Golden Drum is pleased to announce the launch of ARA Healing Arts School, guided by community members Brooke Hamre Gillespie and Nicole Adriana Casanova. ARA Healing Arts honors and integrates the sacred traditions of humanity that support awakening, consciousness, and holistic healing. Brooke and Nicole bring over twenty years each of dedicated study and practice in traditional healing arts and spiritual lineages.
This year-long, 150-hour training program, beginning in September 2026, supports personal healing and awakening, while also addressing interpersonal and planetary healing across all levels of relationship—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. The course is designed to cultivate awareness, balance, and responsibility in how we relate to ourselves, others, and the world.
ARA Healing Arts School Apprenticeship is open to participants of all experience levels. Throughout the year, students will be introduced to a wide range of healing modalities and practices, including breath, dance, sound, sacred art, lightwork, astrology, yoga, Reiki, tarot, earth-based traditions, elemental work, Ayurveda, and other complementary healing techniques. Our training also illuminates friendship and good relationships as crucial for ongoing growth and well-being in our lives.
This extended format allows for a deep and holistic exploration of the healing arts, providing sustained support for each participant’s inner journey. Unlike short-term or weekend-based training, this year-long container offers the time, continuity, and personal guidance necessary to develop a grounded, foundational, and integrated healing practice. The program is intentionally designed to support long-term growth, self-awareness, and embodiment, fostering expanded consciousness, heightened sensitivity, and open-hearted presence.
The first year of ARA Healing Arts School focuses on self-discovery as the foundation of healing work. Participants will explore energetic anatomy, including the chakras and subtle bodies, as well as sound, frequency, astrology, embodiment practices, energetic hygiene, and the unique modalities that resonate with each individual’s healing path. As the year progresses, participants will also begin learning how to work with others, with an emphasis on ethical practice, self-awareness, and continual personal healing. Guest teachers will be invited throughout the year to share their specialized knowledge and lived experience with participants.
In addition, students will have the opportunity to participate in two immersive retreats: one held in Upstate New York and a second longer retreat offered at a location to be determined. These retreats provide an opportunity to step away from the rhythms of daily life and enter a dedicated learning environment where participants can deepen their practice, strengthen community connections, engage in ceremony, and experience extended periods of hands-on training, reflection, and personal transformation in a supportive and nature-based setting. Retreat information will be given upon registration in the course.
Through a combination of online and in-person workshops, activations, and experiential learning, participants are guided through a heart-centered journey designed to bring the mind, body, heart, and spirit into deeper alignment—with the self, the Earth, the cosmos, and all relations.
To join this life-affirming apprenticeship program FILL OUT THIS FORM and Brooke and Nicole will set up an interview with you.
INVESTMENT:
Early Bird (Prior to September 1st, 2026) $2799 (payment plans available)
Regular (Post September 1st, 2026) $3299 (payment plans available)
ARA HA Full Year-Long Schedule with Module Descriptions*
All weekday modules are from 7pm to 10pm, and will be held online via Zoom, except for the Reiki Level 1 and Reiki Level 2 initiations.*
Some modules will be available for à la carte individual registration, and they will be posted online as individual events. The modules available for à la carte registration will be announced once the program begins.
None of the Reiki Initiation modules will be offered à la carte.
The Reiki Level 1 & 2 Initiation days are scheduled in-person from 12pm to 8pm.
Month 1 - November 2026
Module 1: Opening ARA HA | The Path of Healing - Tuesday, November 3rd
Module 2: Intertribal Healing Practices - Tuesday, November 19th
Month 2 - December 2026
Module 3: The Power of Intention - Tuesday, December 1st
Module 4: The Reiki Tradition - Tuesday, December 15th
Month 3 - January 2027
Module 5: 4 Elements & The 7 Directions - Tuesday, January 12th
Module 6: Study of the 7 Chakras | The Energy Body - Tuesday, January 26th
Module 7: Reiki Level 1 Initiation - Sunday, January 31st
Month 4 - February 2027
Winter Break
Month 5 - March 2027
Module 8: Intro to Energetic Hygiene | Psychic Space - Tuesday, March 2nd
Module 9 : Personal Astrology - Tuesday, March 16th
Module 10 : Psychology & Numerology - Tuesday, March 30th
Month 6 - April 2027
Module 11 : Healing Archetypes & Tarot - Tuesday, April 6th
Module 12 : Ayurveda and healthy lifestyle - Tuesday, April 20th
Month 7 - May 2027
Module 13: True Voice - Vocal Opening & Exploration - Tuesday, May 11th
Module 14: Reiki Level 2 Preparation - Tuesday, May 25th
Month 8 - June 2027
Module 15: Working with Crystals and Crystal Spreads - Tuesday, June 1st
Module 16: Sound Meditation and Healing Art - Tuesday, June 15th
Month 9 - July 2027
Module 17: Reiki Level 2 Initiation - July 10th and 11th
Month 10 - August 2027
Module 18: Level 2 Practice - Tuesday, August 10th
Module 19: Moving Beyond Addiction - Tuesday, August 24th
Month 11 - September 2027
Module 20: Traditional Herbal Medicine for Wellbeing - Tuesday, September 14th
Module 21: Lunar Knowledge - Tuesday, September 28th
Month 12 - October 2027
Module 22: Shamanic Western Medicine & The Medical System - Tuesday, October 12th
Module 23: Community Reiki Practice & Closing Celebration - Tuesday October 26th
Regarding the Schedule:
*This programming may change to include the presence of elders and guests staying at the Golden Drum.
*This is the proposed schedule, and we will maintain it to the best of our ability. If something needs to be rescheduled due to unforeseen circumstances, we will do our best to give participants ample time to reshape their schedule.
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Brooke Hamre Gillespie is devoted to supporting humanity’s awakening to peace from within through self-healing practices, sound, yoga, astrology, music, education, sacred arts, and earth-based wisdom traditions. A student of Maestro Manuel Rufino and the Universal Initiatic College, an initiatory path weaving together the sacred traditions of humanity, Brooke has explored healing modalities from cultures around the world in service of cultivating a global community rooted in peace, love, and universal wisdom.
She is a founding member of Dream Seed, a sound-healing collective that brings together sounds and music from cultures around the world alongside original compositions. With over 20 years of experience studying, practicing, and sharing the healing arts, Brooke remains a dedicated student of life and the Spirit, continuously learning and expanding her knowledge and understanding. She is married and the mother of two beautiful boys.
Nicole Adriana Casanova is of Taino descent and a devoted student of Maestro Manuel Rufino, the Universal Initiatic College and the Intertribal Altar. She is a servant to the Earth, the Great Spirit and Humanity. Nicole has been studying, practicing and teaching different traditional health, wisdom, and healing modalities for over 20 years, offering transformational workshops, training, corporate wellness programs, and retreats all over the world.