Dr. Laura Garland

  My Story

I have spent the last 29 years learning to combine science and spirituality.  I have often felt alone in this quest and even occasionally misunderstood, but now I have found many others searching for the same destination.  I suspect you are one of them.

The summer I turned 20 I had a revelation.  I figured out I was an empath.  Thanks to one of my favorite authors, Mercedes Lackey, I realized there was a name for what I felt.  From another favorite author, Katherine Kurtz, I found that there could be more to spirituality than just what I’d been taught as a fundamentalist Christian.  I learned all this while working as an intern for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, where we were uncovering some of the initial evidence for Global Climate Change.

While getting my doctorate in Earth and Planetary Sciences in St. Louis, I met a number of teachers, who introduced me into the Mysteries of both Wicca and High Magick, along with a Lakota Shaman that I worked with for three years.  During that time, I also learned the Art of Tarot, which I still practice.  Incidentally, all of my predictions from my Doctoral Research were finally verified just last year (only took them 20 years to figure it all out).

Upon finishing my Doctorate, I felt the need to Serve.  I joined the U.S. Navy and, among other things, taught nuclear physics and advanced mathematics for six years.  However, I could not deny my other half.  During that time I also worked as a lay Chaplain for my command and at the Charleston Consolidated Brig.

One of my main callings is as a teacher, so, not getting enough service completed through the military, I became a high school math and science teacher for eight years.  That did not quell my thrist for the unknown and unknowable.  I became a Reiki Master/Teacher and completed formal courses in shamanism through the Foundation for Shamanic Studies.

Eventually, the call to serve by helping adults became much stronger, and I trained to become a coach.  My formal coach training is as a Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, but with my depth of background, I have created my own coaching experience combining science and spirituality.