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Click below to view instructor bios
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Sam Coffman, Founder - Head Instructor
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Sam Coffman grew up exploring and learning about wilderness camping and woodcraft
at a very early age, as his family spent summers in isolated self-supporting wilderness
camps due to his father's job as a field geologist.
He has over 10 years of military experience as a U.S. Special Forces Medic, an interrogator
and a linguist. He studied botany and bioregional medicine both privately and at
several outdoor schools in Colorado. He taught herbology and wildcrafting for the
Boulder School of Natural Medicine and spent several years testing his own primitive
living skills throughout regions of the Rocky Mountains, in solitary survival excursions
with no equipment beyond a knife. He has also attended numerous survival-related
courses, both military and civilian, and has taught wilderness survival, tactics,
self defense and field medicine for the military as well as federal and local law
enforcement agencies.
Sam has over 25 years of martial arts experience both as a student and instructor
ranging in styles from traditional Chinese martial arts, to stick and knife fighting,
to Mixed Martial Arts and grappling.
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Avid naturalist and lover of the outdoors, Chris Hyde grew up exploring and learning
from the wild places around the Texas Hill Country. Using the Kamana Naturalist
Training Program, Chris learned how to understand and celebrate the interconnections
of natural diversity throughout the natural world.
Chris has completed multiple courses here at the Human Path including Primitive
Core Basic, Hunter Gatherer Level 1, and Herbology Level 1. Chris is also a graduate
from Earth Native Wilderness School's 9-Month Residential Program and Wildlife Tracking
Intensive where he earned a Level III Track & Sign Certification from CyberTracker
Conservation International.
Since then Chris has turned his love for nature into a passionate career in environmental
education for youth and adults using a teaching method that encourages curiosity,
motivation, and playfulness in nature. Chris is certified in Basic First Aid, CPR
and Wilderness First Aid through the Wilderness Medicine Institute. He enjoys skateboarding,
drawing, archery, tracking and botanical studies.
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Jason Shrader - Instructor
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Jason Shrader has extensive background as a stonemason and woodworker. As a caretaker
for many years on a large hill-country acreage, he has been able to spend a large
portion of time working with the local wood and stone of the region for both building
and primitive-skills related projects. Taking his longstanding interest in archery
to a new level as a bowyer, Jason has been building self-bows for several years.
His experience in the world of stone and wood, as well as his love of archery have
lent him considerable talent in his ability to create bows that are superlative
in both function and craftsmanship.
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Greg Pleasant - Instructor
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Greg Pleasant has spent a lifetime exploring the outdoors and is a life long learner
of practical knowledge. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout and was a backpacking
and canoeing guide, in New Mexico and Maine, while still a teenager.
Greg has been fortunate enough to have lived, worked and traveled in several states
and countries, gaining experience from different cultures. He used bow hunting as
a reason to explore many parts of the world.
Greg is a professional wildlife biologist with a Bachelor’s Degree in Range Wildlife
and Fisheries Management, and a Masters in Wildlife Science. He is a land manager,
conservationist and is interested in sustainable living. Greg is also certified
as a level 3 Track and Sign Interpreter with CyberTracker Conservation.
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Rodolfo Salazar - Instructor
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Continuing Education Coordinator for 20 First Responder Organization since 1995
to present under the auspices of the Emergency Health Sciences, School of Health
Professions at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas
(UTHSCSA). Instructor for Pre-hospital emergency medical personnel in emergency
care of the sick and wounded, to include personal safety and defensive tactics with
SAFD and the Bexar County First Responder Organization.
Certified as a Rappel Master and Swift Water Rescue Instructor.
Mandala Mandatus (Master)Instructor in Pekiti Tirsia Kali. Over 41 years of martial
arts experience including Kali, Kuntao, Judo, Shotokan and fencing. National fencing
competitor for 10 years.
Retired Major US Army, having taught U.S. Special Forces in the 300F1 Course (now
known as 18 Delta). Defensive Tactics and Emergency Medicine Instructor for numerous
Law Enforcement seminars and conferences, including the DPS academy and Texas Tactical
Police Officers Association. Private instructor for police, border patrol officers
and air marshals.
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Following an interest in traditional Scandinavian knifemaking, James began making
knives by stock removal in early 2001. In 2009, prompted by the desire to make damascus
steel, he acquired a small gas furnace and began making hand-forged blades, eventually
learning to make damascus from ABS Master Smith Harvey Dean in February 2011.
James' passion as a bladesmith centers around salvaging old, worn, or otherwise
discarded pieces of high carbon steel (i.e. automobile leaf and coil springs, bearing
races, worn out saw blades and files, broken plowshares, etc...) and giving them
new life on the anvil. He specializes in Scandinavian-style bushcraft knives, EDC's,
and hunters.
James teaches a series of blacksmithing and blademaking courses for The Human Path
that center around using reclaimed, recycled and found materials in novel ways.
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Scott Smithson - Instructor
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Scott has 12 years of both enlisted and commissioned military service, ranging from
combat engineer to the majority of experience in airborne and light infantry units.
Scott has studied several forms of martial arts over several decades, and holds
a black belt in Aikido. He has spent years training in outdoor skills and has attended
numerous nature awareness and survival courses at a wide variety of schools, most
notably Tom Brown Jr.'s Tracker School. He is certified in Wilderness First Aid
and PADI Rescue Diving.
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John Nichols - Guest Instructor
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After serving in the Navy in Vietnam, John has worked in a number of diverse fields.
He worked as a member of the thermal engineering team on the Space Shuttle project
for Rockwell/NASA. He has done diagnostic work for several electronics firms, worked
as a commercial and residential electrician, and for 15 years has run his own remodeling
company.
He holds a black belt in Chinese Kenpo, is a jazz bassist, translates Egyptian Hieroglyphics,
is the Director of the non-profit Institute for Spiritual Archaeology, and teaches
Tantric meditation.
John joins The Human Path for spiritual development classes and courses on sustainable
engineering.
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Thomas Easley - Guest Instructor
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Thomas Easley started training in Herbal Medicine when he was 14 years old. 16 years
later, including 11 years of full time clinical practice, he still loves plants.
In the rural South, Herbalism never died out like it did in most of America. Using
plants as medicine is a strong part of Southern heritage and tradition, a tradition
that Thomas teaches and practices daily.
Thomas thinks that healers have an obligation to those in the most need. This led
him 5 years ago to found a non-profit organization called Herbs for Orphans. H4O
originally started out providing nutritional supplements and herbs to orphanages
in Haiti, with a focus on orphans with HIV. Starting a week after the January 2010
earthquake, Thomas led teams of doctors, nurses and herbalists on medical relief
trips to the worst-hit parts of Haiti. This evolved in to setting up mobile integrative
clinics where practitioner rely on local herbs and folk remedies just as much as
pharmaceuticals.
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Kyla Helm, MD - Guest Instructor
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Dr. Helm-Swanson received her Medical Doctorate from the University of South Dakota
School of Medicine in 1993 and is triple Board Certified in Family Medicine, Pain
Medicine and Anti-Aging, Functional and Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Helm completed
a Family Practice Residency at Ft. Benning, GA in 1999 and served in the US Army
until 2001.
Given her passion to find and treat the root cause of illnesses, Dr. Helm obtained
training in integrative and complementary interventions to augment her traditional
medical education. She used these techniques to manage complex medical conditions
such as chronic pain and fibromyalgia, and obtained her Board Certification in Pain
Medicine in 2004.
Dr. Helm became Board Certified in Functional and Restorative Medicine in 2011 and
completed her Advanced Fellowship in Restorative Medicine the same year. Dr. Helm
uses an integrative functional medicine approach to provide comprehensive, individualized
healthcare to her patients. She has provided these services to adults and children
with great success.
Dr. Helm has traveled extensively with her husband who is a career US Army officer.
She and her family live in the Texas Hill Country near Boerne, Texas.
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Beatrice Nicoletti - Guest Instructor
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A lifelong student of Spanish, Beatrice lived in the states of Guanajuato and Jalisco,
Mexico, where she studied at the University of Guadalajara, and holds a minor degree
in Spanish from Metropolitan State University. She has designed Spanish programs,
with a focus on real- life communication for children and adults at all levels,
from after school programs to graduate level continuing education classes for teachers
of Spanish. Beatrice is the owner of Colorado Language Cooperative, which offers
language services including interpretation, document translation and instruction.
She is a national board tested medical interpreter who created and managed a statewide
mentor training program for One World Translation, one of the largest providers
of interpretation services in Colorado, training both new interpreters and the mentors
who completed field training with them. As a native English speaker and perpetual
student of Spanish, she has a great deal to offer English speakers with regard to
strategy, resources and hands-on practice for learning Spanish.
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Bret Ebey - Guest Instructor
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Bret Ebey teaches skills about homesteading, gardening, aquaponics, animal husbandry,
off-grid technologies, and many other related topics to persons interested in living
a rewarding and sustainable lifestyle. He is doing all of these things and more
on a daily basis at his homestead in Red Rock, TX, a little under an hour southeast
of Austin.
In addition to his homestead activities, he is an IT professional doing network
security, project management, and software design for large corporations, government
agencies, and law enforcement.
Bret is a firearms enthusiast and has studied different types of martial arts for
many years. He was a lead instructor teaching Haganah, an Israeli system specializing
in combative fighting, knife, and firearms training.
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Vickie Honeycutt - Guest Instructor
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Vickie's closeness to nature started with family vacations around lakes. Later,
beautiful Lake Travis drew her to Austin, Texas where she earned a B.A. in Biology/Chemistry.
She declined offers to attend medical school, choosing instead to study "alternative"
healing methods such as fasting, body detox, lymphatic massage, and especially,
eating of "live" foods. Her ongoing experience with raw foods has allowed her to
appreciate the tremendous healing power in "wild edible plants" for nutrition and
first aid.
Vickie earned her law degree from Loyola Law School, while living on the shores
of the Pacific in California. She spends available time assisting with mediation
in legal conflicts and utilizing nonviolent communication skills in her community
and personal interactions.
Never far from water's healing power, Vickie continues to study the "energetics"
of Earth's water, whether in beautiful waterfalls on Mt. Shasta, or while swimming
with dolphins in the Caribbean, or simply sitting on the peaceful banks of ancient
rivers in Texas.
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Mykel Hawke, Guest Instructor
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Mykel Hawke is an experienced
survival instructor with over 20 years of combined military, civilian, and government
experience. He is a published author with a bestselling language book and a survival book on its second printing. Mykel is also
a motivational public speaker and a lecturer on crisis responses to manmade and
natural disasters, including (WMD) Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Hawke is the Director of and represents
www.specops.com on-camera and in creative program development during media
productions. Mykel is a U.S. Special Forces Medic, and has also qualified and worked
as a U.S. Special Forces Communications Sergeant, a U.S. Special Forces Intel Sergeant
and a U.S. Special Forces Detachment Commander.
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