Bill Spear

Internationally recognized educator, consultant, author and lecturer on integrative medicine, disaster response, feng shui, the I Ching, end-of-life care, and personal transformation. His clarity and ability to synthesize complex and diverse material is inspiring, insightful and empowering.

Feng Shui

Bill Spear is among the most highly sought-after and gifted feng shui experts in the world. Acknowledged by the Smithsonian Institute as “the leading authority in the West”, Spear guides clients beyond the typical historical and traditional confines of this vast cosmology to apply this art, science and philosophy in a broader context making it something modern and vital.

For the past four decades, Spear has consulted on design projects worldwide that include hotels, schools, exclusive resorts, corporate offices, private residences, hospitals, healthcare centers and large urban transformations.

He brings a profound grasp of the energetics of inner and outer spaces as well as a deep understanding of human nature revealing how the outer world is reflected in the intricacies of individual consciousness.

Instead of reactive feng shui often applied merely as a synonym for interior decorating, Spear’s wisely observed and proactive feng shui approach offers empowering design recommendations that prevent problems from arising rather than waiting for them to occur. By carefully examining the deeper meaning, the inner nature and the characteristics of a property in relationship to its owners and occupants, Spear uncovers ways to change fixed patterns of behavior and remove obstructions to thinking and behavior achieving not only “good fortune” but also a palpable auspiciousness and a prevailing atmosphere of harmony. This is the basis of Spear’s unique difference: his insight and skill lead to a grand, luminous result.

“Although feng shui is commonly defined as the “art of placement”, its true essence is a more encompassing and substantive exploration of the fundamental nature of the energetics of consciousness. While front door and cornerstone locations are key elements to “external” feng shui, it is the architecture of consciousness that distinguishes placements which endure the test of time.” – Bill Spear

Author of Feng Shui Made Easy: Designing Your Life With the Ancient Art of Placement (North Atlantic Books, 2010). First published in 1995 by HarperCollins, the book has been translated into twelve languages. It was hailed by the New York Times as “the most user-friendly explanation of feng shui for American audiences.”

1993 Spear served as the first honorary President of the International Feng Shui Society in London.

Has taught feng shui around the globe to the general public and professional associations of architects, interior decorators, landscape architects healthcare designers and others. Has been keynote speaker at many international conferences since the 1980s. He is the teacher of many of
today’s feng shui educators.

Spear is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office as the exclusive holder of the Intuitive Feng Shui® service mark.

Second Response

Reducing the incidences of PTSD in children through body-centered exercises after natural disasters

Following a natural disaster, approximately 90% of children will readjust to normalcy as a result of their innate resilience, family, and community support and, if needed, a variety of mental health interventions. The remaining 10% of children will experience PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and other pathologies.

Spear, founder and Executive Director of Second Response, shifts the PTSD treatment paradigm in conjunction with mental health teams in disaster stricken communities. Caregivers are trained in body-centered, effective interventions, which significantly reduce PTSD thereby preventing what was previously believed to be unavoidable. Following decades of experience in disaster response worldwide, Second Response’s effective protocols, called PLAYshops, have reached more than 100,000 children from culturally diverse populations.

While the children experience pure fun, in actuality PLAYshops guide children through a series of body-centered, carefully crafted, non-verbal exercises that help children release grief, anger and fear, and return them to joy, safety and homeostasis.

Second Response is committed to expanding its successful programs by reaching thousands more children through targeted outreach, training, and collaboration. This means expanding capacity before the ground shakes in order to train local providers to respond effectively. Second Response is proactively helping communities through training programs like FEMA’s CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) members as well as close work with emergency managers, mental health providers, first responders, and community groups.

Spear has led PTSD relief efforts for children in:

  • Croatia, several trips in the 1990s during Balkan conflicts
  • Chelyabinsk, Ukraine, 1990 working directly with children of survivors of the 1957 nuclear waste disaster
  • Sri Lanka 2005, following the December 26th, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
  • Central Java 2006, May 17th earthquake in the Bantul region
  • Samoa 2009, September 30th tsunami
  • Japan 2011, March 11th earthquake and tsunami
  • New York 2012, October 29th “Super-storm” Sandy
  • Philippines 2014, November 8th, 2013 Typhoon Yolanda
  • Delivered the keynote address, Building Resilient Communities, at the 6th Annual Connecticut Citizen Corps Council Conference in Westbrook, CT on September 4, 2013 to an audience of 400.
  • Conducted a PLAYshop training at the Wisdom House in Litchfield, CT on January 11, 2014 for FEMA, CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) members and the general public.
  • During the May 8-9, 2014 Disaster Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Sustainable Reconstruction at the Univ. of Massachusetts in Boston, Spear will present and be a panelist during the session on Response and Recovery Efforts After Disasters.

Mental Health

In 1967, recognizing the level of mistrust in the mainstream delivery model and the abundance of runaways, Spear founded one of the first suicide-prevention hotlines and free clinics in the Midwest US. He now draws from more than four decades of work in mental health, crisis counseling, disaster response and in-depth training with the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center.

Spear has been a principal caregiver for many terminally ill persons and their families; additionally, he has worked extensively with drug abusers and prisoners on death row. He has advised healthcare providers and hospice workers about end of life, and in 2003 helped design the first free-standing hospice in the state of Maine. At the Symposium on Healthcare Design in 2002 he gave a presentation on Understanding Environments that Nourish Body, Mind and Spirit at the End of Life. In 2003, the topic Spear presented was Energy and Medicine: Addressing the Unique Design Needs of Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine.

At the heart of Spear’s work his powerful, five-day retreat and experiential workshop, The Passage: A Journey that Transforms Life, which he has conducted since 1987 in North America, Europe and Australia. The workshop draws on years of work in bio-energetics, in-depth training with the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center, Tibetan lama Sogyal Rinpoche and three decades of assisting people face unresolved issues, illness, life challenges, and whatever inhibits a person from experiencing life fully in the present moment.

Spear serves as a member of The Special Advisory Board for Developmental Delay Recourses, a nonprofit organization dedicated to meeting the needs of those working with children who have developmental delays in sensory motor, language, social, and emotional areas. He also served for two years as a member of the Building Committee on the Board of Education in Litchfield, CT where he resides with his family.

Macrobiotics

Spear is an original faculty member of the Kushi Institute and remains one of only a handful of certified senior macrobiotic teachers and counselors. Macrobiotics considers all factors that influence our lives including diet, lifestyle, the environment, climate and geography. Spear was featured in the September-October 1997 issue of Macrobiotics Today. As well as contributing to many books on health, Spear had articles published in the East West Journal: “The Beat Goes On” about the correlation between diet and heart disease. He and his wife, Joan, actively promoted macrobiotics through their popular East West Center in Middletown, CT from 1977 to 1986. In 1979, they opened The Bridge, a manufacturer of traditional-style organic tofu, amasake, seitan and other items that remain as enduring examples of local and regional high quality, local artisan-produced natural foods. Under new ownership, The Bridge is still in operation.

Fortunate Blessings Foundation

Spear’s non-profit work, originally launched in 1983, is dedicated to education for the well-being of human life and the environment. The Foundation, of which Spear is the president and founder, offers studies on the effect of the environment on health and the relationship of diet to disease. Internationally, Spear conducts educational programs and projects that acknowledge our common unity as one family on this small planet. As a part of this focus, Spear launched the Silent Oceans Trust in 1998 with the goal of bringing the issue of low-frequency sonar and other sources of underwater noise and their threat to marine mammals to the attention of environmentalists. Within two years, the National Resources Defense Council issued a White Paper on the subject, attracting public awareness and action from both the US and globally.

Media

Spear has appeared in media in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the United Arab Emirates, including features on CNN, the BBC, the CBS Morning Show and others. He has spoken before the United Nations Macrobiotic Staff Group, appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health and Aging, and the National Academy of Sciences in Leningrad.

Spear maintains a private practice in Washington, CT and New York City.