We were lucky to catch up with Atasiea Kenneth Ferguson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Atasiea , appreciate you joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
During a right of passage ceremony called a Vision Quest, I had a near death experience that was averted by listening to my intuition. During that time I was told very clearly by benevolent spirit guides to move back to LA to begin practicing the Healing Arts professionally, and let go of my pursuit of the performing arts- mainly acting as my primary vocation. Right before my spirit guides gave me that message about my life’s work they told me to get up from where I had been sitting to hold the ceremony. The location was in the Sedona desert, sitting under a tarp that I had draped down from a tree. I’m stubborn; so I resisted moving out from under the shade of the tarp like my guides requested. But they gently insisted that I move so I could get the message I was on this vision quest to receive.
I begrudgingly got up and stood in the full sun, and said to the guide mentally “ok … I’m standing here in this hot sun, I don’t know if I can concentrate in these intense conditions.’ At that moment a bullet flew across my chest, followed by several more. I dropped to the ground taking cover behind a cactus. The next bullet hit the cactus and I jumped up to see that a group of teenagers had started shooting at my campsite. I urged them to stop, and they swore they absolutely couldn’t see that I was at the camp site from their vantage point off in the distance. I was startled and disoriented as I had been fasting for the past 3 days in extreme heat , and wasn’t sure if that incident was a part of my ‘vision’ – some sort of hallucination, or something that had actually just physically happened.
After the shooters left, my guides said your purpose is to join a convergence of holistic healers, artists, facilitators and guides that will help improve society in LA. Your presence there is needed urgently. Move there asap and get to work.
When I returned to the main camp site to meet up with the leaders of the vision quest and told them about my experience. They confirmed that they heard multiple gunshots and were concerned about my well being, and were grateful I made it back. They unpacked my camping gear and unfolded the tarp I had been sitting under during the vision quest ceremony. It had 7 bullet holes in it. They confirmed that had I not listened to my guidance I would have been killed.
I learned that day to trust that my guidance system is clear and true, and that I can trust it, especially when it is flowing with altruistic information encouraging me to be in service to others. I also learned that sometimes the guidance is timed in a specific way for a specific reason that I won’t fully understand until everything is all said and done. I learned that when I hear the message to move, I need to move, rather than question things intellectually and waste time.
I did move to LA , and stubbornly continued to act for several years, whilst I also built the foundations for my Healing Arts practice doing massage, energy healing, and spiritual guidance counseling- channeling messages for clients, and co-founding Ecstatic Dance Los Angeles. I’ve been using that same guidance to help countless clients and community members for the past 15 years now.
Atasiea , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m an Holistic Healer that specializes in subtle energy healing, bodywork (massage therapy), coaching and spiritual guidance counseling. I’m also the co-founder / co-producer of Ecstatic Dance LA- a family friendly, drug and alcohol free dance celebration that weaves together world & electronic dance music, sound healing, yoga, and authentic movement modalities to help people regulate their bodies/minds & spirits.
I got into the holistic healing arts industry by being interested in health and wellness and becoming a connoisseur of all things healing. Then I got introduced to the Ecstatic Dance Practice, and met my Reiki Master teacher and multiple other teachers that helped me transition from being a client to a practitioner/ facilitator of the multiple modalities I trained in and now practice.
With my energy healing- Reiki & Theta Healing, coaching and spiritual guidance counseling work, I help people clear away the fog and stress of daily life, as well as larger existential life challenges – like career or relationship problems, ancestral trauma, or finding ones calling & purpose. What stands out about my work is that I can take complex situations and distill the resolutions into easily understandable guidance for folks to overcome issues that may otherwise be difficult to understand. I also empower my clients to be there own healer so that they eventually move beyond needing my guidance to solve their problems.
With my Bodywork/Massage practice I help people soften and loosen up muscles and joints, and unblock energetic meridians in their body- relieving stress, improving morale, and increasing peoples over all sense of joy being in their bodies with less pain and more pleasure.
I also train people to practice energy healing using Reiki. This helps them develop excellent spiritual hygiene, heal themselves and others, and breaks the cycle of dependency on external authorities.
I’m most proud of a modality that I created called Angelic Presence Healing- that combines all the healing arts modailities I practice into one 2-3 hr intensive bodywork/ energy work/ spiritual guidance counseling session. Picture therapy, an intuitive reading, life coaching, subconscious reprogramming, a spiritual cleanse, and a massage- all rolled into one thing. This modality helps people let go of years of stuck energy from all levels of their being, and often provides wisdom for them to utilize in improving key areas of their life permanently.
I’m also proud of Ecstatic Dance LA being in our 12th year of business, and becoming one of the worlds most highly respected ecstatic dances, and a staple place for conscious dance practice to happen in the LA community. This event has touched thousands of lives for the better.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
During the pandemic I had to pivot in my career letting go of acting and performing arts completely and primarily focussing on the healing arts as my primary vocation. At that time we started doing silent disco outdoor ecstatic dance sessions, and that pivot has helped that company grow exponentially. I’ve been steadily building my self up as a leader in the health and wellness industry – having starred in TBS’s LOST RESORT Tv series – as a Reiki Master and Ecstatic Dance expert, as well as continuing to serve locally and internationally at retreats, festivals, and workshops teaching and practicing Reiki, Theta Healing, Yoga, and Ecstatic Dance.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start?
To get together the capitol to co- found Ecstatic Dance LA. My business partner and I both borrowed a couple thousand dollars from our parents, and borrowed several thousands of dollars worth of sound equipment from a friend Donna Carroll- co-founder of EcstaticDance Oakland, to start our first series of event productions. Over the next 3-4 years we started to become profitable and were able to repay those debts. Thank you Chris Parrish , Michael Ferguson, and Donna!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.atasiea.com
- Instagram: @atasiea @ecstaticdancela
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kenneth.l.ferguson.9/, https://www.facebook.com/EcstaticDanceLosAngeles/
- Twitter: @atasiea
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@angelicpresencehealingwith294
Image Credits
Nico Nelson Photography for Healing photos. Tanya Nesta for the Ecstatic Dance shots