Amara Karuna

Amara has been studying alte ative healing since 1978, having studied Swedish, Esalen and deep bodywork, Chinese healing, herbology, and Macrobiotics. She was trained in psychic reading, healing and meditation for two years at the Berkeley Psychic Institute, and has taught numerous classes in the same since then. She created, edited and published Heartsong Review, a resource guide for New Age spiritual music, for nine years.

Amara taught Re-evaluatio Co-counseling, a method of peer counseling, for over five years, and has been studying and practicing it since 1983. She developed her own approach to peer counseling, called Wholistic Peer Support, integrating many ideas from RC with spiritual meditation practices, psychic healing and body centered techniques. She began studying Tantra and Sacred Spot work, a method of sexual healing, on Maui in 2003. She has been teaching Tantra Pujas on the Big Island and Maui.

She is a minister, Sheikha (teacher) and initiator on the Sufi path, and has been studying that path, which encourages honoring of all religions, since 1983. She served as Secretary, and then Chairperson, on the Core of the International Council for the Dances of Universal Peace. She has created and staffed many weekend Dance workshops. She also has led and participated in many Goddess song circles, camps and Neo-pagan rituals since 1980, being attracted to the honoring of Nature, women and the natural cycles, and continues to offer these at La'akea.

She has been an graphic artist and scrimshander since 1980, and has illustrated several books and magazines. She currently is producing reproductions of her art as banners and prayer flags, which can be seen at www.karunaarts.com. Recently she has become passionate about creating and recording music, and has published several CD's of original music.

One of her primary goals is to empower as many people as possible to be effective, supportive allies for each other, and to encourage people to grow emotionally and spiritually, to be free and have fun. She lives in an intentional permaculture community on the Big Island of Hawaii, called La'akea Community. Being at La'akea is the fulfillment of a lifelong commitment to community.