We are beings of extraordinary potential – naturally creative, inherently loving, and infinitely powerful.
Our design holds the blueprint for profound harmony with nature and deep connection with each other.
When we remove the barriers of trauma and tension, our vital energy flows freely, revealing our authentic nature and unleashing our highest potential.
Ty Clark
VITAL ARTS · FOUNDER & PRACTITIONER
ALVARA · CO-FOUNDER & FORMULATOR OF MYCONECTAR
PASSAGE COLLECTIVE · CO-FOUNDER
Ty Clark is a vitalist, herbalist and wilderness guide who helps people return to intimacy with nature, and with their own vitality.
His earliest memory is of the oaks and boulders behind his childhood home in the Sierra Nevada foothills. There, at three or four, he had a moment of pure awe and a plain knowing that he was part of the land. Every path he has taken since has been a way of returning to it. He came of age as a climber, skier, kayak guide and backcountry traveler, and trained in leadership through Outward Bound and as a Wilderness EMT.
When his daughter was born, Ty set guiding aside to be a present father and devoted himself to the healing arts. Over two decades he became a certified Alphabioticist, massage therapist, Reiki Master, Kundalini teacher, breathwork facilitator, herbalist and vitality coach. He studied for six years with a teacher trained by Shipibo elders and Tibetan Vajrayana monks, trained in Vajrayana, Zen and Dzogchen, and sat with elders in Lakota ceremony and in the Andes of Peru. His herbalism is practice-based and relational: over twenty years he has dieted more than twenty plants, one at a time, to learn each one's spirit and character.
Since founding Vital Arts in 2008, Ty has worked with executives, founders and seekers on mindset, nervous system and body, so they can meet hard challenges with more presence and ease. He has led small cohorts through retreats that weave ceremony, healing work and days in nature. He is co-founder of ALVARA and the formulator of its MycoNectar functional mushroom honey, and co-founder and Chief Community Officer of Passage Collective.
Today, with his daughter grown, he is weaving the two threads of his life back together: guiding people into nature, with the somatic, breath and nervous system skill to help what they find there take root. His guiding principle is reciprocity over extraction.
"I don't go to the wilderness to conquer or escape. I go to listen and remember."
Qualifications
Healing Arts
Theta Healing, Level 3, Dove Moses, Nevada City, CA, 2015
Kundalini Teacher Training, Siri Ghan Khalsa, Kundalini Research Institute, Nevada City, CA, 2014
Rebirthing Breathwork, Leonard Orr, Rebirthing Breathwork International, Nevada City, CA, 2013
Quantum-Touch Certified Practitioner, Quantum-Touch, Auburn, CA, 2009
Certified Alphabioticist, Alphabiotics International, Dallas, TX, 2007
Reconnective Healing, Dr. Eric Pearl, Los Angeles, CA, 2007
Cellular Memory Release, Louis Diaz, Nevada City, CA, 2007
Reiki Master (Usui), Ginny Woods, 2006
Certified EDGU Instructor, Jeffrey Paige Redmond and Jeffrey Williams, Breitenbush, OR, 2006
Touch for Health, Touch for Health Kinesiology Association, 2006
Oncology Massage, UC Davis, 2005
Level 4 Massage Therapist, Phillips School of Massage, Nevada City, CA, 2005
Wilderness & Leadership
AIARE 1 Avalanche, American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education, 2009
P2 Paraglider, Eagle Paragliding, Santa Barbara, CA
Wilderness EMT, NOLS and Sierra College
Three-Month Leadership Course, Outward Bound
Lineage & Practice
25 years of practice-based herbalism and more than 20 traditional plant dietas
Six years of study in shamanic practice, ritual, ceremony and healing, 2009 to 2014
Lakota ceremonial immersion and four solo wilderness quests of seven to ten days
Training in Vajrayana, Zen and Dzogchen Buddhism
Ceremonial work with elders of the Sacred Valley and Chavín, Peru
Acupuncture apprenticeships and personal trainings
In the Wild
Where the work comes alive
Rooted & Radiant
A 3-month mentorship in foundational and spiritual vitality.
Weekly one-on-one calls, a full-day nature immersion, and a personalized lifestyle protocol to guide you back into relationship with your body, nature, your food, your people, and your purpose.
Explore the Mentorship