My Journey to Practicing Stone Medicine...

Since childhood I've cared deeply about the wellbeing of others.... human and non-human! Thinking I might become an art therapist I studied psychology and fine art. After earning two BAs, I explored ways of using the arts as healing process, working with people struggling with homelessness, displaced children in war-torn Colombia, and with survivors of war, natural disaster and trafficking in Nepal.

Since moving to the Shenandoah Valley I've focused my energy on caring for my family, creating art and tending the land we live on.

​

Many threads wove together leading me to the practice of Stone medicine... my interest in healing trauma through physical (or somatic) practices, a fascination with traditional healing methods all over the world, my own powerful experiences receiving integrative energy medicine and bodywork, as well as a passion for reconnecting with the greater natural world we've become so separated from. 

All these things prepared me to say "YES" when a number of friends encouraged me separately to study Stone Medicine at Cedar Stone School of Massage.  Only later did I remember sacks of stones, squirreled away since childhood; and how I had lovingly arranged and tended those stones.  Were they in truth tending me, through my most difficult childhood experiences? I already knew the medicine of the stones deep in my bones!

​

I have had the honor of studying Stone Medicine with Trisha Brown Leweke, Sandra Hoak, and with our elder and teacher, Jenny Ray, who received the teachings from her father and other Indigenous elders.  I completed an introductory Stone Medicine training, followed by a 15-month in-depth training program to become a Certified Stone Walker in 2019, and have taken additional courses/Continuing Education Credit hours and been practicing Stone Medicine since.

​

I provide trauma-informed treatment, having completed a Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience training at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University and working in the peace-building/trauma-healing field for a number of years.

​

I offer safe space and am an ally. 

I look forward to offering you a Stone Medicine treatment!

​

                                  -Charlotte Shristi