Don Reed Simmons is a Visionary Consultant, Teacher and Public Speaker helping people and businesses find their balance within life in addition to being an accomplished film-maker and writer. He has worked as a crisis counselor in New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Honolulu. Using his skills of Intuition he has worked with thousands of clients over the last 25 years. As a Clinical Hypnotherapist he has helped many clients overcome various fears and phobias common and uncommon to everyday life.
Meditation has always been a part of Don's life since childhood and he has studied with some of the best including, Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh and the founder of Mindful Based Stress Reduction, Jon Kabat-Zinn. He has led meditation for many years with topics ranging from Compassion, Mindfulness Loving/Kindness, Ultimate Health, Ho'Oponopono and many, many more.
As a speaker, Don presented at Kennesaw State Universities 5th Annual International Conference on Peace and Religion where he spoke on "Meditation as a Personal Path to Peace" and was a featured speaker at the Annual Cancer Survivors Conference for St. Joseph Hospital in Atlanta. While living in Hawaii, Don was the "on-air guru" for KXME-FM in Honolulu. He has been a Guest Speaker at numerous conferences, churches and radio on meditation, sound therapy and intuition.
In 1993 he received certification as a Clinical Hypnotherapist and has used hypnosis to help many clients in behavior modification. He studied and was certified by Dr. Brian Weiss ("Many Lives, Many Masters") in 2009 as a Specialist in Past Life Regression. His CD "Past Life Regression" has sold hundreds of copies. While in Hawaii, Don participated in a pilot program at Queens Medical Center as a Guided Imagery practitioner for the Department of Pain Management.
Awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Universal Life Church in 2003, Don has performed many functions as a Officiant of significant occasions like weddings, funerals and Blessing Ceremonies.
Don is president of the International Sound Therapy Association (ISTA) where he created and implemented the Sacred Sound Ministry, a Global program teaching the power of Sound as a prayerful, healing modality. In addition, he created GB2, (Gongs, Bells & Bowls), a performance and outreach community of Sound Practitioners playing Gongs, Bells & Tibetan Bowls. He has led the organization as a Teacher in various Sound Therapy programs: Tibetan Bowl Certification; Sound 101, 202, 303 and Quartz Crystal Bowls.
In his film career he was a producer of the award winning docu-series "Mystic Lands" for The Discovery Channel; a producer for the 6 hour documentary "Pirate Tales" for TBS; was awarded the Pele Award Of Excellence for a series of PSA's for the Hawaii Suicide and Crisis Hotline and in 2008 won an ADDY Award in video for Jacob's Ladder, a school for learning disabled children. Earlier in his film career he worked on the TV series "Moonlighting" helping calm the nerves between the cast and crew. He was also a producer for the wildly successful advertising campaign "Spuds McKenzie" for Budweiser and became a close person friend to Spuds McKenzie who need no stress reduction.
Don holds classes and private sessions for Sound Healing, Meditation, Shamanism and Visionary Counseling. Currently he has produced 10 meditation CD's and has performed with legendary composers Steven Halpern and Jonn Serrie.
In 2015 Don created Visionary Business Consultants, specifically designed for the business executive to take advantage of his skills and to bring an innovative approach to business success. He has been a consultant to business leaders through out Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the US.
Institute of Mindful Living is an organization newly formed to bring awareness of Mindfulness in everyday living at home, at work, in schools ... in life.
A licensed pilot since the age of 16 and a certified SCUBA diver at 20, Don has experienced the highs and lows in life. Through it all he has followed the advice taught to him by one of his Master Teachers ... his mom ... through the poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley which she often quoted.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.