Courtney Dukelow
My healing journey began in 1996 after a rather spontaneous spiritual experience which completely turned my life upside down and initiated my conscious healing and spiritual path. My journey lead me throughout the world studying the spiritual wisdom and healing traditions of different cultures; from living in India for 6 months when I was 21 to being fully immersed for several years in non-dual wisdom traditions in the U.S; living one year and a half in a healing center in central Brazil to being 'adopted' by a family of healers in a Peruvian indigenous tribe called the Q'ero.
For the past 11 years, I have taken yearly visits to Peru to be with my Q'ero friends and family. My 'godmother', Dona Maria Apaza, is 93 years old and is the last living mystical healer of her kind in her community. I have lead 4 groups to Peru to participate in these heart-illuminating ceremonies with her and her Q'ero sons throughout sacred sites in Peru and Bolivia. My work and life have been powerfully informed by the earth-centered values that guide their lives and inspire their ceremonial offerings. Their ceremonies have ancient roots in maintaining the 'ayni,' the unconditional reciprocity and right relationship within the wedded web of creation. Living from the 'ayni' and participating in earth-honoring ceremonies helps sustain a field of belonging-the living unity of community. Through the slow cultivation and restoration of these soul-centered values, I have experienced a greater connection to this indwelling wisdom of my body. Often times, I experience this wisdom as a wonder-filled innocence and the felt-sense that we are all contained in and sustained by something vast, deep and great.
My life and work have also been immensely influenced through learning how to be in right relationship with grief. I experience grief as a sacred process. I feel honored to hold a safe and welcoming space for those who are grieving. My first life-changing experience with this was in a community grief ritual with Sobonfu Some, an African mystic from the Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso. This ritual revealed the profound significance of the sacred work of grief in restoring the joy, magic and dignity of soul to the world. I have also been fortunate to attend soul-restoring grief rituals as well as receive training in grief ritual with well-known psychotherapist, Francis Weller.
For almost two decades, I have been graced to receive a diverse range of support in the form of training and guidance from many incredible mentors from many parts of the world. I have also been blessed to extend healing support to thousands of people. I have received over 3000 hours of training in a wide rage of healing and psycho-spiritual modalities and practices. I am a licensed massage therapist and have received certification in healing modalities including swedish massage, deep tissue, cranial-sacral, body-centered therapy, somatic psycho-spiritual integration, expressive arts therapy, gestalt therapy, shadow work, hypnosis, NLP, energy healing and many other trauma informed healing interventions.
I am an Advanced Certified Trauma Practitioner (ACTP) with the National Institute for trauma and loss in children, adolescents, teens and adults. These programs focus on the psycho-physiology of trauma and structured sensory interventions and expressive arts therapy for children, adolescents and adults. A core of my advanced studies in this program were focused on education, strategies and interventions for supporting survivors of sexual assault/abuse, non suicidal self-injury, suicidal support and prevention and education on sex trafficking.
My own healing journey through loss and trauma has evoked deep compassion in working with others. It has also birthed unique skills and an enhanced intuitive capacity to help others navigate the emotional landscape of their inner worlds and discover inspired creativity, wisdom and healing insight in shamed and marginalized places. I hold each session with great respect, knowing that the true healer is you. The guidance, healing, inspiration and resources are alive within you.
I have a passion for service work. My main skills include trauma informed bodywork to help survivors heal from PTSD, narcissistic abuse, sexual abuse and assault. I have a strong alliance with SART (Sexual Assault Response Team) who offers free services to victims of sexual abuse and assault. I am the Director of Partnership for Shine a Light, an annual fundraising event for anti-sex trafficking organizations. I also collaborate and offer support in a variety of ways to our unhoused community. I love being a part of community building to create strong networks of support in service to the marginalized people in our communities.
I love taking long walks in nature with no structured time but where I can walk slowly, taking time to commune with the trees, the water and take in the sounds of nature. I am grateful to many friends, family and loved ones that I have in my life. I love immersing myself in writings of Christian mystics and mysticism, Carl Jung, alchemy, healing and the wisdom of the earth. I love attending ceremonies, celebrating the natural world, writing, dancing, traveling to Peru and other countries, my morning cup of tea and sacred heart practices.
I also enjoy writing. I was a blogger for the Huffington Post. I like to journal about overlooked stories of human hardships that glisten with wisdom, inspiration and hope. I love writing about the life of soul and the mythos that awakens us to the depth wisdom that lives within us . You can read my blogs here. You can also see my published work on other blogging forms like One Magazine, Positively Positive and Elephant Journal. I am currently completing my first non-fiction autobiographical book.
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