Wellness To Go!

8 Local Scottsdale/Phoenix Businesses Supporting At-Home Customers

Staying at home while social distancing doesn't have to equate with binge-eating and binge-watching Netflix. This could be a serendipitous time to up your fitness regime, cook meals at home, and even begin a juice cleanse. There are some amazing local businesses that are going above and beyond to reach their customers- either virtually, to their door, or curbside.

1. Local Bistro

I spoke with Brandon Hassell, the manager of Local Bistro, to learn more about what this restaurant, one of my all-time favorites in Scottsdale, is offering to help their customers enjoy their delicious food while the restaurant is not open for dining. Brandon explained that they are offering a dollar for dollar promotion. For each dollar spent on a take-out or curbside delivery order, the restaurant will give their customers an even dollar amount credit back in the form of a gift certificate that can be used at a later date when dining-in returns. Whereas their menu is extensive, my personal favorite dish is the Tuscan Chopped Salad- fresh, delicious, and healthy.

2. Kaleidoscope Juice

If you haven’t tried Kaleidoscope fresh juices you are in for a healthy treat. Alexandra Maw, founder/owner is committed to bringing wellness to your doorstep. If you are within 10 miles of Old Town, Scottsdale, Kaleidoscope Juices will deliver their fresh products right to your door for free! In addition to delicious fresh juices, they also have an array of healthy cookies and other baked products. In addition, they are offering free juice smoothies to local health care workers.

3. Wendy L. Farrell, Skillshop Training

Author, culinary entrepreneur and corporate trainer, Wendy L. Farrell, M.S.Ed has been educating the public and private sector in all aspects of health, wellness and leadership for many years. A published author, Wendy’s cookbook, Make it Healthy is filled with ideas, strategies and recipes to create healthier eating habits.

Wendy also has an expertise in virtual training and with her experience as a culinary entrepreneur, she has created a variety of fun and valuable niche trainings and classes, perfect for our current times.

Wendy’s Skillshop Training services are now providing these virtual classes:

1. Virtual Wine and Cheese Tours

2. Around the World Cuisine

3. Cooking Skills

4. Virtual Healthy Cooking Classes for family, kids, camps, and corporations

5. Virtual Team Culinary Challenges (such as the ‘Quarantine Kitchen Challenge’)

4. Stop and Breathe

So you may recognize this business name. 😃 Stop and Breathe provides individual and corporate wellness support. In my work with others, I teach healthy breathing, relaxation, visualization, & manifestation techniques. Now more than ever, I am hearing from individuals that are feeling a tremendous amount of anxiety and want to adapt healthier coping techniques.

My soothing Zenful Zoom Sessions allow me to continue working with my clients as if we were face to face. l am offering a free 30-minute virtual consultation/ mini-session for any new clients wanting to experience the benefits of mindful breathing, relaxation, and overall wellness techniques. In addition, the Deep Relaxation Series I created allows listeners to hear soothing guided relaxations and meditations with their favorite music-streaming preference.

5. Freshbox

One of my all time healthy places to dine in Scottsdale is Freshbox. Trademarked as ‘The Healthiest Place on Earth”, this fantastic local gem offers the most fabulous, freshly made-to-order salads, smoothies, acai bowls, and more. While the restaurant is closed for dining in, they are open for take-out and are partnered with a delivery service that will bring you their fresh, healthy food to your door. The owner, David Vasquez, is passionate about good health and their take-out menu reflects this.

6. Chuckwalla CrossFit

Originated created 5 years ago in owner John Hazdovac’s garage, their current location on Central & Dunlap serves the North-Central Phoenix community. With the COVID-19 quarantine, John saw this pandemic sweeping the nation and knew it would be a threat to their physical location. He adapted quickly to the changes and their fitness regimes are now completely virtual, actually expanding their services!

Giving people the opportunity to work out in their own homes, they rolled out virtual classes with 3 live classes via Zoom every weekday. Since Chuckwalla Crossfit serves many families, they are working on having a kids class on Zoom as well.

They also launched a 21-Day Quarantine Challenge in an effort to help our community stay motivated, stay accountable and stay connected. This challenge gives simple daily tasks focusing on nutrition, movement, mindset and wellness habits to help us get through this time with stronger minds, stronger bodies and stronger immune systems! Our members also get 1-on-1 virtual coaching through this challenge, and group accountability.

As John states,

“Fitness is all around us, from lifting kids to groceries, walking our pets, physically demanding jobs. Even without equipment, there are a lot of ways to get a good workout and keep your fitness up! Backpacks can be loaded with books; milk or detergent jugs can be substituted for dumbbells. There is no better time than NOW to get started with new habits and new routines.”

7. Modern Yoga

Courtney Sheber, is the manager Modern Yoga. Seeing the need for her students to stay connected to their yoga classes and the yoga community, as well, her studio started online classes via Zoom. Students can sign up online with their current Modern Yoga package or membership, book the class they want to take, and receive a zoom link ten minutes before class.

The studio teaches 3 live classes a day in-studio, so the students feel like they are in an actual class. They have even had as many as 85 people join a class! As Courtney states,

“It's been amazing to see the support and community show up. People need yoga now more than ever!”

In addition adapting to online classes due to their students’ current needs, they are offering a 20% discount on all online classes and they are also currently working on creating on-demand type classes for their students.

8. Luci’s at the Orchard

A well-known name in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, Luci’s healthy restaurants (there are 3 Luci’s restaurants in the valley) provide an abundance of locally sourced healthy food items. Luci’s at the Orchard, is their only location that is up and running for take-out food while dining-in is not an option with the current social distancing laws.

The menu is abundant with many delicious and fresh breakfast, lunch, and dinner items. In addition to these healthy meal items, they have fresh squeezed juices, an array of energy drinks, gluten-free items, pizza, and every milk alternative you can think of!

In addition to their take-out food, Luci’s has pre-packaged sweets and goodies that are sold at their outdoor stand curbside. They plan to roll their indoor market outdoors very soon while respecting social distancing.

Speaking to Lucia Schnitzer, the owner of Luci’s restaurants, was truly enlightening and uplifting. While discussing the current coronavirus situation and its impact, she states,

“When we see a cloudy sky, just look at all the colors that are illuminated! Now imagine e a sunny day. Those colors are not as vibrant as the ones in that cloudy day. We sometimes need these challenges, because they are opportunities to see things in a new way."

Kudos to these wonderful and innovative businesses for thinking out of the box and pivoting quickly to our changing needs for health and wellness goods and services. Wishing all my readers good health and peace of mind during this challenging time in our lives.

REQUEST TO MY READERS:

Health and wellness is such a broad field. I would love to know what my readers are the most interested in seeing each week. Please drop me a line telling me what interests you most. Is it aesthetics? Meditation? Fitness? Essential oils? Preventative health? Let me know what you would find compelling to learn about.

Email Susan@stopandbreathe.org, find me on Instagram, Facebook, or visit my website, StopandBreathe.org.

-Susan Ginsberg, Stop and Breathe