Music As Medicine – Experiential
-Understand the physical, emotional and energetic wellness practice and cultural significance of sound as medicine
-How music affects the brain and body
-Explore various practices of sound healing across different cultures
-Experience sound healing techniques through guided practice
-Exploring cultural practices that incorporate sound healing. Demonstration of sounds, instruments and techniques.
Experiential Sound Healing with Harp, Voice and Bowls – Evening Concert
Walking the Candlelit Labyrinth with Harp – Celebrating the Ranch Labyrinth
Hello, I’m Kendra Faye. Officially, I am a harpist, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, though my joy comes from seeing the transformative power of music. Music has taken me around the globe. To environments as varied as the Amazonian jungle and the hospital wards; it has taken me from teens struggling to overcome addiction to sharing the joy of new born baby; and finally, it has taken me to the bedside to help ease the fear of an illness or offering music to comfort the biggest of life’s transitions in my work with hospice. Sharing the power of music has been both ecstatic and humbling; being both performer and witness; being both minstrel and student; learning from the Universal language of song that crosses borders and blends appreciation with wonder. The ways we sing, play and praise in devotion awakens the heart to experience more fully the healing, the pleasure, the celebration, and utilize the lessons from pain or sadness. I am grateful that my lifelong love of music reminds me of the power and beauty that we all are and how sound can help remind us of our inner beauty. Song speaks our stories. There is something sacred about deep listening and expression of song that our soul thirsts for. It soothes us, comforts us, and inspires us as we dance with life’s mystery.
Nahre Sol is best known for her YouTube channel, with around 619,000 subscribers as of July 2023, and as being co-host of the PBS Digital Studios show “Sound Field.” She has also been a guest host of NPR’s Performance Today, created a video for Wired magazine, appeared as a guest on the online channel Physics Girl, and collaborated with other composers and musicians such as David Bruce, Andrew Huang, Adam Neely, L.A. Buckner, Tantacrul, and Ben Levin. She was nominated in the category Best YouTube Musician in the 12th Annual Shorty Awards in 2020. The blog Pianote featured her YouTube channel in 2021 as #1 on their list of top YouTube pianists. As a composer, Nahre Sol has had works commissioned by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and her music was used in the film The Boss Baby: Family Business. In 2021, she released a digital album called Alice in Wonderland. In June 2023, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg announced Nahre Sol as its first-ever ‘Creator in Residence’ for the 2023-2024 season. Nahre Sol received her Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the Juilliard School in 2013, studying with Matti Raekallio. In 2015 she earned her Artist Diploma from The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada, studying with John O’Conor. 
Maggie Wheeler is best known in the U.S and internationally for her extensive work as an actress in film, television, and voice-over and most notably as the character of Janice on NBC’s hit series Friends. Maggie is a passionate singer, songwriter, choir director and workshop facilitator. She has been teaching her vocal workshop Singing In The Stream for over 30 years at retreat centers such as Esalen, The Omega Institute, Topa Institute, Art Of Living Center, Sivananda Bahamas as well as universities, communities, and schools to provide the experience of creating interpersonal harmony and internal harmony through the powerful act of creating vocal harmony.
Arnaé Batson is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and culture carrier. Arnaé uses music to create spiritual pathways for health and wholeness. Her passion is building community and uplifting people through songs that share hope and raise awareness for progressive social change.
Navajos have a blessing ceremony that lays out a path for a long and happy life. This includes traditional teachings and methods that ensure we live a daily life of prayer, being in touch with the earth, early morning running, consuming food directly from the land, including our long tradition of farming heirloom plants, raising sheep, learning ceremony, having purpose and humor, being gracious and giving, and ensuring future generations are able to learn these tools. This session will inspire you on your journey in this world to do it with gusto and harmony.
Twila Cassadore is a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe of Arizona, a traditional Apache forager, food educator, and advocate for Indigenous food sovereignty. Through her work, Twila teaches Western Apache food traditions at a global level by promoting the importance of foods consumed by Apaches prior to the relocation of Native Americans to reservations. She interviews tribal elders, takes foraging trips into the wilderness, and delivers public presentations to share her research. Twila will share a powerful, intimate process of how we can heal our pains and sorrows through stonework. As stones transmit and store energy, Native traditions depict the stone as a teacher and healer that can take on our pain and leave space for our healing.
Robert Johnston has led talks throughout the US and around the world, primarily to Native communities, on topics that address healing ancestral/generational trauma and revitalizing traditional methods of wellness in order to overcome current issues impacting tribal nations. He has worked at leading Native-run nonprofits such as Native Wellness Institute, and continues to be a positive role model for many Native youth in the Greater Phoenix Metro Area. While at the Ranch, 
Deborah Burand has walked labyrinths from Europe to North America, including the labyrinth designed by her father in their hometown of Anderson, Indiana. She also facilitates labyrinth walks for law students at New York University’s School of Law where she is a tenured professor of clinical law.
Abuela Tupina for the past fifty years has walked alongside Native healers and ceremonial knowledge keepers throughout the U.S. and Mexico, predominantly from the Mexica (Azteca), Huichol and Raramuri traditions, to inform and nurture the vitality of her purpose in this world. When she was called to the Danza de Luna Xochimeztli in Teotihuacan, Mexico, under the leadership of Abuela Tonamitl Retiz, she knew she had found the space to heal her intergenerational trauma and to guide other women’s healing. In 2012, after being initiated as an Abuela in the Danza de la Luna tradition, Abuela Tupina planted her sacred ceremonial circle, Danza de la Luna Huitzilmeztli, where she continues to lead and nurture her capuli (community and family) of dancers and supporters.
Vernon Masayesva is the former Tribal President of the Hopi Nation in Arizona and a world-renowned cultural leader, water activist and educational trailblazer. Mr. Masayesva has been involved in the tangled intricacies of coal and water mining on the Black Mesa in Northern Arizona for decades. He is an international speaker on the subject of water and is honored among many world leaders, including former President Bill Clinton who has referred to Vernon as an “environmental hero”. Today, he is Director of Black Mesa Trust, founded in 1999 by the Hopi Nation to address the severe environmental impact and destruction brought on by the Peabody Coal Company’s water withdrawals from their principal aquif.
Ilene Brenner Schaffer fell in love with The Ranch in the 70s as a young girl when her dad was a regular speaker on holistic health. She is thrilled to return to share her expertise in life transitions and positive psychology (the science of wellbeing). Ilene’s greatest joy is helping clients flourish through life’s constant changes. She loves witnessing someone’s confidence grow as they embrace their strengths, deepen relationships, and step into their “zone of control.” In addition to her life coaching practice, she leads a global executive coaching firm dedicated to leadership and well-being. She is also the host of the weekly podcast “What’s Possible.” Ilene is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coaching Federation, has a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Masters in Counseling Psychology with a focus in Life Transitions from the University of San Francisco. She is a mom to two young adult daughters, lives in San Diego with her husband, and indulges in regular sunset beach walks.
Dr Emily Splichal, Functional Podiatrist and Human Movement Specialist, is the Founder of EBFA Global, Author of 
There are spirits and then there’s spirit, and Christa Cotton embodies both. A native of Leesburg, Georgia, Christa moved to New Orleans after helping her parents establish Georgia’s first legal distillery since Prohibition while in college at Auburn University. After a stint in advertising, Christa founded New Orleans Beverage Group and acquired the El Guapo trademark in 2017. Specializing in zero-proof bitters, El Guapo has expanded into syrups and mixers and is Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) certified. The company debuted at #166 on the Inc. 5000 Regionals list for fastest growing companies in the US in 2024. Christa is a 7x Good Food Award winner, LEE Initiative mentor, Les Dames d’Escoffier Legacy Award: Fine Spirits recipient, and a Fellow in both the Tory Burch Foundation and the James Beard Foundation. She’s successfully raised seven figures in investment capital and relocated from 1,800 square feet to a 32,000 square foot production facility & warehouse in Mid-City. She’s been featured in Southern Living, Forbes, Garden & Gun, Martha Stewart and Fedex Small Business national ad campaigns. She lives Uptown in a pink 1902 double shotgun with her daughter, Flora, husband, Brian and Bernese Mountain Dog, Archie Manning. It’s a vibe & she is busy.
Ellen Comerford is the founder and CEO of Core De Vie Wellness and a GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® Master Trainer. With over 40 years in the wellness space, she specializes in whole-body care, integrating movement, nutrition, and mindset into her practice. Ellen is certified in advanced biomechanics and posture and movement analysis, giving her a unique expertise in helping clients improve alignment, balance, and mobility. Through her personalized coaching, she offers natural solutions for pain management and optimal health, transforming lives both in-person and virtually from her Beacon Hill studio.
Judie Lincer, M.S. Ed. is a Naturalist Educator with San Diego Audubon, who has over 30 years of teaching experience and guides hikes educating people about ecosystems, adaptations, ethnobotany (the study of a region’s plants and their uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture). She is an enthusiastic speaker who inspires others to develop an appreciation of the environment. Judie is a Workshop &Tour Director for the California Native Plant Society-San Diego.
Lori Saltzman and Kathy Altman, Co-founders of Open Floor International, have travelled the globe for 40 years teaching mindfulness and self-awareness through movement. Originally students and colleagues of Gabrielle Roth, they went on to create Open Floor Movement Practice in 2013. They have trained over 800 teachers from 22 countries to bring this lively, healing work to people of all languages, ages, backgrounds, and abilities.
Laura Plumb 
Stacey A. Filice, Certified Yoga Therapist, E-RYT500, Reiki Master
Hailed by the London Times as a “pianist of powerful physical and imaginative muscle”, Tanya Gabrielian shot onto the international stage at the age of twenty with back-to-back victories in the Scottish International Piano Competition and Aram Khachaturyan International Piano Competition. Since then, she has performed on four continents in acclaimed venues including Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Sydney Opera House, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Edinburgh International Festival, Seoul Arts Center, and the Salle Cortot, with such orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, and Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Tanya has also been featured on the cover of the magazine Clavier.
Martin Chalifour has been the Principal Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1995. Born in Canada, he graduated with honors from the Montreal Conservatory at the age of 18 and then moved to the United States to continue studies at the famed Curtis Institute of Music.
Born in the Bay Area, Elisabeth Zosseder graduated with her Bachelor of Music in harp performance from the Colburn School Conservatory of Music and Master of Music in harp performance from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where she studied with JoAnn Turovsky. She has performed professionally with the Berlin Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, as well as artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Plácido Domingo, Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, James Conlon, and Esa-Pekka Salonen, to name a few. She has also appeared on recordings and onstage with popular artists such as TALK, Randy Newman, John Williams, Laufey and made TV appearances on “Hell’s Kitchen,” Disney’s Encanto Live, and “My Mom, Your Dad.” Elisabeth returned to LA in 2019 from studying in Germany with Berlin Philharmonic principal harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet, receiving her second Master of Music specializing in orchestral harp performance from the Universität der Künste Berlin and is currently pursuing a career as a freelance musician in the SoCal region.
A passionate ambassador of classical music, violinist Monique Mead enjoys a rich career as a performer, educator, and innovator. Inspired and mentored by Leonard Bernstein, Monique has devoted her performing career to nurturing new audiences and curating extraordinary musical experiences. Her programs with major orchestras and festivals in the United States and Europe have drawn international acclaim for their popular appeal and innovative approach. Interweaving live music with education and audience engagement at the highest level, her programs have reached millions through television appearances, a six-year radio series with the Munich Radio Orchestra, and over 20 years of concerts with the Cologne Philharmonic, Munich Symphony, Düsseldorf Symphony, Berlin Radio Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and the Mainly Mozart Festival. Since 2012 Monique has served as Director of Music Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University, where she trains musicians in community engagement, peak performance, and professionalism as she helps them forge new paths as professional musicians. Monique performs on violin made in 1860 by J.B. Vuillaume which was gifted to her at age 19. She enjoys hiking, yoga, homegrown cuisine, and performing with her talented teens, Isabel and Tino.
Chef AJ has been devoted to a plant-based diet for almost 40 years. She is the host of the television series Healthy Living with CHEF AJ which airs on Foody TV. With her comedy background, she has made appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman and more. A chef, culinary instructor and professional speaker, she is author of the popular book Unprocessed: How to Achieve Vibrant Health and Your Ideal Weight, which chronicles her journey from a junk-food vegan faced with a diagnosis of pre-cancerous polyps, to learning how to create foods that nourish and heal the body Based in Los Angeles, Chef AJ teaches a monthly sold-out seminar featuring cooking instruction, nutritional science and song parodies, all delivered with comedic panache. Never content to leave her audience with mere “just do it” advice, she teaches how to create meals to transform their health, how to deal with cravings and food addiction and addresses the emotional side of eating. She is the creator of the Ultimate Weight Loss Program, which has helped hundreds of people achieve the health and the body that they deserve. Chef AJ was the Executive Pastry Chef at Sante Restaurant in Los Angeles where she was famous for her sugar, oil, salt and gluten free desserts which use the fruit, the whole fruit and nothing but the whole fruit. Chef AJ is also creator of Healthy Taste of LA and the YouTube cooking show The Chef and the Dietitian, and is proud to say that her IQ is higher than her cholesterol. Chef AJ holds a certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from eCornell University and is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
Helene Henderson started Malibu Farm with cooking classes and farm dinners at her farm property on Pt. Dume in Malibu, California. She opened what was meant to be a 6 month pop up in an abandoned Ruby’s at the end of the Malibu Pier. After two very successful years with long lines and rave reviews, Malibu Farm expanded to the front Restaurant & Bar on the Pier and now has both a counter service and full table service on the Malibu Pier.
Doug Settle is a Southern California based chef with nearly 20 years of hospitality experience. Tracing his roots to the foot hills of the Appalachian mountains where gardening, hunting and fishing are a lifestyle, proper sourcing and appreciation for those who grow, raise and harvest our food is a deeply ingrained passion. Alongside this Doug pairs a drive for leadership and training honed by a decade of working with San Diego’s finest chefs and restaurateurs.