Karyn Armstrong, Entrepreneur ~ Visionary Leader

Karyn is the Founder and Director of Harmonic Visions Institute for Alternative Esoteric Integrative Wellness based on CAM (Complimentary and Alternative Medicine) therapies.

She is a Shamanic Practitioner and Teacher, Minister, Advanced III Certified Tantra Educator, well known speaker and workshop leader. Karyn teaches personal growth, transformation and awakening through the practice of shamanism. She is an Expressive Arts Facilitator using the creative arts for intuitive direction, soul recovery and pain management. Her coursework pr0grams include innovative and creative instruction including:

• Shamanic journeying through drumming,
• Soul retrieval,
• Shamanic extraction,
• Death and dying,
• Spiritual-Sexual Integration
• Energy Healing with Spiritual Light

Karyn travels frequently throughout the US and Canada and is available to teach a workshop or seminar in your area on such topics as:

• Experiencing the Shamanic Journey Weekend Intensive–all of the above topics
• Shamanic Extraction Training
• The Mystery Within: Surrendering into the Divine Feminine

All of these workshops have been developed those newly entering the field and advanced practitioners, depending on the community needs, they are designed to be adaptable and equally rewarding for the particular audience. To schedule, please contact Karyn Armstrong.

For additional background on Karyn Armstrong, please reference her full Biography.

Adjunct Faculty

Sandra Ingerman, MA

Sandra Ingerman, MA, is the author of eight books including, Soul Retrieval, Medicine for the Earth, Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner’s Guide and How to Heal Toxic Thoughts.

Sandra’s new books How to Thrive in Changing Times and Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation (co-authored with Hank Wesselman) as well as her new audio CDs “Shamanic Meditations: Guided Journeys for Insight, Vision, and Healing” and “Soul Journeys: Music for Shamanic Practice” have recently been released. All of Sandra’s books and CDs can be ordered on the Books/Audio/Video page of this website.

Sandra teaches workshops internationally on shamanic journeying, healing, and reversing environmental pollution using spiritual methods. She has trained and founded an international alliance of Medicine for the Earth Teachers and shamanic teachers. Sandra is recognized for bridging ancient cross-cultural healing methods into our modern culture addressing the needs of our times.

Sandra is devoted to teaching people how we can work together as a global community to bring about positive change for the planet.

Sandra is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist and Professional Mental Health Counselor. She is also a board certified expert on traumatic stress as well as certified in acute traumatic stress management.

Please visit Sandra’s site: SandraIngerman.com

To find a local shamanic teacher, Medicine for the Earth teacher, or shamanic practitioner in your area visit: ShamanicTeachers.com

Tom Cowan, PhD

Tom Cowan is a respected Shamanic practitioner and Master teacher, specializing in Celtic visionary and healing techniques. He combines universal core shamanism with traditional European spirit lore to create spiritual practices that can heal and enrich one’s own life and the lives of others. An internationally respected teacher, author, lecture and tour leader, he has taught training programs in England, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Most recently he was the first American shaman to teach in Slovakia, a high honor.

To is the author of: Yearning For the Wind, Fire in the Head: Shamanism and the Celtic Spirit, Shamanism as a Spiritual Practice for Daily Life, The Pocket Guide to Shamanism, The Book of Saoance, The Way of the Saints: Prayers, Practices and Meditations and Wending Your Way: A New Version of the Old English Rune Poem.

Tom grew up in Missouri and received a doctorate in history from St. Louis University. He taught history and humanities in Memphis Tennessee during the 1970s and moved to New York City in 1980 to pursue a career as a freelance writer.

In 1983, Tom met Michael Harner and learned core shamanism, which continues to be Tom’s primary spiritual practice. His lifelong interet in mystical traditions led him to develop ways to practice shamanism in the context of Celtic spirituality and embracing other European-based spiritual disciplines. From 1996-1998 Tom Taught Celtic Shamanism for the Foundation for Shamanic Studies.

Today Tom lives in New York’s Hudson River Valley where he offers training workshops, spiritual retreats and healing sessions for groups and individuals. He is a minister in the Circle of the sacred Earth, a church of animism dedicated to shamanic principles and practices. Periodically he leads tours to Ireland or Scotland to enable others to experience shamanism at Sacred Sites and work with the Spirits of the Land in these places.

Please Visit Tom’s website: RiverDrum.com

Sobonfu Some

There is a deep longing among people in the West to connect with something bigger, with community and spirit. People know there is something missing in their lives and believe that the rituals and ancient ways of the village offer some answers. These are the simple yet deeply poignant words of author and teacher Sobonfu, one of the foremost voices in African spirituality to come to the West.

Destined from birth to teach the ancient wisdom, ritual and practices of her ancestors to those in the West, Sobonfu, whose name means keeper of the rituals travels the world on a healing mission sharing the rich spiritual life and culture of her native land, Burkina Faso, which is a landlocked country located in the Northwest in Africa’s hump. It ranks as one of the world’s poorest countries yet one of the richest in spiritual life and custom.

Recognized by the village elders as possessing special gifts from birth, Sobonfu’s destiny was foretold before her birth, as is the custom of the Dagara Tribe of Burkina Faso. These gifts were fostered by early education in ritual and initiation in preparation for her life’s work. My work is really a journey in self-discovery and in building community through rituals, says Sobonfu. Dagara rituals involve healing and preparing the mind, body, spirit and soul to receive the spirituality that is all around us. It is always challenging to bring the spiritual into the material world, but it is one of the only ways we can put people back in touch with the earth and their inner values.

Sobonfu has written two books: The Spirit of Intimacy (William Morrow) and Welcoming Spirit Home (New World Library) and Falling out of Grace: Meditations on Loss, Healing and Wisdom (North Bay Books).

Please visit Sobonfu’s site: Sobonfu.com

Joan Heartfield, Phd

Joan Heartfield, Ph.D. is author of Romancing The Beloved, A Sacred Sexual Adventure Into Love, Her Story, and co-author of Sage Advice, Resolving Challenges in Love Relationships. She is the director of the Divine Feminine-Awakened Masculine Institute. Along with Caroline Muir and her husband Tomas Heartfield, she teaches Spiritual Sexual Education..

Joan has been involved in the exploration of human consciousness for most of her life. A thirty-five year resident of Maui, Joan has been featured in a Who’s Who of American Women.

Joan and her husband Tomas are innovators in the Art of Relationship. They are the creators of Conversations That Matter, Opening to Love Ceremonies, and Romancing the Beloved. They write a weekly Talking Hearts column on relationship issues and their book, Romancing The Beloved, will be released in late 2009.

A counselor and guide for over 25 years, Joan brings a loving heart in combination with a profound wit to the consciousness of her work. Her transmission around relationship inspires and awakens others to what is possible. In addition to her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, Joan has an MFA in Dance, Drama and Theatre. She brings an integrated, joyful and radiantly alive presence into her workshops, classes, seminars and private practice. Her teachers include Dr. Stanislav Grof, Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone, Dr. Irv Katz, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Campbell, Angeles Arrien, Swami Muktananda, Swami Sachidananda, John Grey, Charles and Caroline Muir, and Dr. Harville Hendrix. Joan has helped thousands of people find deeper meaning and aliveness in their own search for wholeness in a challenging world.

Kristi Vaughn, Phd

Kristi Vaughn, RN, ACNP, has been studying shamanism for over a decade with Michael Harner through his Foundation for Shamanic Studies and with Sandra Ingerman s Medicine for the Earth trainings. Mastering these studies has instilled a passion in Kristi to being the healing powers of shamanism to health care professionals. In particular, her concentration is in alternative pain management using shamanic techniques.

Kristi works as a nurse practitioner in a tertiary care Emergency Department and level one trauma center. She has a Masters Degree in critical care nursing and Post-Masters in acute care advanced practice. Kristi has over twenty years of critical/emergency care experience. When she is not working or teaching she avidly creates handcrafted shamanic art through knitting, weaving, spinning and beading. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, Hal. They all thrive in the outdoors: skiing, hiking, windsurfing, swimming and biking.