Bill Manahan, MD, is Assistant Professor Emeritus with the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center in Minneapolis. He is Past-President of the American Holistic Medical Association and author of the book, Eat for Health. Dr. Manahan co-founded The Wellness Center of Minnesota (1982-1992), one of America’s first, physician-led, integrative medicine centers. He was also the Founder and Program Director of Minnesota’s first Rural Family Medicine Residency Program. Presently, he consults with physicians and clinics wishing to expand into a more integrative and holistic practice, and he is working to help make the primary healthcare system more holistic and more joyful for patients and practitioners.

Suzanne Bartlett Hackenmiller, M.D. is an OB-Gyn and Integrative Medicine physician who currently resides in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She completed OB-Gyn residency at Western Pennsylvania-Temple University in Pittsburgh and is a fellowship graduate of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. She is board certified by both the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Board of Integrative Medicine. She holds additional certifications in herbal medicine and is a certified forest therapy guide. She currently serves as medical director for the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and as medical advisor for the organization, AllTrails. Dr. Suzanne’s motivation to study integrative medicine was the result of parenting a son with autism and caring for her late husband, Dave, during his illness and death from lung cancer. Currently she sees patients both in person, and via telehealth “e-visits.” She is the author of an award-winning children’s book about autism called “A Friend Like John, Understanding Autism,” and speaks nationally and internationally on the subject of autism, integrative medicine, and nature therapy. Her book, “The Outdoor Adventurer’s Guide to Forest Bathing,” by Falcon Guides was released in July, 2019. Dr. Suzanne has been quoted and featured in numerous publications and radio programs on the subject of integrative medicine and nature therapy, including Prevention Magazine (October, 2016; August, 2017), WebMD, the Boston Globe, Prevention Australia, the New York Times, American Airlines American Way Magazine, Iowa Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Radio, BBC World, Women’s Health, among others. More information is available at her website, www.IntegrativeInitiative.com.

Dr. Torkelson is an integrative primary care physician who practices at the University of Minnesota. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine with a joint appointment in the Department of OB/GYN and Women’s Health. She specializes in women’s health and is the medical director of integrative services at Women’s Health Specialists and co-chairs the Minnesota Holistic Medicine Group that provides quarterly meetings for practitioners. She has a master’s in clinical research and has published numerous articles on integrative health. Dr. Torkelson retired December 2019 from the University and is spending her time writing and pursuing new adventures. Additionally, Carolyn Torkelson is a pioneer in innovative adult learning, are co-authoring The Other Side of Menopause: Women Seeking Integrative Health and Well-being. This book addresses a largely ignored population of aging women who want an active voice in generating choices and making decisions in partnership with their health care practitioners.

I am often asked to describe what I do in a succinct label and every time I am asked, I falter for a moment. This pause is because what I do and who I am are the same thing. How can one sum up a lifetime of experience in one or two words? I have tried on different labels such as Shamanic Practitioner, Energy Worker, or Holistic Healer, with varying results. How does one encompass a profoundly personal and spiritual practice with concrete, credible credentials and deliver it in a way that is understandable to most people? After much contemplation and guidance, I have chosen to adopt the term Medicine Woman, as it is rather neutral culturally and can hold the breadth of both the spiritual and the academic. Being a Medicine Woman means that I work with many types of energies, and I can draw on many traditions and teachings to best suit the opportunities with which I am presented. I was recently gifted the Lakota term “Heyoka” by a prominent Medicine Man. Being a Heyoka empath means that through my understanding of emotions I can open people’s eyes to new possibilities and help them see things from a different angle. This playful, but disruptive, shift in energy can be a catalyst to healing. At heart, this is truly who I am: a bit mischievous, often intense, but always imbued with love. Primarily, I draw my strength from being a mother. My four daughters have been my greatest teachers and with the arrival of each one, I have been led down a new path of learning. From a young age, I was ambitious academically and have always had a love of learning. Surprisingly, I took a circuitous path during my undergraduate years jumping from one major to another. After meeting my corporately successful husband, I was inspired to finish my Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management. Following the birth of our first child, I delved headfirst into all things birth-related and became a certified Birth and Post-partum Doula and lead the local chapter of the International Cesarean Awareness Network. I also became more health-conscious and began learning about nutrition and fitness. This segued into becoming a certified Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner through the Nutritional Therapy Association, which then opened the world of energy work to me. I pursued training in muscle testing under the guidance of Dr. Frank Springob, the creator of the Morphogenic Field Technique. I also became a certified Reiki practitioner and will achieve Reiki Master in July. Not long after I discovered energy work, I was introduced to the concept of Shamanism and took a class with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. Soon thereafter I found my first human shamanic teacher and all the pieces; all the smattering of knowledge, certifications, and life experiences started coming together. I studied with Jaime Meyer, a local shaman and President of the Society for Shamanic Practice for five years. Papa Jaime started me on a path with Celtic shamanism which is a part of my own cultural heritage. I also had the honor of training with him at several spiritual sites in Scotland. He introduced me to the traditions of the Saami people of Scandinavia, which is also a part of my ancestral background. I have also been blessed to learn from many other human teachers along this path including Jeanne Crescenzo, Jose and Lena Stevens, Adriana Ayales, Hank Wesselmann, Chloe Goodchild, Jeralyn Glass, Christine Stevens, and Pamela Lyness. Additionally, and throughout my training, I learned many practices of the Shipibo of Peru, which opened a door to plant medicine for me. I began pursuing my Master of Sciences in Herbal Medicine with the American College of Healthcare Sciences. Although it can be a balancing act, I have enjoyed the juxtaposition of learning about plants academically and from them spiritually. My academic studies have introduced me to a comprehensively large herbarium of botany and has also allowed a few deep dives into individual plants. My special interest is learning about local plant species and their medicine, how they communicate, what they want to share with us, and how to be in right relationship with them. My youngest daughter commented on one of our nature walks that “the medicine is all around us, Mama.” Recently, I have been collaborating with Rhiannon Abrams of Sacred Heart Medicine Woman to offer seasonal ceremonies following the Celtic Medicine Wheel for groups of people. I also work with individuals both remotely and in-person according to their needs. One of the most beautiful gifts of this work is helping others remember their divine light, feeling them experience unconditional love and acceptance, and reminding them of their connection to everything.

Abstract Artist & Meditative Art Educator Certified Wilderness First Aid I am Heidi Sime, mother of 4 children, 2 stepsons and truth seeker. I know life through design, art, biohacking, primal living, experimenting, meditating, celebrating, welding, metal working, archery, drawing, painting, reading, sailing, bindi wearing, love, traveling, exploring, hiking, sleeping, parenting, loving all the essential things that make up a woman too young for my age and too old for my snappy outfits. I was born from hot Polish gypsy blood, experimented with all that life has to offer both deviant and holistic. I was biohacking before biohacking was “coined” by making molecular water and experimenting with high fat sardine/berry/nut fasts way back in the late 1990s….haha. I am Devoted to parenting, Emotional intelligence & seeking higher spiritual truths. With love and peace – Heidi