We had the good fortune of connecting with Renee LaVallee McKenna and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Renee, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
“Do the scary thing,” is my motto. I don’t like to play it safe. I’m a joy and fulfillment junkie. What’s really fulfilling for me is personal progress. The acquisition of money, sex, power and material good is fun, but it’s not really fulfilling. Taking risks is the quickest way to progress, to grow and evolve. I’m a therapist and Shamanic healer. My work is to help people grow. I can’t bring anyone anyplace I’m not willing to go myself. That motivates me. I’m acutely aware of the culture of fear we are living in right now. It is a tough choice to shelter at home to flatten the curve, but I think we’ve passed the flattening part and just moved into fear, fear, fear. We are trading our freedom for safety. I don’t think that’s a good trade. Life is fatal. No one gets out of here alive. I would rather live a deeply satisfying, exciting, edgy existence that is shorter, than to live a long, safe life where nothing interesting happens. I’m a creative and my creativity extends into the choices I make. I take risks with my art. I pour paint. You never know how it’s going to come out. Sometimes paint pouring is amazing and sometimes it just makes a mess. I’m not in control, the paint is. I like that mystery of what’s going to happen. I make public art that might only last one day. I recently hung big a yarn bomb on a telephone pole during the pandemic. The piece was the culmination of about 18 months of knitting. I don’t knit everyday, but over time I collect pieces I make. Mostly I crochet when we are driving to go camping and ride ATVs and a side-by-side dirt car. I love going fast. Anyway, within 48 hours someone had cut the bottom 6 feet off of the piece. Oh well. Most of it is still up there. It was a labor of love to beautify the neighborhood. We had kind of a social distancing party as I was climbing the pole to hang it up. One guy was playing the guitar on his balcony. Other neighbors started dancing. My dog walker stopped to help. It was a little Covid block party. But that’s how life is. It’s sunny and then it rains. Weather is an experience. We are here to have an experience. Life is too short and I want to suck every bit of juice out of this lemon and make lemonade for anyone who’s thirsty. Risk, pushing the edge, being fearless is intrinsic to interesting experience for me.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My healing practice is really growing. About half of my clients are remote anyway, but the pandemic has brought everyone on line. I’m so grateful that I can really help people overcome their anxiety, heal their past trauma and remove what blocks them from the life that they really want. Spiritual Psychology is cutting edge, a powerful blend of Shamanism, Mindfulness and hypnotherapy. I just wrote my first book and workbook, Allies & Demons: Working With Spirit For Power And Healing. The work of Allies & Demons provides a holistic approach to awaken your authentic self and find the happiness and meaning people are starving for. Each chapter has a free guided audio meditation that offers the same transformative experience clients get in my private sessions. I’m so excited to share this amazing work with others. It changed my life and has done so much to heal the 100s of clients I’ve worked with over the past 20 years. I’ve suffered with depression, anxiety and many addictions. This work has healed me and brought me to wholeness. My life passion is to pass on what was given to me.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live a creative life. Every day is a little different and having fun and connecting with others is imperative. Last week we rode our surrey cart, those bicycle carts you rent in city parks. My best friend has one, and we dressed up in brightly colored clothes and rode around the block with a megaphone saying hello to neighbors and shouting funny things at them. We were playing reggae music and had my little dog in the basket. It was super fun and we made lots of people smile.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I dedicate my shout out to Thor White, the most creative, fun and inspiring person that I know.

Website: https://www.reneemckenna.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeinsf/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-mckenna-ma-cch-169b2a3/
Twitter: reneeinsf
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Spiritualpsychologysf/
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/renee-lavallee-mckenna-ma-san-francisco-2
Other: Art Website: http://reneemckenna.squarespace.com/

Image Credits
Scott Hutchinson