All that I know and who I have become is partly to my own credit but it also largely to the wisdom that has been shared with me. Mentor, teacher, guru, zen master, dervish, shaman: I have been incredibly blessed by whom I have studied under. Here, below, is ‘My Alternative Life-School Resume,’ and all of the wise humans whom have come before me and helped me open and heal my inner world.

Alternative Resume:

When I was small and suffering from eczema my dear mother exposed me to bio-feed back, deep breathing, and Abraham Hicks.

I attended Cal Poly SLO for my university years. I applied to be a Nutritionist, but discovered immeditalty I was not interested in western medicines approach to health. I switched degrees to Graphic Design where I excelled but choose not to continue for a career.

In my early twenties, I felt a need to travel the world and push my self to find the feeling of home within my skin. I set out to travel the world practically perpetually for now fifteen years.

Starting in the end of my teens I began my yoga practice at Bikram yoga studio and five years later became a certified Bikram yoga teacher. I taught three classes a day in a studio in Long Island, NY for six months and then retired and continued studying other yoga styles.

During my university years, I spent many hours a week at a local mediation center called QuiteStar where I developed my inner listening amongst a group of master healers.

 

Deep Dive into My Inner World

In my mid twenties, I ran a raw food kitchen at BodyMind Restoration Retreats for many summers. Here, I studied meditation and my mind under a very special Zen Master at Ithaca Zen Center.

In the end of my twenties, I worked and studied at Esalen Institute. Here I took well over a hundred workshops. I studied Gestalt, dance, Feldenkrais, permaculture, community and I attained a five-hundred hour EsalenMassage license. It was here where I learned how to feel my emotions and connect with my Self.

Along my travels and journeys I learned about Plant Medicines and felt drawn to their teachings. Some of my greatest revelations and deeper understandings have coalesced in these ceremonies.

Applying and Fine Tuning Me :

As my thirties approached, I found Burning Man and learned about the incredible power of building, creating, contributing, and participating. When I moved to Isreal I helped build a large camp at their version of Burning Man called MidBurn.

In the beginning of my thirties, I found an incredible Ayurveda teacher at the dhyana Center in Sonoma county. Here my dabbling knowledge of traditional medicine became a tool of mine.

Today’s Journey

I met one of the most incredible beings I have ever met at Burning Man 2014. He and I have become partners and parents together. We stretch each other in exactly the way each of us needs.

 

My Man is a devoted rock climber. He has invested his last five years of climbing in holding space for my learning of the sport. Rock climbing is a way of life for us: to spend time in the mountains with fresh air, in small villages with nutritious food, challenging ourselves physically and mentally- it is our jam. We find deep satisfaction in our climbing life.

My Forever Alternative Odyssey

I have felt drawn to climbers and burners for a long time. As I have explored each of these cultures I have come to understand that they share the value of choosing to face challenge. Burners head to the desert to create magic in the seeming un-livable environment. Climbers dedicate their free time to facing their own mental and physical limits against vertical rock.

The edge of growth, the pushing of limits, and the acceptance of challenge : these intangible places are where I feel alive.

Failure and fatigue are apart of my home that I have found within my skin.

In the continual acceptance and creation of my reality is where I have come to thrive.

Not to mention, becoming a mother has been one of the most challenging yet proportionally epic experiences of my life. I find it remarkable to witness, first-hand, how we humans come into this world, the support we require, the purity we innately possess, and we learn behaviors.

 

As you can see I have made studying my own inner world my full time hobby and even turned it into an alternative resume.

My latest adventure is coaching, teaching and sharing how to master the inner world we each possess. I am thrilled for this emerging experience, and for my life long zen odyssey.