About me

(By the way, I change this page from time to time, because I change and how I know myself and share myself with the world changes as well.)

My current favorite quote is this:

People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life.… I think that what we’re really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality, so that we can actually feel the rapture of being alive. ~ Joseph Campbell

That’s what I’m all about these days. One of my friends calls me an “aliveness blogger.” I like that a lot. “Wellness blogger” is quite acceptable as well! I’d like this blog to be a resource in offering information and inspiration to help people live healthier and more authentic lives that overflow with well-being.

For years I worked in office jobs, from Fortune 500 companies to government. In my free time, I practiced yoga. I meditated. I danced. I learned how to eat healthily. I saw healers of various kinds. I worked on healing myself.

But my soul was not well.

One day, it became crystal clear that I’d had enough of the office job lifestyle. I looked around and saw others who were also doing the best they could, but whose hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits were not well. Those who knew it felt stuck making a sacrifice in well-being for a mortgage, health insurance, financial security.

They didn’t question the price they were paying. I did, after several people I worked with died.

I gave notice at my job, sold my house, and bought an awesome vintage trailer online, remodeled it, and moved in.

I went to school to become a licensed massage therapist after a friend who was a gifted healer who asked me to work on him. He told me I needed to get a license to touch people. About that time, an observant artist whom I hold in high regard told me that I clearly was a healer. A psychic palmist also told me I’d been a healer (as well as a writer) for many lifetimes.

I tried on the belief that I was a healer and liked how it felt. I knew that I had a strong healing ability within me that had steered me to make healthy decisions. I knew that gifted healers often healed themselves first and somehow were able to transmit healing energies or at least inspire others to healthier living. I made the leap.

~~~

I’m not sure where this statistic came from, but it seems to be widely accepted that 80 or 90 percent of illness is stress-related. I believe that’s true, and I have no idea why more is not being done in our culture about addressing stress as the root of illness and dis-ease. 

It appears to me that since the business community, the government, health care institutions, schools, and churches aren’t adequately addressing stress, it’s up to each person to understand the connection between their behaviors and their well-being and to adjust their lives accordingly.

~~~

Here’s another one of my favorite quotes:

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. ~ Ernest Hemingway

I am one of those people who has experienced and grown from some major struggles in life. Some of the major circumstances I’ve struggled with include:

• the murder of my six-year-old sister when I was 11, followed by undiagnosed trauma symptoms for many years, from which I now feel mostly recovered
• being gluten intolerant, something I only discovered about 2006 through a wonderful chiropractor (getting gluten out of my diet resulted in a quantum leap in well-being)
• having mild scoliosis from which I got untwisted with chiropractic help
• having a dad with autism

It’s not like I’m perfect now, but I learned some important components of healing first-hand: for instance, that trauma is stored in the body, that the food we eat literally provides the building blocks for health, and that healing is a never-ending journey with many, many decision points.

I still work on honing my diet, on alignment issues, and on cultivating my healing energy for my own well-being and for those I interact with, especially my clients.

To recover from trauma (after memories were activated by bodywork I received), I started working with my dreams and then with a therapist, and also with journaling, researching, reframing, reconnecting, growing up, and literally shaking a major energy block out of my body.

If you want to recover from trauma, I recommend:

1. Reading Waking the Tiger and other books by Peter A. Levine on trauma recovery; and
2. Doing Somatic Experiencing (or The Revolutionary Trauma Release Exercises if you don’t have access to a skilled Somatic Experiencing Practitioner).

To recover from the scoliosis and heal other physical/energetic issues, I’ve worked with a NUCCA chiropractor, a craniosacral therapist, an applied kinesiologist, an acupuncturist, a chiropractic bodyworker, an integrative healer, and my own long-time yoga, movement, and awareness practices.

Along my path to wellness, I have studied and practiced meditation, Zen, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and Reiki. I’ve experienced various types of massage and chiropractic, Rolfing and myofascial release, Feldenkrais, and the Alexander Technique.

My search for wisdom has included studies of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Enneagram, mythology, poetry, tarot, enlightenment, anatomy, and various bodywork modalities. Other influences include Carlos Castaneda’s tales of Don Juan, the Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, and ancient and modern shamanic practices.

I live in the long body and the short body. I connect with and honor the Great Mystery and live with a foot in both worlds.

I’m a 7th generation Texan baby boomer who hasn’t traveled nearly as widely as she would like to. I’ve raised a beautiful daughter and am the grandmother of another beautiful girl, so I’m a matriarch.

I’ve earned college degrees and certifications. I’ve worked in publishing, government, and for software, hardware, telecommunications, and manufacturing companies. I’ve led a women’s writing circle and been on the board of directors of a couple of nonprofits. I’ve helped run a couple of meetup groups. I’m learning how to be self-employed running my own small business.

I like dinosaurs, monkeys, whales, elephants (especially baby elephants), cats, native plants, and flowers of all kinds. I love the sky and trees. I wish I was taller. I wish my gray hair would turn white. I dislike loud noises and sudden bad news. I have close to perfect pitch. I am a social creature who appreciates solitude daily. I’m happily single but would brake for a male companion who matches me really well.

Primary dosha: Vata.

MBTI type: INFJ.

Enneagram: I’m probably a Sexual (prefer one-on-one connections with others) Five (curious investigator) with Four (artistic) and Six (scientific) wings. I go to Seven (the magic child) in stress and to Eight (the embodied challenger) in security.

Sun: Aquarius. Moon: Scorpio. Ascendant: Virgo.

Strengthsfinder strengths: Maximizer, Adaptability, Relator, Activator, Futuristic.

One of seven billion human beings on Planet Earth.

Unfaithful to my sorrows.

JUST ANOTHER VERSION OF YOU!

 

Copyright 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. All rights reserved.