Voyce Durling-Jones
Hoshindo Sensei

Voyce Durling-Jones Sensei is lineage holder and founder of the Hoshindo Healing Arts Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Hoshindo Institute is the center for Hoshin in the Americas and Europe. She also founded the Hoshindo Kyokai, the Hoshindo Society of the Americas, a non profit 501(3c) organization.

      Voyce Sensei began her  study of organic beekeeping and the practice of Hoshindo in1994. Trained in Japan, she was the first and only foreigner to pass the national Hoshin examinations and become certified to practice in Japan. She was given the responsibility of bringing the Hoshindo of her lineage to the West by her Dai Shihan, Hoshindo Master, Tadako Endo Sensei, now retired.

          As a practitioner and the only Sensei of Hoshindo in the West, while following its path, she became a Hoshin Bee ecologist, guardian and keeper of Bees.

          Bee ecology involves one who studies, observes, and works in tandem with honeybees and their relationship and interaction with the eco-system and humans, and the invaluable contribution of the medicines of the honeybee, particularly in healthcare practices such as Hoshin.

          The profoundly spiritual feminine principles of Hoshindo intertwined with the medicinal techniques enfolded within its ancient matrix, hold a sublime concept of the oneness of all consciousness and a unique potential of health for ‘mother` earth and her children.

          In addition to her Hoshindo responsibilities, she is also a Reiki Sensei, incorporating Reiki into her healing practice, and training  Hoshindo practitioners and others to become Reiki practitioners. Voyce Sensei developed a program, Reiki for Babies and Parents, after co-founding the Community Doulas of New Orleans in 1999.

             Voyce Sensei lectures on issues related to the healthcare paradigm emerging from ancient systems of healing in the Americas and East Asia, which continue to influence the healing arts in the 21st century. She integrates the spiritual lineage of Hoshindo with her cultural practice of Zensho, Japanese calligraphy.

          She began studies in the Shinpuryo lineage of Shigin, first with Japanese-American performing artist and teacher Madi Sato in Santa Fe, who then introduced her to Michiko Pierce Sensei, a Japanese master of Shigin with whom Voyce Sensei continued to study. Shigin emerged from ancient Japanese poetry and later influences of Chinese poetry. It is performed in chant melody either with a voice alone or with musical accompaniment.  

ADDITIONAL BIOGRAPHY

      Voyce Durling-Jones was born in the city of New Orleans into a family of Celtic and American Indian ancestry. Her culturally rich childhood led her into fine arts and an ongoing interest in tribal and world cultures, including the healing arts, ethnic botany, and social issues. She studied fine art and creative writing in Paris, Madrid, and New York, eventually exhibiting in gallery and museum shows. She was appointed
as U.S. Consultant to the Arts in Connecticut, teaching fine art and organizing a cooperative art gallery.

      She later served as the Hon. Consul of Liberia for over two decades; Vice Consul of the Consular Corps of New Orleans; Commissioner General of the Liberian Pavilion in the 1984 World’s Fair held in New Orleans; Vice President and Fellow of the Isthmus Institute, Dallas, Texas.

      Voyce Sensei has been a Keynote Speaker and Guest Lecturer to organizations and conferences which include the Isthmus Institute, Dallas, TX: International Bar Association, Melbourne, Australia, concerning the issues of sovereignty and the protection of sacred sites; King’s College, London, UK; and Toronto Post Aboriginal Business Conference, Vancouver, Canada.  She organized the gathering of indigenous elders for the Opening Ceremonies of the Museum of The Americas in Dallas, Texas.

Listen to the 2012 Interview: Voyce Durling-Jones on Transitions Radio with host Alan Hutner