This year Natural Awakenings Fairfield County/Housatonic Valley, CT will celebrate its 15^th anniversary of publishing. It’s a big milestone and yet just a portion of the 25-year legacy Natural Awakenings has grown across the country as a franchise. “We love to spread light,” says Natural Awakenings’ founder Sharon Bruckman of the publishing family she has created. Check out page 28 if you’re curious how it all got started, . 

Over the years we have fostered inspiration, growth, education and lots of connections through rich content, diverse advertising and promotion of and involvement in many local events. An advertiser recently called me from Florida and mentioned that she’d picked up a copy of the local edition in Whole Foods. “It makes me feel good to see it everywhere,” she said. “It’s like I’m part of an extended family.” To me that sentiment is the enduring legacy of Natural Awakenings and one I’m very proud to be a part of.

In that vein of community building and service, each February we create a special showcase reference guide for the businesses and practitioners in the region. It’s a kind of a celebration of what our area has to offer. Welcome to the 2019 Natural Living Directory! 

This year’s edition is our largest ever, including more than 225 area businesses and practitioners waiting to help our readers achieve their goals in 2019. While an exciting growth milestone for us, this issue makes an even more powerful statement about the providers and businesses we are fortunate to connect to our loyal, engaged readers. Our local community is bursting with incredible resources, as the following pages can attest. You’ll see some long-time members of the community and many new faces; we are excited to present them all to you!

In this special issue, we move the regular Community Resource Guide toward the front of the magazine. We include expanded profiles of many businesses as well as a Natural Living Glossary to help you better understand terminology which may be new. The depth and breadth of this edition make it a reference guide to be kept all year and referred to in times of need. Don’t worry if you lend your copy out and it doesn’t come back! This unique edition can be found throughout Fairfield and southwestern Litchfield Counties at our major rack distribution points, events and conferences throughout the rest of the year. You can always find the digital edition on eNaturalAwakenings.com or visit our Facebook page for the link. 

The mission of the magazine has never been more important; finding and maintaining personal balance is critical as the world around us shifts in major ways out of our immediate control. Let the phenomenal resources in this edition be guides and supports on your journey. Use the ideas and tools that appeal to you; then let your increased vitality ripple back out into the world. It will make a bigger difference than you could ever know. 

May 2019 be everything you desire and bring more than you have yet dreamed.

With love and light,

Nicole