I grew up in London and then moved to Chico, California in my late teens. I studied International Communications at Chico State. During my Chico time, I also began my yoga journey, did my massage certification and other explored other modalities such Shiatsu and Reiki. I also worked for the weekly college paper, writing and photographing. I taught yoga and was in charge of a ropes course at a youth camp in the Sierra Nevadas.

After college I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to work at some photography workshops. I was pretty mesmerised by the beauty and magic of that area, and spent three years there. I was involved in the opening of another branch of photo workshops in San Miguel de Allende, a beautiful colonial town with a thriving art scene, four hours north of Mexico City.

I decided, after these years working in a workshop setting, that I really enjoyed the workshop process and wanted to work in a similar setting, but with a focus on personal growth and spirituality. I applied to be the photographer at a holistic institute in upstate New York. There I was responsible for photographing staff and students and also created and maintained a digital archive of photos for the marketing department. This seasonal job turned into a full time job as website assistant and two years later I became Webmaster, responsible for the daily administration of the website and working on various redesigns internally and with external teams. During my team there I got to explore many personal growth avenues and was exposed to kirtan through Krishna Das.

After working in New York State, for a total of six years I left to travel. I went to work on farms in Australia. I also taught hatha yoga in New South Wales. After Australia, the travel continued with periods of working in the US and then extended trips overseas. I spent some months in Henan and Wudang mountain in China studying tai chi, particularly the Long Form Chen Style. I continued this study in Taipei, Taiwan for 7 months along with Mandarin studies. After my time in China, travelled overland through Russia, living for several months in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. I played guitar and sang in cafes on Lake Baikal and at a Victor Visotsky festival (one of the most revered Russian folk singers). I travelled through Tuva (famous for its throat singers) and Mongolia.

I spent a total of 2 ½ years in India studying Yoga and Ayurveda and playing kirtan on the Ganges. I am enjoying the East West herb course which I initially enrolled in some years ago but recently had more time to fully concentrate on it. I have also completed a 3 month internship at a farm in Oregon that produces tinctures and herbal formulas.

My goal is to integrate my herbal studies with my knowledge of tai chi and yoga to help facilitate people in the healing journeys of their lives. Music is a continuing daily part of my life and sharing with the world, as a singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and kirtan/mantra musician.

 

Photographs at: www.instagram.com/joshuasamuelsen

Music at: www.youtube.com/user/joshua9749/videos

Travels: www.astralprojector.com

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