“Welcome to OneRhythm Yoga + Massage + Sound”
About John Scott McPherson RMT/RYT
JS graduated from Fleming College`s highly regarded three year Massage Therapy program where he practiced the words “no pain, much to gain”. Presented with the Aranka De Szegheo Award for outstanding clinic and outreach placement, JS`s passion for helping people with the healing arts is clearly communicated through his creative and warm hands.
JS`s background as a professional percussionist, and his experience in teaching Djembe (known as “The Healing Drum”) enables him to approach therapeutic massage from a unique perspective earning him recognition as a “tapotement specialist”. JS combines sports, medical, orthopedic, and holistic modalities in order to facilitate symmetry of the body within a relaxation framework. JS practices a variety of techniques such as trigger point therapy, myofascial release, soft tissue release, rhythmical mobilization, hydrotherapy and sports massage. JS utilizes a collaborative approach, balancing current knowledge, with a customized treatment plan to continuously improve your well being and restore symmetry of the body.
JS comes with a history of having alternative medicine healers in his family. His father practiced as a Polarity Therapist, his mother as an Aromatherapist, and his grandmother treated polio with massage therapy in the 1950`s. After skiing competitively in Banff, surfing in Australia, and performing as a drummer and sound healer, JS and his family have come to settle in Durham, West Grey. As an integrative therapist, JS also provided massage therapy to elite athletes during the 2015 Pan Am games, and continues to facilitate “healing drum” circles, sound healing, and teach kundalini yoga in Ontario.
“The physician must be experienced in many things, but most assuredly in rubbing (anatripsis). “For rubbing can bind a joint that is too loose, and loosen a joint that is too rigid”- Hippocrates: 460-380 B.C.
My integrative approach
I first began my journey through sound with the drum. I created OneRhythm as a way to bring people together through the power of “all things rhythm”. Although I began playing drum kit in high school, my passion for hand drumming and world rhythms was ignited on the west coast 30 years ago where I performed on the streets of Victoria B.C with fire dancers. Inspired by Mickey Hart`s Planet Drum, I crossed the Pacific Ocean with a drum on my back to “play my way” around the world guided by “source” and the universal language of rhythm. My love for rhythm keeps reminding me of my most simple and joyous expression, burning like the “fierce sun”. I like to weave African, Indian, Middle Eastern, Latin, and sonic sound vibrations together to create rhythm alchemy that supports you on a “magic carpet”of sound medicine.
Inspired by the African Djembe, also known as “The Healing Drum”, I facilitate drum circles with a wide variety of students which guide us to play in the vibratory field with rhythms that help us to experience a deep sense of connection with ourselves and with each other. Another“fire”has been lit in my heart as I continue on the path of sacred sound. Guided by other Kirtan artists such as Shantdeep and Brenda McMorrow, my strong impetus towards the power of chanting mantras has led me to the study of Kundalini Yoga, and the magic of “sound as medicine”. I love to share my teachings, and offer group drumming, chanting, yoga, and sound healing at events, festivals, or yoga studios. I also love to accompany professional dancers with soundscape journeys. I continue to develop the practice of “sound as medicine” coupled with yoga, or massage, to offer an integrative, and unique rhythmic healing experience.
“Everything in the universe is energy. All energy is movement, all movement is vibration, and all vibration is sound. Like a tuning fork for a piano, sound medicine will restore the body to its optimum attunement.”- Edgar Cayce
Education/ Courses/ Certificates/ memberships
Registered Massage Therapist (RMT) with the CMTO
Member of the Registered Massage Therapists Association of Ontario
Advanced Diploma in Massage Therapy / Fleming College 2012
Aranka De Szegheo Memorial Award for outstanding clinic/outreach placement / Fleming College 2012
Registered Massage Therapist for the 2015 Pan American Games
Graduate of the RYT 220 hour Kundalini Yoga program at Pranashanti Education Centre
Level 1 Instructor certification with the Kundalini Research Institute
Registered yoga teacher (RYT) with the Canadian Yoga Alliance
Sound healing certification with Medicine of Sound
Sound healing, yoga, and science with John Beaulieu ND, PhD/ Sivananda Ashram, Bahamas
Traditional African drumming study with M'Bembe Bangoura of Ballet Djoliba, Guinea, West Africa
Drum Circle facilitation with Arthur Hall
Percussionist, Facilitator, Producer, Sound Healer of OneRhythm
Dream it
Manifest the unmanifest. Allow your divine creative power to steadily gain the impetus to create form from the formless.
Build it
Strengthen your core, and harness that fire within to build courage, resilience, and the ability to persevere.