FLORENCE GAIA, RN, M.Ed.
Mind-Body Health Nurse
Florence has been a mind-body health nurse for 30 yrs. leading workshops and retreats. She has worked as a psychiatric nurse on an acute in-patient hospital unit in MA and NM for 17 years. In private practice she uses holistic health modalities: Deep Imagery/Shamanic Journey work, Gestalt therapy and Transformational Breathwork™ as well as Movement & Music & some general Native American spiritual practices, like "smudging"/sage cleansings, rattles. Training with Brooke Medicine Eagle in Montana brought Native American spiritual teachings to a lively position in her personal experience which plays a part in her healing work. She recently became certified as a Music Medicine facilitator with renowned music therapist Christine Stevens. She has led meditative drumming circles and ceremonial rites of passage for menopausal women in MA, NH, NM, CO. She is enthusiastic about offering experiences that bring inner peace and empowerment to one's life to feel more whole and alive with a heartfelt connection to Mother Earth and the greater circle of life beyond the two-legged world. Her work is an authentic integration of art, spirituality and medicine.
Education: BSN Seton Hall University, NJ; M.Ed. Boston College, MA
SPECIALIZED CERTIFIED TRAINING: Shamanic "Journeys" aka Deep Imagery, Transformational Conscious Breathwork, Gestalt Therapy,
Studied with: E. Steve Gallegos, Ph.D, NM; Brooke Medicine Eagle*, Montana; Dr. Judith Kravitz, NH; Gestalt Institute of New England.
*Native American teachings on the Medicine Wheel, the Moon and Moonpause Lodge, using sage, sweet grass and cornmeal,
Listed as Facilitator on: www.deepimagery.org; www.transformationalbreath.com
"I offer a fascinating opportunity to turn one's inner landscape of fearfulness and worry into a peace of mind and heart with a more relaxed body that radiates to every cell in our body saying "I'm OK right where I am NOW . ." The work I do with clients challenges them to embrace and accept with a loving OK-ness the many parts of who and where they are, both the positive and what is viewed as "negative" , like anger, fear, sadness, how old wounds affect us today. It is only from this place of warm acceptance that healing, personal growth and evolution, becoming more fully alive can happen. Shamanic Journeying along with Breathwork and wholistic counseling approach a person's issues or troubles from a different angle sidestepping ego/mental defenses to get to the heart of the issues. I also use music as medicine in my work to unlock and soothe trauma, negativity, shame that often hide out like a forgotten child waiting for someone to notice. It attends to the emotional aspect connected to that energy and the spirit longing to breathe free and guide us to our full potential. The end result of working in these unique modalities is an expanded solid sense of true self, a clarity of purpose as one explores the hinterlands and deep subconscious ocean of your humanity.
Living one's life fully becomes the ultimate adventure despite troubles of life."