Steve inherited a tradition of healing from his father who was trained in Traditional Swedish Massage by his father. His grandfather was a boxing trainer and masseur from Clyde Bank Scotland.

Steve began his certified training in 1967, training and working at a local gym in his hometown of San Diego, CA. He then helped open a branch gym in Aspen, CO. He moved to Hawaii in 1970 to study oriental medicine including various forms of yoga, massage, prana/energy work, diet, nutrition, martial arts (Akido) and philosophy. He returned to California in 1972 to join ‘Self-Realization Fellowship’ the legacy of Paramahansa Yogananda based in Los Angeles. He received initiation into ‘Kriya Yoga’ (as taught by ‘SRF’) in 1973 and has continued to study and update and expand his work through the teachings of SRF.

In 1981, He began a 15 year career as an ’emergency medical technician’ in rural Coos County, OR. He wore a pager 24/7 serving as an EMT/Firefighter with the ‘Powers Search & Rescue Unit’ covering SW Coos County including a half million acres of the adjoining ‘Syskiyou National Forest’. During his stay in Coos County he taught yoga classes and EMT courses as well.
In 1997, he moved to Dominical, Costa Rica, a familiar name to surfers worldwide.

Here he has followed the vision of a yoga instructor he had once for a weekend workshop. He introduced himself to the group by saying he didn’t follow a particular discipline – instead he liked to assess the group before him to determine how best to use his ‘bag of tricks’. He was from South Korea and had studied many disciplines. He had a large ‘bag of tricks’.

Since coming to Dominical he has taught yoga and practiced healing arts (and served as volunteer EMT and firefighter) with an emphasis on utilizing the abundance of healing qualities in the natural environment here.

Many elemental forces converge where Sea meets Land and River meets Sea.
At the mouth of the Baru the fresh water flow from the mountains mixes with the prevailing side currents along the coast and the long range groundswells coming in from across the open ocean. Likewise the cool mountain air flows down the river course and watershed all night to refresh the coastal zone which is favored with the traditional ‘shore breezes’ off the ocean keeping the sunny days from overheating. Like icing on the cake the lush jungle vegetation is a ‘Chi’ factory of the highest order. Most notably the giant tropical hardwood trees with their thousands of fluttering leaves radiating both oxygen and chi (life force/energy/prana/nagual/etc…).
9 degrees N latitude affords year round warmth and ease of movement and our part of the Southern Zone of Costa Rica is clean and pure; unspoiled by heavy industry and overpopulation. An ideal setting for the process of healing. In almost any form. Recovery from illness or injury.

Rehabilitation, expansion, enhancement of life force and quality and effectiveness. After all; the ‘national saying’ is: ‘Pura Vida’ (Pure Life). Almost a third of this country is environmentally protected. It is a small but abundant and overall healthy piece of real estate. Rare in today’s world. Especially if you add the words: stable, safe and secure… [relatively speaking of course].

He remains an eager student in all aspects of life and is thankful for the many opportunities he has had over the years to be of help to others, especially those in need.

And in proper Taoist fashion let us end by returning to the beginning: if you’re looking for the ingredients mentioned by Nei Ching we have them in abundance here where the natural setting is not only overflowing with riches: thunder and lightning and rain and sun and dramatic cloud formations and spectacular sunsets and the mixing of air and water currents…but all these natural, elemental ingredients are also clean and pure. And by putting these local attributes to good use we develop an appreciation, a reverence for this cleanliness and purity of the environment and we are now motivated and inspired to maintain and protect these essential qualities. Globally, beginning with locally.

Waves. Nature doesn’t get too much more intense on a regular basis than where water meets land. The world’s beaches. The endless cycle of waves across oceans to pound on waiting shores. Where they meet can be a spectacle of power and splendor. And artistic freedom. To carve a moving line across the face of a thundering wave seems to be satisfying beyond reason. There is no reason to do it and there in nothing left of it when it’s done.