We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Damien Baskette. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Damien below.

Damien, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

For me, the most significant risk I’ve taken was definitely a life-changing one. That was the risk and the decision I made to start living my life based on my intuition and what truly brings me joy and happiness. I decided to let myself and my ego take a back seat in my life and the decision-making process, and see what happens if I just let go of the wheel and go with the flow, wherever that takes me.

Making life decisions based on what makes you happy and brings you joy may sound like an easy and obvious thing to do, but when you stop to think about it, how many people do you know who take the opportunity to live their lives like that? In my experience, though, it seems a natural way to be, modern society does not prepare or even encourage us to do this. Other than two weeks out of the year, of course, and when you can find time on the weekends. So I decided to roll the dice and find my own path, rather than continue on the one I had been following that I felt no longer served me. This did not happen overnight, but little by little, I began to make conscious joy-based decisions and choices, with my health and happiness being the common denominators.

In my twenties, I read a book called The Celestine Prophecy during my “starving artist” phase in New York City. I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it yourself, and it’s been quite a while since I have so I’m not quoting it exactly, but one of the morals of that story had to do with always following the prettiest path. For example, if there’s a fork in the road and one leads down a dark, gloomy trail and another to a sunny, grassy field with a rainbow, take that rainbow trail. And so that’s what I did. So what brought me to take this “radical risk”, one might ask?

Well, pretty typically for a man in his mid-40s, I was going through a divorce. At the time, I was in Inglewood, California, living in the house my soon-to-be ex-wife and I had bought 2 years earlier. I had a career working as a Video Editor, and had been with my Ex for 8 years. And anyone in, or has been in, a relationship knows that when you share space with another person, there are parts of yourself that often have to be compromised or at least adapted for the union to work. And for me, as soon as I was separated, I felt a strong pull to reclaim those parts. And looking back on things now, it’s clear that I most desired a stronger connection to myself and my own spirituality. And of course, doing things that bring me joy without being concerned about the needs or wants of someone else.

For me, that started with an almost immediate urge to seek out an ayahuasca ceremony.I have had experience with psychedelics in my youth, and though I didn’t know much about ayahuasca, I felt the need to experience it. Living in California at the time, where it is still illegal, I got a little bored and annoyed with the secrecy and the cost, so I gave up on that quest pretty quickly.

What came next was a pull and desire to learn Reiki. Now that one was easy, I found a woman named Rhonda Kuykendall who owned a Reiki center in my neighborhood. I had to wait a few months until she was giving her next course, but in the meantime, I started getting Reiki treatments for myself. I eventually took the course and could apply Reiki to myself, which became a part of my daily practice. I noticed subtle changes in myself and my life as I completed the Reiki daily for 30 days, part of the course. I was starting to see and experience life from a different perspective. I became more conscious of myself and less reactive to outside stimuli beyond my control. Soon after her Reiki course, she offered a course that would take much of the risk out of my risk-taking decisions in the future. And that was a course on how to get more in touch with your intuition using a pendulum.

For those who don’t know, the basic premise behind a pendulum is that you use the swinging crystal or whatever your pendulum may be made out of to connect to and receive answers from your higher self. The pendulum gives you feedback in the form of a yes or no answer, so how you form and state the question is essential, as is being open to the answers you are receiving.

This was the game changer when it came to finding, following, and aligning with my path. Anything in my life that was not a hard yes or hard no when it came to the decision-making process, I simply asked the pendulum, and went with whatever it suggested, or really what I suggested. Now this started with trivial things like “Is it in my best interest and highest good to eat this food, or do this workout routine?”, and as I experienced the positive results from those types of questions, it very quickly became the tool with which I lived my life and made “risky” decisions which in actuality did not feel like much of a rish at all.

So that’s my story of taking my biggest risk and throwing caution or conventional wisdom to the wind to listen to and follow my inner knowing. Based on many Intuition/Pendulum-based decisions and life choices, I am exactly where I am right now and very happy with the results. And because I took that risk, my life became a series of elegant synchronicities.

I have been living in Costa Rica for the last six years. I live in the South Pacific part of the country, next to a world-class surfing destination in a place that feels like paradise. I have an amazing 3-year-old daughter who is the light of my life, and I am building a house on a piece of property here. I’m excited to be able to grow my own food, have no mortgage, and experience true freedom. I also gave up that editing career and have a private practice called Innate Wholeness Balances, where I use several different Specialized Kinesiology modalities, my intuition, and my pendulum to relieve and balance accumulated stresses in our bodies. In the 8 years since I took a risk and began to live my life based on my intuition, I have had some wild adventures that might make a great novel about one man’s journey into himself, life, and extraordinary realities, but that’s a tale for another day.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I work in the Holistic Health and wellness industry. I use several different modalities of specialized kinesiology to correct imbalances or stresses in the body. I provide one-on-one and group healing sessions that help to remove mental and emotional blocks and correct physical issues.

I have always been a reluctant healer, and when I decided to let go and follow my intuition, this is where it led me. While letting my intuition guide me, I decided that when my divorce was finalized and the house was sold, I would spend the summer in Costa Rica. Soon after I made that decision, the synchronicities began to line up as I met an amazing woman in LA who had been living in Costa Rica and Guatemala. Like old friends being reintroduced to each other, we hit it off, and two days after my house was sold, we packed our dogs and left the States on an adventure. When we got to Costa Rica, she introduced me to several outstanding Energy Workers who were also teachers of their craft. They both invited me to study with them, and I accepted without hesitation. I found myself eager to expand my knowledge and spent much time taking their courses and practicing what I learned. They often say it does not feel like work if you love what you are doing, which has been the case for me here.

A lot of people are dealing with anxiety, depression, and feelings of overwhelm right now, and I have the tools to work with you to help relieve those issues. The effects of my work can be both subtle and profound. Many mental problems can be relieved by addressing and removing blocks that allow for a change in perspective that can provide solutions and make the problem you are dealing with not seem like a problem at all.

I can also help relieve the effects that different types of trauma may have on one’s life. Some kind of trauma is often at the core of whatever issues is manifesting in one’s life. That could be a big trauma, such as abuse or neglect, or little traumas that you are not even aware of had an effect on you and how you view yourself and the world around you.

Addressing issues affecting the nervous system is also big for me these days. From what I have seen, humans are not really designed to exist in the modern society most of us live in today. It can be done, of course; however, it leaves your body in an almost constant state of stress. Although personal life changes are often necessary for lasting results, I can assist the body in resetting the nervous system and help individuals move out of the constant state of fight or flight that has become the norm these days. So if you wake up in the morning already in a semi-state of panic and feeling stressed about what you must do that day, that is a good sign that your nervous system is out of balance.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The biggest pivot I have ever made in life and business was definitely related to my big risk, which I already mentioned. I already spoke a bit about the personal side of things, but I also pivoted my business or career.

Before leaving on my intuition-guided adventure, I had been working as a video editor for about 19 years. It was a creative job that paid well, but the hours were long and the stress often high. I left intending to find more work in the same field as I traveled, either remotely or by finding jobs in the places I visited. And I did have some success with that. However, I found that I was no longer enjoying the work. I did work on a couple fun and fulfilling projects, but the idea of going back to 10-hour days staring at my computer while being surrounded by nature, and waterfalls, and beaches seemed crazy to me. I began to question how I had ever managed to do that.

So decided I was not going to do it anymore. And the sale of my house before the trip afforded me the time and space to just be, without having to be overly concerned about what I needed to do. Again, this was not an overnight process as up to this point I had been living my whole life like most people, always “doing”, and having anxiety about the future, instead of living in and appreciating the “now”. It took months before I could wake up feeling calm and rested, not immediately in a semi-state of overwhelm, thinking about everything that needed to be done that day. I found that I needed to rewire my nervous system literally, and luckily, I was acquiring the tools necessary to do that.

So the pivot was a relatively slow one. I was taking specialized kinesiology classes that interested me with two amazing teachers. Both of which asked if I was planning to combine everything I was learning and form my own practice, but at the time, I was unsure. I just knew I was on a path that brought me joy, and I was willing to trust where it led me. And step by step, as I gained more confidence in myself and what I was doing, that is precisely what happened. I left the TV industry behind me and began my new career being of service to others.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

In my field, training and knowledge make a big difference. Specialized kinesiology is a dynamic field constantly developing and adapting to new science on how the human body functions. So, there is always something new to learn or topics to explore more deeply. However, the strongest trait that would help one become successful in this field is the ability to listen.

In my practice, the key to addressing an issue is the ability to get to the source of that issue. Clients often come to me with what they think is the main problem creating stress in their lives; however, after a quick discussion, it can become apparent that they are actually dealing with a symptom of a deeper issue. So, being able to listen to your client objectively and judgment-free is key to addressing their needs and helping them in a more meaningful way.

Being a good listener is also essential for fostering trust. Clients are more likely to open up and feel safe when they know they’re being heard, and this trust is essential for effective sessions, especially when working with deep emotional or energetic imbalances.

In short, listening is its own healing tool that deepens understanding, enhances intuition, and fosters connection, all of which are central to effective specialized kinesiology.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://innatewholenessbalances.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/innatewholenessbalances
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InnateWholenessBalances

Image Credits

Arsen Brzostek