Archives: Events

How to Use Essential Oils in Self-Care Rituals for Beauty, Balance and Well-Being
Learn the therapeutic properties of key essential oils, whose plants are grown on the Ranch, and the best self-care rituals you can use at home for stress relief, deep sleep, restoring energy, balance and well-being.

How to Maintain Your Skin’s Radiance and Vibrancy at Any Age
What herbs and essential oils can be used to heal, nourish and restore the skin? Learn simple yet effective regimens for your own skin care needs and overall vital well-being.

Tara Grodjesk, winner of American Spa magazine’s Women in Wellness Visionary Award, president of Tara Spa Therapy, Inc., and emeritus founder of Green Spa Network, has devoted over 35 years of experience in Holistic Health and Wellness to bring therapeutic efficacy to spa treatments and products. Tara has been a consultant to world-class spas and is a master developer of high quality, holistic personal-care products. She is the expert behind the Rancho La Puerta Core Essentials line.  Ms. Grodjesk has a degree in Psychology with Honors from the Univ. of Michigan. She is a Certified Massage Therapist, Holistic Health Educator, Ayurvedic Practitioner and Aroma Therapist.  Her vision is to harness nature’s inspiration to create environments and experiences that support healing and which nourish the Divine within.

Boosting Brain Health
Uncover the secrets to a healthy, sharp and focused brain throughout all stages of life.  Emerging research shows how what you eat and your lifestyle can affect your risk of Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline.  Learn the simple, scientific truths that can boost your brain and total body health.

Living with a Healthy Heart
Heart disease can begin in humans as young as two years old. Cardiovascular diseases and stroke cause 1 in 3 women’s deaths each year, killing approximately one woman every 80 seconds.  80% of heart disease and stroke events may be prevented by lifestyle changes. In this entertaining presentation learn what you need to do to keep your heart in great condition for a long and healthy life. 

Nutrient Needs of the Plant-Based Athlete
More and more athletes, recreational and elite, are turning to plant-based diets. Learn how to fuel your body to optimize performance and health, and what unique nutrient needs the plant-based athlete faces.

Secrets to a Healthy Life
In this talk you will learn the secrets to making long lasting lifestyle changes and the ingredients necessary for living a healthier life.

Samantha Heller is a registered dietitian, exercise physiologist, licensed massage therapist, and certified fitness instructor, with a dual Master of Science degree in nutrition and applied physiology from Teachers’ College, Columbia University. She is a senior clinical nutritionist at NYU Langone Health in New York City, where she works with patients & athletes to optimize health and performance. Samantha has been the host of the popular Samantha Heller’s Health & Nutrition Show on SIRIUSXM’s DOCTOR Radio since 2008, which airs live every Friday from 12-2 p.m. ET.  She is also a consultant, influencer, best-selling author, keynote presenter, and performance artist.

Samantha’s clinical expertise includes cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, oncology, sports, weight management, and diabetes medical nutrition therapy, as well as stress, wellbeing, and lifestyle management.  She is a favored health expert on shows such as CBS Mornings, MSNBC, NY1 News, and more. She is the go-to expert for health and medical press such as HealthDay, U.S. News & World Report, Reuter’s Health, Everyday Health, Prevention, Health.com, Huffington Post, Livestrong, et al.

Known for her evidence-based, energetic, and accessible style, Samantha is a popular key-note speaker and lecturer, in-person or via webinar, at venues such as Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, NYU Langone Health, Exos, IPG Health, and more.

Author and audio book narrator, Samantha’s evidence based, book, The Only Cleanse, Countryman Press 2015, landed on shelves in May 2015 and was instant hit.  The Only Cleanse: A 14 Day Natural Detox Plan to Jump Start a Lifetime of Health. http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=4294987618

She also authored the popular, medically peer reviewed book Get Smart, which focuses on brain health and nutrition (The Johns Hopkins University Press).

The Secret in Your Script
You will be amazed at what your handwriting reveals! Learn how your handwriting is developed by your physical, intellectual, and emotional states.

From Brushstrokes to Pen Strokes – Handwriting analysis of influential and famous artists

The Write Note – What handwriting analysis reveals about musicians and composers

Lena Rivkin, MFA, is Vice President of the Southern California American Handwriting Analysis Foundation.  An internationally recognized graphologist with a particular interest in the interpretation of human dynamics, she advises Fortune 500 companies in employment screening and consults as a document analyst in legal cases. She analyzes handwriting for private investigators, universities, and individuals seeking to learn more about themselves.  Lena also is a nationally exhibited visual artist and college art professor.  She has served on the art faculty at Mount St. Mary’s College, University of Phoenix, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  A frequent interview subject, Lena has been published in many print and online publications on the subjects of graphology and art.

The Secret in Your Script
You will be amazed at what your handwriting reveals! Learn how your handwriting is developed by your physical, intellectual, and emotional states.

From Brushstrokes to Pen Strokes – Handwriting analysis of influential and famous artists

The Write Note – What handwriting analysis reveals about musicians and composers

Lena Rivkin, MFA, is Vice President of the Southern California American Handwriting Analysis Foundation.  An internationally recognized graphologist with a particular interest in the interpretation of human dynamics, she advises Fortune 500 companies in employment screening and consults as a document analyst in legal cases. She analyzes handwriting for private investigators, universities, and individuals seeking to learn more about themselves.  Lena also is a nationally exhibited visual artist and college art professor.  She has served on the art faculty at Mount St. Mary’s College, University of Phoenix, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  A frequent interview subject, Lena has been published in many print and online publications on the subjects of graphology and art.

Healthy Pleasures: Why Everything that Feels Good is Not Bad- Monday 1 pm Olmeca Gym
Many people think that to promote health they must undertake strict weight-loss diets, adopt punishing exercise programs, avoid salt, shun cholesterol, and follow all sorts of arduous, pleasure-denying regimens.  Fortunately, scientific evidence now suggests that for most people doing what is pleasurable, from sensual delights to selfless pleasures, from optimism to laughter, pays off twice: immediate enjoyment and better health.  So, taking a siesta, playing with a pet, talking to a friend, looking at nature, smelling a sweet scent, laughing at a funny movie, going shopping, having sex, soaking up the heat of a sauna, taking a vacation, passionately pursuing a hobby, sipping a glass of wine, indulging in chocolate (yes, chocolate!), listening to your favorite music, helping someone in need, thinking optimistically, practicing gratitude, and scores of other healthy pleasures may measurably improve your health.

Behavior Change Made Simpler: Health Benefits of Success and Confidence- Tuesday 1 pm Olmeca Gym
Strong evidence suggests that celebrating successful behavior change (no matter how small!) increases confidence, and confidence itself improves health and well-being. So, while increasing exercise, eating more healthfully, and managing weight are important, most of us experience repeated failure in maintaining long-term behavior change.  What does repeated failure do to our sense of confidence and control? Happily, there are practical ways to improve confidence, success, and health through small changes without sacrificing enjoyment. You don’t have to kill yourself to save your life!

Stress: Avoid, Cope or Embrace? – Wednesday 1 pm Olmeca Gym
Do you often feel that stress depletes your health, vitality, and health? Do you believe that stress is negative and should be avoided? Or do you view stress as positive- something that enhances your health, growth, and performance? It turns out that our beliefs about stress (our “mindsets”) may be more powerful in shaping our health, than stress itself. Rather than just managing stress, learn how to shift mindset to embrace and utilize stress as something helpful.

Rx Healthy Sex: Is Sex Good Medicine? – Friday 2 pm Olmeca Gym
Sexuality is central to human well-being, but most of medicine is focused on sexual dysfunction and health risks of sexual activity. But can enjoying the pleasures of sex have benefits for health and well-being? Is good sex good for you? We will explore the scientific evidence that sexual activity can increase longevity, lower heart disease risk, reduce prostate cancer, reduced vaginal atrophy, burn calories, improve marital satisfaction, support successful aging, reduce stress and even stop headaches. We will also consider if sex be prescribed and how can sexual satisfaction be enhanced.

David S. Sobel, MD, MPH, is Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, and Visiting Scholar at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences (CASBS). He was Director of Patient Education and Health Promotion for Kaiser Permanente Northern California which serves over 4 million members and practiced adult primary care medicine.   Dr. Sobel completed a Bachelor’s degree in psychology (University of Michigan), medical education (University of California San Francisco), medical internship (Presbyterian Hospital-Pacific Medical Center), Masters in Public Health and a residency program in General Preventive Medicine (UC Berkeley). His research and teaching interests include medical self-care, patient education, preventive medicine, behavioral medicine and psychosocial factors in health. He has written ten books: including The Healing Brain, Healthy Pleasures, The Mind & Body Health Handbook, Ways of Health: Holistic Approaches to Ancient and Contemporary Medicine, and Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions.  Dr. Sobel’s more than 200 television appearances to educate the public about health issues include the Today Show, CNN, Hour Magazine, and a television news segment on an ABC news affiliate station in San Jose. He also served as an invited delegate to the Congress that generated the Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion. He has provided over 500 invited keynote lectures in a variety of professional and public venues including the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), American Hospital Association, National Institutes for Health, National Health Service (NHS UK), UCSF, Stanford, Harvard, and Esalen Institute.

Healthy Pleasures: Why Everything that Feels Good is Not Bad- Monday 1 pm Olmeca Gym
Many people think that to promote health they must undertake strict weight-loss diets, adopt punishing exercise programs, avoid salt, shun cholesterol, and follow all sorts of arduous, pleasure-denying regimens.  Fortunately, scientific evidence now suggests that for most people doing what is pleasurable, from sensual delights to selfless pleasures, from optimism to laughter, pays off twice: immediate enjoyment and better health.  So, taking a siesta, playing with a pet, talking to a friend, looking at nature, smelling a sweet scent, laughing at a funny movie, going shopping, having sex, soaking up the heat of a sauna, taking a vacation, passionately pursuing a hobby, sipping a glass of wine, indulging in chocolate (yes, chocolate!), listening to your favorite music, helping someone in need, thinking optimistically, practicing gratitude, and scores of other healthy pleasures may measurably improve your health.

Behavior Change Made Simpler: Health Benefits of Success and Confidence- Tuesday 1 pm Olmeca Gym
Strong evidence suggests that celebrating successful behavior change (no matter how small!) increases confidence, and confidence itself improves health and well-being. So, while increasing exercise, eating more healthfully, and managing weight are important, most of us experience repeated failure in maintaining long-term behavior change.  What does repeated failure do to our sense of confidence and control? Happily, there are practical ways to improve confidence, success, and health through small changes without sacrificing enjoyment. You don’t have to kill yourself to save your life!

Stress: Avoid, Cope or Embrace? – Wednesday 1 pm Olmeca Gym
Do you often feel that stress depletes your health, vitality, and health? Do you believe that stress is negative and should be avoided? Or do you view stress as positive- something that enhances your health, growth, and performance? It turns out that our beliefs about stress (our “mindsets”) may be more powerful in shaping our health, than stress itself. Rather than just managing stress, learn how to shift mindset to embrace and utilize stress as something helpful.

Rx Healthy Sex: Is Sex Good Medicine? – Friday 2 pm Olmeca Gym
Sexuality is central to human well-being, but most of medicine is focused on sexual dysfunction and health risks of sexual activity. But can enjoying the pleasures of sex have benefits for health and well-being? Is good sex good for you? We will explore the scientific evidence that sexual activity can increase longevity, lower heart disease risk, reduce prostate cancer, reduced vaginal atrophy, burn calories, improve marital satisfaction, support successful aging, reduce stress and even stop headaches. We will also consider if sex be prescribed and how can sexual satisfaction be enhanced.

David S. Sobel, MD, MPH, is Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, and Visiting Scholar at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences (CASBS). He was Director of Patient Education and Health Promotion for Kaiser Permanente Northern California which serves over 4 million members and practiced adult primary care medicine.   Dr. Sobel completed a Bachelor’s degree in psychology (University of Michigan), medical education (University of California San Francisco), medical internship (Presbyterian Hospital-Pacific Medical Center), Masters in Public Health and a residency program in General Preventive Medicine (UC Berkeley). His research and teaching interests include medical self-care, patient education, preventive medicine, behavioral medicine and psychosocial factors in health. He has written ten books: including The Healing Brain, Healthy Pleasures, The Mind & Body Health Handbook, Ways of Health: Holistic Approaches to Ancient and Contemporary Medicine, and Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions.  Dr. Sobel’s more than 200 television appearances to educate the public about health issues include the Today Show, CNN, Hour Magazine, and a television news segment on an ABC news affiliate station in San Jose. He also served as an invited delegate to the Congress that generated the Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion. He has provided over 500 invited keynote lectures in a variety of professional and public venues including the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), American Hospital Association, National Institutes for Health, National Health Service (NHS UK), UCSF, Stanford, Harvard, and Esalen Institute.

Unstuff Your Life!
Whether you want to get a handle on a crowded kitchen, a disorganized closet, are drowning in papers or sick and tired of always losing your keys, you’ll find the answers to your problems and much more in this presentation. Combining easy and basic tools and simple mindfulness techniques, you can quickly simplify your life with immediate and lasting results. Andrew Mellen has helped over 100,000 people around the globe to get organized, clear clutter and increase their happiness for good.

More Love, Less Stuff
You know you could be better organized, but often feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. Expanding on the tools and solutions explored in Unstuff Your Life!, this workshop helps participants identify major clutter hot spots at home or work and create simple action plans to tackle those problem areas when they return home. Each participant will leave with 3 (or more) easy fixes they can quickly apply to create more space and harmony, along with new skills that will allow them to face future challenges with clarity, speed and a sense of humor.

Lighten Your Load by Living Your Values
Many people declare they know what is important to them, yet consistently make choices that complicate rather than simplify their lives and work. Not surprisingly, clutter, chronic lateness and disorganization are the natural results when your choices are out of integrity with your core values. Fortunately, it’s easy to bring your life back into alignment to increase your overall wellbeing and expand your happiness. Through personal and group exercises, rediscover what really matters and how to reinforce those values with every choice, from “what’s for lunch?” to major life decisions.

You’re Already Late! Time Management Secrets to Simplify Your Life
Forget multi-tasking and other gimmicks—there are no shortcuts to good time management. Fortunately, there are secret and not-so-secret ways to get organized and stay present that save you time and get you back into the driver’s seat for good. An open heart and an open mind will put an end to racing around looking for your keys, purse or cell phone while you learn practical, sustainable tools and techniques to break free from procrastination and someday-itis. You will quickly learn how to shift from being busy and overwhelmed to being awake, happy and effective.

Andrew Mellen is a speaker, coach, organizational expert, and the Wall-Street Journal and Audible best-selling author of Unstuff Your Life! and The Most Organized Man in America’s Guide to Moving. His message is simple: Get rid of clutter and everything opens up. Everything means everything—your workspace, your home, your time AND your life. Without clutter and disorganization to distract you, you will finally have free time for what matters. Andrew’s direct, practical and compassionate approach has won him fans and followers from CEOs, psychologists and award-winning artists to educators, activists and overwhelmed parents everywhere. Since 1996, he’s helped over 500,000 individuals and corporate clients including Goldman Sachs, American Express, Genentech, NetApp, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the US Departments of Education and Homeland Security to make smarter, simpler choices aligned with their core values. He speaks internationally on organization, sustainability and productivity. Andrew is on the faculty at New York Open Center and frequently teaches on the intersection of organizing and spirituality at venues including Omega Institute, San Francisco Zen Center, Tassajara and the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment. Andrew invites everyone to live by the motto: More Love, Less Stuff!®

Unstuff Your Life!
Whether you want to get a handle on a crowded kitchen, a disorganized closet, are drowning in papers or sick and tired of always losing your keys, you’ll find the answers to your problems and much more in this presentation. Combining easy and basic tools and simple mindfulness techniques, you can quickly simplify your life with immediate and lasting results. Andrew Mellen has helped over 100,000 people around the globe to get organized, clear clutter and increase their happiness for good.

More Love, Less Stuff
You know you could be better organized, but often feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. Expanding on the tools and solutions explored in Unstuff Your Life!, this workshop helps participants identify major clutter hot spots at home or work and create simple action plans to tackle those problem areas when they return home. Each participant will leave with 3 (or more) easy fixes they can quickly apply to create more space and harmony, along with new skills that will allow them to face future challenges with clarity, speed and a sense of humor.

Lighten Your Load by Living Your Values
Many people declare they know what is important to them, yet consistently make choices that complicate rather than simplify their lives and work. Not surprisingly, clutter, chronic lateness and disorganization are the natural results when your choices are out of integrity with your core values. Fortunately, it’s easy to bring your life back into alignment to increase your overall wellbeing and expand your happiness. Through personal and group exercises, rediscover what really matters and how to reinforce those values with every choice, from “what’s for lunch?” to major life decisions.

You’re Already Late! Time Management Secrets to Simplify Your Life
Forget multi-tasking and other gimmicks—there are no shortcuts to good time management. Fortunately, there are secret and not-so-secret ways to get organized and stay present that save you time and get you back into the driver’s seat for good. An open heart and an open mind will put an end to racing around looking for your keys, purse or cell phone while you learn practical, sustainable tools and techniques to break free from procrastination and someday-itis. You will quickly learn how to shift from being busy and overwhelmed to being awake, happy and effective.

Andrew Mellen is a speaker, coach, organizational expert, and the Wall-Street Journal and Audible best-selling author of Unstuff Your Life! and The Most Organized Man in America’s Guide to Moving. His message is simple: Get rid of clutter and everything opens up. Everything means everything—your workspace, your home, your time AND your life. Without clutter and disorganization to distract you, you will finally have free time for what matters. Andrew’s direct, practical and compassionate approach has won him fans and followers from CEOs, psychologists and award-winning artists to educators, activists and overwhelmed parents everywhere. Since 1996, he’s helped over 500,000 individuals and corporate clients including Goldman Sachs, American Express, Genentech, NetApp, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the US Departments of Education and Homeland Security to make smarter, simpler choices aligned with their core values. He speaks internationally on organization, sustainability and productivity. Andrew is on the faculty at New York Open Center and frequently teaches on the intersection of organizing and spirituality at venues including Omega Institute, San Francisco Zen Center, Tassajara and the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment. Andrew invites everyone to live by the motto: More Love, Less Stuff!®

Finding Monarchs!
Suzanne Clarke will present a PowerPoint program about her trip — “a dream of a life time” — in search of the Monarch Butterflies in the mountains of Michoacán where the monarchs spend their winters. Come and travel vicariously as Suzanne tells us what she learned along the way about the places, people, horses, and of course the elusive Monarchs she met along the way.

Transformation of an Urban Garden into a Wildlife, Sustainable Habitat
What happens if your newly purchased home doesn’t have your “dream” garden when you move in? That happened to me.  Ten years ago, I moved into a Victorian home in downtown Petaluma, California. with a dark back yard full of crabgrass, raging oxalis, deformed ornamental plum trees, and boxwood. Could I really convert this land into a sustainable and wildlife habitat with attractive, low-water use plants, drip irrigation, a 1500 gal. underground rainwater catchment system, and a grey-water system in a reasonable time and cost?   Suzanne Clarke will share some of her successes (and mistakes!) to convert her garden into a small urban oasis for native insects with color all year round and one that directs its rainwater to slow down, spread out, before sinking into the ground for future use.

My Life in Zimbabwe
April 1980 – January 1985 — Rhodesia becomes Zimbabwe. Suzanne Clarke with her two young sons accompanies her husband, Jonathan, a British diplomat, into an environment fresh from civil war. Suzanne will give you a flavor of her family’s life during their five years in this new democracy. She will explain her role in the creation of the Greendale Community Center with its preschool, adult literacy classes, and women’s club for its indigenous citizens. This Community Center is still around today — 40 years later.

Suzanne Clarke has been a gardener all of her life, beginning when she first helped her grandmother pick peonies for the cemetery for Memorial Day when she was a youngster. She has lived and gardened with her husband and three children in Germany, Taiwan, England, Zimbabwe, as well as on both the east and west coasts of the United States.

Suzanne lived in the Washington, DC area for over 30 years where she was an elementary school teacher. Suzanne started each school year by harvesting Monarch eggs and caterpillars from the milkweed found in her garden for her pupils to observe and marvel all of the stages of metamorphosis. Suzanne’s gardens in Washington, DC and in St. Michaels, Maryland were “Way Stations” for Monarch Watch. Her garden is in Petaluma is now a Monarch Way Station.

In 2008, Suzanne became a Master Gardener in Maryland, specializing in wildlife habitat; Integrated Pest Management; and Storm-water management.

After moving to Petaluma, California, in Sonoma County, in 2012, Suzanne took the training again to become a Master Gardener. Again, Suzanne’s main passion is to share her passion for saving habitats for butterflies and other pollinators. Suzanne has been “fostering” butterflies and monitoring the flight of Monarchs for Monarch Watch for twenty years. She is a member of the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count for the Xerces Society.

Follow her on Facebook at @SonomaCountyButterflyAlliance