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:

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. ~ Howard Thurman

That’s what I’m all about these days. One of my friends calls me an “aliveness blogger.” I like that a lot. (I’m also known as a “Wuwu Guru Temptress of Fun” and an “Investigator of Bliss”.)

Some of the areas I’m interested in include:

• exploring what it takes for me, you, a family, a city, the world to thrive
• making a living doing what I love to do: health and wellness practices such as bodywork and changework, teaching, training, writing, coaching, consulting
• experimenting with relaxation techniques
• understanding better the relationship between the conscious and unconscious minds
• practicing movement, both involuntary like shaking medicine and trauma release, and voluntary, like ecstatic dance and yoga
• modeling healers and people who have healed themselves or been healed
• relating bio- and neuro-feedback to subjective experience
• transforming beliefs into better living

I never thought of myself as a healer, but some people, including a fantastic healer who asked me to work on him and an artist I hold in high regard, told me that I clearly am one. I tried on that belief and liked it and began doing it.

Energy flows through me. My job is to keep the channels open.

I am a writer — journaling since 1982, the same year I started learning yoga, plus I’ve done some journalism, technical writing, and of course blogging. I take occasional jobs doing freelance writing as well. I enjoy writing haikus for the fun of it.

I like listening and really hearing.

I’ve been a student at a local massage school, the Lauterstein-Conway School of Massage. I’ve completed my coursework and internship. I will get my license in early 2012. I’ve gotten good feedback from recipients, and my skills have gotten better after giving over 150 massages.

My private practice includes both changework and bodywork.

I’m fascinated with relaxation — recovery from trauma and chronic stress, yoga asana practice (controlled stress), meditation practices, breathwork, and other awareness practices.

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 there’s something to that.

I have no idea why more is not being done in our culture about addressing the stress at the root of illness and dis-ease. It appears to me that it’s up to each person to understand the connection between what they do and how they feel and to adjust their life accordingly to feel better and be healthy.

Here’s another one of my favorite quotes:

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

That’s me. I am one of those people who has experienced and grown from some major struggles in life. Life is like that for some of us.

Some of the circumstances I’ve struggled through include:

• the murder of my six-year-old sister when I was 11, followed by undiagnosed PTSD for many years, from which I feel mostly recovered
• being gluten intolerant, something I only discovered about 6 years ago through a wonderful chiropractor (getting gluten out of my diet resulted in a quantum leap in well-being)
• having mild scoliosis, probably from adolescence on, from which, again, I much later got untwisted
• discovering that I probably had a birth injury to a sacral nerve that affected my left hip and may have contributed to the scoliosis, and experiencing that nerve come back online
• having several family members with Asperger’s syndrome (aka high-functioning autism), including my late dear father (which explained a lot in hindsight because we didn’t know until after he died)

These are things I’ve been untangling and unwinding from for the past few years. To recover from PTSD, I started working with my dreams and then with a therapist who gave me an official diagnosis, and then I did a lot of work on my own, journaling, researching, reframing, reconnecting, growing up, and literally shaking a major energy block out of my body.

Most recently, I underwent brainwave optimization. I feel balanced, healthy, whole, and resourceful. Not perfect, but present, centered, and happy in my own life.

If you find this blog and want to fully recover from trauma, I recommend reading Waking the Tiger; doing Somatic Experiencing (or The Revolutionary Trauma Release Exercises if you don’t have access to a skilled PTSD therapist or if you just want to learn them); and doing brainwave optimization – you can read more about these topics on this blog.

To recover from the scoliosis and nerve damage, I’ve worked with a NUCCA chiropractor, a cranio-sacral therapist, an applied kinesiologist, an acupuncturist/magician, a chiropractor/bodyworker who stretches me into freedom, an integrative healer who works with movement patterns, and my own yoga and experimental movement (aka ecstatic dance) practices.

It’s been a quest. Finally, my body is aligned, and it feels great! Every day now, I feel freedom and energy in my body.

So, as you can see, a major theme in my life has been healing so that I can enjoy my life and share what I’ve learned, even as I continue to learn and grow myself and serve others.

Along my path to my well bodymindheartspirit, I have spent time with ecstatic dance, yoga (mostly Iyengar and Anusara), meditation, Zen Buddhism, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and Reiki. I’ve experienced various types of massage, Rolfing and myofascial release, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, many kinds of chiropractic, acupuncture, cranio-sacral therapy, stretching, and Functional Movement training. All have been helpful.

I’m interested in the evolution of our species and how the 700 billion of us live together on this planet. Can we make a quantum leap toward wellness and steer our species and planet in a better direction so that our children’s children’s children can be well and happy?

My search for wisdom has included studies of the MBTI, Enneagram, mythology, poetry, enlightenment, and anatomy. Other influences include Carlos Castaneda’s tales of Don Juan, the Fourth Way, and ancient and modern shamanic practices.

Besides going back to school, earlier this year I bought and began remodeling a rockin’ vintage 1959 Spartan Carousel trailer. I downsized, simplified, bought my home outright, and can focus on doing what I love while living stylishly, inexpensively, and lightly on the earth.

Life for me is about waking up, being present, using my resources well, reaching toward my potential, enjoyment, loving and healing myself and others, and living a meaningful life.

What else would you like to know about me? 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, at least in status! I’ve earned college degrees and certifications. I’ve worked in publishing, government, and for software, hardware, telecommunications, and manufacturing companies, mostly doing writing. 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.

Primary dosha: Vata.

MBTI type: INFJ.

Enneagram: Sexual (means I prefer one-on-one with others) Five (curious investigator) with a Four (creative) wing, in a nutshell.

Sun: Aquarius. Moon: Scorpio. Rising: Virgo.

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

One of 700 billion human beings on Planet Earth.

Unfaithful to my sorrows.

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