Kirtan Coan, Dance
A psychotherapist and artist specializing in healing via the contemplative, creative, and psychotherapeutic arts, in 1994 I received my MA from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, in community counseling with an emphasis in expressive arts therapy. Drawing on a rich experience of forty years as a professional actor, I have earned certificates for advanced study with the Person-Centered Expressive Arts Therapy Institute of Santa Rosa, CA, (1998), in Advanced Graduate Studies towards a doctorate in expressive arts therapy from the European Graduate School of Saas Fee, Switzerland (2000), and in EMDR (2003) for recovery from the effects of trauma and for training in mindful resilience. My decades-long meditation and yoga practice led me to intern at U. Mass. Medical Center under Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, in Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction in 1994 and to my current work as east coast facilitator of Mindfulness Practice for the Vipassana Support Institute under Shinzen Young. In 2003 I completed extensive training as a Community Dharma Leader (CDL2) at the invitation of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. My focus as a counselor is primarily phenomenological and present-time. I coach clients in becoming conscious in body and mind; developing insight, compassionate acceptance, intrapersonal clarity and capacity for change; interpersonal connectedness; and respect for community. I also teach Mindful Yoga and mindfulness meditation at UNCSA and in classes in Winston-Salem to address the healing and wholeness that is possible beyond therapy.