Shabd-sangeet Khalsa (favorite color = purple)

Mountaineer, Adventurer, Botanist & Artist with strong passion for flowers. Shabd-sangeet grew up in the foothills of the Cascade mountains where she felt the essence of nature and the powerful desire to dive ever deeper into the sense of wonder and communion with the earth.

She began climbing mountains at age 15. At 18 she began studying wild edible & medicinal plants of the Pacific Northwest; moved to Alaska at 19 where she studied botany and art at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She conducted a botanical survey of the University of Alaska Arboretum where she mapped the plant communities relative to soil types, photographed, collected and identified several hundred vascular plants.

She has 30 yrs mountaineering experience; glacier travel, mountain & ice climbing; and has Alaskan search and rescue experience.

SSK has journeyed through uncharted jungle rivers in Central America, traded fish hooks, bullets and salt for gold; fended off bandito's while hiking up to an erupting volcano and has been awed by submarine cave diving.

Shabd-sangeet has shared her love for the Alaskan wilderness with her daughter, Amrit, since she was 6 months old. She found that her own comfort in nature allowed her daughter to feel at home living on the alpine tundra, climbing on boulders, hiking up steep mountains and playing in the wild flowers. Shabd-sangeet has dedicated time to listening to the silent wisdom of nature as it whispers to her from within.

Some of SSK's other experiences are:
Working as a field biologist at Lake Minchumina setting up botanical and meteorological stations.
Commercial fishing in Bristol Bay.
Working for Alaska Department of Fish and Game teaching Outdoor Education classes.

Producing flower essence lines such as Dancing Light Orchid Essences, Sister Moon Flower Essences. Some of these orchid essences are used in the frozen desert Vibrant made by Mackies of Scotland.

She teaches flower essence and herbal workshops in Alaska and abroad.
She is the web designer for this and other websites. orchidessences.com, sarahchanson.com

SSK is an artist at heart who loves to create beautiful works of art. Her favorite of which is her daughter, Amrit, though she can only accept partial credit for this lovely flower.

A few of her art pieces can be viewed at orchidessences.com/artwork.htm

SSK's daughter Amrit enjoys the self confidence she's developed through being supported in stretching to meet the challenges her mother set before her while they were on trips together. Amrit is now 14. She has been on month long sea kayak trips. Amrit and her mom kayaked through the Tikchik Lakes in SW. Alaska. They both enjoy climbing trips in the Alaska Range.