Calendar
Upcoming Events
Sharing Circle Online Ceremony
Wednesday, 5/20/26, 6:00-8:30 pm Pacific Time on Zoom
Sharing Circle is a weekly online ceremony that uses spiritual inquiry to experience your truth and receive guidance. The intention of this sharing circle is to build an ongoing community of support and belonging with each other. There are openings.
Sharing Circle Online Ceremony
Wednesday, 6/3/26, 6:00-8:30 pm Pacific Time on Zoom
Sharing Circle is a weekly online ceremony that uses spiritual inquiry to experience your truth and receive guidance. The intention of this sharing circle is to build an ongoing community of support and belonging with each other. There are openings.
Summer Solstice Online Ceremony:
"Accessing the Dynamic Energy of Summer"
Saturday, 6/20/26, 9:00-1:00 pm Pacific Time on Zoom
The summer solstice is the peak of the dynamic energy of high ceremony, decisiveness, taking action, and trial and error. This ceremony will explore how you can harness the powerful energy of this time of year.
Participate in a Medicine Wheel Shamanic Journey, Sharing Circle, and Sacred Pipe Ceremony to celebrate the Summer Solstice and align yourself with this powerful time of transition. The cost is now $35. The Zoom link is https://zoom.us/j/92596526661.
Inviting Beauty into Your Life
5-day In-person Fall Equinox Shamanic Retreat
Wednesday, 9/16/26, 5 PM to Sunday, 9/20/26, 1 PM.
Join us for five days of ceremony and spiritual community at the Chetco River Inn by the pristine Chetco River in Brookings, Oregon.
The intention of this retreat is to stretch yourself and your self-beliefs, inviting love, beauty, and joy into your life. Ceremonies include a Sweat Lodge, a Medicine Wheel, a Mini-Vision Quest, and a Healing Circle.
This retreat includes breakfast, lunch & dinner from Wednesday dinner to Sun lunch: Vegan, Gluten-Free & Omnivore. Includes lodging at the retreat center. Bedrooms will be shared as a couple or with a participant. Registration closes 7/1/2026.
Background and Education
I attended college at Penn State to study engineering, preparing to start a family and live the American dream. Only it didn't quite work out that way. I began to notice inconsistencies in the story that everyone seemed to subscribe to.
After two years at Penn State, I discovered I was more of a people person, so I switched my major to psychology. I also played drums in a jam band at Penn State, where I became fascinated by the magic and energy of live music.
I decided to start anew by moving out west and continued my undergraduate studies at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. I began to explore various spiritual and healing practices, including yoga, meditation, Chinese medicine, bodywork, dream interpretation, and the world's religions.
I decided to start anew by moving out west and continued my undergraduate studies at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. I began to explore various spiritual and healing practices, including yoga, meditation, Chinese medicine, bodywork, dream interpretation, and the world's religions.
The things we offered guided participants to directly experience the truth about their lives. I was amazed by the power of the work and watched people accomplish in a weekend workshop what I had seen in six months of therapy. These workshops and classes were the predecessors of the sessions and retreats I offer today. I apprenticed with Bart for 22 years.
Meanwhile, I completed my Bachelor's degree in Psychology in 1987 and began working in residential treatment centers and a Psychiatric hospital in Boise, Idaho. I returned to school at Boise State University and completed my Master of Social Work degree in 1997.
I offered psychotherapy in clinics for several years before opening my psychotherapy and coaching practice called Natural Way of Being in 2009. I began doing sessions on Zoom in addition to in-person.
I decided to share the traditions and practices that I found so effective by writing two books: Your Natural Gift (2013) and Natural Way of Being (2020).
In 2023, I moved to Ashland, Oregon. In 2025, I decided to get credentialed with the Oregon insurance panels. I had been doing primarily private-pay sessions until his time, but I decided I wanted to make psychotherapy more accessible to more people.
Word on the Street
"The real core of the work I did with Michael is seeing how I have always been looking outward to define myself. What I have found in working with him is that I already had the resources within me to actually create the changes I wanted to make. For me, this has been the pivotal change. I have to say, Michael held my feet to the fire and that is what I really needed. He helped me get in touch with trusting my heart and moving from that place."