Continuing Education Instructors

Doug Bennett has been a chemical engineer, a software engineer and a Quaker. He has training in Therapeutic Touch and Healing Touch energy healing techniques. He combines these backgrounds to teach classes on the new science behind healing and spiritual practices. His goal is to use a science-based approach (we are a "scientific" culture, after all) to help introduce modern, busy people to the benefits of these old, and now new, practices. He teaches in continuing education at Brevard College, at MAHEC, NC School of Natural Healing, and in the Music for Healing and Transition Program--a national certification program for musicians working with people in hospitals & hospices. The new science tells us the same thing the old sages told us: inner work is important. Doug makes guided visualization recordings to help people access the connections to all things.

Bob Counts crashed in one of his aircraft in 1989 and therefore is quite acquainted with trauma. He owned his own aircraft company since 1970 until graduating from the North Carolina School of Natural Healing. He has actively practiced massage therapy for the last 10 years. He has studied Craniosacral Therapy, Lymphatic Drainage Therapy, Hot Stone Massage, Prenatal Massage, Kaya Regeneration Therapy & Siddha Massage. He has practiced KRT for the last 4 years. Siddha Massage is a complementary sister subject of KRT. Bob resides in Lake Lure, NC where he has a private practice.

Rowan Farrell, LMBT is a Traditional Midwife trained through Apprenticeship in the Wise Woman Tradition. She assisted in establishing The Matrona Midwifery School. She also holds a three-fold certification in Neuromuscular, Swedish and Russian Massage from the Academy of Somatic Healing Arts in Atlanta. Now entering her twelfth year of Therapeutic Massage practice, Rowan promotes family-centered care tailored to individual needs, with an emphasis on nurturing throughout the Childbearing Year. She has regularly taught History of Massage, Swedish, Pregnancy, Infant and/or Geriatric Massage at three Asheville Massage Schools.

Lara Narayani Golland has been practicing meditation since 1993 when she started to spiritually wake-up and realizes her life's purpose. Since then, she has continued to study a variety of wholistic healing modalities including massage therapy, yoga, Ayurveda, Native American ceremonies, African Dance and Drumming, Natural Birth support, qi-gong, soulpoint and LIFE, the greatest teacher. She is dedicated to sharing the beauty of true experience while encouraging all people to fulfill their human potential.

Debra Grosswald is a graduate of the Swedish Institute of Massage Therapy, New York studied at the Ohashi Institute of Shiatsu, NY, and is a Reflexologist, having studied with Heldegard Whittlinger and has also studied Manual Lymph Drainage with Heldegard. She is an aromatherapist, Chuaka practitioner and has studied Craniosacral 1 with the Upledger Institute. She is also an Aesthetician.

Debra has studied Siddha Massage and is certified in its sister modality, Kaya Regeneration Therapy in which she has taken a 56 hour teacher class. Licensed as a massage therapist in New York and Iowa, Deb has practiced massage and bodywork for 19 years. She lives in Boone N.C. and is a passionate animal lover and home-finder for many cats & dogs.

Dianna Lee was an Independent Midwife for 15 years, assisting in home and hospital births, paving the way for many, many women and practitioners along the way. She has been active as a teacher, herbalist and healer in Western North Carolina since the early 90's. Dianna was an integral part of The Health Educator WIC program. Currently she is licensed as a Massage Therapist, specializing in CranioSacral Therapy and Lymphatic Therapy. She became certified as an Esthetician in 2005 and is certified to teach 8 CEUs course in Body Wraps and Oil Infusions. She is the co-creator of Integrated Healing Therapy with Lara Narayani Golland.

Director of Himalayan Yoga and Meditation Center Jacksonville, Fl

Deolal Mahabir is an advanced Zen Shiatsu Practitioner and instructor, and Advanced CranioSacral therapist and Yoga and Meditation Instructor. He had the great fortune to meet and learn from the developer of Zen Shiatsu, Masunaga. He has been doing bodywork for over 35 years and began his studies of various forms of Shiatsu including: barefoot shiatsu, Namikoshi style of Shiatsu, Zen Shiatsu and Ohashiatsu. The focus of his work with Zen Shiatsu has been for therapeutic intervention; covering various forms of ailments and distresses, physical and pathological.

Linda Mc Crea, Ed.D., LMBT: Linda’s formal education, in addition to bodywork, includes a Masters Degree in Interdisciplinary Learning, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership, and lots of continuing education. Her formal bodywork training includes over 2,000 hours: as a graduate of the Carolina School of Massage, then as a Basic Practitioner, Advanced Practitioner, and Registered Instructor of Ortho-Bionomy®.

For nearly 25 years she enjoyed a stimulating professional career as a classroom teacher, teacher educator, organization development/change consultant, instructional designer, curriculum developer, training director, and wellness coordinator. Then the positive results of her intuitive healing work with her mom, as she struggled with cancer, led Linda to therapeutic massage training. About 3 years into her client practice, Linda discovered Ortho-Bionomy, an osteopathically-based, gentle body therapy that works with the whole being, on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels.
She says, “In my first class, I felt that I’d come home – to the most respectful, effective, and comfortable bodywork I’ve ever experienced. I knew that first day, I would practice and teach this work.”
Over the next 10 years, she traveled across the U.S. and Australia to complete her training and teacher certification in this field. Linda teaches a whole series of Ortho-Bionomy classes to massage therapists and other practitioners in cities across the U.S., as well as in her new Asheville home base.
For more information about Linda or Orthobionomy www.obtouchworks.com

Brett A. Pace, L.M.T., received his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Florida State University and went on to study massage therapy at the Swedish Institute in New York City. Brett has been an instructor at the CORE Institute in Tallahassee since 1990, teaching Anatomy, Physiology, Massage History & Theory, Neuromuscular Therapy, Medical Massage, and Business Practices. As he pursued his continuing education, he studied Myofascial Release with John Barnes; Orthopedic Assessment with Whitney Lowe; and is certified in Neuromuscular Therapy under Judith Walker-Delany.

He is a member of the FSMTA and has held different positions, including Local President, Sports Massage Team Member, and Insurance Reimbursement Committee Chair. He is also a member of the AMTA. Brett served as a Test Item Reviewer during the process of creating national standards of practice that resulted in the production of the National Certification exam, the testing instrument for many of the licensing boards in the country. Brett was also a contributing editor for Mark Beck’s new edition of “Therapeutic Massage”.

Since 1994, Brett has been approved by State and National organizations as a continuing education provider and has been teaching Medical Massage throughout the United States and in Europe. He has had the opportunity to work in a variety of settings such as chiropractors’ offices, gyms, massage school clinics as well as in a large clinic that he and his wife ran together. He currently has a full-time private practice in Tallahassee. Brett has recently written a handbook for massage therapists on Fibromyalgia Syndrome and a correspondence course on Insurance Reimbursement. His current projects include training videos to support his workshops, correspondence courses for professional ethics and medical errors, and educational retreats in Europe.

Praji Sakata, BA, LMT

With twenty plus years of practice I have found great joy and value in bridging bodywork and energy medicine—and especially sound energy medicine.

Having developed my bodywork and energy healing practices simultaneously, I learned early on to recognize energetic distortions in cellular tissues and the benefits of working with Light and Sound. Since the subtle energy bodies are the blueprint or matrix for the physical it certainly makes sense to work both “on and off” the body when acceptable and welcomed by the client.

Time and again, sound finds its way into my heart to heal and uplift my spirit while continuing to serve as a most helpful healing modality in client sessions. I feel blessed to facilitate so many wonderful gatherings and programs for healing with sound and energy medicine and it continues to be one of my greatest passions and deep gratitudes.

For more info, please contact praji@ncsnh.com.

Michele Skeele has been a musician since early childhood and feels music to be the very core of her being. She graduated from UNC-Wilmington in 1982 with a BS in Biology with a concentration in Botany and has taught environmental classes at Blue Ridge Community College. In 2003 she completed coursework to become Board Certified as a Music Practitioner, concerned primarily with the use of voice and Native Flute for end of life transitions. Michele played and sang at the bedside of dying patients at Four Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care for three years. Her greatest work at the moment is creating balance, not least of which between her three greatest loves . . .her family, her music, and Nature.

Pripo Teplitsky, MA, LPC, LMBT, offers a diverse practice that balances the connection between mind, body and spirit. He is a licensed massage and bodywork therapist, as well as holding a national certification. He is a certified Esalen® massage practitioner. He also holds a master’s degree in psychology & counseling and is a Licensed Professional Counseling. He lived, studied and worked at Esalen Institute, a renowned human potential learning center in Big Sur, CA. Pripo has a private practice in Asheville, NC in massage as well as a counseling practice specializing in relationship issues. His main goal is to help support people to live in their truth and authenticity.