Open Circle
Open Circle has suspended its weekly program on the patio at Lake Chapala Society. Each week it highlights a different video of a past presentation.
This week, Peter Steven Malakoff presents “An Introduction to Ayurveda.” It will be available for viewing Sunday, August 16, 10:30 a.m. at opencircleajijic.org.
Ayurveda is the oldest medical system in the world, which gave birth to Chinese, Tibetan, Greek and western medicine. Our present approach to healing has gone over to the “dark side of the force,” primarily treating symptoms with drugs and surgery instead of removing the cause. As a result, “Iatrogenic disease” (a state of ill health or adverse effect resulting from medical treatment) is now the third leading cause of death in the western world.
Ayurveda is not idealistic and what may be good for one person may be poisonous for another. Ayurveda always takes into account Dosha or elemental body type, season, time of day and period of life (youth, middle age and old age), and in those contexts prescribes diet, herbs, lifestyle changes and other modalities to bring about health.
Malakoff has a degree in Religious Studies (Hinduism-Buddhism) from the University of California Santa Barbara and in 2004 received the Ayurvedic Sadhana Padavika Diploma from Kalidas Sanskrit University, Maharashtra, India. For the last 14 years he has taught courses on Ayurveda in the United States and India.
New gallery opens
Casa de la Niebla, a new art gallery at Colon 29 in Ajijic, opens this weekend with a showing of sculptures by Santiago Baeza and photographs by Marcos García. The weekend opening is by invitation and prior appointment only and the gallery will be open to the public as of August 17, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, except Sundays. Exhibits will feature works by artists from the Guadalajara metropolitan area.
LLT slowly reopens
The Art Readers Theatre (ART) at Lakeside Little Theatre will hold auditions for “Women in Jeopardy” by Wendy MacLeod, Tuesday, August 18. Registration is at 9:30 a.m. with auditions outside on the terrace 10 a.m. to noon.
ART is looking for two men and four women for this comedy presentation. Show dates are September 11 to 13 and 18 to 20, all at 4 p.m. Covid precautions will be in place. For scripts and information, contact director Collet Clavadetscher at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Lakeside Freethinkers
The next meeting of the Lakeside Freethinkers is Wednesday, August 19, 4 p.m. on Zoom. Patti Good and Felix Billingsley will report on the Sam Harris podcast, “Making Sense; The Science of Happiness.” This podcast is available online if you want to listen to it before the meeting.
The Lakeside Freethinkers define a “freethinker” as a person who is an atheist, agnostic, secular humanist, or skeptic. They believe that individuals should not accept ideas proposed as truth without recourse to knowledge and reason. They reject belief in the supernatural.
To join the meeting, or obtain additional information, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Democrats Abroad
Live U.S. voter assistance via Zoom (a free video conferencing app) is offered at VoteFromAbroad.org every Sunday until the November election. On DemocratsAbroad.org, click on the “Drop By For Live Voter Help” image for more information.
You can also find the schedule for live registration and absentee ballot tutorials via Zoom on Democrats Abroad’s Mexico page (DemocratsAbroad.org/mx), presented by various Mexican chapters. Their next support session will be held on Saturday, August 29, 1 to 3 p.m. You can RSVP to attend online or send any questions you have about voting.
Overseas U.S. citizens and dual-U.S. citizens must submit a Federal Post Card Absentee (FPCA) form every year they wish to vote. The Lake Chapala Get-Out-the-Vote team is asking people to first try to complete their FPCA online at VoteFromAbroad.org. The process is very user-friendly. Only a computer, tablet or smartphone with a camera and wifi access is needed. If Lakeside residents still need help after consulting these resources, they can write to the Lake Chapala team for assistance at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Also check the Democrats Abroad-Lake Chapala Facebook page (facebook.com/DAChapala) for further local announcements and events.