- Registered/Licensed Occupational Therapist
- Certified Yoga Teacher
- Certified Zero Balancing® Practitioner
- Natural Vision Educator
- Color Light Worker
- Artist / Facilitator
Sharon Hicks holds a B.F.A. in Painting from Tyler School of Art and an M.S. in Occupational Therapy from Philadelphia University.
“One experience leads to the next…
I began my career as a fine artist. My “learning to see” the art in paintings and the art in life, at the Barnes Foundation, serendipitously led me to “teaching others to see” as a vision therapist and later as a natural vision educator. I was attracted to yoga because it reminded me of dance, which is a form of art, and also because yoga is a philosophy or “way of seeing”. For some time thereafter I explored the interconnection of art, yoga and vision to each other and to life. All along all I’ve wanted is harmony. That yearning led me to explore the healing arts and also to recognize the therapeutic value of art making. I realized that all meaningful activity is therapeutic – which led me to the work of occupational therapy. Along the way I added color light therapies, Zero Balancing®, and essential oils to my tool box. By weaving it all together I provide a holistic approach that empowers and supports people as they participate in their own self-care and healing process.”
—Sharon Hicks
Here are some highlights of Sharon’s experience:
Occupational Therapy
Sharon Hicks has provided occupational therapy for people with a variety of life challenges and health conditions; these include chronic and neurologic conditions, visual and sensory challenges, stroke, brain injury and post-concussive syndrome, pain and anxiety. She has worked with children on the autism spectrum and those with coordination disorders and developmental delay.
Sharon is an occupational therapy rehab affiliate of Main Line Health’s Outpatient Network where she has served on Pediatric and Parkinson committees since 2010. Sharon also has provided occupational therapy in low vision rehab, preschools, supervised living, and community support venues.
Yoga
Sharon was certified as a yoga teacher (400 hours) through Red Mountain Yoga in 2001. Since then she has participated in several other yoga teacher training programs including Svaroopa® Yoga, Yoga for the Special Child®, Yoga for Kids, and Yoga for Breast Cancer Recovery and Beyond©. Sharon has also studied and practiced Thai Yoga Bodywork. She has taught and evolved her gentle yoga style over a period of 17 years.
Sharon personally developed and taught two classes for special needs at the Main Line Health Center in Newtown Square, these included: Gentle Chair-Assisted Yoga for people with Parkinson disease and other conditions affecting movement and/or balance 2011-2017 and Women’s Self-Care Yoga, a class specifically designed for women recovering from breast cancer, including those who may be undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiation 2013-2015.
As a former Main Line Health research fellow, she inquired into the lived experiences of yoga participants. Her pending article reports on the outcomes of participation in an adapted yoga group as experienced by people with Parkinson’s vs other diagnoses.
Vision
Sharon has worked with and learned under five different optometrists with specialties in vision therapy (over a 15 year span starting in 1994) including developmental, neuro-visual and low vision. Sharon studied the Bates Method of natural vision improvement and completed a course for vision educators with Dr. Roberto Kaplan in 2001.
Also in 2001 Sharon Hicks established Personal Vision™, a holistic educational program which integrates natural vision with art and yoga methods. Sharon continues to develop her natural vision approach. She also provides occupational therapy for visual consequences of brain injury and concussion in her work for the Main Line Health System.
Art
Early in her career Sharon Hicks served as personal secretary to Violette de Mazia, the former director of the Barnes Foundation’s art education program. Later Sharon became the first education coordinator for the Violette de Mazia Trust. She participated in both the Barnes Foundation’s and de Mazia Trust’s educational programs during her Barnes and de Mazia employment over a period of 16 years. Sharon later served as an adjunct professor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where she integrated meditation and holistic philosophy into drawing and painting classes. Sharon has exhibited her art and led workshops at various venues, while maintaining a personal painting practice for approximately 35 years.
Zero Balancing®
Sharon discovered Zero Balancing® after trying several other forms of bodywork. She was impressed that a 30 minute session facilitated deep relaxation, relieved body tension, and provided an enjoyable art-like experience through specific skilled touch. She was certified as a Zero Balancing® Practitioner in 2014 after completing 125 hours of class time and providing over 50 Zero Balancing® sessions.
Sharon has utilized Zero Balancing for people who experience physical pain, stress, and trauma related symptoms, those with anxiety, and those experiencing the effects of concussion, brain injury, and Parkinson Disease.
Color Light Therapies
Sharon has studied and practices four methods of color light therapy. These include Syntonics, Aculight Vision Enhancement, Colorpuncture®, and Spectrachrome.
Aroma therapy
Sharon was certified through Wisdom of the Earth. She integrates these pure medicinal quality essential oils into her holistic work.
