Jon “Vasu” Seskevich has spent his life walking a path that unites science with spirit, caregiving with consciousness. A beloved nurse, teacher, and longtime student of Ram Dass, Jon brought mind-body healing and spiritual awareness into the heart of modern medicine. His work at Duke University Medical Center and across North Carolina has touched thousands—patients, professionals, and seekers alike—through workshops, Healing Touch therapy, stress reduction classes, and loving presence. Among his most devotional offerings is a deeply personal recording of the Hanuman Chalisa in English, described by Nina Rao as “an offering into which our friend Jon has poured his heart, soul, voice, and energy”—a translation-interpretation not in Avadhi, but in love’s own universal language.
Who is Jon Seskevich, RN, BSN, BA, CHTP
Seskevich was a nurse clinician at
Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. Since
1990, this trailblazer in mind-body and mind-body-
Spirit healing modalities provided a highly regarded
inpatient stress and pain management education and
consultation service. He worked throughout the
challenging health conditions. During his career at the
hospital, Jon also served as a resource for the staff in
dealing with the challenges inherent in
world of today.
Jon is an entertaining, insightful, and inspiring
speaker and is widely recognized as a leader in the
education of stress management, relaxation
techniques, building resiliency, mind-body, and other
holistic therapies to health care professionals, hospital
patients, community, church groups, and college
students. Throughout the years, he has provided over
400 presentations, lectures, workshops, and classes.
Jon is a Certified Practitioner of Healing Touch
therapy and is responsible for bringing this touch
therapy to North Carolina through more than twenty
workshops and seminars in the early
Jon has received quite a few recognitions over the
course of his career.
This Tar Heel
He has received a Great 100 in NC Nursing award in
2006. In 1998, he received the Friends of Nursing,
“Excellence in Nursing Practice” award, and the
“Alumnus of the Year” award from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Nursing,
Alumni Association in 1997. Back in 1996, Kevin
Sowers nominated him for the prestigious Fetzer
Foundation Norman Cousins’ Mind/Body Medicine
Award. (link to request a presentation page)
Jon began his meditation practice in 1972. InIn
1975, at age 23, he started his training as a teacher of
meditation and healing under the mentorship of the
meditation expert, psychologist, spiritual teacher, and
writer, Ram Dass (Richard Alpert, Ph.D.), who wrote
About Jon in 1996:
“His recognition of the need for both a spiritual
dimension in healing work and grounded, responsible
Social action in spiritual work has defined his career
In nursing. To that career, he has brought a creative
energy for integrating, in mind-body healing,
meditative practices with stress reduction, healing
touch with traditional nursing practices and a spiritual
Perspective for patients facing traumatic illness.
“The integration of spiritual dimensions in his work is very personal for Jon. His inner work takes theA
staff members, and offering a very warm, heartfelt
human dimension to what
medical procedures.”
At Hollywood Bowl, enjoying Dead and Company — in Los Angeles, California. June 04, 2019
Jon “Vasu” with Raghu Markus
Raghvindra Das/Mitchell Markus, Executive Director of Love Serve Remember Foundation
About the Love Serve Remember Foundation
Raghu Markus spent two years in India with Maharaji and Ram Dass. He has been involved in music and transformational media since the early 1970s when he was the program director of CKGM-FM in Montreal. In 1974 he collaborated with Ram Dass on the box set Love Serve Remember. In 1990 he launched Triloka Records and Karuna Music in Los Angeles, California. Triloka established itself as a critical leader in the development of world music and for 17 years was home to such artists as Krishna Das, Hugh Masekela, Walela, Jai Uttal, and transformational media projects that featured Ram Dass, Deepak Chopra, and Les Nubians. He owns Yatra Media and lives in Ojai, CA.
Touching Pain with Love
My friends and Ram Dass brothers at Kripa and Mahesh Das made a short video about a jewel of caregiving:
Touching Pain with Love.
Events
Jon “Vasu” Seskevich has spent his life walking a path that unites science with spirit, caregiving with consciousness. A beloved nurse, teacher, and longtime student of Ram Dass, Jon brought mind-body healing and spiritual awareness into the heart of modern medicine. His work at Duke University Medical Center and across North Carolina has touched thousands—patients, professionals, and seekers alike—through workshops, Healing Touch therapy, stress reduction classes, and loving presence. Among his most devotional offerings is a deeply personal recording of the Hanuman Chalisa in English, described by Nina Rao as “an offering into which our friend Jon has poured his heart, soul, voice, and energy”—a translation-interpretation not in Avadhi, but in love’s own universal language.
Navigating Uncertainty with Jon Seskevich
Event Description:
With over 30 years of listening and speaking with people facing major changes in their lives, Vasu Jon Seskevich has learned that the biggest stressor one faces is “waiting and not knowing.” We are in the midst of what will be remembered as one of the most uncertain times in our lives. For many, our capacity to navigate and sustain through uncertainty has been pushed to its limits.
Vasu is a lifelong student of meditation and a practitioner of mind-body medicine, nursing, and healing. He helped create the Duke University Hospital Stress Management Consult Team and has pioneered integrating therapies that build resiliency. Now retired, he has seen over 40,000 patient consults throughout his career, helping people skillfully navigate life’s sufferings and joys right up to their last breath. Vasu’s presentations are entertaining, insightful, and inspiring. He will share approaches crafted from his clinical practice, research, and friendship with Ram Dass.
Topics covered include.
Waiting and not knowing
Listening with your heart without taking on the pain
Practices to support quieting down worry
Self-relaxation skills
Strengthening our spiritual connection.
Ram Dass wrote these words about Vasu in 1996:
“In all the projects I have been involved with Jon, I have found him to be responsible, thorough, and disciplined in his efforts. His recognition of the need for both a spiritual dimension in healing work and grounded, responsible social action in spiritual work has defined his career in nursing. To that career, he has brought a creative energy for mind-body healing, meditative practices with stress reduction healing touch with traditional nursing practices and a spiritual perspective for patients facing traumatic illness.
“The integration of spiritual dimensions in his work is very personal for Jon. His inner work takes the form of being fully present for patients and fellow staff members and offering a very warm heart-full human dimension to impersonal medical procedures.
“Jon is truly a brilliant example of compassion in action. He not only serves his patient community but seems tireless in his willingness to share and teach and to explore innovative techniques for humanizing nursing for nurses and patients alike.”
https://jonvasu.com
https://sacredcommunityproject.org
Chapters: 00:00 Start 01:00 Journey and Teachings with Ram Dass 12:00 Elizabeth Kubler Ross 15:05 Navigating Uncertainty 44:30 Listening with Love 54:19 Revitalizing the Caregiver 56:53 Meditation Research 1:01:14 Three Steps of Meditation 1:11:50 Spirituality- Underhill Model
Jon Seskevich and Mimi Dreifuss
https://www.coolmediallc.com/baba-neem-karoli/
Nina Rao says:
Our friend Jon Seskevich has poured his heart, soul, voice, and energy into this offering and the Hanuman Chalisa not written in the Indian avadhi language but the English translation-interpretation. 🌺
Maharaj Ji’s English Hanuman Chalisa by Vasu Jon Seskevich (sung slow).
Jon Vasu singing for One Mantra’s Day of Sri Ram & Hanumanji
Namaste, Tonight I sang for the One Mantra 24 hours of Hanuman Chalisa. I begin with the Sri Ram mantra taught me by Ram Dass. And two Hanuman Chalisa, I call Hanuman’s Ode to Joy, and the Purple Hanuman Chalisa. Thanks, for checking out this joyful Hindi rendition. Healing prayers for the Indian people.
Jon Vasu
Old news story about Duke Medicine, a leader in Mind/Body Medicine. Jon performs Healing Touch
Casey Cloninger shares about pain-relieving benefits from his Healing Touch sessions at Duke University Lung Transplant Clinic in the late 1990s with Jon Seskevich. Dr. Ralph Snyderman, Dr. Harold Koenig, Laura Blue, Ruth Hamilton, and others are seen in this national news story from the end of the century.
What Works for Stress
Neat Hanuman Chalisa
Stream Jon’s Music now!
An interview with Jon Seskevich
How did you begin chanting and Kirtan?
Robert Gass and On Wings of Song was based at Spring Hill community north central Massachusetts. I was applying to sing in the chorus. Robert thought a better utilization of my skills was community singing with my harmonium. Soon I was leading monthly kirtans at Spring Hill.
When I moved to North Carolina, I was asked to lead a chanting retreat at Southern Dharma Retreat Center north of Asheville near the border of Tennessee. We simply chanted Om the entire weekend during the day and evening. At the end, my friends Mark Smith, Laurie Lindgren and I realized that most of the people attending lived in the Triangle area of NC. So that began an over 20 year free monthly chant-kirtan gatherings in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area.
In our group which we called Universal Chanting, we had a lot of experience with chants, mantras and spiritual songs from many different traditions. The spirit of our chanting is exuberant, joyous, energetic and reverent. Our repertoire sparkles with chants from the Hindu, Sufi, Christian, Buddhist, and Native American traditions.
Let the power of sound and vibration release you from your worldly concerns and physical discomforts. When we gather together to sing, we are helping each other to find our spiritual paths with this joyous exploration of the heart. Through our voices, we join a stream of consciousness, emotion, and devotion that has been flowing for centuries, sharing the joy of making inspirational music together.
What is your BlueGrass Kirtan chanting project?
BlueGrass Kirtan is ancient sacred words in Sanskrit, Latin, and Tibetan chanted with old-time American Appalachian fiddle and banjo tunes. It is chanting that will knock your socks off! This poem by the renowned beat poet Allen Ginsberg has delighted and inspired me as a veritable foreshadowing of the spirit and experience of BlueGrass Kirtan.
“Mantra chanting can be an extension of shaking your ass or raising your voice in joyful exultation, with no fundamentalist associations. It’s sheer joy to sing, a good way to loosen one’s heart in the world.” — Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997)
Living in the Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, I have enjoyed old-time/bluegrass jam sessions. Listening to the melody of tunes as they repeated in a regular pattern, in my mind, heart, and soul, I began to “hear” a mantra that fit the melody and rhythm. These were the same mantras I had learned during my time of study in the ’70s and ’80s with Ram Dass, noted spiritual teacher, a friend of chanting and author of the book Be Here Now.
In 2006, I went to a concert to hear fiddle great AC Bushnell playing with Stillhouse Bottom Band. Afterward, AC and I chatted discussed this concept and began a fun musical and spiritual collaboration that has culminated in this album! AC who has many rich years of playing, recording, and performing, has brought together wonderfully talented North Carolina musicians for this East-West project. They highlight their skills and artistry with traditional bluegrass instrumental breaks woven throughout the pieces.
There are 4 BlueGrass Kirtans on my Chanting is Universal! Recording.
Jon Seskevich’s CDs and Books
The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, Carrying the body and soul and embracing the one, can you avoid separation? This concept of mind, body, and soul is illustrated vividly in this new anthology that explains the elements that are essential for wellness.
[showhide]This exciting new edition features well-known health experts, speakers, and authors. Barbara Ford-Latty, RN, MA joins Dr. John Gray (Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus), Dr. Earl Mindell (The Vitamin Bible), and Dr. Norman Rosenthal (The Emotional Revolution) in offering up-to-date information on energy, holism, nutrition, relationships, aging and more. With so much information widely available, this book offers clear, insightful explanations of the essentials of well-being as well as guides for a more enriching, purposeful life.These experts answer questions such as:
Why is the relationship between you and your healthcare practitioner so important?
What are GMOs and how do they affect us?
What is energy medicine?
What is holism and why is it important?
Why do we need to spend more time outside?
In my busy life, what are some convenient ideas I can use to get healthier?
Ford-Latty is an educator, author, and the director of Haelen Health, an integrative health collaborative, specializing in energy therapy.
- Original Release Date: August 25, 2016
- Release Date: August 25, 2016
- Label: Jon Seskevich
- Copyright: 2016 Jon Seskevich
- Total Length: 1:14:53
Jon Seskevich RN, BSN, BA, CHTP is a certified stress management instructor and healing touch practitioner. Since 1987, this pioneer in holistic nursing has successfully integrated therapies that build resiliency at one of the world’s foremost medical centers in Durham, NC.
Price: $10 + $2.00 Shipping
Helen Wolfson is a Certified Music Practioner who plays in private homes, residential facilities, and hospitals. Her relaxing music offers healing, solace, pain relief to clients and their families.
Jon Seskevich RN, BSN, BA, CHTP, is a stress-management nurse who works daily with patients in a major medical center in Durham NC. He teaches simple, practical scientifically valid, mind/body approaches for healing and stress management.
One day, Helen and Jon found themselves in the same hospital room and spontaneously worked togethter to create a profound difference in the patient’s attitude. At the end of the session, the patient’s mother asked them if they always worked together. Out of that question, this collaboration began.
Body Relaxation with Hammered Dulcimer combines Helen’s mesmerizing music with Jon’s soothing voice. Sit back, listen and let them dissolve your stress.
BlueGrass Kirtan
“BlueGrass Kirtan” — a CD featuring Jon Seskevich and fiddle great AC Bushnell combining ancient sacred words in Sanskrit, Latin, and Tibetan chanted with old-time American Appalachian fiddle and banjo tunes. There are 11 cuts on the album, and they are all fantastic!
Price $10.00 plus shipping
[showhide]What Happens When You Mix Kirtan and Bluegrass Music?
BlueGrass Kirtan!
BlueGrass Kirtan is ancient sacred words in Sanskrit, Latin, and Tibetan chanted with old-time American Appalachian fiddle and banjo tunes. It is chanting that will knock your socks off! Check out these videos…
“Mantra chanting can be an extension of shaking your ass or raising your voice in joyful exultation, with no fundamentalist associations. It’s sheer joy to sing, a good way to loosen one’s heart in the world.” — Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997)
This poem by the renowned beat poet skeleton Allen Ginsberg has delighted and inspired me as a veritable foreshadowing of the spirit and experience of BlueGrass Kirtan.
Living in the Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, I have enjoyed old-time/bluegrass jam sessions. Listening to the melody of tunes as they repeated in a regular pattern, in my mind, heart, and soul, I began to “hear” a mantra that fit the melody and rhythm. These were the same mantras I had learned during my time of study in the 70’s and 80’s with Ram Dass, noted spiritual teacher, friend of chanting and author of the book Be Here Now.
In 2006, I went to a concert to hear fiddle great AC Bushnell playing with Stillhouse Bottom Band. Afterwards AC and I chatted, discussed this concept and began a fun musical and spiritual collaboration that has culminated in this album! AC who has many rich years of playing, recording, and performing, has brought together wonderfully talented North Carolina musicians for this East-West project. They highlight their skills and artistry with traditional bluegrass instrumental breaks woven throughout the pieces. [/showhide]
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