Family Garden

• Happiest Baby on the Block
  Harvey Karp, M.D.
  Dr. Karp’s 90-minute presentation blends modern science and ancient wisdom to prove that babies aren’t quite ready for the world when they are born. He has developed four basic principles that are crucial to understanding babies, improving their sleep and soothing their senses: The Missing Fourth Trimester, The Calming Reflex, The 5 S’s and The Cuddle Cure. His methods quickly soothe any fussy baby and immediately add one to three hours to a baby’s sleep each day.
  
• Happiest Toddler on the Block
  Harvey Karp, M.D.
  Dr. Karp’s 90-minute session teaches parents and grandparents an extraordinary new way to speak to toddlers – ages nine months to five years old – that immediately boosts a young child’s patience and cooperation, while eliminating 50 to 90 percent of tantrums … in less than a week.
  
• Preparing Your Pet for Baby
  Craig Tockman, D.V.M.
  Helping your pet adjust to the arrival of a new baby is similar to preparing a sibling for the same event! Handling your pet’s curiosity, anxiety, and increased need for attention before baby’s big entrance is the key to a successful transition. Dr. Tockman gives guidance to keeping your pet healthy, addressing your pet’s sensitivity to sounds, smells, changes in the physical environment, routines, obedience and social order to insure harmony among all of the family members, big and small.
  
• How to Raise a Green Baby
  Yasangi Jayasinha, M.D.
  From pre-conception to the arrival of your little one and beyond, Dr. Jayasinha offers tips, products and resources on raising a “green” baby, including nutrition, toys and clothing, and how to make your kitchen, baby’s nursery, bathroom, and garden eco-friendly, safe and healthy places to grow up.
  
• Raising Kids from the Inside Out: Building Character, Resilience and Self-Esteem
  Jill Mueth, Ed.D.
  Dr. Jill Mueth, recognized as a 2008 Top Ten School Counselor in the United States, and 8th grade school counselor at LaSalle Springs Middle School in the Rockwood School District, provides a developmental road map for raising your child from the “inside out”. With her wit and wisdom, she shows parents how to mentor, support and empower their children and avoid the overindulgences that stop their developmental progress. Dr. Mueth gives parents permission to be parents and role models, not buddies, and still have fun, mutual respect and healthy relationships with their children.


• OMG, U R OOC! What your Media Savvy Kids Will Never Tell You but Every Parent Needs to Know
  Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch editor and columnist

 

Health and Wellness Garden

• Optimal Health through Nutrition
  Margaret Coplin, M.D.
  From foods loaded with antioxidants to vitamins, learn about the powerful connection between optimal health and the foods we eat and how we prepare them. Learn the latest updates from Dr. Coplin, a board-certified medical oncologist and internist with a master’s of science degree in Human Nutrition and Nutritional Biology. Dr. Coplin is passionate about helping women lose weight and maintain healthy lifestyles through providing accurate diet information, and encouraging physical fitness.
  
• Take it to Heart: Have Fun, Get Fit, Be Informed
  Jeanne Cleveland, M.D.
  You’ve probably heard by now that cardiovascular disease is your biggest health risk: more Women die from this disease every year than any other. Dr.Cleveland, a cardiovascular surgeon and medical director of PULSE, St. John’s Mercy Women’s Heart and Vascular Program, provides life-changing, lifesaving information on your risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease and how to beat those odds, as well as the signs and symptoms of a heart attack.
  
• Varicose Veins: More than a Cosmetic Issue
  Ketan M. Desai, M.D.
  Varicose veins affect over 40% of women and many experience bulging, twisting veins, discomfort, pain, swelling and burning sensations. Some symptoms may develop into a serious medical issue if treatment is delayed, such as blood clots, phlebitis, skin ulcers and bleeding. Learn about the underlying causes and factors leading to varicose veins, and ways to prevent them. If you have varicose veins and are experiencing symptoms, learn about the latest surgical and non-surgical treatment options available to you. Dr. Desai is board-certified in his specialty of vascular surgery and is on staff at St. John's Mercy Heart and Vascular Hospital.


• Gynecologic Robotic Surgery: The Future is Now
  Chad Caudill, M.D.
  One in three women in the United States will experience hysterectomy by age 60. For your mother's generation, hysterectomy typically meant a painful recovery and potential complications. Chad Caudill, M.D. explains how the daVinci Surgery System offers the most advanced technology through robotics for minimally invasive gynecologic surgery. With daVinci Surgery, hysterectomies are performed without a big incision. A woman's recovery time is usually days rather than the usual weeks required with traditional surgery. Learn about this fascinating technology and treatment for gynecologic problems.

 

Healing Garden

• The Exhaustion Cure
  Laurie D. Senol, M.D.
  Need a cure for too much work, too many activities, too little support and unhealthy environments that have depleted your personal energy stores? Feeling lethargic, fuzzy-headed and unproductive? You will learn a holistic approach to boosting your energy by identifying and avoiding the factors and conditions that contribute to low energy, and learning to incorporate ways to renew and rev up your sources of positive energy. In a few weeks, you’ll experience more control over your life and find the zest, zip and zeal you’ve been missing!
  
• Surviving and Thriving: Our Story of Healing after Cancer
  Melba Peters and Melissa Christaldi, mother and daughter
  Three generations of women in the Peters family have battled cancer. Melba and Melissa, mother and daughter breast cancer survivors, share their stories of fighting their disease, recovering and thriving. Melba lost her 50-year old mother to cancer and watched her own daughter Melissa go through the pain and ordeal of battling it. Melba tells how faith, strength, courage, attitude and support were her companions during recovery and her experience has made her a different woman. Melissa, diagnosed at age 27 with Stage II cancer four years after her mother’s diagnosis, shares her experiences with treatment, and even the positive effects that having breast cancer has played in her life.
  
  

Life Balance Garden

• Women and Lifelong Learning: Empowerment Through Education
  Denise Evans, M.B.A.
  Assistant Vice President, Adult & Continuing Education, Maryville University St. Louis Adult women of all ages are enthusiastic and successful college students: Women now earn 58 percent of all bachelor’s degrees and 60 percent of all master’s degrees. Whether you’re completing a degree or taking one class, lifelong learning is increasingly a necessity to help you cope with the rapid changes in our world today, be competitive through and beyond economic downturns, put your stamp on improving society, stay healthy, and find self-fulfillment. Explore the amazing benefits of learning beyond the traditional 18-to-21-year-old range – and the power of women!
  
• Blooming in the Second Half of Life: Reconnecting to Ourselves and our Dreams
  Tish Fontana, M.ED, LPC
  Midlife is another developmental fork in the road for women, a time when now even more women than men question who they are and where happiness lies for them. Fewer than 1% of women report that menopause is the source of their midlife turmoil – for most it’s the quest for an authentic self after years of filling many roles. Tish explores six roles in women's lives - adventurer, lover, leader, artist, gardener and seeker – and how they reveal themselves in midlife and beyond.
  
• Secrets to an Organized Family
  Claire Keeling, Sort it Out, Inc.
  Before you run to the store to purchase little white bins and storage totes, consider first Claire Keeling’s approach to organizing anything and everything: begin by understanding how you think and what’s most important to you, and knowing your end goals. From clutter and school papers to email and time management, Claire shows you how to “sort it out” from start to finish.

 

Tranquility Garden

• Tai Chi
  Tai Chi is an exercise regimen that uses movement, meditation and breathing to improve health and well-being.
  
• Gentle Yoga
  Yoga is a system of stretches and poses which improves strength and flexibility. It has been shown to reduce stress and increase relaxation. Beginners and devotees are welcome to participate.
  
• Chair Massage
  Enjoy a free mini massage therapy session for your back, neck and shoulder muscles. Massage therapy helps to reduce pain and muscle tension, improves circulation, decreases stress levels and anxiety, and enhances relaxation and aids in sound sleep.
  
• Guided Imagery
  Guided imagery is the use of visualization techniquest to help your body enter a relaxed state, usually through imagining the sights and sounds of a place that you find relaxing.