Johanna Manasse

Johanna Manasse is a certified Veriditas trained labyrinth facilitator who walks the labyrinth in her own backyard daily. She first experienced a labyrinth walk 15 years ago at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and began a journey back to her spiritual self. Years of immersion in all things labyrinth led her to Chartres, France and training in labyrinth facilitation with Dr. Lauren Artress who promoted the rebirth of labyrinth walking as a spiritual practice. Johanna beads labyrinths, creates temporary labyrinths indoors and outdoors, walks one with her fingers when weather is stormy, doodles and dreams this path that speaks to her soul.  She thrives on introducing this practice to others, holds monthly full moon walks on her property and welcomes the neighborhood children who delight in dashing barefoot on the sandy path.

With a varied career focused on ‘othering’, she taught high school English, developed life-skills curriculum for use within the Illinois Department of Corrections, trained and evaluated hundreds of teachers within correctional settings, edited educational journals and presented at national conferences, served as an advocate within the juvenile justice system, negotiated wholistic treatment plans for adjudicated adolescents among resistant state agencies,  raised a delightful daughter, travelled often far and wide, followed her dream of designing clothes, trained and managed social service workers,  created a blended family of four children and 5 grandchildren, managed her spouse’s orthodontic office for 12 years before blissfully retiring, all while gently and continuously exploring her soul path and service calling. That path is the labyrinth and the soul calling is to share it with everyone she can for as long as she has breath.

Johanna has BA in English, Southern Illinois University and MEd in Educational Administration, University of South Florida