Marsha Scarbrough

Medicine Dance is just fabulous. I couldn't put it down. Rarely have I read anything that gets as close to the whole truth about health, disease and relationships. Christiane Northrup, author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, The Wisdom of Menopause, Mother-Daughter Wisdom

Marsha Scarbrough’s book Medicine Dance: One woman’s healing journey into the world of Native American sweatlodges, drumming meditations and dance fasts has been published by O Books, John Hunt Publishing.

While studying journalism at the University of Southern California, Marsha Scarbrough was named Guest Feature Editor of Mademoiselle Magazine, an honor that included travel to New York City and Peru.

As a graduate of the Directors Guild of America’s prestigious Assistant Directors Training Program, Marsha spent 17 years scheduling, planning and running the sets of major feature films, prime time television series, movies of the week and network sitcoms. She has handled logistics, organization and administration for various directors including Clint Eastwood, Leonard Nimoy, Blake Edwards and Carl Reiner.

Marsha wrote, produced and directed the award-winning children’s video, The Magic of Martial Arts, which has been honored with the Gold Award from the National Association of Parenting Publications, the Award of Excellence from Film Advisory Board and the KIDS FIRST! endorsement from the Coalition for Quality Children’s Media.

As a freelance journalist, Marsha has had over 75 articles published in national magazines such as TV Guide, Body & Soul, Natural Home & Garden and Millimeter: The Motion Picture and Television Production Magazine. As a contributing editor for Written By: The Magazine of the Writers Guild of America, west, Marsha interviews Hollywood’s most prominent screen and television writers.

In 2006, Marsha moved from Los Angeles to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her day job is working as a licensed REALTOR® with EXIT Realty Southwest.

Along the way, Marsha traveled with Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax, danced with movement guru Gabrielle Roth, earned a brown belt in karate from martial arts legend Tak Kubota, participated in healing ceremonies with Native American mystic Beautiful Painted Arrow/Joseph Rael and produced workshops for Nigerian master drummer/Yoruba ceremonial leader Ayo Adeyemi.

Early in her book, Medicine Dance, Marsha Scarbrough says, "Native American tradition requires that healers somehow bridge two worlds." After reading the book, it is clear that Scarbrough is something of a bridge herself. Her writing, to use one of her words, "concretized" rituals, meditative states and inner transformation--bridging spiritual and mental awareness. Her pared-down writing style feels like years of work crystallized into this solid nugget of a book.
--Kathleen Sloan for The Sierra County Sentinel