You know that you would like a guide. You want to get stronger, feel better, build a simpler life, or to cope differently with the life you already have. You're wondering if I'm the right fit for you, and if you're the right fit for me. Let me tell you about who I am and how I got here.

 

I was born. This is helpful :). We moved around a lot when I was young, with the first big move around age 6ish. It was the beginning of a trend that taught me some basic lessons. I learned about cultures that are completely different, and about how to cope with being completely uprooted. How to build a flexible, resilient base. Something else happened though too. I began to see that through all the major differences, people are, well, people. New surrounds, new culture, new day to day habits to fit in. In short, I learned that it's ok to change your life when you aren't happy with it, and that your life habits don't define you, you define them.

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Because of my love of learning and curiosity about how people work, I graduated with my degree in Psychology. I used my degree working as a counselor providing education based counseling, community outreach, behavior modification and crisis line work. This went on for about 10 years. I got to help a lot of people in a lot of different ways, and I learned how to apply several different counseling methods.

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When the time came to look for my next big challenge, I moved into caregiving (dementia care and Hospice) and then into nursing (skilled rehabilitation). These experiences further opened my eyes to an even fuller spectrum of human experience, and allowed me to hone skills in practical strengthening exercises for daily living. 

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After about 5 years (nursing is a tough field), I was mentally checking out. I discovered yoga, meditation, "tapping" and ecstatic dance. I realized very quickly after beginning practice that, for me, this had been the piece missing to help take all the talk counseling that I had been providing, and bring the ideas into embodiment. In other words, the intellectual lessons could be felt in the body.  In a very short time, I made the decision to become a yoga instructor (yep, the next big challenge).

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Though full time professional yoga teaching was short term, I have continued to practice (for the past 14ish years) several different types of yoga, and have been deepening my seated meditation practice for about 12 years. I have taught yoga classes for free in a variety of environments, including specifically for cyclists. I have used both yoga and meditation practices as a bridge with many subsequent counseling clients and students, (more on this in a second), to help them connect to their thoughts and emotions.

 

I went back into the counseling field for a few years after my foray into yoga teaching, and had the pleasure of providing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people stop smoking. ​A couple of years passed and I woke one morning to my internal voice (which I'd begun to hear through meditation) telling me it was time, "Time for what" you might be wondering. Time for me to follow in my father's footsteps. I stepped into a classroom, and fell in love. I spent the next 10 years blissfully becoming an awesome classroom teacher, adept at designing programs to help people make progress, and excelled at training other teachers in how to apply teaching techniques. I taught ESL in Thailand and Arizona (and got to use yoga, meditation, drama and focusing on freedom of expression to connect when words weren't working). I taught ESL, Science, Psychology and Health in China and Nashville. Yes, Thailand and China. Yes, the food and people were awesome :). I wrapped up my career in education as the Curriculum Designer (where I was able to design and launch a wellbeing program incorporating mindfulness practices, body practices, stress coping techniques and nutrition) and Director of After School Services at a small private school here in Nashville,

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I was again called to work directly with individuals and became an Emergency Medical Technician. I'm experiencing the 1-on-1 giving that I've missed and am spending quality moments with people, bringing healing, peace and calm. And :) that has led me full circle to the desire to help people learn to instill peace, health and joy in their every day..

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There're some details that didn't make it into the above, (long, I know), bio that will help you more understand some of the challenges I've faced. Maybe, since I overcame those things, I can help you with the same, or similar. First, I coped with the death of my mom, when I was 21, poorly. I drank, I smoked cigarettes. I ate fast food. I stopped exercising. These things became my regular habits.  It took me some time (in my 30s) to realize that I didn't feel good in my body and that my mind wasn't really working. First, I started to move my body, gently, with yoga. That freed my mind enough to begin meditation. That in turn allowed me to loosen the death grip on cigarettes. I quit smoking. Food tasted better, but not fast food. I started researching, and eating better. I had more energy and re-found my love of the outdoors. I started cycling, then hiking. I continued meditation, yoga and breathwork practice. I realized alcohol was not serving me to be the person I wanted to be, it was time to stop.

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All this to say, at 50, I feel at ease in my body and mind. I feel joy in my heart and am grateful for all the wildly different experiences I've been able to engage in (some comfortable, some decidedly NOT comfortable) that have led me to this place. It's time to give back, using some of the tools I've learned along the way.