biography

Biography

Education

•Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, York University, Toronto

•Bachelor of Education, University of Toronto

•Master of Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (O.I.S.E.)

• Creative Writing, University of Toronto

• Writing the Novel, University of Toronto

• Screenwriting, Robert McKee’s Story seminar, San Francisco, CA

Training

•Therapeutic Touch: Levels I, II, III (Therapeutic Touch Network, Ontario)

•The Dougy Centre Program for Grief Facilitators (Barrie, Ontario)

•Core Concepts in Palliative Care (York Regional Services)

•Colour Therapy (Colour Institute of Canada)

•Holistic Arts Therapies (O.I.S.E./U of T)

•Vipassana Heart Meditation (Wales, U.K.)

•Contemporary Buddhist Meditation (Gormley, Ontario)

•Tragic Events Response Team, York Region Board of Education

•Transformative Art, The Painted Turtle, Ontario

Awards

•Anti-racist Ethnocultural, Race Relations Award; York Region Board of Education

•Action-based Research Grant; York Region Board of Education (Curriculum Department)

What do I do?

Sometimes I start with an enquiry in mind, other times I’ll listen to my intuition (a strong feeling) and then I follow that strand of energy to where ever it takes me. Sometimes that means to different parts of the world. I keep a journal and collect information in all its forms including interviews, artifacts and impressions. I trust that what I’m going to learn is important because in my view, education never ends. When I’ve returned from a journey, I like to share my findings through a talk, workshop or writing. The longest enquiry took 7 years to complete and I travelled extensively, which completely changed my life. That resulted in the book, Beyond the Veil A Reference for the Spiritual Path.

How do I follow the energy?

There are different ways to do this, through a powerful dream of a place or person, a repeating pattern in the physical world, or a constant pull to go to a particular location.

Where is the information coming from?

I have learned a lot as far as opening my mind to things that were not part of my view of life. I’m a logical person, sometimes too much, but I have learned over time and experience that logic doesn’t always answer all the questions. Sometimes you have to let go and allow the world to show you the answers. I believe there is a universal language where information is out there and around us all the time. It’s a matter of learning to recognize and then interpret what is being communicated to you.

What’s the most interesting land energy I have found?

The most interesting was an island in Ontario, Canada where I once volunteered for a summer camp. I saw things happen to the staff and children that had no rational explanation and the energy of the island was so strange it gave me nightmares. I was only there for 10 days when I had to leave because I had become so ill. It took three years before I could even begin to talk about it. After some research, I discovered that area and the island in particular had been the site of many demonstrations for the Ku Klux Klan 59 years earlier. Back then, people were initiated into the “Great White Empire”, amongst other things.

What I learned from following land energy

My enquiry was, “Does land carry energy”? I discovered the answer is yes. Historically, whatever happened in the area, the energy or vibration remains for a long, long time. Every misdeed is returned to the earth. It affects the land, which in turn affects us whether or not we can feel it. The converse is true for every positive deed. It’s important that we become conscious of our thoughts and actions, because everything we send out gets recycled and comes back up again for future generations.

The Painted Turtle Art Studio

One of the early teachers I met was a Canadian artist named Jim Stewart. I had suffered from three years of clinical depression, intestinal/eating disorders and was also in grief. Basically, I was a mess physically and emotionally. I had been living a very safe life that was not in keeping with my life’s destiny and I was slowly willing myself to die because I saw no way out of it.

Jim had a healing tool of art process that helped bring up hidden emotions or messages in order to look at and then deal with. The problem I had was that I was overly logical and not at all in tune with my intuitive feeling side. One day something happened that served as a catalyst to force me to change, and that’s when I met Jim. He taught me his secret of creating that connected my inner voice with the outer self. From there I could finally see what choices I had to make, follow through and accept whatever consequences came with that. Samples of my work can be viewed on his website, www.jimstewart.ca , link “Journey of a Student.” Clearly I am not a visual artist, but working with certain colours had a healing effect on me. I worked with images and eventually words appeared in my work that spoke to me. The art turned me onto what I do now, which is expression through writing.