Bio and Contact
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I received a B.A. in English at State University of New York at Stonybrook. I went on to study literature at the University of Pennsylvania, with a Teaching Fellowship in a PhD program. After five enriching years of teaching and studying, and enduring the torments of academia and some of its politics and intellectualism, I allowed myself to listen to inner guidance and left the program, and lived at The Ojai Foundation for several years of deep spiritual exploration and life in an intentional community. As head cook, I had the rich experience of moving from a life of intellectual exploration and teaching, to that of living close to the land, preparing nourishing food for retreat participants, and partaking in a great variety of ecological and spiritually diverse retreats. My years spent living in spiritual community at the Ojai Foundation in my late 20’s greatly helped me to discover my own interspiritual and embodied path of practice, as I lived and worked in a land based community whose work was in hosting such fine teachers as Thich Nhat Hanh, and Grandfather Wallace Black Elk in intimate retreats. This was a profoundly formative time in my own development. After several years, I moved to Washington, and got an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Antioch Seattle, achieved Iyengar Yoga teacher certification, and have been unfolding in my combined work of being a therapist and a yoga teacher ever since. I have continued my education in many forms, all intertwining embodiment/somatics, skills of compassionate living and spiritual search.
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Personal Reflections
I feel a sense of humility and gratitude for the deep gift and privilege of living and working within the bounds of my calling. In my free moments, I enjoy reading, poetry, films, classical music, practicing yoga and meditation, and being in the wonder of nature, as well as travel. I am inspired to “walk my talk” in life, in joyful and evolving partnership with Jillian. Grateful for my many mentors over the decades of my life, I currently continue studies in Authentic Movement with Jillian, yoga (locally) with Denise Weeks, and engaged spiritual inquiry with interspiritual pilgrim Ravi Ravindra, when he travels to Turtle Haven. I relish travel for silent retreat at New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, and now at the very local Forest Hermitage! Practices of Nonviolent Communication, the Way of Council, Authentic Movement, Iyengar Yoga, and meditation weave their elements into my vision and work. My sense of home in the magnificent Pacific Northwest brings a daily sense of gratefulness, rain or shine!
My life work is informed by the deep well of Classical Yoga in all its rich dimensionality, as well as a current exploration of Mystical Christianity, as I have discovered the vital root of this tradition once hidden in my Catholic Church upbringing.
In teaching yoga, in my therapy practice, and in the community building aspects of Turtle Haven, I hope to make a small contribution towards the global quest for health and justice as we wake up to the collective responsibility and profound truth of interdependence for our earth and all its inhabitants. One of my favorite quotes is “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice,” originally spoken by Theodore Parker.
My life work is informed by the deep well of Classical Yoga in all its rich dimensionality, as well as a current exploration of Mystical Christianity, as I have discovered the vital root of this tradition once hidden in my Catholic Church upbringing.
In teaching yoga, in my therapy practice, and in the community building aspects of Turtle Haven, I hope to make a small contribution towards the global quest for health and justice as we wake up to the collective responsibility and profound truth of interdependence for our earth and all its inhabitants. One of my favorite quotes is “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice,” originally spoken by Theodore Parker.
*Note: Appointments are at Turtle Haven Sanctuary and in Bellingham.
