Title: Evolving Soul

Gender: Male

Age: 44

Sun Sign: Libra

Chinese Sign: Wood Snake

Location: Los Angeles, CA

I have recently been through a number of major changes in mid-life. Perhaps the most significant is the beginning of the awareness of the illusion of separateness. I had to take stock of myself spirtually, reorient my relation to the world, and also begin along the path of an entirely new (although not disconnected) vocation. I grew up in Michigan and went to Oberlin College, a place (and idea) of which I am enormously fond. I received a Ph.D. in History of Art from U.C. Berkeley in 1997, was a fellow at Villa I Tatti, The Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, in 2001/2002, and worked as a curator of medieval and renaissance manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum from 1992 through the beginning of 2006. My scholarly work concerned the history of Italian manuscript illumination; the interrelationship between artistic media; devotional art and psychology; and representations of the body in art. I like having been an art historian and consider it a privilege to have spent nearly two decades doing what John Pope-Hennessy termed “cultivating the gift of sight” and studying the other cultures of the past.

I left my Getty job in January 2006, which has mysteriously yet very forcefully pointed me in a different direction, one in which I am exploring and cultivating a different sense, the gift of touch. In May 2006 I decided to study massage therapy (Swedish, Deep Tissue, Shiatsu, Acupressure, Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation, Reflexology, Craniosacral Therapy, and Massage Techniques for Fibromyalgia). This has been revelatory for me in terms of learning about the body through different cultural constructions and modalities of massage, how to be present to the present moment as well as to another person via touch, and how to channel healing power through my own body. As part of this new path, I go weekly to psychotherapy and acupuncture, attend as many yoga classes as I can, and receive as much massage as possible. I was recently working at a Chiropractic and Holistic Health Center, The Silver Lake Health and Professional Center, but am now working on my own and trying to attract private clients for home massage to my practice. I am also hoping to enroll in the autumn of 2009 in a Ph.D. program in psychology at an institution devoted to transformational learning (either somatic psychology at the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, which includes a five-part series of courses hosted by the Esalen Institute; soul-centered psychology at University of Santa Monica: the Institute of Imaginal Studies in Petaluma, where I could combine both art and somatic interests; or possibly beginning with the Integral Theory degree at JFK University). Personally, I am working on trying to love more completely, expansively, and unconditionally, and to live in the present moment. In terms of vocation I hope to become a compassionate source of transformative power to enable people to heal and to better love and understand themselves. In relation to that desire I have recently downloaded the ILP Starter kit and started a program, which includes my massage work. My meditation practice has been greatly enhanced through my association with InsightLA and taking their Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Class.  I have also been doing some significant shadow work in therapy, where I meet with a therapist of transpersonal orientation.  Another significant marker of practice for me is that I work as a volunteer seva at Karuna Yoga in Los Feliz, which is a wonderful community to have in my neighborhood. I am a member of the Integral Institute, the Institute for Noetic Sciences, The Intention Experiment, Humanity's Team, and Global Mindshift.

I live in Los Feliz with my partner of 10 years, Christopher Hughes, who I married at the Schindler House in West Hollywood on June 12, 1999. His business website (with idiosyncratic pictures of LA) for you mac users out there, is http://lamactech.webhop.net. My massage website is: http://bodyopus.wehop.net.

Member Since: Monday, August 28 2006

Last Visit: 99 days ago.

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