April 8th, 2010. I am overcome with a mix of nostalgia and excitement. Today is an historic day. We have officially moved our activities, kitchen and dining room into our vast and beautiful Wigmore Hall, which has been in the planning and building stages for years. It is a stunning, massive, timber-framed hall, fit to receive the ever-growing group of health-seekers that we welcome weekly. It is an incredibly proud moment for us here at Hippocrates Health Institute (HHI), and a huge milestone and accomplishment for Drs. Brian and Anna Maria Clement! Bravo!

Over the past two decades, the Hacienda housed every activity and class that took place at Hippocrates, as well as the HHI kitchen and our legendary buffets where guests piled their plates high with loving meals from our kitchen staff. Wigmore Hall, a versatile and well appointed multi-use building, will now be the site for all these events—and many more.

Wigmore Hall stands completed, ready to accept people of every age, from every walk of life and every corner of the globe. It is here they will congregate to share their stories 
of hope, fear and troubled health—and where they will gather to rejoice and share their victories. Wigmore Hall is also where our guests will dance happily to the Wheatgrass Band on Tuesdays, letting their bodies twirl, their joy bubble up and their smiles shine.

Standing in the expansive space of Wigmore Hall, I had the image of Ellis Island, where my own ancestors arrived from Denmark and Scotland more than a century ago. I liken this hall, named after Hippocrates founder Ann Wigmore (herself an immigrant from Lithuania), to that place on Ellis Island where waves of people came because their old life had to end in order for them to survive. They were tired and full of fear and confusion, coming to this strange new land with a new culture, a new language, and a new chance at life itself.

Hippocrates is a land of hope, potential and possibility to those who walk through our doors and make a commitment to a better existence. They leave their old life behind, along with the baggage that hindered them, and begin anew, where they hope to not only survive, but to thrive, and to 
live their lives fully—with integrity, renewed health and abundant happiness.

Every Sunday of every week, a new group of guests arrive tired and lost, and every Friday a group graduates from HHI, sharing their stories of transformation over their three-week stay. They tell us how their lives have changed, and how their new-found knowledge will affect their families, probably for generations to come. We hear these stories, and our hearts are nourished. We proudly applaud them, and we have confirmation once again that we are on the right path together, learning from each other and doing amazing things.