LIFE FORCE ARTS FOUNDATION (LFA) combines the ancient spiritual practice of shamanism with the visual, literary and performing arts to create healing rituals for self, society, nature and spirit. Based on the Creative Community Medicine Wheel, LFA workshops and performances contribute to spiritual wholeness through skills of communication, energy work and empowerment of the soul. Life Force Arts Foundation is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt 501(c) 3 organization that offers programs for the general public as well as professional training for practitioners of the shamanic arts. LFA founder and director Joan Forest Mage conducts many of the workshops and performances. Programs by nationally known shamanic artists are also presented.
Joan Forest Mage, the founder and director of the Life Force Arts Foundation, is honored to serve as a shamanic healer, educator and performing artist in her hometown of Chicago. A Certified Movement Analyst (Laban Institute), she has studied shamanism, energy work and healing ritual with numerous teachers and organizations, is a member of the Society for Shamanic Practitioners and has worked as a shamanic healer since 1995, performing over 500 soul retrieval healings. Joan has thirty years of professional performing and teaching experience as a dancer, singer and theater performer, and is the head of Life Force Ensemble, a shamanic world music band and performing company. Joan has a Master of Arts Degree in Applied Professional Studies from School for New Learning, DePaul University, with the focus area “Creating Healing Ritual Through the Arts.” Joan has taught workshops and training programs in the arts and body movement since 1985, and in shamanism since 1996.