About Ron NaVarre
Ron NaVarre is the founder of Stress Defense, Inc. He has taught seminars on stress management, self-healing, effective communication and peak performance training to fortune 500 companies, business professionals, and performers. As an actor, dancer, singer, director and choreographer, Ron has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Television, Commercials, and Industrial Theater. He has taught at Fordham University at Lincoln Center, New York University, and the Pacific Institute of Chinese Medicine. In the healing arts, Ron has taught mindfulness meditation, yoga, tai chi, qiqong, and Rei Qong for over forty years. For the last fifteen years he has been working with cancer patients and post-surgical patients as an energy therapist and spiritual counselor and is currently teaching tai chi and peak performance training to professional actors at the renowned Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in New York City.
Video & Phone Coaching
Appointments are scheduled through email. Zoom, Skype, Facetime, and Phone sessions are available.
Private Training
Tai Chi, Qi Qong, Rei Qong, Breathwork, and Counseling
Media & Key Note Speaker
Corporate Key Note, Speaking, Television, Radio and Seminars
RON’S STORY
I began my martial art training at the age of ten in the Korean style of Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do and Hapkido with master Jae Joon Kim outside of Detroit, Michigan. At age sixteen I began to study Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwan Do with master Ron Rose and also became interested in theater and dance in high school. My interest in theater took me to the Interlochen National Arts Academy at age seventeen where I received a scholarship for classical ballet and choreographic studies. Upon graduating high school I received a full scholarship to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Canada where I trained as a dancer, teacher and choreographer.
When I was nineteen I awoke one morning to a searing pain in both my knees and could not stand up. I had developed patella tendonitis. The injury to my knees was devastating. I was informed by my orthopedic sports doctor that my dancing career was over. I spent six months in intensive physical therapy, another three months learning how to walk and move without crutches. Toward the end of my rehab process I met a talented massage therapist from Russia and was introduced to deep tissue reconstructive massage. Within two months I was walking and moving freely and was able to resume my dance training to the astonishment of my sports doctor. During my recovery, I shifted my focus from performing to teaching and choreographing until I was strong enough to perform again.
At the age of twenty one, I left Canada and came to New York City where I was hired to perform in a touring Company of the Broadway Musical "A Chorus Line". While in rehearsals I injured my lower back. In a frantic search to find a massage therapist I was introduced to Shiatsu, a Japanese form of acupressure massage. After one session I was 80% better and was able to continue rehearsals for the show. After returning from my tour I studied Shiatsu with Dr. David Taylor and was asked to join the Broadway company of "A Chorus Line." I began my own practice as a Shiatsu Therapist at the age of twenty four.
While performing on Broadway I continued to study martial arts (Aikido and Tai Chi) and alternative healing modalities. At the age of twenty five I began my studies in Taoist esoteric yoga and qi qong with master Mantak Chia, at age twenty six I continued my studies in Chinese Herbology, Tui Na, medical qi qong and tai chi with the estimable Taoist medical priest Jeffry C. Yuen. At age twenty seven I began studying Yoga and Gyrotonic with Juliu Horvath and Hilary Cartwright at the White Cloud Yoga Studio. After three years of training I was asked to become a yoga teacher at the White Cloud Studio in New York City where I taught for three years. My energetic training continued with Ron and Robert Baker where I became a Reiki master and Bio-Energetic Therapist in 2003. In 2004 I received my ordination as an Interfaith Minister from the Sanctuary of the Beloved in New York State.
In 1993 after almost 12 years of performing, choreographing and directing I decided to shift my focus and my career to the healing arts. I created Stress Defense Inc.® and began teaching holistic health and healing classes and seminars.
The synthesis of the martial, healing and performing arts has proven to be very successful. I have taught Stress Defense® seminars for Prudential Securities, Columbia University, New York University, The Pacific Institute of Oriental Medicine, The Dorot Center for senior citizens, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, The Mattel Corporation, the Girl Scouts of America, Bally's Total Fitness, Origins Cosmetics, Becton Dickinson, CRS Center and The New York Real-Estate Association in Manhattan. I have been featured at the International Tai Chi Festival In Central Park in NYC, Free Spirit Magazines Health and Fitness Forum, The Wall Street Journal, Yoga New England, West Side Spirit Magazine, Discovery channels Health and Fitness channel, and on Good Day New York.
As an adjunct professor, I have taught at The Pacific Institute of Oriental Medicine (one year), Fordham University at Lincoln Center (eight years), and New York University through the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute (twenty-one years) in New York City. In addition, I taught Yoga at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center for fourteen years. I am currently on the teaching staff of the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute where I teach tai chi, qi qong and Internal energy arts. I hold a private practice as a Certified Energy Therapist and spiritual counselor in New York City.