Salutamu,
I’m Vyana Novus, an ecological artist and educator based in Ojai, California. I’ve studied many things, but nothing informs my work more directly than my lived experiences.
I lived through incredibly violent abuse throughout my childhood, while simultaneously learning to express myself in art therapy beginning when I was two. The experience of being in both the creative therapeutic container, and a horrifically violent home life, gave me footing in a resource that would come to save my life many times.
Living in this duality at such a formative age wired in me the awareness that art can be a tool that challenges the darkness of life.
Much of what I’ve studied has been in support of that.
My education history is long, so I’ll focus on just a few things here. I studied massage therapy at The National Holistic Institute, a trauma integration framework with The Center for Mind Body Medicine (CMBM) with Dr. James Gordon, and Expressive Trauma Integration (ETI) with Dr. Odelya Gertel Kraybill.
I began teaching yoga and meditation in 2012 after 9 years of personal study. In 2013, I opened an online school of energy medicine focused on developing one’s personal relationship to Source. There are many overlapping themes between what I taught then and what I teach now—the result in both being a deeper expression of who you are, and a deeper connection to all that is.
Along with my work in the healing arts, I’ve also studied many different art mediums and regularly continue my education in visual arts. I’m always taking a class or workshop. I studied color strategy with Lori Sawaya, refreshed my grapahic design foundations at The Florence Institute Of Design International, and have taken many different art & business courses locally and online.
I’ve also studied in a 5 year program learning the Person Centered Approach (PCA) model of facilitation. The work is rooted in Carl Roger’s psychology work, adapted for non-clinical settings. The first year of the program focuses on foundational relational skills grounded in the practice of Unconditional Positive Regard. The later 4 years is called ‘Leadership’ which specifically focuses on what it means to lead with regard for the whole person of the individuals in the room. Along with PCA, studying Transformative Justice with Mia Mingus shows up often in my facilitation.
If you read my philosophy, you’ll hear many things I’ve integrated as a result of my studies.
Getting a late in life diagnosis of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Synesthesia, and experiencing a near death experience (NDE) in 2018 also heavily impacts my work.
The more life I live, the more I want to learn and share as much as I can. Nothing delights me like the relational joy of connecting through our creativity to normalize the weight of being human.