I am going to share with you how I became who I am today so that you may see if we will be a good fit for each other!

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We moved around a lot when I was young, with the first big move around age 6ish. 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. All of the changes also taught me how to build a flexible, resilient base, and how to practice serenity regarding things I cannot control. ​​

 

Just as I was entering adulthood (the December after I had completed my college degree) I lost my mom, and promptly forgot how to apply all those lessons I had learned :). 3 years later, I lost my dad. I didn't cope well with either loss, despite being an active counselor for others. I couldn't bridge the gap between my ability to help others cope and effectively applying those things in my own life. I drank, a lot, smoked, stopped exercising, quit putting any focus on my spiritual life, and ate horribly. This went on for about 10 years. Because of my lack of self care, I burned out with counseling and blamed it on the work. Therefore I switched careers, to Hospice caregiving and nursing. These vocations opened my eyes to a fuller spectrum of human experience, and allowed me to teach mobility, strengthening and coping skills to others. The irony of working in Hospice and helping others find joy in their grief and fear, while myself being still underwater with my own grief, was lost on me at the time. I taught fantastic skills, but was the quintessential "do as I say" practitioner.​

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After about 5 years I was mentally checking out. I couldn't ignore the dissonance between what I was preaching vs what I was doing.  The problem was with me, and I realized I had better change some things if I wanted to feel differently in my life. I discovered yoga, meditation, energy work, "tapping" and ecstatic dance. I quickly realized that, for me, bodywork practices would allow me to bring the ideas from talk counseling into embodiment.  In a very short time, I began to feel lighter in my heart, more mobile in my body, and more clear in my thinking. I became aware of the trueness that I live in my body, that I am not my body, that numbness is not living but rather the antithesis of life, that rigid clinging to any idea about self only leads to stagnation.  Feeling benefits both spiritually and physically, I quickly made the decision to become a yoga instructor as a way to share bodywork benefits with others.

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Though full time professional yoga teaching was short term, I have continued to practice for the past 14ish years.  Its' gentle movement, and the lightness that came with it, freed my mind enough to begin meditation. That in turn allowed me to loosen the death grip on cigarettes and improve my nutrition and relationship with food. I had more energy and re-found my love of the outdoors. I started cycling, then hiking. I continued meditation, yoga, energy healing and breathwork practice. I realized I was addicted to alcohol and that the addiction was preventing me from being the person I wanted to be. I sought help and stopped.

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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 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 school classroom, and fell in love. I spent the next 10 years blissfully becoming an awesome classroom teacher, adept at designing programs to help students progress, and excelled at training other teachers in how to apply teaching techniques. I taught ESL in Thailand and Arizona where I 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 and Director of After School Services at a small private school here in Nashville. These positions gave me the freedom to design and launch a wellbeing program incorporating mindfulness practices, body practices, stress coping techniques and nutrition. 

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Realizing sitting behind a desk wasn't where I truly belonged, I was called to work directly with individuals again 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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All this to say, at 50, I feel at ease in my body and mind. When life "does life", I am able to remain in my center (even when upset, or hurting, or afraid). 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. I am fully able, and it's time, to give back, using some of the tools I've learned along the way.