Festivities

Sarah Thomas, BS, MAc, LAc is an inspired healer and educator who owns Clarity Acupuncture in Asheville, NC, where she has performed over 10,000 stone and acupuncture hybrid treatments with many beloved patients. Sarah developed North Carolina's first Studies in Mineral Healing Program and teaches yearly at Earth medicine conferences and healing summits across the U.S. She is the founder and lead instructor at the Upper Clarity School of Stone Medicine, which has served as a loving alchemical container for thousands of students across the world to gain full certifications as crystal healing and stone medicine practitioners, with roots in ancient Daoist wisdom and spiritual practices. Sarah’s own Dao is to resurrect the vast knowledge and uncharted potentials of healing and awakening with stones.

Dr. Xu studied Chinese Medicine culture from her grandfather since she was a small child. In 1998, she officially inherited the Traditional Chinese Medicine knowledge passed down by her grandfather who had been engaged in the health industry his entire life. His ancestral secret recipe has won the national Traditional Chinese Medicine invention patent. It is produced by an exclusive pharmaceutical factory in Tianjin and used to relieve pain and rheumatic bone disease. The effect is remarkable and it is deeply trusted by patients.

Due to her love for Chinese medicine since childhood, she was inspired by the magical treatments of Daoist medicine and Daoist acupuncture.

She has been independently studying Daoist acupuncture and health care concepts for more than 40 years, and has created her own unique Daoist acupuncture methods and theories.

She has Inherited the ancestral teachings and the ancestral traditional Chinese medicine formula  which obtained the national traditional Chinese medicine invention patent.

Dr. Xu met Master Yang, Tongying, the vice president of the Wu Dang Xuan Wu Daoist Sect by chance in 2021, she requested to be her student and was honored to become the 14th generation Xuanwu disciple of Wu Dang Mountain, with the Taoist name Xu, Xuankun. In order to carry forward the Chinese Daoist Medical culture, she deeply believes in the concept of Daoism, Dao follows what is nature and the unity of nature and man, and serve the longevity and health of people around the world.

Brigitte Mars is an herbalist and nutritional consultant of Natural Health with over fifty years of experience. She teaches Herbal Medicine at Naropa University, and The School of Health Mastery in Iceland. She has taught at Omega Institute, Esalen, Kripalu, Sivananda Yoga Ashram, Arise, Envision, Tribal Visions, Burning Man and Unify Festivals, and Mayo Clinic. Brigitte lived for two and a half years off wild edible plants while living in a tepee in the Ozarks.

Brigitte is the author of many books and DVDs, including The Country Almanac of Home Remedies, The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine, Beauty by Nature, Addiction Free Naturally, The Sexual Herbal, Healing Herbal Teas, Rawsome! and co-author of The HempNut Cookbook. DVDs include Sacred Psychoactive, Herbal Wizardry for Kids of all Ages, Natural Remedies for Childhood Ailments, Overcoming Addictions, and Natural Remedies for Emotional Health. Her latest project is a phone app called IPlant. Soon to be released by Inner Traditions is Natural Remedies for Mental and Emotional Health.

Brigitte and her daughter, Sunflower Sparkle Mars have run Herb Camp for Kids in Boulder, Colorado. Brigitte's other daughter is world famous activist/yogini-actress/ international model, Rainbeau Mars.

He was chosen as a child to be trained by 5 elder Daoist Masters in the sacred Wu Dang Temples. Traditional Daoism of Wu Dang is ancient knowledge and mystical practice based on thousands of years of observation of the universe and our true nature within it. Through intensive training in a harsh environment, Chen learned the skills to master mind, body, and spirit. He holds two sacred lineages of knowledge, Long Men Pai (Dragon’s Gate) and Zhang San Feng Pai. Master Chen came to the United States in 1990 with a mission to teach Daoist practical philosophies to empower us in the West to heal our bodies, our minds, our environment, and our spirit. 

Gregg works primarily as a Vibrational Activator and Sound Practitioner working with the Paiste Earth Gong and other planetary gongs and sacred sound instruments.   He is also a composer,drum circle facilitator and percussionist.  His studies are music and scoutiscs at chicago Musical College and he went on to attend the State institute of Sonology in the Neterlands where he studied the psychological and physiological affects of sound and vibration on the body.  He has been trained as a Reiki Master, a Deeksha Blessing Giver and has been creating soundscapes and compositions for most of his life.  He has worked with with Richard Rudis / Karma Sonam Dorje, and in 2011 they traveled through Nepal and Tibet.  He's also had the fortune to travel to Abadiania, Brasil and spend time in the presence of John of God.  Working with knowledge and insight from both technical and consciousness/ spiritual teachings, he works with the sound and energy to support the people participating both present and distant.  Applying techniques from his training and experience he creates a unique and safe environment.  He has been working in the sound and vibrational healing field for over 30 years.  He currently performs Gong Bath Meditations in the Boulder/ Denver areas and has performed throughout the United States and internationally.

Paul Pitchford studied and apprenticed with masters of pre-Revolutionary Traditional Chinese medicine, nutrition, and Tai Ji and Chan (Zen) meditation.  These teachings incorporate an abundance of ancient methods and traditional values.  He has been teaching nutrition in the context of foundational healing for several decades.  This approach prioritizes three basic integrative steps in a person's pathway to enduring health: 1) awareness practices, (2) mindful movement including yoga, Tai Ji and Qi Gong (3) nutrition based on regional, unrefined (whole) foods.

His landmark book, Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition forms the foundation of his unique dietary teachings, which unify Eastern and Western therapies.  His work has become a primary impetus behind the most fundamental, clinically effective and innovative dietary movement today, widely known as "whole foods nutrition".  He sees a universal shift to whole foods nutrition as essential for overcoming ecologic ravages to the Earth as well as quelling pervasive disease and degeneration among her peoples.