"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." -Mark Twain
Marni in Ecuador with women from the community where she was an apprentice to the local shaman, Mama Rosa
Thank you for checking out my website!
I am Marni, an international spiritual development guide, yoga teacher and energy worker who has dedicated my life to traveling the world and igniting consciousness through self realization and cultural immersion and exchange. Previously a management consultant at the largest global consulting firm in the world, I switched gears to fully devote myself to the "spiritual path".
I am passionate about experiencing new cultures and developing diverse communities around the globe that support the elevation of self and community awareness. To this end, I have lived in 4 countries and traveled to over 60 others.
Having spent time immersed in different wisdom and mystic traditions such as Yoga, Ayurveda, Shamanism, Kabbalah, and Buddhism (Vipassana), I have tapped into my intuition, and have come into contact with my own equilibrium. While this is an ongoing practice and journey, I am excited to translate what I've already learned to apply practical tools and techniques to support individuals and groups in bringing consciousness, balance, and joy to everything they do.
I have traveled around the world studying different traditions to share what I've learned, so that others don't have to go around the world to find their inner peace (unless of course they want to!)
How it all began.....
After graduating from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Human and Organization Development and Corporate Strategy, I went on to work at as a Marketing Consultant, a job I loved very much! In 2013, I followed my passion and my heart to travel around the world volunteering for a year with my then fiancé. At the end of the trip he came out as gay... needless to say we did not end up getting married. But through heart break came heart opening and I began down the path towards self awareness and truth.
After my first world tour and first true heart break, I returned to my job as a Marketing Consultant. Anyone who knows me well knows that my career has always been incredibly important to me. While I was excited to be back in the corporate world, there was a part of me that felt unsettled and yearned to be discovered. Coming from a long line of yogis (My mom, dad, and sister are all trained yoga teachers), I started getting even more involved in my yoga and fitness communities and began attending events like Bhakti Fest and Burning Man.
After Burning Man 2016, and 6 years with my consulting firm, I decided to take time to dedicate myself more fully to my more spiritually inclined interests. I wanted to more fully know myself and find my personal equilibrium. To do this, I embarked on a powerful journey of travel, self reflection, and healing through the exploration of different wisdom traditions and healing techniques across the world. The trip was meant to be 8 months long, and 2 years later, I haven't looked back.
About my training...
Marni and Mama Rosa, Feb 2017
While we are each our own best teachers, I have been blessed to encounter amazing guides along the way I began my formal study of shamanism in Ecuador, where I was identified and initiated by a local shaman woman, Mama Rosa, who invited me to live, learn, and work with her as a midwife and medicine woman. With her, I was able to learn about different Andean traditions for herbal remedies and energetic clearings, as well as how to work in harmony with nature, spirit, and my intuition.
I also studied shamanism with the Four Winds Society in California, where I acquired additional skills for supporting the energetic body. Additionally, I had the privilege of doing cultural and wisdom exchanges with Sangomas in South Africa, Healers in Israel, and Gurus and students in India, amongst other wonderful experiences.
In Bali I had the opportunity to study ayurveda and yoga and received my 200 YTT in with Kalpana Radhika Yoga. Additionally, I had the honor of studying the Hatha Yoga Pardipika with the talented master, Yoganand (Michael Carol).
Applying what's been learned - India, March 2018. Marni with some of her young students during a guest teaching program, where she developed a curriculum based in Yogic and Shamanic teachings to encourage self reflection and personal development.
Why the name "The Basic Shaman"
I love the juxtaposition of this name. To me, it represents the truth that there is everything inside of each of us (the basic and the shamanic), myself included. It represents balance and symbolizes the part of me that enjoys the physical / material world, and the part of me that is deeply connected to the metaphysical / spirit. A friend of mine gifted me with the name right before I embarked on my formal Shamanic training... I had just come back from soul cycle in the Marina district of San Francisco, green smoothy in hand, wearing my LuLu Lemon workout gear... I had sat down and immediately went deep into an insight I'd been pondering on from an energy sessions we'd done together the night before... my friend looked at me and said "The Basic Shaman strikes again!".... and the name stuck. I thought it was cute at the time, and the more I played with it, the more I loved it. The truth is, that while so much of the work I do is very very deep and sometimes quite complex, I find one of the most powerful things any of us can do is go back to basics... simplify and balance.