollow Road between Sharon Mills County Park and Sharon Valley Road, is the culmination of Trudi Cooper’s dream to create a space where her husband, Eric, could do his healing body work closer to home.
“He paid rent for his Ann Arbor office and drove there often,” says Trudi. “I calculated the cost of the rent and the commute and thought that our money would be better spent constructing an office for Eric here where we live.”
Thus was conceived the Emerald Temple Healing Center. As the Coopers’ building plans developed, they began to dream of a space for healing activities of all sorts. Their initial architectural drawings enlarged to become a building that is a welcoming, beautiful space where people can feel comfortable and creative.
Eric’s healing work, InSpire Somatics, has found its new center in this rural setting adjacent to the family home, in a bright, airy, and relaxing building that he built with his own hands–along with “a little help from his friends.” The unique green building with aluminum shingle siding and a spire is becoming not only the location for Eric’s business but a gathering site for small groups seeking wellness and a connection of mind, body, and spirit.
Eric built this structure by hand, mostly by himself, “with a little help from our friends.” Trudi painted throughout, choosing paints with names like “Paradise Found” and “Gratitude.” The Coopers are artists, and their intention in creating the Emerald Temple is to make the space peaceful and healing.
Eric says, “I’m looking forward to helping my neighbors in this community ease their aches and pains. Through gentle movements, I help people relieve back, shoulder, sciatica, and scoliosis problems. People have aches and pains no matter where they are. Farmers have strained backs, as well as those who work on computers.”
Eric discovered Clinical Somatics through an “epic quest” to find a solution to his long-term muscular pain. It has become his mission and his passion to help teach others to discover this solution for themselves, as well.
“In the process of learning, I traveled 20,000 miles, and earned a lot of letters after my name,” he said. “But finding this solution has helped me become more who I really am.”
Eight years ago, Eric suffered from scoliosis and walked with a cane. Discovering the practice of Somatics helped relieve the stress and regain voluntary control of the tensions that were controlling his body. He describes it as a “re-calibration” of the body systems that harbor worry, fear, and depression.
“We develop ‘amnesia’ to sensing our own bodies,” he says. “As children, we had that sense but as we become adults we tend to lose it and we no longer know what we are missing. Our stress is killing us. Once I was no longer trapped in my stress, it changed who I am.”
Dozens of testimonials on the Inspire Somatics, http://inspiresomatics.com, share similar experiences. While Eric guides the process of re-connecting the body and minds of those with whom he is working, he quickly acknowledges that the health changes his clients experience are created from within. “Your awareness created the change,” he said. “I am simply helping to make a space for that to happen.”
And that is part of the philosophy behind the Emerald Temple Healing Center. The other half of the philosophy is guided by Trudi, who, as a “Minister of the Peace,” offers to conduct small, intimate, heartfelt weddings and other ceremonies.
“I think that there’s a need for a place for people to gather with a spiritual intent, and create their own meaningful rituals around birth, death, and coming of age,” she says. “We believe humans need healing on every level: body, mind, and spirit. We intend to hold small workshops that promote this healing. We are open to ideas that others may have for workshops as well. For example, we are currently in discussion with a man who teaches Tai Chi to First Responders.”
The Coopers are also planning to have some fun! Ideas for upcoming creative workshops include book groups, sacred dance workshops, storytelling nights, “Crown Making for Beginners,” “Getting to Know Your Angel,” and “Philosopher’s Circle,” which will be a monthly meeting of free-form discussion. In the future they plan to welcome their friend Zak Winchester with Fraktyl the Magical Turtle, for a special show for kids. Part Mr. Rogers and part Muppets, Zak is a poet and a songweaver, and Fraktyl has a beautiful message for kids of all ages.
Because the building is limited in capacity, all of these meetings are designed for small groups only. Interested persons can go to the website, EmeraldTempleHealingCenter.com to sign up for classes and workshops.
Their beautifully designed space with easy outdoor access to the rolling hills of Sharon Township seamlessly blends these two missions into one perfect setting. The Coopers are intentionally respectful of their surrounding community and its values, and want to be accessible to the entire community.
“We’re just beginning,” Trudi says. “We’re all just beginning. We are all in the process of becoming what we’ll be for eternity. We are all teachers, and we are all learners.”
At the Emerald Temple Healing Center, Eric and Trudi Cooper are awaiting the opportunity to achieve their own life’s mission, by helping others to achieve theirs.
The Center is open by appointment only. Appointments can be made online at their website, or you can visit during their open house on Sunday, February 10 from 1-4 pm. The Emerald Temple Healing Center address is 6223 Sharon Hollow Road, Manchester.
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