Biography & Credentials.

 

Biography

Sometimes the passages to knowing our truth
are dark at first,
like forest soil that transforms fallen leaves,
twigs, animals bones. 
But roots know to send up shoots,
seeds know how to crack and sprout. 
The earth below protects and transforms us. 
The sky above calls our spirit with its vastness.
                                       — K. Dunbar

 

Finding the Transformation Tree  In many indigenous traditions there is a sacred tree where people go when they are ready to let go of their old, hurting stories and to embrace their new story.  In some tribes, this tree is tended by an elder of the tribe.  This is a practice of transformation.  When we engage in the nobility of healing ourselves, not only do we transform ourselves individually, but our family line also heals. Those long gone rest, those yet to come are welcomed in.

When I was a child I lived in a beautiful woods.  But I also lived in dark places where the lovely seed of myself had to wait to fully open and flower.  Anger and fear in my family kept our lives closed.  Old wars, old violence, loss and sadness were woven in with bravery, independence, and creativity.  My old story was one of a girl who was lonely and an outsider.  I didn’t feel like I fit anywhere.  I didn’t believe in myself.  And yet I was aware of a whole armful of gifts that were calling out to me – connection with the natural world, a budding shamanic sensibility, and a big heart and a longing to share how precious we all are. 

The snake feels the coming transformation in the itch and pull of her too-tight old skin.  So, too, my budding self felt it was time to shed my old skin.  When it was time to heal, I brought my old story to the “tree” with deep roots and high branches connecting above and below.  I brought my story to the “elders” that tended the tree.

I attended California Institute of Integral Studies and received my Master’s in Integral Counseling Psychology in 1997.  While still in grad school, I discovered Hakomi.  I began with the two-year Comprehensive Training, and followed this by many years as an assistant at the Comprehensive and Professional Skills Trainings.  I became a Certified Hakomi Therapist in 2004 and worked as a teacher’s assistant for three years for the Hakomi class at CIIS.  The training I received in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy gave me effective tools to help clients resolve past traumatic situations.  In 2003 I became a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.  While at CIIS I began to explore shamanic healing practices.  I felt I had been “called” to the shamanic path as a child, and the practical “apprenticeship” to this work began here.  My path brought me to study with shamans and healers locally and throughout the United States.  

Creative expression has been a strong thread in my own healing path and is one of the tools I use in working with clients.  Since the age of three, I have made poems, which led me to complete an undergraduate degree in English Literature and Poetry.  I have a locally published book of poetry, Journey of the Blue Woman, and I am a featured reader at various venues in San Francisco. I released a CD of original songs, Finally Home, in Dec 2007.  I am currently working on my next CD. My work in Continuum Movement practice has taught me much about the body’s wisdom. 

My new story: I am a woman who loves and spreads the village life. I feel connected deeply with people and nature. I sing because I am made to sing. I offer myself as a healer because that is my path.

That is how I came to this work of healing.  I have learned transformation and respect and love from the inside-out.  What I know in my bones and my heart I offer to you. 

 

Credentials

Licenses and Certifications

  • Marriage and Family Therapist (2003)
  • Certified Hakomi Therapist (2004)

Degrees

Affiliations

Selected Workshops Given

  • Hakomi Method Class to prep students entering year two of the 2008 Hakomi Comprehensive Training – in special arrangement with the Hakomi Institute of SF, Spring 2008
  • Intro to Hakomi at Earth Circles Counseling Center – in special arrangement with the Hakomi Institute of SF, Fall 2007
  • The Embodied Dream, A Dreamgroup for Self-Discovery, co-lead with Shai Lavie, Spring 2007
  • Hakomi Method Class to prep students entering year two of the 2007 Hakomi Comprehensive Training – in special arrangement with the Hakomi Institute of SF, Spring 2007
  • Ignite Your Life Workshop Series, co-lead with Denise Martini, Spring 2006
  • Hakomi Method Class to prep students entering year two of the 2006 Hakomi Comprehensive Training – in special arrangement with the Hakomi Institute of SF, Spring 2006
  • Moving Through the Sacred Directions, co-lead with Denise Martini, 2005

Trainings Taken

    

 
 
     
 
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