About Debra

Sweet Darkness
by David Whyte

When your eyes are tired

the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone,

no part of the world can find you.

It’s time to go into the dark

where the night has eyes

to recognize its own.

There you can be sure

you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your home

tonight.

The night will give you a horizon

further than you can see.

You must learn one thing.

The world was made to be free in.

Give up all other worlds

except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness

and the sweet

confinement of your aloneness

to learn

anything or anyone

that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

Following careers in fashion and the visual arts, I worked as an art director in the film and television industry for nearly 20 years—16 of them on a worldwide number one television drama. Drama being the operational word. I was steeped in a work life that absorbed my energies (mind, body, soul) 24/7. When you’re in that deep, you’re aware of the unsustainability of that life, but cannot begin to imagine your way out of it. So, the Universe decided to step in for me.

An on-set accident prevented me from walking for several months. I used this “time off” to move my mother cross-country to attend to her during her decline from Alzheimer’s. Soon after, I received a cancer diagnosis requiring surgery, radiation and chemical treatment. Sprinkle in a few more falls and broken bones as well as the development of a chronic pain condition and you have an intense three-year adventure story.

All this revived my interest in and exploration of stress relief and healing practices. I had already been studying TM (Transcendental Meditation), which I credit chiefly for my relatively peaceful navigation of these experiences. But I have also since achieved milestones and received accreditation in other arenas as well: I am now a Reiki Master, advanced Transcendental Meditation practitioner, second certificate ikebana apprentice, sound healer, horticulturist/herbalist and forager and a mindfulness meditation facilitator.

I have traveled the Nakasendo Trail in Japan and experienced firsthand where Shinrin-yoku (known here in North America as forest bathing) first came into practice. I am a certified Association of Nature and Forest Therapy guide and I combine that practice with my foraging knowledge and my regard for astrology, nature, ritual and ceremony to create a singular nature-based immersion--aimed at quieting the mind and body, easing stress, freeing the imagination, and creating community among strangers.

These days, I prefer to define myself not by titles but by who I am: I am an animist, a ritualist, a visual poet, a sparkle wearer, a lover of everything that is soft bellied and of things that smell of the wild earth. I believe our connection to land is sacred and that thunder and lightning are just about the greatest pairing in all of nature.

The deets:

Certified Forest Therapy Guide trained by the Association of Forest and Nature Therapy (ANFT)
Facilitator of Mindfulness Meditation trained at the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center.
Certificate in Horticulture from UCLA
Reiki Master in the Usui Tradition
Herbalist, Chestnut School of Herbalism
Sound Training with Michelle Berc at Sonic Being and with Zacciah Blackburn, Director, Center of Light: Institute of Sound Healing and Shamanic Studies
Advanced Transcendental Meditation Practitioner led by Light Watkins