man I spoke with started digging around in the papers on his desk and said he had just seen something about a heat exchanger.


To heal, grow, and learn, we don’t have to do it all by ourselves.


Then, we developed a closed glycol system so that the pipes would not freeze if the system shut down. This system has been working


effectively since 1989 and has become better and better as we insulate the old building.


It is possible to heal in a way that is one with the environment. Indeed, for real healing to take place, this oneness must be operative.


THE NEXT PHASE OF HEALING After the bathhouse was restored and upgraded (the baths were tiled for the first time), we worked out an agreement with the state that if our soaking water had a complete turnover every four hours and the plungers were drained and cleaned every night, we would not have to add chlorine and harsh chemicals. After all, people were coming for the natural mineral baths, not artificial chemicals. This approach has worked out well.


It is possible to heal the people and the earth at the same time.


HEALING THE PEOPLE, THE BUILDING AND THE LAND Every phase of healing the building has added to healing the people. We now have beautiful rooms for our guests and charming meeting rooms, all furnished with lovely, recycled antiques (except for the mattresses, of course). Last summer, we opened the old bar


room and the lobby to the public for the first time in 40 years. Along the way, we decided that we


would be an alcohol-free, drug-free, TV-free environment. This is a place of retreat for individuals, families, and groups. If people want drunken parties, they can go somewhere else.


HEALING THE LAND When the highway that goes right through the Hot Springs’ land was going to be widened, we negotiated with the Highway Department to respect the land and be part of the healing. We formed a partnership and made many important agreements: • They agreed to wildlife tunnels and special wildlife fences along the highway.


• There is an eagle’s nest on our land on the other side of the highway. They


agreed not to work in this area during nesting season.


• The Highway Department has agreed not to disturb our whooping cranes during nesting. Have you ever awakened or gone to sleep to the calling of the whooping cranes? It soothes my soul. I feel at peace when I hear them.


• We negotiated to keep the settling ponds for our bathhouses; we were being pressed by the state to put in septic tanks because they are more modern – and less environmentally friendly! Our settling ponds are adequate for a small city, return the water to the stream cleaner than the regulations, and grow and supply mosquito fish fledglings to the entire state of Montana – free.


• Our meadows, after years of artificially being made into grazing and hay land by the government, are being returned to their natural wetland state. As a result of these agreements,


the wild animals are coming back. Someone even saw a white bear at the edge of our property.


You can’t heal the people without healing the building. You can’t heal the people without healing the land and you can’t heal the land without healing the people and the building.


It is all one. It is a circle. All life is a whole. n


Connect with other readers & comment on this article at www.livingnow.com.au


Anne Wilson Schaef, PhD, DHL, is an internationally known speaker, consultant, seminar leader and author. She is the president of Wilson


Schaef Associates and a New York Times bestselling author. ’There Will Be a Thousand Years of Peace and Prosperity and They Will Be Ushered in By The Women: The Essential Role of Women in Finding Personal and Planetary Solutions’ is Schaef’s 17th published book. Schaef has also recently published a book called, ’Daily Reminders for Living a New Paradigm’. She lives in Boulder, Montana.


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