Starwalkers

“Jimmy Carter is a man who believes in Peace!”

I also come about sustainability “genetically” one could say. Growing up in the 1980’s, my father constructed solar panels on the side of our small two-bedroom house in a small Iowa town. We always gardened, raised chickens, ducks, rabbits, you name it.

For a time growing up, and through much of my 20s, I didn’t practice this kind of heartfelt sustainability. I think that like many children, we see the struggles of our parents, and try our best to not have to go through the same things. I wasn’t interested in solar power, in growing things, in saving things or even money. For a time, I let myself fall into the same complacency and “ordinary” path that everyone is expected to take. I took higher paying corporate jobs, bought new cars, bought a condo, etc. These are choices I don’t regret by any means, but life had an interesting way of coming back around.

In 1999 I went to Massage Therapy School, then moved to Madison, WI, where I believe my activism and sustainable “roots” began to resurface. I learned about holistic health and alternative medicine, and really started to look within at the kind of life I wanted to lead.

In 2002 I moved back to Minnesota to take yet another corporate job, as the practical thing to do, but much began to surface again. I became very active in the Northfield, MN People for Peace and Goodwill group, became the coordinator for a year, and joined the board of The Center for Sustainable Living.

After meeting my now partner, Michael, I went back to graduate school at Saint Mary’s University in Minneapolis to study Human Development. The program is an interdisciplinary one which encourages self-exploration within the context of social responsibility. I decided to embark on a journey to answer the question:

How do we create communities and LIVES out of the mix of art, sustainability, peace, non-violence, and social justice?

I went to my first national mass protest in November of 2005 to the Army School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia with the Veterans for Peace. I started to dive into a more direct and personal experience with the notions of peace, sustainability, and social justice.

In February of 2006, I was laid off from my corporate job, and my “golden handcuffs” were released. I immediately immersed myself in sustainable studies of bicycling, permaculture, democratic education, and creativity within holistic health. In August of 2006, I opened my own massage therapy and bodywork business, and began renting an office in Uptown Minneapolis. I started part time, once per week, and quickly grew to 3-4 days per week. I am also a freelance web designer, working for a few clients at a time.

I believe that we are at a crossroads within the realm of holistic healing. As more people are begining to understand that the power to heal themselves has been available to them all along, governments and corporations are looking for ways to restrict, regulate, license, trademark, and ultimately profit from all forms of holistic or alternative medicine. Just as we are all fed mass-marketed, genetically modified, mono-crop food, schools offering training in massage and bodywork are often restricted by standardized curriculum, resulting in cookie-cutter, mono-crop healers who have very little if any control over the creative forces within themselves that lead to true healing.

I am a strong supporter of the Health Freedom movement (and the Minnesota Freedom of Access Law for Complementary and Alternative Medicine). My vision for the future of holistic healing is one that honors all lineages and traditions, and offers freedom of access by consumers to choose freely, the type of healing they wish, from whom they wish.