Who am I?

Derek Alexander Leiss

About Me

Hi there, fellow Earth humans!

I am an artist and a licensed naturopathic doctor. I practice as a resident physician at Heart Spring Health, in Portland, Oregon. Follow the link to find me there to learn more and/or book an appointment, if you feel called. I create my art at True North Studios.

I grew up in Trumbull, Connecticut, where from before I can remember, I have been enchanted with the magical, the unknown, the mystery of life, and art. My grandfather was a hobby artist who painted beautiful oil paintings depicting New England flora and fauna. Since I was but 2 years old, he would take me to his workshop in the basement and we would make wooden dinosaurs together, paint them, and he would teach me his secrets and techniques. I always would paint monsters devouring humans and other such violent and morbid art, and my parents decided I should go to private art school so I could branch out and learn to paint “nice things”. I went to the Little Red School House to learn when I was in elementary school, and after a while went to Bob Boroski’s School of Art during middle school and high school, where I really learned the fundamentals of fine art and began to blossom. I did, however, seem to burn out, and didn’t find joy in creating art, anymore.

I spent much of my twenties discovering myself and learning that everyone is a person, too. I was in a band playing saxophone (Icy Core of Jupiter - good luck finding any of our content), and we were somewhat successful for several years. I lost touch with art during my healing journey (see below), after giving away my creativity at a ceremony in 2008 (something that couldn’t actually be lost, however). I flirted with new art here and there, and created sparingly, until I moved to Portland and started medical school in 2017. Then, my practice of art unfolded, and I began to paint live at music venues and small festivals (if you wish to book me for a show or festival, just email me!). Still, my practice was sporadic, until I finally decided to integrate into the community and join a studio, where my productivity has increased tremendously, as well as my growth.

Healing path

Likely, I have always been on this path, just as I have been on the path of a creator. I connected with crystals for the first time when I was about 5 years old in a gift shop in the mountains of New Hampshire. My earliest memory is of scooping up a frog and disappearing into the woods for 6 hours while my father and pregnant mother were setting up the camper (to their absolute dismay, I think I was about 2 1/2). During my childhood, I would dream of flying and fantasy worlds. My friends and I would try to scry on distant places and open our third eyes, without even having exposure to the idea. I grew up in haunted land, and would attempt every night not to get possessed. My friends and I would try to hunt the grim reaper and all sorts of childhood shenanigans. In my adolescence, I discovered Carlos Castenada and Steven LeBerge, and began to astral project and lucid dream. As a teenager, I began to waken to the strife of the world, especially after 9/11, and was exposed to the humanitarian crisis and the horrors of the industrial severing of humankind from nature by such books as The Education of Little Tree, Mabel McKay, and Mary Summer Rain’s books.

After several health crises and extensive medical trauma in my family, I left out west in 2005 to discover myself and calling, knowing that there was more to healing than western medicine. I eagerly devoured material involving dreams, mysticism, shamanic traditions, and the occult. I attended undergraduate school with a major in cultural anthropology, and was fascinated by the different healing arts disciplines around the world. Ultimately, I found that path did not resonate with me – I wanted to learn those healing techniques, not just study them.

In early 2007, I was tripping in Nederland, Colorado while our band was on tour, and came across a hut near the center of town which was shaped like a mushroom, and decided I needed to speak with them in the morning. So, after a magical night where we serendipitously happened upon a bar that had just that day opened up and was hosting a band from Alaska, where we were welcomed to play (and we killed it), was hosted at a lovely artist’s home, we stopped by the hut to speak with the owners. They turned out to be mycologists (can you tell that I use synchronicity as my guide-posts?), and made mushroom tinctures for health and wellness. That was a thing, and I could do that, too? My word exploded. I had thought all of that was dead and all that was left was the machine.

My healing path truly began that Summer, when I attended Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, AZ until 2011. The programs I completed include: AOS: holistic health care, herbalism, Reiki master teacher, Polarity therapy, and Craniosacral therapy. Additionally, I attended courses in hypnotherapy, life coaching, medicine wheel (ancestor healing), and energy anatomy. I spent time with Shipibo curenderas in 2009, and was initiated in Munay-Ki in 2012, which is an Andean shamanic practice. After collecting all of these modalities and practicing on my own for a year, I felt that I needed more credentialing for legitimacy’s sake. Thus, I decided to become a Naturopathic Doctor, and began the long haul through academia to get there.

I graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ in 2015 with a bachelor of science in biology and a minor in chemistry. My main focus was human biology, with additional coursework in environmental microbiology, bioremediation, creative writing, mythology, and world religions and spirituality. I then spent a year reflecting and working with adults with developmental disabilities, and another year taking care of my father who was struggling with cancer and myriad other health problems. I then attended National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM), and graduated in July, 2022. While practicing as a primary intern, I was able to work at several community clinics with underserved populations. While at NUNM clinic, my focuses included mental health, primary care, vitalism, homeopathy, herbalism, manual therapy, trans-gender care, male and female bodied sexual health. During the COVID pandemic, I took a year off of school and worked in an assisted living and memory care community, gaining a unique perspective into aging and death.

I currently practice Druidry within a Grove, and my lineage includes Lakota Blackfeet tribe and Avalonian ancestry.

Philosophy

We came here, or at least, I came here, to help heal this Earth place. To help us grow into the utopia. The birthright. The dream. The humanity that says yes to sustainability and technology, that explores the stars and lives in harmony and respect for the earth and her ecosystems, accepts that we are more than just random particles dancing, and have rhythms, cycles, aspects beyond the physical.

What I love the most in the world (besides Love itself) is expansion and intimacy: when we open up the moment together and let it unfold into its vast potential. As Alan Watts (one of my great heroes) so eloquently proposed, “Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.” Connecting with others, learning platonic touch, sexual touch, going deep and exploring both the feel goods and the ick of life in all its vast spectrum of experience - that’s my jam, right there. I’ve been fascinated by philosophy, mythology, science, spirituality, religion, and self-growth since I was a child, and that has only strengthened over time. I incorporate my collected wisdom into both my art and my medicine practice.

I’m a person who has dealt with a lot of suffering in my life, and has learned how to help people, including myself.

I grew up with cycles of abuse, unconscious loving, and codependency. I grew up with love and friendship and growth and beauty, too. I have grown to acknowledge, understand, and work towards healing. My relationships have gone from reliving the lessons I had thought I had learned to consciously choosing a co-creative dynamic flow of honoring truth and allowing reality, reparenting myself and living an authentic life that challenges the generational trauma I have endured and embodies the ideology of what being awakened truly means in this world.

My people are truly my people. I vibe with my tribe. I live a blessed life. I do this because I choose Love over fear, control, possession, scarcity, and desparation. I must, or I am devoured by depression. I fail and I fail and I succeed, and you know what? I keep doing the deep Earth natural wizard thing.

I listen. I love. I respect. I acknowledge. I pace. I breathe. I act. I flow. I love. I surrender. I embrace. I allow. I allow the death of what I thought I knew every moment to allow my life to flourish. I am a Spiritual Scientist. I’m also very human: I can also be stubborn and foolish, impulsive and irresponsible, as selfish as I am selfless and giving. I do my work, and sometimes rebel.

I consider myself an instrument. A vessel through which the energies of the Universe may manifest, a servant of Life. I strive to be humble (yet confident) and compassionate in this and all that I do.

Welcome to my online workshop, where I turn my dreams and the thoughts I sweep up from the wide wild world of imagination into realities for you to enjoy (and I hope that you do!) and learn from, so you don’t have to learn lessons the hard way.

Qualifications

2022: Graduated NUNM as a Naturopathic Doctor.

2015: I graduated Summa Cum Laude from NAU with a BS Biology and a minor in chemistry, mainly specializing in medical and environmental microbiology, human tissue biology, and molecular biology. I also dabbled (academically) in philosophy, spirituality, and religion.

20011: Left SWIHA to try to create a sustainable community in Texas and ended up failing at life pretty drastically.

2009: Graduated SWIHA with AOS in Holistic Healthcare: emphasis on herbalism, Reiki, polarity therapy, craniosacral therapy, and life coaching. Went to the Amazon jungle and held ceremony with Shipibo curenderas for a month and a half. Before the year was over, I was attending more classes, seeking out a second AOS in Transpersonal Psychology (means to an ends to finish Reiki and Polarity therapy, plus learn some hypnotism and almost finish Yoga teacher training).

For six years, I studied art under a private tutor while I was a teenager. Bob Boroski was a wonderful teacher (Bob Boroski School of Art), and started learning from my Grandfather when I was just two.

I've written several novels that sit in dust. One that I self published, and am working on rewriting for mainstream. Two others have been started, while another three lie dormant.

Contact

artmagic@derekleiss.com