After six years of being involved with Natural Awakenings magazine, I see that the desire, need and demand for integrative health and wellness has never been more apparent. During the past few years we have learned of large medical practices, hospitals and insurance companies now providing additional complementary care services and provisions for patients.

Diane Sawyer recently reported that more than 3 million patients are currently being prescribed meditation as part of their treatment and an increasing number of insurance companies are offering coverage for acupuncture. Natural childbirth options are covered by Tri-Care for our military families, and many of our local doctors now prescribe bio-identical hormone treatment instead of synthetics.

As we look for ways to improve our health and heal our body, mind and spirit, we are consistently moving toward a selection of natural alternatives that substitute or complement past choices. This month’s special Vibrant Well-Being edition’s feature article, “Alternative Goes Mainstream,” gives us insight into today’s complementary trends that support natural health care and vitality.

As the industry becomes more mainstream, so shall we at Natural Awakenings of Northwest Florida.  We are excited that Natural Awakenings has gone mainstream with its channels of distribution. In addition to finding us only in doctor's offices and health food stores, Natural Awakenings is now available at most local Publix, CVS and Winn Dixie stores and other convenient locations.

As the New Year begins, we reflect on the past year to draw some notion of what will be different in the coming year. Our Natural Awakenings team took a hard look at what is best for our readers, advertisers and community. We reviewed our progress made during the past year and wonder what more can be done this year to make our publication more meaningful and effective in each community we represent.

We have been publishing for more than five years in Northwest Florida and have enjoyed bringing our readers interesting, relevant and local stories. Taking a serious look at our geographic market area, we made some adjustments to better serve each community, which will benefit from more local and relevant content that better focuses on the unique Gulf Coast communities from Pensacola to Panama City, respectively.

Beginning this month, Natural Awakenings will launch an additional, separate edition for the Okaloosa, Walton and Bay County area, while continuing our original edition for the Escambia and Santa Rosa County. Both editions will still bring you the same national articles you have come to enjoy. What is different will be more local community spotlight articles, more local news, more local calendar of events, and more local resources that provide local products and services.

I believe all of our improvements will make it convenient for our readers to enjoy their local Natural Awakenings news and at the same time expand our base so more people can enjoy the features and benefits of a magazine devoted to a better life and world.

I’m thrilled about this news, and I hope you are too.

Happy New Year!

Daralyn