My vision is to create a world where every person lives in harmony with themselves, others, nature, and the universe. A world where people embrace a mindset of sufficiency instead of succumbing to the myth of scarcity. A world where people identify with their healed selves rather than their wounded ones. A vision of understanding that our personal well-being is intrinsically linked to the collective well-being. Ultimately, a world where we recognize, as all indigenous peoples once did, that we are all part of the same family, as the children of Mother Earth.

My formal training in Peruvian shamanism began after I survived Stage IV cancer. This experience taught me the distinction between curing and healing. While Western medicine successfully cured my body of cancer, I realized I still had a long way to go toward true healing. A dear friend introduced me to Dr. Alberto Villoldo’s book “Shaman, Healer, Sage,” and I was intrigued by its shamanic perspective on life. After attending one of Dr. Villoldo’s lectures, I discovered that shamanism was the path I had been searching for to heal myself. I graduated from his two-year shamanic program, “The Four Winds Society,” in Joshua Tree, California, with gratitude for the solid foundation in Inkan shamanism that my time there provided.

Spirit later guided me to my next teacher, Jose Luis Herrera. A Peruvian with a degree in engineering, he straddles both the modern and indigenous worlds. This unique position allows him to explain concepts that may be foreign to the Western mindset. He grew up in Peru with a master Andean Q’ero shaman living in his home. Later, he apprenticed with the San Pedro shamans of northern Peru and the ayahuasqueros of the Amazon. My healing practices flow from these three streams of ancient indigenous wisdom. I attend his classes in the States and accompany him to the Andes or the Amazon each year to further my training.