Workshops, Courses, Ceremonies & Events
Our Story
Valley Spirit began in 2016 as Valley Spirit Cooperative & Wellness Center. It was a shared studio space of three unique businesses with a common goal: to contribute to community by offering services, teachings and products that support healing and growth, while enhancing awareness, communication, good health, peace and consciousness. As an art co-op and wellness center, it was a gathering place for conversation and community. The three of us opted to “cooperate” with one another in a single space, bringing together visual and performance art (Kristin Kunhardt), design and graphic art (Lee Kancher), and healing, meditation and movement arts (Jampa Stewart) so that we might all benefit from one another’s strengths. The “all boats rise” mentality, which is often lacking in mainstream business, led the way. We decided to open up the space to other practitioners and artists that shared our mission, uniting to meet common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations.
Who We Are
From our inception in 2016 through March 2020, we operated successfully in benefiting the Washington community and nearby towns, with customers and patients coming from as far away as Massachusetts, New York City and New Jersey. We inaugurated “First Fridays” in the Depot, a monthly community event where local businesses stayed open late offering food, drink, music, dancing and art. At its peak, 26 local businesses participated. We hosted art exhibits and a retail gift shop as well as local and out of town teachers for acupuncture and herbal medicine, meditation, yoga, massage, holistic psychotherapy, ballroom dancing, cacao ceremonies, movies, Ayurvedic Medicine and more. In 2018, we brought in 7 Tibetan lamas to create a sand mandala in our studio to benefit the town. Over the course of 4 years we were home to 30 teachers, massage therapists, other practitioners and staff members. Valley Spirit became a joyful gathering place for the whole community at large. With the arrival of the pandemic in early 2020, we were forced to re-evaluate and transition, as were many other businesses around the country. Jampa integrated an online teaching format with Zoom classes to support his established classes in Tai Chi, Qi Gong and Buddhist and Taoist Meditation, and continued his on-site acupuncture practice as an essential business with appropriate health and safety protocols. When able, he added outdoor Tai Chi classes to his offerings. In June of 2021, we moved just up the hill to Washington Green, next to The Po Cafe, and reopened as Valley Spirit Wellness.
Healing Tao Institute LLC
Jampa Mackenzie Stewart L.Ac., board certified acupuncturist, heads up our team of unique, multi-disciplinary health care practitioners and teachers. He started Healing Tao Institute in 2000 to initiate a Medical Qi Gong Therapist Certification Program in Austin Texas where he also was renowned for his Tai Chi instruction and acupuncture practice.