Forty attendees to Kona Stories’ monthly Words and Wine event Tuesday witnessed a partner yoga demonstration, learned about the art of caring for a loved one and heard adventure stories of a young bride following her husband aboard a commercial fishing vessel.
Forty attendees to Kona Stories’ monthly Words and Wine event Tuesday witnessed a partner yoga demonstration, learned about the art of caring for a loved one and heard adventure stories of a young bride following her husband aboard a commercial fishing vessel.
The event is held from 6 to 8 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month at Kona Stories book store in Keauhou Shopping Center, and includes free pupus and wine. Bookstore co-owner Joy Vogelgesang said each gathering introduces two to four books, most of which are presented by local authors. Words and Wine provides a friendly forum for writers in an age when few publishers provide marketing, said co-owner Brenda McConnell.
North Kona residents Benjamin Marantz and Amiracle Margaret delighted the crowd with an animated demonstration of their AcroSage technique, a healing modality that combines partner yoga, massage and meditation. Margaret lay on her back and supported Marantz with her legs as he hung upside down and performed a song on a guitar. The position is typically held for two to five minutes, and it decompresses the spine and allows more electricity to flow through the nervous system, said Marantz.
Their recently released book, “AcroSage Inversion Therapy and Other Tools for Transformation,” provides photos and diagrams of partner yoga positions and step-by-step instructions of techniques. It also includes an instructional DVD. Marantz and Margaret are licensed massage therapists and they began developing the techniques after Marantz left his career in the performance arts and began focusing on the art of healing others.
Kona resident Laura Guluzzy presented “Inside Grammie’s Closet,” a memoir of being the primary caregiver for her grandmother. She wrote the book several years ago but recently revised and published the work after earning a master’s degree in gerontology, the study of aging. The book is laced with humor and old-time stories about a grandmother who was just as comfortable dressing up in diamonds and furs as she was shooting rattlesnakes from the back of a horse.
Guluzzy designed the book with wide margins so readers can make notes about their own caregiving experiences and included a 21-tip guide for caregivers. She hopes her book will help readers prepare for caregiving.
“It’s a lot like having a child,” she said. “Suddenly your life has shifted drastically.”
Guluzzy offers consulting services and specializes in disciplines such as falls prevention and creating aging-friendly communities. She is also in production on an aging wellness series on Na Leo O Hawaii Community Access Television.
Captain Cook resident Diane “Rocky” Sherwood Holck read a passage from “In Poseidon’s Pocket,” her memoir as a young bride who passionately followed her husband as he pursued his dream life aboard a commercial fishing boat in the Pacific Northwest. It is an emotional, five-year journey of adventure, discovery and survival and love aboard their vessel, the Reward.
“In 1973, I fell in love with a crazy man who loved fishing,” she explained.
Holck read a gripping passage that described the couple’s narrow escape from a freighter that cut through a fleet of tuna boats 200 miles out to sea.
She has enjoyed hearing feedback from readers and offers a money back guarantee to those who are not “totally thrilled and excited” by the book.
Holck is known for her poetry and plans to release a new book of poems early next year. She holds an English degree from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore.