In a world where the hustle is real, overscheduled is an understatement, the news is a potpourri of heartbreak, global unrest, and rising geopolitical tensions, and your Apple Watch will literally send you a notification reminding you to breathe (read this with the intro to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” in your head for peak accuracy), it seems harder than ever to find a sense of calm. The good news is, it’s there… perhaps buried underneath the Google calendar or lost in the gridlock of the Route 6/10 Connector, but calmness is attainable, and there are a number of Rhode Island resources that can help us recalibrate, realign, and reawaken this summer and beyond.
“Movement is a beautiful way to find your calm because it gets your mind onto your body and out of your head all the time,” says Laura Nave, a classically trained and certified Pilates instructor with more than a decade of experience in the professional health and fitness fields. Ten years ago, Nave opened Rare Form Pilates, a group fitness studio in Providence’s Jewelry District. Here, clients of all ages, fitness levels, and experience use Pilates apparatus to do flow-based, core-centered exercises focused on building strength. “The workout is built on the principle of centering and control, breathwork and flow,” explains Nave. “The intention of the work is to keep your body functioning, well, and free of pain, and that ideology never gets old. My eldest client here right now is 90.”
Inner calm, explains Nave, is part and parcel to the practice of Pilates. “If you come in and you have to focus on different movement patterns and you give yourself the space to focus on your body for an hour, trust me, you walk out of the room much calmer than you walk in.” Pilates is meeting your body exactly where it is, adds Nave, which means anyone can get started at any time. “Spoiler alert: there is no perfect way to come to the body. You just have to do it,” she says, adding that many people get caught up in the pressures of perfection when it comes to wellness and fitness. Sometimes just a 30-minute walk can reframe your perspective, she says.
Ellen Blomgren also finds inner calm in her practice, but it’s a practice of a different kind. The professional ceramic sculptor and artist educator founded Mudstone Studios clay studios at Cutler Mill in Warren nearly two decades ago so that she not only had a place to create, but also to teach others how to develop breathtaking artistic expressions. In 2022, she opened a second studio in Pawtucket at Lorraine Mills, and just last summer added a third location in Wareham, MA. “Any medium takes years to hone. Sculpting just came more naturally to me and I have been evolving over the years, stretching further with every new project,” says Blomgren. Born out of a desire to support artists across the South Coast and now, around the Capital City, Blackstone Valley, and the Cape, Mudstone Studios serves as a communal workspace for artists and novices working in ceramics. She’s committed to creating an affordable and nurturing environment for all levels, for both adults and mature teens.
The craft is one that lets her detach from life’s demands. “Sculpting takes me to a meditative space where I lose all track of time and the busy stuff that makes up the rest of my life,” she says. “The work lets me express how I see the world, and how I hope others can see it. It’s almost a vacation from the real world.”
Blomgren’s inspiration is the natural world, and she often sculpts animals and wildlife in engaging poses, which also gives her a sense of calm. “I love the outdoors and how sunshine feels, even on the coldest days,” she says. Whether in her yard or out in the woods, walking the East Bay Bike Path, wandering down to the beach with her dogs, or exploring the Audubon Nature Center and Aquarium in Bristol, Blomgren finds a serenity in the outdoors that translates seamlessly into her work. “I’m so lucky to live so close to all of this natural space.”
For others, finding a true sense of calm involves very little physical activity. Spa visits are often considered the pinnacle of indulgent luxury and frou-frou pampering, and while not entirely untrue, treatments can legitimately help soothe both mind and body. Inspire Medical Spa and Wellness Center in Narragansett offers BroadBand Light (BBL™) technology, which uses intense pulsed light therapy to treat different skin conditions. “BBL is a photothermal energy that will reduce the amount of fine vessels and unwanted melanin that produces pigmented lesions and redness,” explains Pamela Lutes, Inspire’s owner. “What’s really cool about that is that the device that we have here, they used in a 12-year Stanford University study, and it proved actual RNA and DNA change. So when you change the gene expression of the skin to that of younger skin, your skin doesn’t just look younger, it is younger. It is protective, it goes down deep, and it eradicates damage before it can turn into anything.”
More than just beauty-driven, Lutes says the spa has doubled in size to accommodate growing demand and expand wellness services. IV therapy, for example, is an increasingly popular wellness trend that Inspire offers in which a high dose of minerals and vitamins are administered directly into a client’s bloodstream. “You can choose your cocktail of vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, and amino acids. We’re looking to strengthen immunity, and people feel more energetic. You can recover from a workout – or a night out – rehydrating, replenishing your body… people always tell me they just feel so much better after that,” says Lutes. She adds that the spa is seeing more appointments by men than ever before. “They’re just as stressed; it’s just different kinds of stressors,” Lutes explains.
In the heart of Rolfe Square in Cranston, discover multiple art studios, a ceramics studio, gallery, and theater at the Artists’ Exchange. Programs include all-level art classes, summer camps, school programs, performances and events in art, theater, music, and ceramics. The in-house Black Box Theatre is an integrated theater company composed of actors with and without disabilities. Learn more at Artists-Exchange.org
• East Bay Music Studio, Warren
• Portsmouth Art Guild, Portsmouth
• Stitch Supply, Barrington
• Weirdgirl Creations, Barrington
• Bristol Total Fitness, Bristol
• Nanaquaket Yoga Studio, Tiverton
• Newport Pilates & Company, Newport
• RI Fencing Academy & Club, East Providence
• Ananda Hair Designs, Warren
• The Beauty Studio, Portsmouth
• Hair Heart & Soul, Bristol
• Tiffany’s Salon & Spa, Barrington
• The Beauty Studio, Portsmouth
• Findley Dermatology, East Providence
• Radiant Esthetics, Newport
• Spa at Castle Hill Inn, Newport
• Spa Fjör, Newport
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