Christine Dimmick, who founded natural products company Good Home out of her Chelsea kitchen in 1995, has been in the natural products arena for a long time. But when she was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of years ago, she realized it was time for an even deeper clean, and an even closer look at her life and her world.

“I was very fortunate that it was stage 0-1,” she remembers. “I looked at my life. I looked at the stresses in my life. I looked at how I’m managing health and wellness, chemicals, everything in my life. You have an awakening. You can kind of choose to go through it with anger, or you can really sit there in a room, seeing the other people getting chemotherapy. I’m effectively cured, but I had two friends diagnosed with stage four cancer, same age as me, who both passed within six weeks, leaving children behind. I looked at that, and I said, I was given this for a reason. I do believe that the reason is that I’m a messenger. There’s still so much work to do. I’m a messenger. That’s my goal. That’s my dharma.”

Health empowerment is for everyone

Dimmick flew into action, exploring alternative and supportive therapies as she made her own healing journey, and then bringing her discoveries to friends and strangers alike. Eventually, Love Revolution was born, as a vehicle for spreading that message of hope and empowerment. “What I hope to do with Love Revolution,” explains Dimmick, “is to bring that to people who don’t know about it, or can’t afford it, or just don’t have access to it. Health has become something that’s exclusive to those with money, and that’s not how it should be. We all have a right to health. Particularly when the industrialization of our world is what’s causing our ill health. People taking no responsibility and putting out crap products and food that kill consumers.”

Love Revolution first took form as a one-off summer event – a bringing together of teachers, healers, yoga students and passersby. “There’s so much hate,” Dimmick says. “I believe that what you put out, you get back. So I thought, well, if we’re going to have so much hate, I’m going to put out love. One small interaction, even one minute, can absolutely impact someone’s course for the better.”

[Christine Dimmick –  photo via  Downtown Magazine]

Our house

The event went well, and so this summer will expand to become a residency on the weekends (open Friday-Sunday, 12pm-6pm) at a house on Governor’s Island. Look out for yoga classes, Tibetan bowl sound healing sessions, guided meditations, healthy cooking classes and introductions to little-known veggies, and rotating artwork on the walls. Upstairs, a Gamelatron – an electronic iteration of an incredibly healing traditional instrument developed in Bali – will play 24/7.

“Anything that promotes the goodness of humanity,” says Dimmick, “and helps people to feel their self-worth. I believe that everyone is divine. No one’s better than anyone. We’re all great.”

Classes and lectures will be free – donations welcome – and open to ALL. Inclusive is the name of the game. Dimmick is dead-set on making healthy products and practices available to those who might not otherwise encounter them – whether because they don’t have the time or the money, or both, for exploration and self-education beyond our  medical system.

Almost there

Only one thing left on the to-do list! Dimmick needs to raise money to hire a few people to supervise and manage the house on weekends, when it’s open, and while events are in progress. If you want to help her take this final logistical step towards making Love Revolution 2017 a reality, click over here to donate  or volunteer   on her ioby campaign page. And New Yorkers: take the ferry over this summer to check out the action!

Feeling inspired? Want to take action in YOUR neighborhood? If you have awesome ideas about how to make your town greener, safer, and more fun, let us help! Tell us your awesome idea right here. We’d love to help you get started today.

Pssst…. In OTHER ioby news: Have a great idea, but feel like you need a blueprint to get you started? Or a recipe to follow? We’ve got you covered. Check out some of our very best recipes for change, here.