Meet Michael Ravenwood | Performance Artist & Empowerment Coach

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

Hi Michael, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
It was, no pun intended, a bolt out of the blue! I was a performance artist specializing in storytelling fire dance shows for a couple of years when it occurred to me one day.. “God how I love to spin fire! The roar of the flame, the light & the shadow… I wonder what it would be like… to dance with lightning?!? It’s another primal energy… thrilling with a hint of danger.. what would THAT feel like?”

Well, the universe works in mysterious ways… Two weeks later, while standing in line, serendipity came calling. The man standing next to me started talking to the woman over the counter about his “Lightning” project. I could hardly believe my ears! I just listened & listened… until eventually, I couldn’t help myself and spoke up.

“Excuse me,” I said, “I know this is going to sound strange, but I was just thinking about dancing with lightning the other day.. you see.. I’m a fire dancer, and I was wondering what it would be like to dance with electricity… So what on earth are you talking about?!?”

He replied, “That IS really weird that you would be thinking those thoughts & then run into me. Not only do I build some of the largest lightning throwing Tesla coils in the world, but I’ve designed a high voltage protective suit in which you CAN actually dance with arcs of high voltage!”

Since meeting this mystery scientist & pursuing my wild dream, I’ve become the source of these arcs myself & throw lightning bolts like a character straight out of mythology!

Now, keeping it real, taking that spectacular act & turning it into a business has been a long journey involving a lot of challenging work, painful lessons & even some sacrifices. However, the inception was so synchronistic & the experience so spectacular that I could hardly doubt that it was worth it along the way… Hardly ; )

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
One of the reasons we’re quite distinct from other entertainment companies is fairly obvious… there just aren’t that many Tesla Lightning performers in the world throwing lightning bolts as part of their shows! The other thing that sets us apart, & what I’m particularly excited about, is that we’ve made it our expressed mission to inspire ecological awareness & personal empowerment. The act of working with a primal energy like electricity is thrilling in and of itself, and it’s a dream come true just to be able to earn money dancing in this unique way.

Yet, every person has a need for the sense that what they’re doing makes a difference & that the world is somehow a better place for the efforts they’ve made. I am deeply fulfilled in this sense, as thousands of people have either seen our shows, attended our workshops or seen me speak at events. Both the storytelling of our performances & the content of our classes serve our mission by focusing on the importance of our connection with all things & the tremendous power each of us have when we use our choices intentionally. I’m really looking forward to spending the rest of my life developing deeper & more profound ways to serve our vision: a socially just & beautiful world in which everyone is connected to renewable energy.

The road to where we are now has not been easy, but it has been fun! I’m extremely fortunate to have had some martial arts masters that taught me the true meaning of the word Kung Fu. Apparently, in China, the word has a much more general meaning than what we ascribe to it here in the US. It’s not just martial arts, but the practice of “any study, learning, or practice that requires patience, energy, and time to complete.” (Google) What they taught me though, specifically related to what Kung Fu mastery looks like. At first, when you just start out, basic mastery is just being able to perform “a difficult task”. Later, you learn to perform “a difficult task with ease”. Finally, as a master, you learn to perform “a difficult task with joy”.

It’s important to understand that this is a psychological state rather than something relative to a physical skill, since even a very complex task ceases to become difficult once you’ve mastered the execution of it. Thus, to continue to develop your Kung Fu mastery, you’ve got to continue to search for new things to try & learn so that you’re always at your growth edge & learning to summon patience & persistence in the face of challenge. I attribute much of my success to this attitude through which I embrace even moments that would otherwise feel overwhelming, since they’re the perfect thing to help me develop more mastery!

Another major reason we’ve been able to come so far, from performing at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas to the Olympic Stadium in Korea, is the incredible support we’ve received from the amazing people who’ve served on our team throughout the years. I could never have come close to accomplishing what we’ve done by myself, and it took the talents of numerous brilliant souls to carry us around the world and back in safety. It’s a dangerous thing to dance with lightning, and every member on the team is truly vital to the success of our show. This shout out is dedicated to some of the most important people, but you can see my Talks at Google presentation for a more complete list of shout outs to the incredible individuals who’ve been there to support throughout our decade-long history.

Finally, I have to say that it’s taken a lot of humility to make it. I’ve been wrong about things, and have had to admit it & change course rather than face failure. Regardless, I’ve still failed on numerous occasions, and had to persist despite what has felt at times like a crushing sense of self doubt. I’ve discovered things about myself that I didn’t like, and I am still doing so today. While I committed from the very beginning to hear the voice of every team member, and even structure our meetings so everyone always has a chance to speak, I’m still discovering how to better invite the voices of the people present, and not be so full of my own ideas that I forget to allow space for the contributions of those around me. I think that, as much as anything, it’s been my ability to look at these things, take a deep breath, accept them, to forgive myself & those around me when we make mistakes, that has empowered us to move through the dark times & back into the light. Frankly, it feels like an eternal cycle, and that we’ll keep succeeding so long as we can delve into the underworld & bring back the gifts from within…

There are so many things I want to communicate about our company’s story, and I’ll focus on three of the most important: All the power we’ll ever need is already within us, Serving the world is serving ourselves, Love is the answer to all questions. Now what in the world does all that mean?!? Well.. I’ll try & keep it short.

All the power we’ll ever need is already within us: Whether we believe we want money, fame or a romantic partner, what we really want is the happiness we believe we’ll have when we achieve these things. Two people going through the same set of circumstances often have totally different experiences: one will be perfectly happy while the other is equally miserable. From this, we must accept that happiness is an experience generated from within rather than through external achievements. While there are lots of things out of our control, both in our surrounding environment & our inherent proclivities, well within our control are thousands of choices every day that contribute to our experience of life, our attitude being the most important. Through our approach to life, we’re either using our mind-body connection to allow our fate to unfold through unconscious choices or to craft our destinies with intention. Whether we accept it or not, the choice is indeed ours, and we get to live with the consequences. While living with awareness & intention is certainly uncomfortable & even frightening at times, it’s the road to true and lasting happiness & well worth the cost!

Serving the world is serving ourselves & serving ourselves is serving the world: This may seem like a paradox at first. That’s because, to the way we are typically accustomed to viewing things in modern, western culture, it is. Bridging the gap in thinking necessary to resolve this paradox should only take a moment, and I beg your patience as I explain. The most important part to transcending the apparent contradiction is realizing that, while we are separate & distinct from “the world around us” in one sense, in another sense we are not.

Quantum physics, arguably the most advanced form of physical science, has demonstrated how everything we’re aware of in existence is part of an interconnected web of energy. Ecological science has gone a step farther down the path of practicality & shown how the life of every organism, including humans, is dependent on a harmonious balance between the interconnected, energetic elements in their given system. Therefore, doing everything we can to help maintain the delicate balance between ourselves & the natural environment preserves our own existence & our ability to pass on this exquisite type of experience to future generations.

Besides, on a smaller scale, neurobiology has demonstrated that we receive pleasure from helping other humans through the neurotransmitters serotonin & oxytocin, so there’s that. Bottom line is that, at any given time, we might need to eat something or take a nap to be of any use to anyone else, and that’s where serving ourselves is serving others. Just as certainly, there are times when it is only by making sacrifices in service to others that we achieve our highest sense of realization & fulfillment, and we use our shows & presentations to help remind audiences of this simple & powerful truth…

Love is the answer to all questions: Now I know I’m going to get some serious eye-rolling from every cynic in town, but perhaps one or two of you might stay with me for what I believe is a fairly rational argument for a traditionally air-y fairy statement. First, I have to define the kind of love I’m talking about. I’m discussing something that is related, but not limited, to the sensations we have towards people we find romantically attractive, or even the feelings we get towards friends & family we hold dear.

These are valid types of love of course, but subsets of something far beyond. I’m going to define love as a deep & profound sense of harmony or resonance with the people, places or things around us, and as the experience of complete fulfillment. It’s the feeling we’ve all experienced at some point, and which most children are lucky enough to have daily, that there is no other place to go, there is no other person we should be. It’s the feeling we’re all looking for in which we want for nothing & feel that sense of bliss or even ecstasy which is the true desire of every person.

Things that bring us to this timeless & effortless place of glory include activities which light us up (for me, it’s dancing & teaching!) and, hopefully, the career we’ve been able to work out for ourselves. The reason I say that love is the answer to all questions is because, as I see it, all questions are really really being asked to get us somewhere. In my understanding, all inquiry ultimately leads us to a state of being in which all questions are unnecessary. I hope we’ve all had those moments, so perfect are they, that we just look at those around us, making eye contact in wordless acknowledgement that we’ve reached a moment which is the purpose of all life, the blissful reward of all our hard work. If not, or if you just want more of them, I happily invite you to reach out to me or seek out some other life-hackers whose messages you resonate with. Life is precious, & these moments are what it’s all about!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Wow, San Diego is so amazing that it’s hard to answer that! I will simply list some of my favorite restaurants & provide some links to the kind of culture I find both fun & enriching…

North County Restaurants:
https://nectarinegrove.com/
https://www.yelp.com/biz/poki-poki-encinitas-encinitas
https://kai-ola.com/
https://www.birdseyekitchen.com/menu/
https://healthycreationscafe.com/
https://ehcmenu.com/
https://www.goodonyaorganic.restaurant/
https://www.seabasstropub.com/
https://www.erisfoodcoca.com/

San Diego Restaurants:
https://wormwoodsd.com/
https://www.juniperandivy.com/
https://starlite.wa-cafe.com/
https://crackshack.com/
https://www.trilogysanctuary.com/

Community Gatherings/Culture:
https://regionals.burningman.org/regionals/north-america/san-diego/
https://www.dancenorthcounty.com/ (or take a private fire dance class with me ; )
https://yogananda.org/locations/encinitas-temple
https://www.taoistsanctuary.org/

Local Sights & Sounds
https://balboapark.org/

Creatures of the Wild
https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/tickets
https://seaworld.com/san-diego/
Or, to catch marine & other animals in their favorite place, the wild itself, check out La Jolla cove or any one of the amazing beaches San Diego has to offer. Plenty of hiking too, like in Torrey Pines…

Nightlife/Events
https://spinnightclub.com/
https://soapfactoryevents.com/
https://encoreeventcenter.net/index.html#/
https://musicboxsd.com/
https://bellyup.com/
https://botanicabarsd.com/
https://www.tahonabar.com/
https://www.trilogysanctuary.com/

And for ALL the rest…
https://www.sandiego.org/about.aspx

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?
Michelle LaVon is my primary performance partner in the Tesla lightning act, and she’s been with me on this journey as long as anyone. She actually hired me for my first significant fire dancing contract and was one of the first people I told about my encounter with the Tesla coil engineer. She’s as wild as I am about dancing joyfully in the face of danger & telling inspiring stories through performance art so, when she heard of my not-so-chance encounter, she recognized the providence & said, “Let me know whenever it’s happening & I’m there!”

It’s very much because of her kind & authentic spirit that I made it through the darker times of pursuing the dream of turning Tesla coil performance into a business. She listened to me pour my guts out numerous times over the years, and was the trusted person I could turn to and admit, a number of times, when I was seeing things about myself that I didn’t like. It was only by acknowledging these flaws & learning another way of being that I have been able to be as successful as I have. Between this support & all the practical things she’s done to create our choreography, plan our events and even handle logistics, I owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude… Thanks Michelle!

The other people I want to take this opportunity to thank profusely are my wife AnJa & my son Kai. I’ve been married for over a decade & she & my son have had to share me with the business through many ups & downs, and I’m so grateful to both of them for all the support & encouragement they’ve shown me. AnJa is way better at social media & accounting than I am, so she even handles those pieces for the business… Thank you darling!

Finally, I want to thank Brent Heyning of Toyshoppe Systems & Aron Koscho of Applied Tesla Technologies. Without Brent welcoming me into the Lightning Temple project or Aron’s consistent support over the years, I might never have fulfilled my vision to the degree that I have… Thanks Brent! Thanks Aron!

Website: https://skyfireacademy.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skyfirearts/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-ravenwood-6a38bb49/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skyfirearts

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/skyfire-performing-arts-los-angeles

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/skyfirearts

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sky_fire_arts?lang=en