Ever since he was a child, this great graduate had visions of what he was born, in this life, to accomplish. Before SWIHA, he had never met any like-minded individuals, nor did he have an avenue in which he could explore the incredible mind, body, spirit connection- especially in such a clinic field like psychology. “SWIHA set me on the path to gain confidence and priceless hands-on experience that I would have never learned from a traditional college. My favorite part of attending all the classes was how we jumped into the work with real life experiences rather than focusing only on the academics side. In my eyes, it was a perfect balance and was key to my growth and learning.”
The Spiritual Studies program is where Alaric’s passion began to intensely develop. The life coaching already came natural to him, yet he had no idea that going into Spiritual Studies would motivate him to become ordained. It was in the Ministerial Duties class that he had an “ah-ha” moment and realized that he was going to open a healing and community center, which a year later he absolutely did! “My passion stems from, what I would have to call, my soul. I love to create, and my way of creating is through writing books, teaching, and coaching. I also love bringing people together with the intention of cultivating inner peace.”
In August of 2010, Alaric opened Earth Spirit Center for Healing in Queen Creek, Arizona. The spiritual center has become well known for being a place of learning and healing for people of the greater Phoenix metro area. (It is on the southeast side of the Power and Riggs intersection.) Based on his vision as a 10 year-old, he created this sanctuary from a desire to have a place where he and others could be free from societal judgement and dogmatic limitation. Four years later, he published his first book, Living Peace. In conjunction with his book, Alaric formed “The Living Peace Code”:
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”Living Peace is the first of seven books that are part of the Luminous Living Series. In this book, Alaric shares the Living Peace Code, which consists of nine tenets and practices that provide a practical approach on how to overcome the many forms of stress, fear, grief, and adversity that occur throughout our lives. Alaric deeply explores the importance of inner peace and how our world and its rich diversity can rationally achieve a lasting harmony.”
Alaric considers these two of his greatest successes. This year, he established the nonprofit of Dunisha, which stands for the “peaceful healing way of Earth and Spirit”. “My student training program of Dunisha Healing™ has brought a great many individuals to a place of inner peace in their life, and so through this nonprofit I would like to open multiple Dunisha Sanctuaries to promote our unique tradition of inner peace teachings, offer an ordination program, certify Circle of Peace facilitators, and have the sanctuaries act as community hubs that eventually inspire self-sustainability and eco-conscious living.”
Upon publishing his book, Alaric began his own publishing company, Earth Spirit Publishing™ (ESP), and this year he has two students publishing their first books - Emma Porter and Sonny Horton, Journey to Within and The Living Peace Code, respectively. Alaric co-authored The Living Peace Code with Sonny. It is a simplified version of Living Peace; it covers the nine core principles and is taught in an introductory fashion. This year, he is also launching Zen Cowboy™, which is the trade-name for his own personal coaching, training, and public speaking services. “For these past six years I have kept myself focused on Earth Spirit Center for Healing, and now I would like to begin offering my private services to people in other states.”
Alaric is aware that there is a lot of talk of love in spiritual communities, yet he felt that rarely, here in the West, do you hear people talking about the importance of inner peace and stillness of mind. “My passion for starting my business happened when I became the person I always wish existed for me to talk to and learn from as a child.” After graduating from SWIHA, he felt that he would be creating sanctuaries for people from all cultures and backgrounds to come together in community to learn, grow, and transform themselves into masters of their own life and peaceful leaders to benefit the world. This is exactly what he had visions of himself doing since he was a child. “Throughout the ages, peace-oriented fictional and real life leaders have always inspired me. Inner peace is an area that still continues to be overlooked by the masses, and that is why I am so passionate about teaching and writing about it in practical terms, bringing people together in community, and helping individuals find their own inner peace through my coaching practice.”
In a nutshell, the primary service Alaric offers people is teaching them how to cultivate a lasting sense of inner peace in their life. Many people come to meet him for either a life coaching, healing, or tarot card reading and end up purchasing a month’s worth of coaching sessions, which often leads to becoming a student in his month-to-month Dunisha Healing™ program. “I’m sort of like a martial arts teacher where people come to train their minds each week. Every month, there is always major improvement, yet it takes years to fully master. People struggling with a singular issue are generally happy with a single session or a month’s worth, and many people are seeking something deeper, and that is what I created my training program for.”
A glimpse at Alaric’s offerings:
― Life Ignite Intro Session: $155
― Follow Up Sessions: $95
― (4) Package Deal: $325
― Student Training: $200/mo
― Community Membership $35/mo
― Online Community Membership $15/mo
“First time clients are always a lot of fun to work with”, he admits. “I begin by having them express what brought them in to see me, which I follow by sharing my unique approach to healing, inner peace, and the psychology of the mind. Generally, I will then provide them with a quick overview of Living Peace (my book and foundation I teach from) and then begin to explore the inner working of their subconscious mind, helping them bring their ‘negative’ belief systems to the surface for us to work through and reconfigure. I believe that everything begins in the mind, thus all external issues can be found with a subconscious root — and so far this theory has proven sound. After finding the root of their most pressing matter, I then provide them with take-home practices for them to use daily to help make lasting change in their life.” With his clients, he tries to keep focus on psychology and Zen philosophy, while with his students, he adds in more spirituality training.
Right now, Alaric’s niche tends to be people who have established a fairly content life for themselves occupationally and are finding that what they thought would bring them happiness and peace actually doesn’t; because of this they are searching for more. “I work with a lot of people who have corporate jobs and are looking to find their ‘zen’. I also work with those who are suffering from heartache, past trauma, co-dependency issues, and further, with those looking to improve their current relationships or marriage. My colleague at Earth Spirit Center, Maria Cooke, another SWIHA graduate, works more with individuals struggling with addiction, physical dis-ease, and the SMI population. Her passion is energy work and shamanic exploration.”
Over these past six years, Alaric shares that he has tried just about everything at one point or another, when it comes to marketing his business— even dropping a pretty penny on some magazine ads. In his experience, what works best is genuine confidence and going out and meeting people in real time. Personal interaction is a must and social media is key. Facebook has proven to be a valuable tool since the beginning. He has learned that Groupon is great, if you have packages or products ready for the client to buy, once they come in. MeetUp is also excellent, so is word of mouth, and he values his reviews on Yelp. “Competition online and through Google has certainly become hotter over the years, however when something is of good quality, word spreads, so don’t become too discouraged if you're starting out with a new business that can’t afford an epic website with top notch search results on Google.”
Having a solid business plan was the most challenging thing Alaric had to do to grow his business. At age twenty, when he first began his preparations, he admits that he literally had no idea about business. “I was simply a boy grinning from ear to ear with a pocketful of dreams. Somehow, I made it work those first couple of years just through sheer force of will and charisma. I later had a big collapse, which I took as a wake-up call and I then revamped my entire platform and business plan. Since then it has been smooth sailing. I view that as the year I became an adult and a full-fledged businessman.” For him, the easiest thing was growing him business by attracting people. “No matter how many times I changed myself or changed directions, there were always people who stood by me from day one, new people to come in and fill the shoes of those who came before, and new clients and students ready for my services. Being so young when I started, I was still finding myself, thus I outgrew my shell multiple times and each time I had an updated perspective on life that shifted my business and teachings. Overall, the core value of inner peace and personal responsibility has already remained!”
Over the last six years, Alaric has worked with quite a few people and shares a few testimonials:
When asked if he had a favorite quote surrounding his education at SWIHA, he honestly laughed and said, “Hah! It’s been so long now and there were so many. One thing I do remember clearly, was hearing multiple times from Richard Seaman, my life coaching instructor, was – ‘Don’t make me dim my light to make you feel comfortable!’ That quote really helped me overcome my people-pleasing behavior.”
Alaric’s message for SWIHA students and graduates looking to follow in his footsteps:
“Be ready to fail and become comfortable with the idea of failure. Remove the label of failure being ‘bad or wrong’ and just accept that it often takes many attempts at success before it finally becomes effortless- effort. Everything in life takes humility to grow, especially when you’re an entrepreneur. My most delicious mistakes and ‘falling-flat-on-my-face’ moments were my most precious moments where I learned the most. In my mind, every experience is of value, and that is the attitude that will help you succeed in any endeavor you are striving for.”
Stay in touch with Alaric!
Earth Spirit Center for Healing
25251 S Power Rd.
Queen Creek, AZ 85142
480.639.5275
www.facebook.com/EarthSpiritCenter
Learn more about the Mind-Body Transformational Psychology Associates Degree at SWIHA to see how you can impact others in their journey.