Meet Benson Simmonds: energy healer, spiritual life coach and artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Benson Simmonds and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Benson, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I LOVE this question because it applies so well to personal life, to business life, to every aspect of life. We hold back from taking risks for one reason – fear. Every moment boils down to making the same choice. Do I choose fear or love? One of the spiritual axioms seems to be – the more light you can bring to the world, the more you can contribute to the world through a particular action or course of action, the more fear you will have around it. The key to joy in al aspects of life is to more through fear and take the risk – whether it’s asking someone out, asking someone to marry you, starting the business you’ve always dreamed of, or taking a simple step out of your comfort zone. The key to taking risks is to focus on your desire to contribute until it becomes greater than your fear of what people will think of you, etc. In my book Soular Power, I explain that we all have two operating systems, our default system is our ego system, which is a drive or desire baed on fear, lack and limitation. Ego system is always afraid and trying to keep us “Safe”. fortunately we have another system which I call our Soular system, i.e. “Soul” ar system,, which is a drive or desire based on joy, love expansion and CONTRIBUTION. Within this drive we are always being inspired to take more and more risks in order to contribute more and more to ourselves and the world. If we done;t take risks we don’t grow. I’ve been n awarenesses-winning actor. As an actorI was trained to get comfortable being uncomfortable. I can’t tell you how many times I was terrified of making a big choice on stage or on film, but I did countless times and I was always thrilled when I did. I’m also a painter and have had many art shows. Every time I I was about to discover something new. I’d hear a voice from within tell me to do something completely different and it scared me especially the week before a big solo show was out to open. But as an artist I thought I had no choice so I plunged right in and took the leap. And it was the best choice possible. But I don’t want you to think that magically every time you take a risk everyone is thrilled with it. It takes guts to listen to the voice of your soul within. Sometimes the risk is met with so much resistance that it makes you question your choice. But in order to be happy and contribute the most to yourself and others, you have to willing to trust yourself and know that it is for the best and eventually others will recognize it.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
another great question. I guess my brand across the board is about helping people awaken the power of their soul. It’s behind my creativity as An energy healer and spiritual life coach. It’s behind my life as an actor and writer, It’s the reason why I paint and have had many shows. I’ve actually just completed writing a TV pilot with my writing partner which is a spiritual comedy and I’m excited about it because it something that’s never been done before. Behind everything I do is an incredibly strong creative desire to express and honor what’s in my soul and to have the courage to share it with others. It definitely has not been easy. But it has been incredibly rewarding. My career as an actor was going nowhere in Canada and I thought if I don’t get work soon I’m going to mug people and make them listen to me act. And a light bulb went off. That would be a cool idea for a short film,. So against all odds I wrote a script about a “theatrical mugging”. I pressed on and eventually got it made and was fortunate to get nominated for and win awards for it. but it took so much work and belief and determination and sleepless nights. But I knew I had to do it. I learned that I had to trust my instincts. It was too painful not too. Same thing when I started painting.. It was just a hobby at first but there was a passion within that wouldn’t;t be silenced. Believe my I tried to silence it, but eventually I ad to honor the passion to paint and work on my craft. as an actor I was super well trained and taught acting. But when it came to painting I was completely self-taught and I just worked at it and worked at it until a gallery that had rejected me months before, not only accepted me but put one of my paintings in the window of an opening in a group show with some of Canada’s well known and respected artists. then when came to LA, the divine had other plans for me. I was so sick of constantly being in fear as an actor and dealing as an acting teacher with other’s fears, that I stopped everything and took time off to meditate, heal and learn what was driving my fear and my need for outside approval. That’s when I wrote my book Soular Power and I started using principles from the book to help all kinds of people have the courage to take risks and have richer happier lives. Then about 10 years ago I met and apprenticed with energy master Bentzion Bar ami and things came together. Again, it was a lot of hard work. But with eveything I’ve done, it was hard work but it hard work doing something I LOVE. I practiced daily for months until I could feel so much light coming out of my hands. I started sharing with friends and people wanted to come see me to help them in all areas of their life. I then developed new channeled techniques to help people and my energy healing practice grew. It’s always been the same process. You know inside you have the talent and the internal voice tells you you can do it without a doubt. But it’s scary to keep trusting your internal divine instincts. It’s always the same kinds of questions, can I support myself doing this? what will people think? Can I really do this. But life is about learning to listen to your internal creative voice. it’s about finding the courage to honor that voice and act on it. Because our internal voice come from a higher place and they always know what’s not only best for us, but best for others. For how we can contribute most to the world.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I LOVE Nature so I would take them to Franklin canyon. I’d take them for a great drive along the coast of Mailbu and stop off at one of the beaches. I’d probably get them to come to Sequoia National Park to see and be with the Redwoods. I’d take them to Big Bear. I eat Kosher so assuming we could eat in restaurants again, I’d take them to one of my faves. Real Food Daily on LA Cienga. To Shilo’s on Pico. to any of the great fresh juice bars. I’d take them to art galleries all over the city.including LACMA, they used to have a free concert series in the gallery, so id take them to one or more of those. I still haven’t been down to the Broad downtown so I’d go there. I probably also take them to see some iconic architecture from Frank Loyd Wright to Frank Gehry etc, since I’m an architecture lover as well. For a powerful fun and joyous spiritual experience, whether they were Jewish or not, I’d take them to my second home known as the Happy Minyan, a Carlebach synagogue which is one of the most authentically spiritual and joyous places anywhere in the world. I’m blessed to have many friend who are musicians and I’d take the visiting friend to one of my musician friends live concerts. You can’t just sit in your seat when you come in. eventually you will be inspired to get up and sing and dance. In my whirlwind tour I’d try to take them to Big Sur as well which is amazing, nature inspires you to connect to the deepest part of you. Of course when a friend visits it’s important to find out what THEY like, so I’d want to work around the things they lost so we could enjoy and discover together. there’s so much of everything in this city and it’s surroundings that it’s easy to entertain guests The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The list is endless. First to David Pearl for recommending that you contact me. he’s an amazing holy soul.I’d have to first start by thanking the divine, God Mother Earth, the universe, the collective unconscious, whatever name you give it. it’s the power that is within all of us and yet bigger than us at the same time. Infinite unconditional love, joy, expansion and contribution. then I’d shout out to my parent I haven who gave me an incredibly strong foundation to the right thing. I joke endlessly about how my parents, my mother particularly wanted me to be a dentist even though I never expressed any interest in dentistry. It’s not like I ran around the house as a teenager reading books like “the Joy of Dentures”, but somehow my mother got it in her head that that would be the safe way to “do well”. I spent years as a professional actor and each year I’d still get applications to dental school in the mail. But my parents eventually cam round and supported my choices as an actor, artist, teacher and energy healer. I have to shout out my energy healing mentor, Bentzion Bar Ami who taught me a 2000 year old Jewish mystical form of energy healing which I use with my clients now. He also taught me to trust my instincts and since studying with him I have been blessed to channel many new techniques to help myself and my clients. shout out to my acting teacher vans Chubbuck who always pushed e to take risks. I’m also blessed to have amazing friends, colleagues and a few ex-girlfriends who really believed in ma along the way. I’m grateful to all of my energy healing clients for their trust and their willingness to look within and move through blocks to become the people they know they can be and are. There are soooo sooo many people I’m grateful to.

Website: joyhealer.com
Instagram: @gosoular
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benson-simmonds-79494a4/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/applaudordie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benson.simmonds
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAn5hbTxe2Y&t=24s,

Image Credits
Elisabeth Caren photographer