Walking the Path, a Nursing Path to Wholeness
Jon Seskevich, AKA "Vasu" 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 the
staff members, and offering a very warm, heartfelt
human dimension to what
medical procedures."
District216 - "Navigating Uncertainty" with Jon Vasu Seskevich
Topic: "Navigating Uncertainty." Speaker: Jon Vasu Seskevich. Description: Jon Vasu Seskevich is a pioneering health professional in holistic healing, mind-body approaches, and palliative care. He helped create Duke University Hospital's Stress Management Consult Team in 1989 and continued to serve on it until 2018. Patients taught him that one of the biggest stressors in life is when we are "waiting and not knowing." Recognizing approaches to navigate uncertainty provides valuable keys to improving our quality of life at any point in life's journey. Through guided practice, participants will formulate skillful ways to approach uncertainty with a quieter mind and an open heart, both for themselves and in helping others.
Date: Wednesday, March 19, 2025. The District216 "Change Your Lens Series" is filmed during evenings at The District House in Santa Barbara, CA. Members and guests comprise the audience. Speaker: Jon Vasu Seskevich, Spiritual Seeker, Healer, Retired RN, BSN, BA In 1998, Jon 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. Thirty years ago, this time of year, I needed a letter from Ram Dass as a mentor in my nursing, spiritual healing life. He wrote back: "Dear Jon, What a delight to hear from you, and to hear about the creative life you've designed for yourself." I'm really proud of you... If you need a quote from me as one of your previous mentors, you have the following: Jon Seskevich is reflecting in his life's work the essence of the teachings that I was sharing with the class he took with me. That (15-month class), which occurred only once in these many years, has served to deepen our commitment to living the spirit and serving others for all of us. I am proud to have been part of it, and happy to have had Jon in the class. I consider him a true guru-brother. I hope this serves you, Jon, and I encourage you to continue with the beautiful things you're doing... In love, Ram Dass
DEATH &
PSYCHEDELICS
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.
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).
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
Provided to YouTube by CDBaby
Neat Hanuman Chalisa · Jon Seskevich & AC Bushnell
BlueGrass Kirtan
℗ 2008 Jon Seskevich & AC Bushnell
Released on: 2008-01-01