About Prabhava
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PRABHAVA: Michael Curran, A.M.P.
Michael earned his Ayurvedic Medicine Practitioner certificate in 2006 from the American University of Complementary Medicine in Los Angeles, California. Under teacher John Holmstrom, L.Ac., he completed 660 hours of on-site training in Ayurvedic theory and application, including 150 hours of internship. He has been operating PRABHAVA at the current Ventura location since February 2007.
Michael also has a B.A. in Psychology and Communications, from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
Michael's focus in clinical Ayurveda starts with the mind and consciousness, and he recognizes the physical body as a material manifestation of the mind. He views the composite of health as tied inextricably between energetic levels that include the physical, cognitive, emotional, and other more subtle levels. Michael's applied studies began with Psychology, and in 1998 he earned a Bachelor of Arts double-degree in Psychology and Communications, from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.
Michael's formal training in Ayurvedic Medicine took place at the American University of Complementary Medicine in Los Angeles. Under teacher John Holmstrom, L.Ac., a former President of CAAM (California Association of Ayurvedic Medicine), he completed 660 hours of on-site training in Ayurvedic theory and application, including 150 hours working directly with clients in a clinical setting. He received his certificate as an Ayurvedic Medicine Practitioner in 2006. He founded PRABHAVA shortly thereafter, and has been based in Ventura, Calif., since February 2007.
From western psychology, Michael turned his attention to Eastern healing arts in 2002, when he established himself in the ancient Indian/Buddhist practice of Vipassana meditation, at what would be his first intensive 10-day course, under the guidance of Burma's S.N. Goenka. Inspired by his learning at the course, he moved to Japan, where he deepened his practice at Japan's Vipassana center in Kyoto, through sitting (as an "old" student) or serving at ten-day courses, and maintaining a strict daily practice. Through Vipassana, Michael has visited very deep layers of his subconscious, and has cleared away hardened reserves of leftover emotions turned toxic, through a highly disciplined application of undeluded observance and undiscerning acceptance. He witnessed how those emotions had lodged themselves in the physical body, and experienced an evaporation of chronic lower-back pains, and a ten-pound drop in his base body weight.
While meditation remains Michael's personal cornerstone of health maintenance, he also recognizes that meditation represents one of many tools of transformation. To pursue the potential for a career in healing, he headed deeper into Asia.
Over the next year, Michael split his time between Thailand and India. He trained in general Thai massage and reflexive foot massage at the famous Wat Pho School in Bangkok, and then surveyed different yoga traditions under various teachers in the holy town of Rishikesh, near the origin of the Ganges River at the Himalayas. In classes, Michael learned technique to apply the expanded consciousness of still meditation into movements and postures, and ultimately into other persons. Immersed in the cultures which have long stewarded these arts, he learned how these traditions must go beyond simple ritual or practice, and truly manifest as a way of living and being.
Through an intensive Tantra Yoga course in Rishikesh did Michael begin to learn Ayurvedic theory-a science which incorporates yoga as one of its foundational philosophies. The theory came to life when an Indian Ayurvedic doctor alleviated him of a severe GI ailment with treatments that were simple, fast-acting and incredibly effective.
Through intensive study, Ayurveda has come to represent to Michael the first holistic system that could integrate and manifest all that he has ever experienced to be true. He has personally born witness to astonishing transformation achieved by dozens of clients through Ayurveda. It is Michael's intention to promote the spread of Ayurveda in Southern California, and throughout the United States, to help make Empowered Health a widespread reality in this country.