Main Faculty

Marc David M.A.

Founder and Director of The Institute for the Psychology of Eating, Marc is the main teacher for the Year Long Training Program. He is the author of two classic books, Nourishing Wisdom: A Mind Body Approach to Nutrition and Well Being, and The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy and Weight Loss. Marc has taught and presented internationally for over 25 years in the fields of eating psychology and mind body nutrition. His work is innovative and fresh, and his engaging and inspiring speaking style have made him a popular and well-loved presenter. He has been a long time consultant in the food, supplement, spa, and natural health industries, and his work has been featured in numerous media. Please click here to learn more.

Guest Faculty

Our guest faculty members are chosen for their expertise, their commitment to healing, and their ability to teach and inspire. They are all innovators in their fields and lead from the heart. Generally, we have one guest faculty member teach a segment of each weekend. The following visiting teachers are awaiting confirmation for our 2009 schedule:


Mark Hyman MD    

Best selling author and leader in the field of functional medicine, Dr. Hyman was the Co-Medical Director at Canyon Ranch Lenox, the internationally acclaimed Health Resort.  He is the founder and Medical Director of the UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, and serves on the Board of Advisors and faculty of Food as Medicine, Center for Mind Body Medicine.  He is also Vice Chair of Board of Directors and on the faculty of the Institute for Functional Medicine and collaborates with the Harvard Medical School’s Division for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medicine. His best selling books and CDs include Ultraprevention, the Six Week Plan that Will Make You Healthy for Life, The Detox Box, A Program for Greater Health and Vitality, The Five Forces of Wellness: The Ultraprevention System for Living an Active, Age-Defying, Disease-Free Life, NutriGenomics, The New Science of Health, and the New York Times Bestseller, UltraMetabolism, The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss which focuses on a cutting-edge personalized -- or "nutrigenomic" -- approach to weight loss and metabolism. His latest book, and companion PBS special, The UltraMind Solution will be released in January 2009.  www.ultrawellness.com



Jeremy Geffen MD, FACP

Jeremy Geffen is a board-certified medical oncologist and a world renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and oncology.  He is president of Geffen Visions International and director of Integrative Oncology for P4 Healthcare and Caring4Cancer.com.  Dr. Geffen is the author of the highly acclaimed book The Journey Through Cancer: Healing and Transforming the Whole Person (Three Rivers, 2006) and the integrative medicine program, The Seven Levels of Healing.  He also has more than 30 years of experience exploring the great spiritual and healing traditions of the world, including Ayurveda, Tibetan medicine, yoga, meditation, and other approaches to health and self-awareness. His engaging, compassionate, and insightful teaching style has made him a popular and highly regarded presenter throughout the world. www.geffenvisions.com



Ruby Gibson   

Ruby Gibson is a gifted empath, earth-centered ceremonialist, national educator, and Certified Somatic Therapist specializing in generational reconciliation of trauma and suffering. She has been a teacher, counselor, and healer for over 25 years. The author of My Body, My Earth, The Practice of Somatic Archaeology, Ruby originated and developed the unique discipline of Somatic Archaeology in 1995, and teaches programs in this powerful healing work nationwide. As a vegetarian and advocate of healthy living since the age of thirteen, Ruby realized the benefits of dietary awareness early on and raises her children as earth-conscious consumers. She passionately brings a unique perspective on the generational, ecological, and emotional origins of eating, nutrition, and dietary addictions. www.somaticarchaeology.com



Mary O’Malley  

Mary is a nationally acclaimed author, speaker, group facilitator and counselor in private practice in Kirkland, Washington. She draws on her own life experience to facilitate healing and awakening in a compassionate and powerful way.  For over 25 years, Mary has taught and lectured throughout the United States. She is the author of Belonging to Life: The Journey of Awakening, an invitation into full engagement with the living adventure that is our life, and Healing & Being Healed By Our Compulsions, a unique transformational process of self-acceptance and healing, along with numerous audio programs. Mary’s ground-breaking work in the healing wisdom of compulsions has empowered her readers and students in discovering a more nourishing and empowered relationship with food. Through her organization Awakening, she invites others into a center of clarity, compassion and trust that can be accessed no matter what is happening in their lives. www.maryomalley.com



Gina Ogden Ph.D.

Over thirty years as a family therapist, sex therapist, teacher, speaker, researcher, poet, editor, and author have prepared Gina Ogden to become America's premiere voice for women, sex, and spirit. She has listened to thousands of women express their feelings about sexual relationship and has trained hundreds of physicians, nurses, social workers, family therapists, and other health providers in her unique work. Gina has keynoted scientific conferences, appeared on media shows from talk radio to Oprah! and conducts workshops around the country -- which create a safe and powerful forum for women to open to the wisdom of their own bodies, minds, hearts, and spirits. Gina is the author of seven books, including The Return of Desire: A Guide to Reclaiming Your Sexual Passion (2008), Women Who Love Sex, (2007) and The Heart and Soul of Sex, (2006). Her groundbreaking national survey on integrating sexuality and spirituality (ISIS) is the first to study to broaden the understanding of sexual experience beyond limiting notions of function and dysfunction. During her ten years of ISIS research, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, and Harvard Divinity School's Center for the Study of World Religions. www.Ginaogden.com

Douglas Brady MA

Douglas a visionary Somatic Psychotherapist, healer and teacher. He has maintained a successful private practice for over 30 years with clients throughout the U.S. His pioneering work in the Psychology of Symptoms has assisted a great number of students and clients in transforming their ailments, understanding the wisdom of illness, and living a life free of unwanted symptoms. For over 25 years, Douglas has been a featured and well loved workshop leader at the renowned  Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts. Combining his unique experience in Energy Psychology, Yoga, Somatic Therapy, and traditional counseling disciplines, Douglas has trained hundreds of professionals across many healing disciplines in the practical and powerful techniques of working with the wisdom of the body. Douglas is a Nationally Board Certified Therapist, a Certified Relationship Coach, and a Marriage and Family Therapist. He lives and teaches in Boulder, Colorado



Alexis Shepperd Ph.D.

Alexis is a founding partner of AuthenticSF, an organization committed to fostering authentic, flourishing relationships. She masterfully facilitates a number of popular and powerful trainings - the Authentic Woman Experience (AWE), the Authentic Man Program (AMP), and the AuthenticSF Transformational Coaching Training program. As a teacher and life coach, Alexis has worked with individuals, couples and groups for over a decade, weaving together her diverse training and experience in integral psychology, masculine and feminine dynamics, communication, yoga, and meditation. Alexis is exceptionally gifted at seeing the patterns that hold people back and in facilitating breakthroughs that help others create lives that are deeply fulfilling. www.authenticsf.com



Char Leberer ND

Char is a Naturopath and educator, specializing in enzyme therapy, body typing, Biological Terrain Analysis, and dietary counseling. She has maintained a highly successful nutrition practice for 17 years. Char is the founder of the Nutrition Therapy Institute, a private holistic nutrition school offering one of the most highly regarded academic programs in the country. The Institute trains people to practice the powerful application of nutrition therapy, therapeutic cooking and nutritional herbology. Her expertise in state-of-the-art program development keeps NTI at the cutting edge of holistic nutrition. Char originally trained as an artist and business woman, and later began her journey into complementary health as a massage therapist, nutritionist, and Doctor of Naturopathy. She brings an innovative and dedicated approach to nutrition and health education. www.Ntischool.com