(Certified Harner Method Shamanic Counselor)

When still a little boy, I felt drawn to the spiritual. I remember feeling connected to a "higher power" that was aware of everything. As I grew older, I became interested in different paths, including the internal martial arts, ecstatic Christianity, Eastern religions and philosophies, and meditation. All the while, I yearned for the kinds of experiences Carlos Castaneda described in his first five books. Then I met Michael Harner while taking the Basic Workshop in 1981 and felt that I had found what I had been looking for: a spirituality that offered direct experience, promoted intimacy with the natural world, enabled one to help others, and demanded personal freedom.

I have been teaching Foundation workshops for the past eighteen years in the southeastern region of the United States. The total number is now nearly 400! Teaching for the Foundation is very important in my life. There are always new things to learn and new people to meet. The shamanic path has taught me to enjoy life more. I think that Shamanism is a wonderful way to awaken one's awareness.

I have always been a Seeker. As an adopted child, I learned early in my life to embrace my mysteries; to me this has meant not solving them, but rather, living with them and using them to inform my life choices. This, coupled with moving every few years with my salesman father, sparked in me an interest in how things were done in different places which led me to my academic home: Anthropology.

My path is woven from threads of TM, est, psi, Facilitator Training in Attitudinal Healing, Tai Chi and Reiki to name a few. Like Dana, Castaneda was a profound influence as was Michael Harner's Jívaro. A journaling holiday in the canyon lands of the southwest was a pivotal time - especially when the images in the rock art spoke to me from the walls of almost forgotten places begging me to remember and protect.

Shamanism is a unifying framework for me incorporating contents from many compartments and giving them relationship to each other. It is a home of my heart and a place from which I serve with passion. I have supported Dana in his role as Faculty Member for the Foundation for Shamanic Studies workshops and am co-creator and facilitator when we present our Next Step Program.

Dana and Shana are available for consultation, lectures and private group instruction.