Embark on a captivating journey with Debra Hertzog, a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience from The Walt Disney Company to the high-end realm of SAKS Fifth Avenue. In this exclusive interview, discover the intricacies of Debra’s extensive career, her unique foray into sound healing, chakra meditation, and her heartwarming work with animals. Delve into the compelling narrative of her documentary, THREADS, a celebration of indigenous women weavers, and gain insight into her upcoming ventures that span children’s animation, home decor, and luxury wellness products. Only on MysticMag.
What can you tell me about yourself and your professional background?
My career spans over 30 years from Creative Entertainment at The Walt Disney Company to luxury retail as the Public Relations, Media, Fashion, and Special Events Director for SAKS Fifth Avenue. I produced high-fashion couture shows, special events, in-store media events, and charity productions for the Orlando and Tampa, Florida store locations.
I also enjoyed a role as VP of Marketing for Show Production Resources where I assumed the role of Associate Producer for World Cup Opening Ceremonies (Orlando, Florida) televised live internationally, and London’s Grand Christmas Parade, London, England. My career was parlayed into hospitality as a Director of Sales for multiple iconic Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Half Moon Bay California, Laguna Nigel, and was on the opening team at LA LIVE for JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles. The Ritz-Carlton selected me, together with 7 other luxury professionals, to represent Ritz-Carlton’s International Steering Committee for Luxury Weddings and Special Events. I became a certified cultural expert, a creative visionary for special event production while curating an impeccable eye for detail, storytelling, and creative ventures.
What is a Sound Bath and what benefits can a person expect from going through one?
Sound Baths or Sound Healing cradles an individual or group in multi-octave sound frequencies (or resonances) played through a variety of instruments. Indigenous instruments range from metal sound bowls, crystal bowls, gongs, tingshas, tuning forks, didgeridoo, and voice or throat singing, to name a few of the applications that can be used. Typically, the individual is invited to rest in a prone position, if they are not in a private massage therapy setting. The frequencies played through the sound instruments create a state of harmony, rest, rejuvenation, and the relaxation often associated with meditation.
How is Chakra Meditation different from other forms of meditation?
The typical chakra meditative state is also known as brain-entrainment. Brain entrainment or brain-wave synchronization naturally relaxes the busy, monkey mind (beta brain state) to a relaxed, harmonic mind state (alpha brain state) where deep relaxation, sense of wellbeing, and an expanded awareness are created. These states of relaxation help the body to heal and regenerate cellular function, deep breathing, and a sense of wholeness.
My guided Chakra meditations focus on the body’s main 7 chakra energy centers. The body has more than 7 chakras (the root chakra, the sacral chakra, the solar plexus chakra, the heart chakra, the throat chakra, the third eye chakra, and the crown chakra), but the main chakras are oriented toward specific energy centers/organs of the body which hold the seat of our emotional state. When our state of emotions becomes stressed and unbalanced, it causes dis-ease in our body as the organs vibrate to a lower frequency. Sound frequencies help to bring the body back into a fully balanced and integrated harmonic state of being. This balance is also associated with clarity of mind and a sense of peace and ease.
These states of being allow an individual to discover a new awareness in life and through one’s life’s work. Singing Bowls are powerful tools to be used by you and through you allowing a higher consciousness, flow, and sense of wholeness. Chakra meditation or any other type of meditation subtly works by bringing joy, restoration, and healing/transformation to those who hear, facilitate, and activate the chakra centers in the body.
You also work with animals. How much is that different from working with people?
Working with animals is such a sacred experience. Animals have feelings that they cannot express to us verbally. So often, animals who have suffered abuse, confinement, zoos, or neglect keep the imprint of these memories into the brain’s cellular memory. Animals act out by displaying anxious, nervous, barking, biting, or other negative emotional responses, because that is all they know how to do. Their fear builds up behavior disorders that are easily dispelled with sound frequencies. Building trust with an animal is extremely important to help them move into a calmer state of being.
There are similar aspects of working with animals as I work with humans, and that is frequency. Frequency is non-invasive and allows the animal (or human) to relax into their own meditative state and that encourages the imprint of the negative experience to be re-wired and reprogrammed into a different state of frequency and dispelled altogether. You will see animals yawn and sigh as they relax in a deep meditative sleep! I once had a 3,000-pound horse put his head on my shoulder as he relaxed into his sound therapy session. I couldn’t play the sound bowls, so I just nuzzled up beside his head and petted his ears and neck.
I have worked with dogs (primarily) and horses who have suffered trauma. Working with animals is a privilege and sacred honor, but I never do so without the consent of owners, and trainers who are standing guard over their animal (particularly when working with large animals like horses). There are many sound healing sanctuaries around the world creating amazing transformational experiences for larger zoo animals such as elephants. These sound magicians are facilitating remarkable rehabilitative work with sound bowls to restore the dignity, confidence, and trust of these magnificent creatures. It is an amazing process to facilitate and integrate wholeness back to the distressed animals.
What other services and/or products do you offer?
As a classically trained vocalist with a 5-octave range, music has always been an important part of my life and healing. As I was introduced to sound healing over 23 years ago, I also started to study Shamanism, cultures, and textiles as cultural art. As a certified cultural expert through my career at Ritz-Carlton, my interest in cultures expanded with my sound healing practice. Shamans wear garments or sit on sacred textiles while facilitating sacred ceremonies and my research led me on a worldwide journey to research where and how these sacred textiles are designed and, the Women Who Weave these masterpieces. I am working on a documentary called, THREADS, to bring a voice to the historical, sacred, and creative perspective to the ancient sacred art of textile weaving, the Women Who Weave, and future generations of textile artisans keeping this artform alive. This initiative includes a home décor accessories line of vintage textiles that are being repurposed into an exclusive line called Threads.
Is there anything else about your work that you’d like to share that we haven’t covered?
In May, my documentary, THREADS, was promoted at the Marche du Film, in Cannes, France. I am the producer, creative visionary, and concept developer for THREADS. THREADS follows indigenous tribes of women weavers throughout the world, in cultures and generations down to this day. THREADS offers a spellbinding and visual narrative as rich in texture and colors as the textiles the women weave. This is a story of inspiration, legacy, and preserving a new art form for young artisans emerging on the scene.
As part of the THREADS launch, I am in the process of creating the storyline for a children’s animated feature plus a THREADS home, decor, and accessories line with vintage tribal textiles. Pop Up Charity Events are being scheduled for fall 2023 to create awareness and raise money for the preservation of indigenous communities, textile art, and future generations of weavers/artisans.
In addition, an exclusive line called Zen-e-ology TM is being launched in 2024 featuring Chakra Tea Soaps, Candles, and Luxury Jewelry. Pop Up Events to support a charity arm of THREADS is under development.
As a certified Life/Wellness Coach, I enjoyed my role as Head Life Coach for The Biggest Loser Resorts in Palm Desert, California. I am a Triple Certified Sound Healer schooled by the International Academy of Sound Healing (India) and Mile High Vibes – Bliss Bowls, Denver Colorado. I reside in Central Florida and own The Ninth Shambhala, LLC dba Solfeggio No. 9, a sound journey – a mobile turn-key sound healing & special event business. Method Home Products sponsored me as a performing artist featuring the healing sounds of Solfeggio No. 9 in their ZEN Oasis during the Coachella Valley Music Festival.
In production is a book I am co-authoring about self-awareness and the empowerment of moving beyond self-limiting beliefs; from surviving to thriving! The book, “Stuck in a Spiral of Sameness” is due out (2024). I enjoy the outdoors, yoga, sound/music, holistic wellness, tennis, photography, and animals of all kinds.
For more information on The Ninth Shambala, LLC dba Solfeggio No. 9, animal sound healing, or to support my documentary and crowd-funding efforts to film the documentary, THREADS, you can message me on LinkedIn or Facebook – Debra Hertzog or Solfeggio No. 9 – [email protected]
Also, as a licensed Life/ Health Insurance agent and a Business Solutions Consultant, I offer business owners solutions for their employee benefits programs and HR People Management through Colonial Life.
