It all started when…

I was a very sensitive child, growing up in a world that did not recognize my gifts and requirements for nurturing and safety. I was raised in an environment full of emotional and physical abuse, generational trauma and deeply wounded masculine and feminine. This was familial, cultural, and societal. Unfortunately, it is also very common.

I dissociated from my body around the age of 6 or 7. When I came back into my body or “Awakened”, I was in my early 20s. My body was in constant discomfort or pain, and my emotions were too easily thrown out of balance. I had tumultuous relationships with alcohol, cannabis and caffeine; the smallest engagement with one would catapult me into dependency with the others. The cycle felt like it would never end. As a traumatized boy in a man’s body, I was plagued by the cycles of anger, frustration, depression and anxiety; As a father of two small children, I was so often immobilized by my sympathetic response to the slightest stimulation, the sound of my girls crying or laughing joyfully would spiral me into a dark hole that I thought would never end.

Back in my early 20s (before children), after 4 years of University and no degree, I chose to drop out of school and commit myself to studying the religions and spiritual philosophies of the World. There seemed to be some great secret that modern western civilization has completely over-looked and I was determined to find out how the world had gotten itself in such a mess. This course correction for me was a massive turning point. I was introduced to Tibetan and Zen Buddhism, sat with Jehovah’s Witnesses and Evangelical Christians, read the Q’ran and sat in silent meditation on the streets of Jerusalem. I was a sponge soaking up ancient knowledge wherever I could find it.

While walking along the creek one day, in Boulder Colorado, I had a chance encounter that would alter my life forever. A man introduced himself to me and there was an immediate resonance. There was nothing unusual about his appearance. A regular guy on a regular day in the park. But this was no ordinary human. I told him of my studies of religion and he responded by reciting several passages from the Old Testament. Not such a big deal; he also turned out to be a Kung fu master and T’ai Chi wizard. I was hooked. He taught me some very basic Tai Chi movements and for the first time since I was a child sitting with my grandmother, my body was given permission to be completely and totally relaxed. That journey, of unwinding myself into deeper connection with the Tao, continues to this day. I have been blessed to work with many entheogenic medicines and amazing healers who have shown me the path to true freedom.

T’ai Chi, Qigong, Indian Yoga and Taoist Internal Alchemy have helped me not only to release myself from the physical and emotional limitations that plagued me, but brought me into a greater understanding of my place in the Universe. I have a name and I have a story from this lifetime, but I am also inextricably linked to all humans and to the greater workings of the cosmos… that which is immeasurable, light years beyond what the human intellect will ever comprehend.

I am blessed to be carrying these medicines; as a Somatic therapist and an Alchemist, I feel a great fire inside of me to share what I have learned and distilled from many sources. These modern times require modern interpretations of powerful ancient wisdom and practice, to bring us full circle. Remembering who we are and what we came here to do.