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About HarDarshan K. Khalsa, MA
COMMITMENT
My
life’s commitment is about service to others. An example
of this is that my “summer vacation” each year consists
of heading up a group of counselors for a spiritual camp of 1600
people on a mountain in New Mexico!
A big part of my commitment to others starts with my commitment to
myself. I “walk this talk” by keeping up a pre-dawn spiritual
practice of prayer, yoga, and
meditation. This keeps my relationship
with my self and the Creator strong, which in turn helps with my
relationship with my husband, who is the love of my life, and helps
me to serve YOU!
HAPPINESS
I enjoy creating resonance, harmony,
and balance within myself, with my family, friends, and clients.
I believe that it’s
important for me to represent grace in a world that sometimes has
little of it, and to acknowledge the unique male and female aspects
of individuals. My personal approach to life and to healing is that
it should be UPLIFTING! I am POSITIVE that you can be happy! I’m
a great believer in HAPPINESS, and one of my favorite projects in
undergrad school was
authoring a paper on happiness, and how we can create it for ourselves.
NATURE
One of my great passions is nature.
I have been a co-creative gardener for over 20 years. This type of
gardening could
be called “spiritual gardening” and
was first recognized in the world-famous Findhorn gardens in Scotland. I also
practice another kind of spiritual gardening: I have raised two beautiful
children who are now 23 and 26, and both are
engaged to be married! During my years in
Colorado, I enjoyed hiking in the mountains, and I love the beaches of North
Carolina. For ten years, I lived in a log cabin in Wake Forest, where the only
source of heat and cooking was a wood cook stove. I adore plants, and in the
late ’70s
was the proprietor of a plant store called “Mrs. Potter’s
Plants.” It had a gorgeous rainbow on the front picture window, which ended
in a potted plant! Another aspect of nature that I am passionate about is crystals – their
beauty and their healing qualities. I collect pottery and enjoy cuddling with
my cat Yin.
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CREATIVITY
I
believe that creativity is an essential part of life. I enjoy cooking
(see my recipes, below right) and singing,
and was a professional musician for a time in the ’70s.
(Are you getting that this was a pretty interesting time?) I love creating sacred
space within
homes, and this is something I occasionally do for clients as part of the healing
process. One of my therapeutic passions is Sand
Play.
This is a wonderful creative, non-verbal, symbolic, and playful approach to learning
more about oneself. I
hold a certificate in Sand Play therapy from Naropa University.
EDUCATION
When I began college in the ’70s,
I was a Creative Writing major. I stopped half way through this degree to raise
a family.
When my kids
were teenagers, I finished my degree in Transpersonal Psychology, and then went
on to complete my Master’s Degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology
at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. Transpersonal Counseling could be called
spiritually based counseling, as it encompasses all aspects of an individual:
physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual, whereas traditional psychotherapy
primarily focuses on the mental and emotional. I established a private counseling
practice in Boulder, Colorado, and I am now in the process of obtaining my Licensed
Professional Counselor status in North Carolina.
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BODY, MIND, and SPIRIT
This body, mind, and spirit hologram is intrinsic to my life path. I was raised
in Ohio in a Christian environment, and adopted the Sikh faith as an adult. The
Sikh faith originated in India and upholds the belief in one God, and that all
faiths and scriptures are to be respected.
I have trained and worked as a hospital chaplain, supporting people of all faiths
as they deal with health crises. I have been a guest lecturer for the Duke University
Religion Department.
I believe that our relationship with the Divine is important, whether we are
Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, or Sufi.
I will close this page with a favorite song that I was first introduced to when
I was 14 years old. Every yoga class I teach ends with this song:
“May the long time sun
Shine upon you,
All love surround you,
And the pure light
Within you,
Guide your way on!”
ARTICLES
Addictions
Thoughts
on Beauty
RECIPES
HarDarshan's
Corn Chowder
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