ktt,

USX,,,AMS,PW.W4EftWKWKWMOKM,MAIMMOMMW.,:= M6^AaKMUK, SKSMEMMVKM4 ,04$5..., KM:' ,1,,i0:4

1",,Me::KM,KM.V0.4:4MMI*MKAWitsAbM7,

.H&Wee.2:M46=0 .07441,20,WARZW.M.W2WA
3'48MWAK-W§MS.W.WeiMAI.KM,W4KAW.W

'

\

And

T

he last thing Dr. Car-
ole Katz wants anyone
to do on this bench,
which sits under a
canopy of dark trees
surrounded by fresh
daisies, is think.
"Don't think about anything
when you're here," she says
adamantly. "We do too much of
that as it is."
Instead, Dr. Katz likes people
to watch the rabbits and hear the
wind and see into the darkness
and relax, deeply relax. It's a way
of healing, she says as she walks
through her forest-like back yard,
her small dog Schmoozer follow-
ing closely at her heels.
"Healing" is the operative word
at the nonsectarian, nonprofit
Circle of the Sacred Light in
Southfield. There must be at least
50 ways to do it, none too famil-
iar sounding. There's Reiki and
cranial sacral therapy, polarity
and bioenergetics, magnets and
Rolfing, aromatherapy and
Rubenfeld Synergy. Something
is bound to work for just about

A quiet house in
Southfield is
home to a
"healing center."

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

So ul

everyone, she believes, and just
about everyone can benefit from
some kind of care.
Dr. Katz opened the Circle of
the Sacred Light — despite its
heady sound, the center's name
is 'just something a friend came
up with" — about a year and a
half ago.
A Detroit native, Dr. Katz had
put herself through college, ob-
taining a Ph.D. from the Univer-
sity of Pittsburgh, and worked for
16 years as a clinical therapist,
utilizing, for the most part, the
traditional tools of the trade. But
she found herself longing for
more, and as she began to search
"for spirituality, that created a
change in me."
She looked into a variety of al-
ternative healing methods, even-
tually incorporating some into her
own professional practice. A ma-
jor focus was the power of touch.
"I learned how you can touch
someone on the back or the fore-
head and feel the energy," she
said.
Not that Dr. Katz believes she
alone possesses some remarkable
gift she would be willing to share
for thousands of dollars an hour
(like some big-name New Age
healers).
Anyone can master these
skills, she insists. It's mostly a
matter of learning "how to be
aware of one another."
If this is all starting to sound a
little too oddball, be assured that
Dr. Katz is completely cognizant
of the fact that some of the meth-
ods she uses are indeed, well, dif-
ferent.
"Sometimes I still think it's
weird," she said. "But I can see
that it has helped other people."
After practicing alone for 16

Carole Katz works on a client: "Most who come here know it's not exactly mainstream."

years, Dr. Katz opened the Circle
of the Sacred Light where other
therapists could work, as well.
For her "healing center'' she chose
a comfortable, spacious house, the
site of a former group home, on
Beech Road. In addition to pri-
vate consultations, the center of-
fers a number of workshops, like
one that focuses on Shamanic
healing complete with chanting,
drums and Native American mu-
sic.
Individual sessions are held be-
hind closed doors, in small, pri-
vate offices. The workshops may
be in the giant meeting room

where there's a fireplace and
shelves filled with Dr. Katz's
books, everything from Fodor's
Guide to Israel to works by Edgar
Cayce, a biography of Sigmund
Freud, a copy of Gone With The
Wind and Dr. Seuss' Yertle the
Turtle. There's a large, glass door
at the back, which looks out to the
bench under the trees.
The waiting room, the first
place clients see as they enter
through the front door, looks
more like someone's home than
the familiar sterile settings.
At the Circle of the Sacred
Light, the waiting room features

Havi Mandell's cranial sacral theraov consists of a series of entle wave-like motions.

a piano, complete with a stuffed
bear on the bench, comfortable
couches and an intricate puzzle,
only half completed and just beg-
ging for passersby to add a few
pieces.
Clients run the gamut, from
those trying to overcome drug
and alcohol abuse to those who
simply need a nice way to relax
to those dealing with baggage
from the past. "Inner child work-
shops" are especially good for the
latter. "It helps them get in touch
with the hurt inside them," Dr.
Katz explained.
BODY page 70