Presence is Fundamental to deepening relationship to self, others and the world.

Pleasure and Play are vital to cultivating the kind of presence that is needed in today’s chaotic world.

Kindness to Self is more important than getting it right.

Eco-embodied and Engaged with the realities of our current global predicament.

Presence is fundamental to deepening relationship to self, others and the world. 

Presence is a state of being that is aware of the inside of you, your outside environment, your emotional state, your thoughts and connection with others, so that you can respond calmly and intentionally to what is happening around you.

It includes feeling fully here and now, rather than ruminating about the past or worrying about the future. Feeling present allows you to respond congruently with what matters to you.

Feeling present often feels calmly alert and at ease with oneself, connected to others and accepting of what is occurring. Being present helps with feeling less separate, stressed, distracted, focused on pain or drained from non-stop inner monologues.

Pain gets in the way of presence and many people don’t have the embodied connection with themselves needed to prevent and/or relieve pain. Cultivating felt sensation and the ability to lessen contraction leads to a more integrated self.

When we are embodied and present, we can better discern what is needed in the moment, and act on the choices we make for ourselves, for the people around us, and for the world.

My own recovery from addiction has been not just enhanced, but has profoundly changed by my relationship with presence. Learning to return to presence when disconnected has been key for me. When I am not present to felt sensations in my body, I am much more likely to fall into familiar patterns of coping. Even when I understand intellectually and know what is healthy, if I don’t connect with my whole being I am more likely to find myself in an old habit. Although it may be a habit that is not as extreme as using substances to change my mood, it may still be a habit that is keeping me from choice and wholeness.

Pleasure and Play help to cultivate the kind of healing that is needed in today’s chaotic and traumatized world.

Experiencing pleasure in the senses and enjoyment in the environment is calming for the nervous system. When we feel good in our whole being, we release tension and have more energy for engagement in what we love and care about. Without ignoring the tragedies of the world, we can nurture pleasure and play as a resource for healing and growth; we can choose less of what deadens the spirit and more of what enhances consciousness, beauty, creativity, love.

Sharon was recovering from cancer and radiation treatment when she sought me out for her posture. Her whole life she had been stooped over to “hide” her breasts. As we worked together, she began to realize how this curved-in shape got in the way of feeling. As we explored feeling from the inside out, Sharon was surprised at how enjoyable it was to feel the sensations of softening and opening. She became delighted with her own practice of Constructive Rest, an awareness and ease practice, and was slowly able to bring this openness to her posture and her way of being. As a choral singer, Sharon also discovered a new-found resonance in her voice.

Kindness to Self is more important than getting it right.

Our organisms respond best to kindness. We tighten up and narrow our focus when we are treated less than kindly. We also tighten our bodies. If we feel that we are not treated with respect, we may react with either retreating into hurt or lashing out in anger. When our own voice in our mind speaks harshly to our body, our fight/flight/freeze reaction gets triggered and we may find ourselves tense in the jaw, breathing shallow and unable to find the ease and enjoyment in what we are doing. If we can come to our healing with kindness and curiosity rather than ideas of right and wrong, our mammal selves respond better. 

When Anja came to one of my classes, she was very tightly wound and identified as Type A. She had lots of tension in her neck and shoulders and got frequent headaches. She often called herself “stupid.” As she learned practices to release tension and begin to notice her tension before a headache, she also noticed her self-talk. We worked with her speaking to herself as she might speak to a good friend who needed some support. The kindness that she shared with her friends started to become available for herself. The way she spoke to herself and the way she treated herself slowly but surely changed. Anja began to soften; her mental, physical, emotional and spiritual way of being shifted from narrow and constricted to open and calm.

Eco-embodied and Engaged with the realities of our current global predicament.

Climate disruption seems to be all around us, and it will continue to increase. In this climate trauma, we are both the traumatizer and the traumatized. Those of us in the west who are living in the systems that have caused the predicament may wish to look away or minimize the truth, but climate disruption will happen to us all, and we have a responsibility to lessen harm to future generations and to the people experiencing huge losses right now.

Eco-anxiety is worry about the future, fear is about what is happening now, grief for what has already been lost. All these states contract our awareness and limit our view of possibilities. By embodying connection with our natural world, we can have profound shifts in our experience of ourselves and our time here on earth.

Maria was going through a divorce when she joined an eco-somatic dance group in the desert. She wasn’t sure she fit in or that she could “dance well” anymore, but she loved our eco-somatic explorations and the experience of moving with other women. She was a strong yoga practitioner and a little stiff in her way of carrying herself. In the next few months, Maria connected with herself in ways she hadn’t before, and with the nature of the environment in which we moved. She literally let her hair down and her power exuded out into the space. She got wild and energized and became an important member of the group. She has said the experience was truly healing on so many levels and she is now on a path to share embodied healing practices with others.

When we cultivate embodied resilience, pleasure, connection, and wholeness, we can experience right relationship with all beings. 

All welcome, those seeking greater embodied freedom. This includes all races, colors, religions, sexes, gender identities or expressions, sexual orientations, national origins, genetics, body types, abilities (visible and invisible), ages, immigrant statuses and economic statuses.

Mistakes such as biases, prejudices, stereotypes will inevitably be made, because I am human. However, I am committed to the work: the ongoing process of being called in, uncovering layers, deepening understanding, and enacting positive change. I commit to promoting equity and reducing and repairing harm when it happens.