Ten years ago last month, Natural Awakenings came to town. And it was time—it was so time for Tucson to have its own magazine focused on healthy lifestyles and a green, vibrant planet, trumpeting a warm invitation for readers to “feel good, live simply and laugh more”.

    The magazine arrived in the form of Holly Baker, our beloved publisher and editor-in-chief. Fleeing a corporate job in Kansas City and pursuing a new life in the Sonoran Desert, Baker came here to run a business, which she had never done, to a city where she did not know a single soul.

“I don’t think my story has ever been told,” Baker says. “But I am so grateful to the natural healers who have helped me stay well.” Baker says she came here because of health issues hallmarked by gluten sensitivities, chronic fatigue and achiness. Over the years, her health puzzle resolved into an underlying picture of dealing with the Epstein-Barr virus. “Alternative therapies such as various detoxifying treatments, bodywork and sound therapy plus dietary changes, have helped me feel good—helped me run the magazine.”

Baker says she also hears many healing stories through her leadership role. For example, she tells of the wife who read a NA story about “manopause”, the hormonal change affecting aging men, and recognized her husband in it. After he opted to try a course of testosterone, that story’s signpost “changed her marriage” and her husband is now “a different person”.

A circle of healing emerges. Baker comes here to feel better and run a publishing franchise, and the franchise brings her into contact with alternative therapies. These natural-healing practitioners and businesses that support the magazine through advertising enjoy being promoted through thoughtful feature stories. People read the stories and learn about ways to improve their lives and help Mother Earth, and it’s all good.

“There are a lot of gratitudes in my story,” Baker says. “Over the past 10 years, so many people have provided services to me and to our community. The healing community has supported us for 10 years and we have many loyal readers. I am grateful.”

Connect with local writer/editor Marcia Detwiler Scupin, whose specialty is writing about spiritual empowerment, at [email protected].