http://youtu.be/4W--75FIKlc
Each of us is like a river,
a being that is constantly transforming--
My path is to accompany others, learning to walk with heart and mind in balance, with respect for every part of Nature, giving thanks continually for all existence.
My blood ancestors come from many traditions, including Welsh, Irish, Scots, and Cherokee. My roots are in the Earth, and my community is all Earth-honoring people.
I have lived my entire life on a beautiful peninsula surrounded by the sacred and magificent Great Lakes. When viewed on a map, this peninsula has the form of a hand. I experience this image as the imprint of Creator surrounded by life-giving, 'sweet' waters.
In 1984, I earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in English Language and Literature. For many years I wrote poetry and taught writing, experiences which became, for me, ways of contacting and trusting visions, personal voices, and true life-paths. I came early to the conviction that 'following our bliss,' as Joseph Campbell so beautifully advised, is the heart of true happiness, and I have always sought to impart this confidence to my children and to my University students, numbering now in the thousands.
Between 1983 and 2005, I was an apprentice to our greatest teacher--Life--as a mother living with her children. During that time, my training and walking included giving birth at home, living in the woods, growing and learning from plants, homeschooling, preparing food and learning its healing properties, listening to animals and birds, receiving instruction from my teacher-- Crow--,watching stars, learning astrology, journeying on the inner planes, and trusting the dreamtime.
Along the way, I benefited from a beautiful meditation practice, from yoga and dance, from training in process acupressure, from many teachers--plant, animal, elemental, and human-- both in and out of body, and from mystical experiences recorded in my poetry.
Between 1999 and 2009, I traveled frequently to South America where I learned aspects of the ancient mystical tradition of the Andes Mountains from the mountains, waterfalls, plants, people, animals, birds, and sun that abide there and from the Kichwa elder, Al ver to Taxo.
In addition to leading writer's retreats, I teach courses in contemplative practice, personal development and creativity in the Department of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation in The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at The University of Michigan. Through Natureandhealing.org, I teach mystical healing through nature in workshop, seminar, and retreat settings.
To see a video describing my teaching at the University, click on the link above.
