When was the last time you looked at the horizon, that line where the ocean meets the sky? While standing on the balcony of our room at the beachside Le Merigot Hotel and Spa last month, I realized although I may have seen the horizon recently, it had been a while since I had really looked at it. My husband John and I were primed for a little getaway. Not only had our apartment building been tented for termites the previous weekend, we had both also been extra busy at work. So we took the opportunity to have an in-town vacation-a Saturday night at Le Merigot on Ocean Ave., just south of Pico, with reservations for two spa treatments and dinner at Cezanne Restaurant. The hotel lobby smelled like scented candles, which were lit throughout the space and everywhere sat whimsical animal sculptures. We settled into our room on the sixth floor just in time for a magnificent sunset, the blue sky turning peach, as we watched from our large balcony. The hotel is set back a block from the beach (between Nielsen Way and Ocean) and a large luxury apartment building is set on the beachfront right in front of it. So our view was not wall-to-wall ocean. To the north, we could see the ferris wheel, roller coaster and other amusements on the pier. We listened to the waves and birds, as some seagulls flew right in front of us. It was a soul-resting experience. Afterwards, we headed down to the spa, where I was signed up for a desert heat body wrap. In a room lit with infrared light, I lay on a warm massage table, on what looked like a huge piece of shiny aluminum foil, warmed up with heating pads underneath it. The massage therapist, Beth, gently applied the desert heat mixture on my back, stomach, legs and arms (towels are placed for modesty), which includes copper, magnesium, zinc and calcium mixed with seaweed and Arizona mud. Then I was wrapped up like a burrito in the foil and towels, and given a scalp massage. After about 20 minutes, I was unwrapped and covered with towels. The contrast was cold for a couple of minutes, while Beth toweled the mud mixture off, but I soon warmed up while being massaged with lotion. Beth regularly asked how I was doing, which I found helpful because it can be hard to speak up during a massage or body treatment. She suggested that I not use soap in the shower, as the copper has therapeutic effects and I should let it stay in my skin. Afterwards, my muscles felt warm and relaxed from the massage and heat and I felt reconnected with myself in a positive way. John decided to try something different-cranial sacral massage. He didn’t quite know what to expect but thought it sounded intriguing. Cranial sacral uses gentle pressure to the head to stimulate relaxation, but John was disappointed; he expected more of a massage than just pressure on different parts of the scalp for 50 minutes. Probably, a more traditional treatment is best for spa newcomers. He did enjoy the eucalyptus steam room in the men’s locker room, along with the sauna. (Body treatments average $130, facials average $175, men’s fitness facial is $105.) We changed for dinner at the hotel’s Cezanne restaurant. The cozy restaurant has a Provencal design, with French country floral-patterned tablecloths and huge tufted striped pillow-backed booths, which have a whimsical look out of “Alice in Wonderland.” We started the meal with some healthy appetizers ($8-$12)-John had artichoke stuffed with goat cheese, sun-dried tomato and potato, and I had salmon with pesto wrapped in rice paper covered with a salad of lettuce, jicama and pepper. We indulged when it came time for the main course. I had tender pan-seared duck presented in a semi-circle around a centerpiece of couscous and chanterelles with pinot noir essence. John had a perfectly done medium filet mignon with B?arnaise sauce which came with potatoes and vegetables. Unbeknownst to us, this was a special wine-tasting evening and we were offered samples from the Kendall-Jackson Winery in Napa Valley. The piece de la resistance was creme brulee, served in four tiny sake cups-each with a different flavor-orange, vanilla, pistachio and raspberry-with the top toasted to a crisp. (This month, the wine-tasting dinner, every Friday and Saturday night, will feature Chateau St. Jean and is free with the price of an entree, $23-$35.) After the meal, we fell into our feather-bed mattress. It was comfortable, marred only by an on-and-off rattly humming sound, seemingly coming from the minibar refrigerator. I went into the bathroom, where I remembered there were cotton balls in the toiletry kit, and I used them as ear plugs. It was not until the morning when we walked onto the balcony, that I realized what the best solution was-I should have left the balcony doors open during the night and listened to the sound of the waves. Or, I could have done some reading, Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast” was by the bedside and in the nightstand drawer were the Bible, the Book of Mormon, The Spirit of Service (a book by the founder of the Marriott hotels) and the Teachings of Buddha. We relaxed in the room, reading the complimentary newspaper until checkout time, and upon leaving the valets gave us Le Merigot water as a parting gift, reflective of the attentive service we received throughout our stay. Rooms vary from $219 to $369 a night, depending on the view, with various special packages available. Contact: 395-9700 or go to www.lemerigotbeachhotel.com The hotel is pet-friendly, offering a pet menu and other treats through its Club Meg pet program. The poolside gym features Cybex equipment, treadmills and step machines, and fitness classes are available for $15.

Imagine a large, carpeted room with black drapes against one wall and a life-size rubberized spider-web net in front of another-an indoor jungle of sorts. Twenty-eight arms and legs move slowly along the floor, bones pressing and pulling against the ground in graceful, fluid motion. Only the lights in the studio reveal the truth: these animal-like creatures are humans. Yet the stimulating movements remind them of their animal aliveness, that feeling of inner strength and vitality. “We’re here to not get stuck in our ways,” says Palisadian Sharon Weil Aaron, who teaches the Saturday morning Continuum Movement class, called The Ageless Body, in Santa Monica. “When you relieve yourself of upright human identity, all these other energies come in, because they’re already there.” Based on Continuum, a system of fluid movement, The Ageless Body focuses on issues that arise during aging, including bone and skeletal health, joints, vitality, recovery and resiliency, and waning sensuality. Aaron helped develop the program a year ago with Continuum founder Emilie Conrad and instructor Barbara Mindell. “We felt there was a need [for the class] for baby boomers plus, and people who are starting to feel less active,” says Aaron, 48. “The Ageless Body is about creating possibilities in a process where people feel their possibilities are diminishing.” She begins the class on bone health by talking about the spiral structure of bones in order to give her students context for the movement, breath and sound exercises they will be doing. “When you age, you lose fluids,” Aaron says. “By keeping fluids active, we can increase concentration, radiance and flexibility.” Other benefits of Continuum can include restored strength, mobility, responsiveness, sensuality, sexuality and a feeling of youthfulness. Aaron, a former dancer, turned to Continuum 16 years ago, when she was in her early 30s, as a method of healing injured ligaments around her tailbone. While most of her current students are in their 40s and 50s, the program attracts a range of ages. “As people age, some take themselves out of the whole exercise/active picture because of limitations they think they have,” says Aaron, who has also practiced yoga, Pilates and swimming. “Others hurl themselves into linear activity.” Linear exercise includes working out on mechanical equipment at the gym. The nonlinear movement of Continuum offers a more feasible option for people of all ages and body types who want to improve and maintain their health by keeping their bodies active. Aaron’s oldest student, Ginny Mac, 76, admits to feeling stronger and more alive after one month of The Ageless Body. “I could hardly walk up the stairs [before I started Continuum],” Mac says. “Now, I am bending my arms and legs. I get on the floor and move.” She also uses the movements she learns to exercise in her bed at home. In class, students at all different levels can work on the floor, in a chair, or on equipment such as an “explore board” or the “web.” These latter two options offer more freedom to move in a variety of positions with greater ease. My own experience off of the ground, on the explore board, gave me the sensation that I was moving in an entirely different atmosphere, like the weightless feeling I imagine astronauts have in space. Aaron says that Continuum is different from other mind and body movement classes because it “questions what your body is and what we hold as true [about our bodies].” For example, while yoga “reinforces structure,” Continuum encourages us to understand our bodies in flux. Aaron’s two-hour classes are based around a sequence of different movement, sound and breath exercises that work together in a progression, and that relate to each class’s theme. While she designs the sequence and leads her students through it, there is a lot of room for individual exploration and adjustment depending on each student’s needs. In the bone health class, we strapped weights on our wrists and ankles to add more muscular resistance and to create traction. Most of us sat upright, cross-legged on the floor and began stimulating our bones internally by making resonant sounds (“zzz” and “jsh”), which created a vibrating feeling within the body. Slowly, we transitioned into the second part, which involved moving our hands, palms down, in a spiral motion, while making the theta (“th”) sound; this part helped to open up our joints. We then moved onto all fours and continued activating and strengthening our bones by pressing and pulling them against the floor, leaning back and forth in wavelike motion. By the end of the sequence, my whole body was involved as I pressed my left cheekbone and then my forehead against the floor, following the relaxing, fluid motion of my body. “Continuum breaks down barriers that words create and creates its own language,” says Jeanne James, 57, who has a thyroid disease called Hashimoto’s. She started taking Continuum 12 years ago because she felt pain in several parts of her body, and was one of the first to join The Ageless Body. “It’s been wonderful to open up those places that were injured and to feel more fluid,” James says. “I’m not dependent on anyone to do it for me.” She comes to Aaron’s Saturday morning class all the way from Pasadena because there is nothing like it offered closer to home and she finds it more “sustaining” than her experiences with yoga and rolfing. At the end of Aaron’s class, students shared their reactions to and feelings about the experience, while Aaron listened and offered suggestions to some. In addition to The Ageless Body, she also teaches a strengthening and toning class called Jungle Gym, which attracts many students, including her husband, John Aaron. She has been teaching Jungle Gym for nine years, and was able to teach up until one month before having her daughter, Sophie Aaron, now age 5. Sophie attends preschool at Little Dolphins by the Sea in Temescal Canyon. John is a professional photographer and practices martial arts. Aaron will be offering a free introductory Ageless Body class this Saturday, January 10, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The ongoing program will be taught in five-and-six-week series throughout the year, starting January 24. The cost is $75 for the five class series and $20 for a single class. The Continuum Studio is located at 1629 18th Street, Studio 7, in Santa Monica. Contact Aaron at agelessbody@earthlink.net or 459-3326.

A hot new product has hit the frozen section at Gelson’s. Shoppers steering their carts down the chilly aisle may want to stop and check out Rice Expressions, a microwaveable organic rice line created by Palisades resident Pete Vegas. “For the first time, people can really relate to what I do,” says Vegas, founder and president of Sage V Foods (pronounced Sage Five), a company that specializes in producing rice-based ingredients for use in processed foods. “The fact that we’re at Gelson’s is a big deal for me.” Rice Expressions is frozen, pre-cooked rice that microwaves in three minutes with no bowl or water involved. There are four varieties: organic brown, organic long-grain, organic Tex Mex and Indian basmati. Each box contains three 10-oz. packages and sells for $4.69. While Rice Expressions represents a small part of what Sage V Foods actually produces, “It’s the most interesting part,” Vegas says, “and it’s what I’d like to see become the biggest part.” A rice expert, Vegas first began developing the concept for Rice Expressions about five years ago. “We had the technology, the equipment and the know-how to [freeze the rice],” he says. “And rice microwaves and heats well, unlike frozen vegetables.” Since Sage V Foods was making enough money selling rice flour and other rice ingredients to big companies, Vegas was able to focus on developing his new product-the only frozen rice sold as simply a packet of rice without any extras. “Rice Expressions was the best little idea I had and I wanted us to do it on our own,” says Vegas, who began experimenting in his Marquez-neighborhood home. “It’s still me usually playing around with something on the weekends in my kitchen or at our lab in Texas.” Vegas has been working with rice for most of his adult life. Before rice, it was soybeans, which he farmed during his college years at Louisiana State University. “My father was a farm equipment dealer so I got the equipment from him.” After graduating with a degree in agribusiness in 1978, Vegas traveled to Panama for a year to work as a management trainee on a Chiquita Banana farm. He then returned to earn his MBA at Harvard Business School in 1982. At the time, a large rice milling company called Comet Rice was launching a joint venture in Puerto Rico, and hired Vegas to manage the operation. “I got to do everything,” he says. He supervised the construction of the Comet milling facility, trained a 200-man work force, and was involved with farming, drying, storing, milling and marketing the rice. When the company began importing instead of farming rice, Vegas learned about shipping, stevedoring and handling bulk rice. “There are few people who know more about rice than I do,” says Vegas, who returned to the U.S. in 1986 to become VP of marketing for Comet Rice. He has become particularly well-versed in the technical issues of rice, such as how you get rice to expand, and about the functionality of rice-how other countries use rice in applications other than table rice. “I’ve been almost everywhere in the world where they deal with rice,” Vegas says. Between 1986 and 1992, Comet sent him to Thailand, India and Japan, as well as Iraq, whose government was the largest customer for U.S. rice at the time. Vegas designed and supervised the construction of a bulk handling facility in Aqaba, Jordan, which incorporated a new technology to allow large volumes of high-quality white rice to be shipped in bulk and bagged at destination. As a result, Comet’s sales to Iraq ultimately exceeded 300,000 metric tons a year. In 1992, Vegas started Comet Rice Ingredients, a subsidiary of Comet Rice, and began focusing on “how to develop new applications for rice.” His experience abroad had made him realize that “the United States doesn’t utilize rice. Rice has the potential of corn [in terms of widespread use] but no one knows that.” He bought out the company in 1998 and renamed it Sage V Foods (Sage V is Vegas spelled backwards). Though his company has grown slowly, reaching $25 million in sales, Vegas predicts that in 18 months sales will reach $40 million. “In the last two years, business has finally started coming to us,” he says. “We’re known in the industry as ‘the Rice Guys.'” Based in Westwood, Sage V’s biggest business is selling rice flour to large companies and showing them how to use the flour to make other products-for example, the coating on french fries and the crisp rice in granola bars. They sell rice ingredients and products to companies like Healthy Choice, Weight Watchers, Frito-Lay and Quaker Oats. “All the products we sell, we’ve developed,” says Vegas, who purposely made the Rice Expressions product organic so that it could be sold in health food stores, which don’t charge slotting (shelving) allowances like the larger companies. The rice is grown north of Sacramento and is cooked in Texas, where Sage V Foods has a cooking plant and a rice flour mill; the company is currently building two more facilities in Arkansas. While developing Rice Expresssions, Sage V tried three different freezing processes, from nitrogen to mechanical freezing. “We literally ripped the [cooking] plant to the ground three times,” Vegas says. “It’s not easy to freeze each grain separately.” However, Vegas believes that his frozen rice product, which has been on the market for a year now, is superior to the taste of dry instant rice. “If we get people to try it, we do well,” he says, admitting that he spent a lot of money on packaging but little on advertising. His initial target market was vegetarians and people who need gluton-free products. Now he’s focusing on food service and retail, including sales to Red Robin, Friendly’s and Ruby Tuesday’s restaurants, plus private labels for stores such as Safeway and Vons. “The Atkins diet has hit everyone who sells starch protects,” Vegas says. While the organic brown and Tex-Mex rices are selling well, he may replace the white long-grain and basmati with a flavored pilaf and organic Thai jasmine rice. Though Vegas says he knows of an even better way to develop Rice Expressions, he does not have the means to pursue it at this point. “I’m three years behind where I want to be, but I have that kind of patience,” he says. “You have to know what’s going to be successful and you’ve got to be trying a lot of things at once.” Vegas and his wife, Jean, moved to the Palisades in 1986. Jean, an Iowa native, earned her bachelor’s degree in microbiology from LSU, and later went back to school to get her teaching certification. She now teaches second grade at Marquez Charter Elementary. They have three kids: Matt, a junior at UC Santa Cruz; Brett, a Palisades High senior, and Scott, an 8th grader at Paul Revere.