Published: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 at 8:45 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 at 8:45 p.m.

Rather than pop a pill to alleviate anxiety or spend thousands of dollars on therapies that might never heal a fractured soul, lesser-traveled paths exist that offer more affordable services to "lift the veil" and lead one to optimum mental and physical health.

Some of these alternative options are flourishing in Winter Haven.

The Center for Personal Growth, 151 Second St. SW, offers workshops and private consultations in endeavors in self-discovery, such as life coaching, hypnotherapy, meditation, law of attraction and breath work.

Owner Cara Hewett, a licensed mental health counselor, is trained in cognitive and behavioral therapy. As a psychotherapist, Hewett said she felt that talk therapy, based on a model of change-your-thoughts-and-your-behavior-will-change, was missing a spiritual component.

"By spiritual component, I don't necessarily mean religion," Hewett said. "I mean the soulfulness, the higher self."

Hewett said she wanted to create a conscious community and to connect with other like-minded people. Like a pebble dropped in a pond, Hewett's hope is that the center, which opened three years ago, has a rippling effect on individuals, families and businesses and that will ultimately change the local community as a whole.

"My goal is to create a place where people learn and have wisdom about themselves and their relationships their purpose in life," she said. "I think that if I can be that resource for that, we're going to have an incredible community."

Workshops, at a cost of $10 to $25 each, are facilitated by Hewett and a network of "healing facilitators," including Jai Maa, one of the center's teachers, whose qualifications include being a licensed hypnotherapist and life coach with a doctorate in metaphysics and spirituality.

Born and raised in Auburndale, Lacey Nagy, who goes by Jai Maa, now lives in Gainesville and travels to Winter Haven to teach the Enlightenment Series, which includes various workshops covering alternative topics, such as the law of attraction, EFT tapping and ho'oponopono.

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Winter Haven Practitioners Offer Metaphysical Services