About Aaron

I have spent my life crossing boundaries between worlds.

I am a medium, Akashic Records reader, and spiritual mentor devoted to exploring consciousness, inner alchemy, and the mystery of the unseen. My path into this work began with early experiences of mediumship and a persistent sense that reality was larger than what could be seen or measured.

Over more than three decades, I have explored meditation, Daoist mysticism, classical Kashmiri Tantra, Zen, and non-dual awareness. Along the way, I encountered teachers and teachings that profoundly shaped my path, including Ram Dass, Jon St. Andre, and the Daoist master Liu Ming.

While working as an ecologist, I lived for nearly two years in the Congo Basin rainforest with the Baka people. That experience profoundly transformed my understanding of what it means to be human. It was also in the rainforest that my relationship with the unseen deepened in an unexpected way. After my grandfather's death, I experienced him coming to me, opening a profound new relationship with ancestry, mediumship, and the unseen.

For the past decade, I have explored the gong, global percussion, and sound as pathways into presence, energy, and transformation.

Today, I bring these threads together through mediumship, ancestral healing, Akashic work, energy practices, meditation, sound, and spiritual mentorship. I am interested in creating the conditions for direct experience: learning to listen more deeply, perceive more clearly, trust one's inner knowing, and encounter the mystery for oneself.

My path has also included a life in very different worlds. I have worked as an ecologist and chef, and spent years in business, including executive roles in Fortune 100 companies and C-suite positions with fast-growing startups. I hold an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas and a Master”s in Ecology & Conservation Biology from SF State.

This breadth continues to shape my approach to life. I see science and mysticism, nature and consciousness, the seen and unseen, not as opposing worlds, but as different ways of approaching the same great mystery of being alive.

Education, Training & Professional Background

My spiritual work is informed not only by decades of contemplative study, but by a lifetime of working across science, nature, food, business, photography, and education. These experiences continue to shape my approach to spirituality and connection to the natural world.

Here are a few of my degrees, certifications, and areas of professional experience:

200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training, House of Om
Gong Master Training Certificate, Don Conreaux & Yaelle E. Saphir
Sound Healing & Gong Master Training, Sage Academy of Sound
Guided Meditation Certificate, Jack Kornfield
Akashic Holographic Mastery Certificate, Amy Belair
First, Second, and Third-Degree Reiki, Krishna Sharma
Psychedelic Integration Coaching Certification, Naturalistico
Authentic Leadership Program, Authentic Relating Training

MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
Master’s in Ecology & Conservation Biology, SF State University
Bachelor’s in Biology: Ecology & Evolution, University of California, San Diego

As a chef, I was a seven-time “Best of …” winner from San Francisco Magazine, 7×7 Magazine, and the East Bay Express.

Aaron French, Akashic reader, spiritual mentor, medium and ancestral healer.
Aaron French, Akashic reader, spiritual mentor, medium and ancestral healer.

Workshops, Festivals & Events
I have shared talks, workshops, retreats, ceremonies, meditation, energy work, sound healing, and spiritual teachings with communities across the United States and internationally.

Here’s a small sample of places I’ve shared offerings:

High Vibe Festival, Big Bear, CA
Joshua Tree Music Festival, Joshua Tree, CA
Medicine for the People Spiritual Gathering, Belton, TX
Trancendance Festival, Asheville, NC
Dragonfly Festival, Austin, TX
San Diego Transcendence Retreat, San Diego, CA
Sedona Ascension Retreat, Sedona, AZ
Body Mind Spirit Expo, CO and TX
House of Om, Bangkok and Koh Phangan, Thailand
SolSeed Sacred Valley, Pisac, Peru
Yoga Nest, Kona, Hawaii
Kona Cloud Forest Sanctuary, Kona, Hawaii
Tahoe Rising Yoga and Meditation Center, South Lake Tahoe, CA
The Alchemy Space, Truckee, CA
The Eleventh House, Fairfax, CA
Stanford University, Center for Ethics in Society, CA
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, CA
Wildlife Conservation Society, NY
University of California, Berkeley, CA
Cornell University, NY
…and many more.

Writing, Photography & Science

Long before Natural Heart Alchemy, my relationship with the natural world found expression through writing, photography, and ecological research. My work has appeared in publications ranging from National Geographic and The Sun to American Scientist and National Audubon Society, and my scientific research has focused on ecology and tropical biodiversity.

Here are a few selected publications:

French, A.R. and T.B. Smith. 2005. Importance of Body Size in Determining Dominance Hierarchies among Diverse Tropical Frugivores. Biotropica 37:1. 

French, A. R. The Bay Area Homegrown Cookbook.  2011.  Voyageur Press.

French, A. R. 2009. A Taste of the Wild. Natural History Magazine. March, 2009. 

French, A. R. 2006. Rock On: Rock Islands Provide Rare Habitat for a Rare African Bird. Wildlife Conservation.  August 2006. 

Lamperti, A.M., A.R. French, et al. 2014. Diet selection is related to breeding status in two frugivorous hornbill species of Central Africa. J. Trop. Ecology 30:4

Aaron French, Akashic reader, spiritual mentor, medium and ancestral healer.  Gong master, playing gongs in nature, blessings the waters with the song
Aaron French, Akashic reader, spiritual mentor, medium and ancestral healer.
Aaron French, Akashic reader, spiritual mentor, medium and ancestral healer.  Gongmaster and sound healer.

Reach out

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