Ash Tree
Give Love Heal Repeat
I work with a variety of preventative, harmonizing, therapeutic, and potentially healing approaches and modalities, including;
-Meditation*
-Yoga Nidra*
-Health Coaching*
-Mantra*
-Sound work*
-Herbal Consults*
-Product Making Consults*
-Energy Work*
-Crystals*
-Thai Yoga Massage
-Indic Yoga Limbs
-Yin Yoga
-Hormé
and more
*educated in various traditions as well as in conventional understanding based on structured research.
I do not practice all techniques I have studied. I have learned, and will continue to learn, those that seem to provide the most benefits, with as gentle a relationship with one's system as can be, and that have zero or limited side effects.
Sometimes I combine the above and sometimes I work in purity: Sessions are case-by-case.
I rarely do distal (distance / remote) work, and in only select modalities.
I work with individuals and give group workshops on approaches to holistic wellness.
See the Corporate and Group Offerings page for further information on community facilitations and workshops.
Feel free to reach out with any questions.
*Because I sometimes attract those with acute trama who can sometimes be better supported by other facilitators and / or who can benefit from groups that understand personalities with vulnerabilities toward addiction: Some of us have had unusual / atypical / that-only-happens-in-stories things occur in our subjective life experiences. Things that seem to even traumatize others just by telling them. While I use the word, us, intentionally, and I have watched friends take a while to process just a single story; and therefore I can empathize with aspects of your experience that most cannot - so someone might send you my way; that doesn't always mean that I can be the best choice to facilitate your therapy. I and / or others might just be stops on the road that are breadcrumbs to you finding what you more deeply need. Reason / season / lifetime.
(Notice when you have had an affinity for somebody and then it shifts; your "work" might be done together - at least for the time being... Magnets attract AND repel... I personally have really interesting dances with some people; bumping into eachother even on different continents - "as the spirit moves." And with some, your spirits are working, so there is a magnetism and still the ego experience can be a dislike and therefore that of being repelled while some part of a more intuitive person will simultaneously feel drawn in some way: THAT's fun. There's nothing else like it... Thank goodness.)
Back to my work with you (which might not go beyond this page, and so I throw things like that passage above in in case it's of service): Sometimes being empathized with, supported with the techniques that people like me offer, and / or even simply having a space to just be without others wanting you to be anything but whatever you are, etc, can facilitate releases and even inspire a deeper healing process. I have lived and witnessed that truth many times over. I think a potential for this to happen with the practices and practitioners is enhanced by the lack of this kind of safety in much of the conventional therapeutic or medical arena.
Also true, people like me cannot diagnose you in conventional ways, we can only look at symptoms and work with you to determine the potential remedies and roots. I cannot prescribe anything to you. I cannot validate nor fix nor change you or your past or daily experience. I can only listen and work with you to see how I might facilitate your process. If I feel that you need to work with somebody else - either as an alternative or in addition to my support, I will tell you so - because it is the right thing to do. I don't do it lightly, but sometimes it IS the best thing - for you.
May you be well.
Offerings
Crystals . Corporate and Group Offerings . Meditation . Energy Work . Holistic Health . Thai Yoga Massage . Hatha Yoga . Yin Yoga . Mantra Healing .
Sound . Hormé . Spacial Harmony . Animal Support . Workshops and Classes
Testimonials
Ashley is a generous and connected healer. Her full chakra meditation grounded, expanded, and relaxed my being from the inside out. Her voice soothed with confidence, and I truly felt able to surrender... not always easy for me! That meditation led to one of the most restful nights of sleep I have had in years.
-Victoria Squazzo, Ayurvedic Health Coach; Reiki Master; Yoga and Fitness Instructor.
I regularly meditate but was very new to Reiki, especially doing it remotely. I didn’t know what to expect and approached with a little skepticism. Ashley was patient and informative - she gave me the directions about what to do, day of the distance Reiki session, and I followed. With zero expectations, the process was relaxing and I certainly felt better the days following the treatments. I not only intend on scheduling more appointments, but recommend her to anyone looking for energy, balancing or emotional healing. Namaste
-Victoria Prather, Actor and VO Artist
My friends and I were on our mats and as I closed my eyes, Ashley's voice started to take me on a special journey, taking me from places to places, seeing images and feeling emotions all along the meditation. That was a great moment and I thank you for being my guide.
-Karim, Sound Healer
I attended Ashley's guided meditations & had such amazing connections to the deeper part of myself, information I never even knew that I had access to. I have been able to move forward through issues I was previously stuck on by applying the knowledge that I received during her meditations. Her voice and style of facilitating the meditations really help you feel safe, to relax & be able to go deeper into yourself. She is a wonderful teacher/facilitator and I highly recommend her for anyone looking to do some deep healing work on themselves.
-Tracy Jones, Massage Therapist and Sound Healer, Boston, Mass
The meditation was most calming and peaceful. I really appreciate it.
-Martha, Ayurvedic Health Coach
Normally I would do my own meditation, but that day I really felt I needed to go. And I'll tell you, it couldn't have been more beautiful! She took us on a trip that was both healing and liberating. In a calm and loving way, she made the experience come alive. Truly was just what I needed at that moment. Thank you Ashley!
-Esther Steffeck, Meditation, Yoga Dance, and Sound Therapy Facilitator
SOUND
Follows the philosophy that everything is vibration and that sound vibrations, being so strong that we hear, feel, and some even see it, can facilitate restoration to our optimal vibration - and very efficiently. From my experiences, I absolutely agree. (I do not practice anything that hasn’t worked well for me). I find it to be a very potent modality.
Regardless of our connection, please know that, while it is meditative and intuitive, it requires knowledge, wisdom, and skill. Please only work with therapists who have learned from doctors and responsibly explored contraindications. If they can't answer you about these, I don't recommend putting yourself in their care. Sound baths are so trendy now. And sound IS a powerful medicine; best administered by responsible hands.
Instruments
I currently work with a river drum, Tibetan Singing Bowls, Nana Garden Bells, tuning forks, chimes, the voice including overtone singing and mantra, and more to come.
Training
s
I am a graduate of The New York Open Center’s Integrative Sound and Music Institute. There, I learned from Silvia Nakkach, MMT (How Sound Healing and Improvisation and International Medicine Melodies); Marco Dolce (Singing Bowls and Gongs); Rick Jarrow, PhD (Meditation and Intuitive Practice); Petr Janata, PhD (Cognitive Neuroscience on music and the brain) John Beaulieu, PhD (Tuning Forks); and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (Tibetan Sound Healing modalities), Thomas Amelio (Mantra from the Yoga tradition) and many more.
Sound training with Harmonic Sounds in Alcalalí, Spain, which incorporated the 7 chakra system, Craniosacral, color therapy, energy therapy, and light touch hands-on healing.
Sound for balancing the Chakras with WiIl Adriance at Ayurveda’s World in New York City.
Energy Exchange
$81 1hr session
MANTRA
I've studied, and I employ perspectives from Indic, Tibetan, and English use of words to connect body and mind.
In the Tibean lineage,t he word that is used for what the Indus River Valley traditions calls in Sanskrit, Mantra, is translate to English as, "mind protection". There is a triangle used to show it as a connector for body and mind. This is my main use of and use of what we tend to refer to as 'Mantra' in cultures in and derived from Europe; as an embodiment practice. I had an acting coach who held the POV that people who talk to themselves need to be heard and are imagining that someone else is listening to the. While this person became a close friend and I do understand what he is saying, the fact is that he himself does not talk to himself and so it is largely a projection on his part as to why individuals who do might be doing so: My experience with people who do so is that they are using the speech as a way to focus an otherwise (in that moment) overwhelmed or at least unfocused mind; the voice IS uniting the mind and body in a meditative way to focus on the task at hand. For me, the use of speech in these individuals is an intuitive self-healing practice and links to possible innate human behavioral roots that may have contributed to the development of mantra practices in the various cultures that they show up in.
Additionally, "spelling" and "spell" share an etymology. Conventional research shows that words to have power in reshaping our own POV's, the brain itself, and those of others. And so, any speech, and therefore moreso chosen, intentional, and repeated speech, is more and more understood to be powerful. Whether we consciously employ it or not; it is impacting us, so we may as well engage with is as a practice for best results.
Over and over, those of us learning in the ancient wisdom see the 1,000's of years on unofficial case studies the world over reflected in our conventional investigations.
Sound being a great healer, as expressed in the Sound section above, Mantra has long been thought to be a great use of internal sound to influence/restore/raise one's own vibration.: Mantra study and practice helps unify mind and body to help them work together.
Mantras are said to be gifts to us, channeled/heard/intuited (depending who you ask) by Sages in retreat ages ago.
The mantras in the Ayurvedic, Yogic, and Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine) practices I have learned and been given to share use Sanskrit (thought by some to be a language of the highest vibration and connected with natural rhythms) and Tibetan (seen as a blessed language). I also work in other languages; see below.
In Sowa Rigpa, it is asserted that certain sounds, words, prayers, and mantra vibrations align with the vibrations of certain areas of our physical body. There are designated mantras for resonance with the divine as well as mantras for resonance within the physical and subtle body. A few of these vibrations resonate with both areas. I am empowered to share select mantras with clients.
In more recent years, English speakers have analyzed words in our language that seem to have a high vibration and/or a resonance with specific areas and/or with large numbers of people. For some, using Sanskrit, or prayers in any other language for that matter, is uncomfortable and can be a barrier to relaxation; a key element of the healing process. We can then find things from English, or a language that makes more sense to you - some find benefit in using Hebrew, Aramaic, Gaelic, or any other ancestral tongue.
I like to teach the Indus River Valley Bija or "seed" syllables as a way to notice the resonance of different sounds within the body.
Trainings
Laughing Lotus NYC with Felipe Gonzalez,
Ayurvedas World with Dr. Naina Marbali
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, New York Open Center
Sowa Rigpa Medical Mantras with Drukmo Gyal Dakini*: Initial, foundational 20 mantras in NYC and an expanded training with 50+ mantras in LA. Works with 5 elements and the same 5 organ flowers (grouping organs that align with the same element) as Traditional Chinese Medicine. *Drukmo is a fellow student of Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, who is the holder of two different lineages from two different teachers; one is holistic medicine and the other is spiritual practices. Sowa Rigpa, like Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine, is holistic and views all the layers of reality as being connected. Still, I want to clarify that the mantras in my studies with Drukmo are not aimed at working with deities or archetypes so much as aspects and elements of nature that show up in different areas of the body and particular organ systems /channels or the organs themselves.
Energy Exchange
$108 a session
HATHA YOGA
Hatha Yoga is the limb of yoga that is a physical practice. It was originally designed to help adolescent boys learn to assimilate the teachings of the tradition including the focus of meditation, while still letting them use their bodies; which desire a lot of activity*. Using their bodies to focus their minds. It remains a moving meditation. As it was not developed to be a physical exercise practice, there are trainings and styles that design sequences that help one engage in the moving meditation while also being safe and completely supportive of their physical system. Safely finding physical balance to balance the mind, wrapping the body to unwrap the mind, twisting the body around to give the mind a new perspective. Regardless, always enabling an enhanced dimensional understanding of, and multidimensional ability to, focus - which is a root of meditation.
Training
-200 hr Hatha training is in Lotus Flow, with special modules in Prenatal and Restorative. Laughing Lotus was founded by a dancer and athlete whose lives were profoundly impacted by all the limbs of Yoga. It extends as much into the subtle body, the myths, moving meditation, Chakras and elements of Ayurveda, as it does into contemporary understandings of anatomy and ideal, balanced physical practices. It loops all of this into a flow that can often feel like a dance, is always safe for the body's longevity, and gives balance to the soul.
-Yoga training incorporated in my Ayurveda studies with Ayurveda's world both in India and in NY.
-Tibetan Asana
Note: Due to our conventional society, many people lead sedentary lives and do not have strong muscle. Practices like Hatha and Yin (below) are wonderful for the right people. For those who have any structural imbalances, and even for those structurally aligned but not in strong shape; it is best to strengthen with methods like Pilates first before doing a deeply stretching practice. This is also recommended by my first Ayurveda teacher; who grew up in India and was an Ayurvedic doctor there for 30 years before moving to the US.
Energy Exchange
Rates are the same for in-person and virtual
$139 1.5 hrs
$108 1 hr
$57 1/2 hr
*a note on some Indic approaches to working with children: As stated, Asana were imparted to kids (as they are now also to householders in more action-oriented cultures), as an embodied meditation practice. This is done to meet the student where they are. Acting on the Yogic recommendation to meet your own system where it is each time you practice, and not expect any other day's experience or results today. This approach is also noted by Swami Satyananda in his text on Yogic Sleep or Nidra: He used Nidra to help a wrestless and unfocused child learn his studies. In each case they are seeing what the student needs and shaping the information the that individual. These kinds of individual approaches to learning are not solely within the boundaries of what we now identify as India, nor are they the only tactics used within those artificially drawn borders, but they are examples of this approach I believe very much in that I choose to use herein because they have been shared with me by teachers and those teachers have asked me and my fellow students to share what they have shared with us (and so conventional social politics say that this gives me the right to share them). To me, this way is a wonderful alternative to the approach of many European-derived cultures, which essentially regularly require that all fish fly, insist that birds just figure out how to breathe under water, require tortoises to speed up, hold that jungle cats and wild dogs silence their innately strong communal and leading voices, and shame mammals for not having colder blood. There absolutely are movements here and there to advance ourselves to less of a view of students as parts in an assembly line and more as individuals who learn different ways, but the roots are strong and far spread. I also think that instead of starting from scratch, as some seem to do, we can look to cultures for examples of various approaches that have worked. I hope viable, nurturing, sustainable methods from the world over will be (gently and sustainably) cross-pollinated into ours.
YIN YOGA
Yin is a deepening of the more receptive, cooler, Lunar elements of Yogasana with the assistance of a few of the active ones to warm up, followed by a cooling practice. It goes deep into the Fascia Universe, collaborating with the mat and props to achieve deeper stretches using active listening to the body and letting it stop at the edge of the stretch, sit back and rest into it, and then go deeper again once that area has become comfortable. This process assists with deep, self-myofascial release, among many other things.
Note: Due to our conventional society, many people lead sedentary lives and do not have strong muscle. Practices like Hatha (above) and Yin are wonderful for the right people. For those who have any structural imbalances, and even for those structurally aligned but not in strong shape; it is best to strengthen with methods like Pilates first before doing a deeply stretching practice. This is also recommended by my first Ayurveda teacher; who grew up in India and was an Ayurvedic doctor there for 30 years before moving to the US.
Training
55 hr in Gili Air at H2O Yoga with Claire Green. Incorporated Chinese Meridians, 5 elements, and 5 Chakra System.
Energy Exchange
Rates are the same for in-person and virtual
$139 1.5 hrs
$108 1 hr
$57 1/2 hr
THAI YOGA MASSAGE
TYM is a gentle, therapeutic massage that combines soft tissue manipulation techniques, assisted yoga postures, breathing and meditation to bring the body into a state of deep relaxation. This assists with myofascial release and sequences address all areas of the fascia universe.
Training
110 hr at Yoga Barn, Ubud, Bali with Carlos Romero and the LivInspired team. Incorporated elements of Craniosacral, Chinese Meridians, Qi Gong, and the Indian 7 Chakra system.
Energy Exchange
$139 1 hr
$63 1/2 hr
HORMÉ
Mongolian Moxibustion
A great compliment to many treatments, Moxibustion is warming, soothing, and restorative to many energy centers and functions in the body and the flow of its channels.
Don't be scurred by images of burning incense being applied directly to the skin. The approach I learned uses herbs that are wrapped in cloth and dipped into warm oil before being gently placed on the body in key places, using therapeutic touch patterns.
It is a warming, nurturing, nourishing, pacifying, care.
I studied at Pure Land Farms with Bair Manzarkhanov
From Pure Land:
'Hormé, otherwise known as 'Mongolian Moxibustion', is one of the fundamental external therapies highlighted in the Four Medical Tantras, the root text of Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine). It is primarily used to address imbalances in the wind humor (Tib. རླུང་ “loong”) by deeply relaxing, warming, and nourishing the body and mind.'
Energy Exchange
$60 1hr session
(often integrated with other practices)
HOLISTIC HEALTH COACHING
My training and experience are mostly in Ayurveda: I first pursued a certification as a Holistic Health Coach at Ayurveda’s World in New York City with Dr. Naina Marballi. I have also done Advanced studies with Dr. Marballi and taken courses with Dr. Vasant Lad and his students, Dr.'s Claudia Welch and Robert Svoboda. I have also studied foundations in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine), and European Herbalism. I'm always going deeper into various areas of the holistic lifestyle from multiple traditions I meet along my way.
My work is case-by-case. I do not take a person on as a client if I don’t believe I am suited for their needs. Additionally, I only work with clients on an ongoing basis if they do the work. I cannot take your money over and over if you are not making use of my services, and/or deriving benefit. We should only work together if it is mutually beneficial: My job as a wellness practitioner is to give you the best support, which sometimes means guiding you to receive support elsewhere. My purpose is to facilitate people in healthful transformation. I’m am of course absolutely amazing; I also have a modest enough ego to know that I am not here to support EVERYONE, nor those I do work with in every way. I might just be a step on your path to finding the right place.
Regardless of my role in your journey, it is an honor to play it.
Energy Exchange
$162 initial
$60 follow-ups within 3 months
SPACIAL HARMONY
Just as there are ways one can position the body for best breathing, circulation, and overall flow of the system, there are best ways to arrange a space for the overall flow of energies within it. Call it Prana, Qi, Ki, or otherwise, energy needs to be able to move freely and easily. (For those of you throwing up a little in your mouth about now, I've been there. Also true, this shit works.) There are ancient, traditional, and contemporary methods from various parts of the world that inform the strong choices for harmony in a space. In most cases, there are relatively simple remedies.
I learned my relationship with spaces through a few years of couch surfing and subletting spaces for short terms in order to save up for travel. I noticed people saying things after they returned home or to their homes after a stretch; message after message imparted how much better the energy in the place felt. Until then, a part of my practical brain had always indulged my intuitive senses in their wishes to clear a space in some way and make it feel better - to me, yet not really taken it seriously. Even after living in a haunted apartment - in which others experienced the poltergeist-esque issues too:
To be very clear about words like ghost, poltergeist, etc; I think humans are profoundly naive and I don't think we actually have any clue WHAT happens when these phenomena occur, let alone the ones we have actually dedicated the better part of the last century exploring: One of the most common phrases in any area that's heavily researched is? "What we know now, " -- which means that when we thought we knew that thing - often only 1-to-6 years ago - we didn't know shit. In my opinion we likely still know very little about very much and it gives us an illusion of safety, security, and control to tell ourselves we have more knowledge than we do.
All I know is that doing certain things seems to make things feel better in a space, and so I do them. I researched methods for years and consulted with those who'd been doing it for a long time along the way and have accumulated a toolbox of methods.
I do this sort of treatment rarely as it can be a huge time and energy investment and also because I have to therefore ask such a large energy exchange - when I was already staying in a space, improving the energy absolutely had a reciprocal benefit, so no exchange need be applied. (Plus, I'm a Burner and leaving a place better than you found it is an unofficial tenet beyond *The 10 Principles*. Hold on, there might still be more throwing up in your mouth yet to come.)
More often, I prefer to see if a consult is enough.
It is best for the resident be present. I prefer to empower them to do the work themselves. I'd simply be a resource for tools because, ultimately, it is your space, and your specific alignment with it is that which matters most. As noted in my Vastu training with Dr. Lad, it says in the Brhat Saṁhitā:
Tat tasya bhavati śubhadaṁ yasya ca yasmin mano ramate.
Any site becomes auspicious for a person, provided that it gladdens his heart.
Brhat Saṁhitā
53:95b, p. 486
As Dr. Robert Svoboda explains, "Varahamihira (says) that your instinctive intuitive impressions of a site count for more than merely rational calculations do. When a piece of land speaks to your heart, you should listen to this sacred intuition...Having your heart set on a site doesn't make the issues disappear, but it does suggest that you are likely to summon up the energy, enthusiasm, and focus to deal with its obstacles and generate amity there."
ANIMAL SUPPORT
Similar to spaces, I noticed more and more people implying that I was supporting their animals.
I have studied and keep in mind practical and therapeutic approaches and I take as holistic an approach as I can.
This can be a big investment of my energies and it can cost more in an energy exchange. Unless there seems to be some sort of time pressure, I prefer to consult at first and see if things might be able to improve from that spacetime and / or if it is something their human can adjust simply or easily on their own, etc.
It is ideal that one human family member be present for at least a segment of a session. -- And why not know ways to do these things for your beloveds directly? Regardless, I prefer to empower people as much as is possible so they can do supportive things daily that seem to ultimately bring them closer with their animal friends.
For testimonials on my relating to animals, see the Ash Tree Care page.
