A few things you may not know, about me.
Beautiful Soul ,
Last fall I did a big update on my website. The process was fun, enlightening, excruciating, and soul nourishing.
It really made me drop in and question everything. I sat with all the things I do as a practitioner and as a teacher. I recommitted to what is really important to me as my offering to the world.
And I reflected long and hard about what it is you (or anyone finding my site for the first time) might need to know in order to take the leap to reach out and connect.
One thing I know i that I want to support people with is to feel more comfortable in their own skin. And that comfort comes with really accepting all of who you are and being willing to allow others to see you.
I want to support people with is to feel
more comfortable in their own skin
I also know that the mentors who have helped me most are those that don't sit on a pedestal. They are real humans and they are brilliant as well as flawed. I share my brilliance with my students and am very open about my flaws. I try to do that in more public forums too...but I could do more. I do find myself hiding out sometimes - still afraid of what others may think. Human anyone?
So as a practice of this for myself, when I did the website, I created the most vulnerable "About" page I had ever put out there.
And in it, I shared a number of things that people may not know about me but would help you to understand where I come from and what I'm about.
I realize that not everyone who reads my e-news or my blog would go look at that About page - you may feel you already know who I am and what I do.
So I thought it would be fun to share it here...plus, just for you who is already a part of my community, I'm sharing even more. Read on to get the inside scoop!
Here's what's on the website:
Let me tell you a little about me
I have always been a seeker. A peace-keeper. And a healer.
Although my upbringing was chaotic and extremely unhealthy - we did share some love in my family, and I grew to be good at caring for everyone around me. I learned at a young age how to calm myself and other people down. And by roaming the hills around my home in rural Oregon, on foot and on horseback, I learned to find nourishment for my soul.
Despite that I wasn’t very good at caring for myself. As a teen and in my early 20’s, I looked good on the outside but inside, things were not going well. After I graduated from college, I struggled with depression and severe anxiety. Luckily I had supportive women around me (my boss and some older friends) and I found help in therapy and in membership in healing circles and groups. And I found yoga which, right from the very beginning, was a spiritual and profoundly transformative practice for me.
I stepped onto a path of deep healing and have traveled that path ever since. Those early, powerful experiences literally saved my life. I am blessed now with a life that is rich and deep and impactful.
That doesn’t mean it’s all been easy. I’m like you. Human.
Always riding the waves between my magnificence and the hot mess that I can be on some of my finer days!
HERE ARE A FEW OF THE VERY HUMAN THINGS I HAVE DONE:
In high school I was one of the smart kids, and I was a multi-sport athlete. I wanted to be a physical education teacher!
I got married to my high school sweetheart when I was 20. We divorced 5 years later.
Instead of Phys Ed. I got my degree in Occupational Therapy. I practiced on acute psychiatric units for nearly 15 years (1987 - 2001)
I burned out on healthcare (several times) and finally quit because I just couldn’t stand how the medical establishment “treated” illness and especially how people with mental illness were viewed - not only in society but by so many of the professionals they depended on.
Somewhere in there, I got married again (and then later got divorced, again!) I’ve also given my heart to a few dogs over the years…the really challenging ones always seem to find me.
I trained as a yoga teacher and after quitting my job, I decided to follow my dreams and opened a yoga studio, which I ran for 12 years (closing not too long after that second divorce - whew - that was a tough year!)
I fell in love again a few years ago and now live in the high desert of Central Oregon, in a beautiful town at the base of the Cascade Mountains. I share a home with my partner and our 2 dogs.
I spend as much time as I can still roaming in the hills, nourishing my soul with nature medicine and feeling grateful for spirit - who I worship in Mother Earth, the Divine Feminine (I love all the Goddesses), the rivers, the trees, the stones and all living beings!
In addition to being a yoga teacher and yoga therapist, I am also a certified Soul-based Coach.
This work that I love AND my yoga practice, are things I do that allow me to help other people and to shine a light for humanity so we can all live in a healthy and peaceful world...but more than that, they help ME and keep me true to the healing journey that is life. As one of my teachers says, “do it first for me, then for you, then for us.”
That all felt pretty vulnerable, but honestly, I could even be more so and I'd like to do that for you here...
I tried learning to play chess recently, but my partner has played so much that I could never win. It was so frustrating that I quit. Maybe I'll take it up again - but I'm not playing him again until I'm good!
I love gardening but my yard is a mess. I guess I like hiking better because that is what I always choose to do when I have time away from work!
I work too much. More than is necessary to get done what I need to do each day. I honestly love my work though and so I lose myself and forget sometimes to take breaks or just to stop.
I also forget to celebrate. Actually, I am great at celebrating other people but I forget to celebrate myself. Except I have a lot of good friends and mentors who remind me so then I remember.
I'm a great friend but don't feel bad if I forget your birthday and don't send you a card. I used to even forget my late, best friend Karna's birthday - and it was the same day as mine! She died a few years back and I miss her. Now I do remember her birthday every year.
I've experienced a lot of loss in my life. I developed a pretty decent relationship with death despite not having good models for that early on. That's not to say that I didn't get really mad at "God" but let's just say I realized that it wasn't personal and she didn't actually have anything to do with the fact that I had lost people I loved. That's just life.
I love life and I want to live it full out. But sometimes I forget. So I keep committing to laugh every day. To love hard. To say I'm sorry. And to keep challenging myself with the stuff I resist - especially when it has to do with being seen.
I remember the quote by David Whyte:
"...anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you."
And though I'm the one who is most likely to hold myself back with smallness, I'm here.
Was there anything in there that you didn't already know? Do you feel you know me, as a fellow human, better now?
I’d love to know your human a little better too. Reply in the comments and tell me something I don't know about you. I am truly interested and it’s good for the soul to share!
