Cultivating
loving
awareness
the beauty of practice
I meditate because I want to be free of all the things that create stress and suffering in my life. I meditate because I want to heal all the places that feel wounded and broken. I meditate because I want to get closer to the divinity and love I have tasted through the dharma. I meditate because each time I come to my place of stillness I return home, I come back into connection to what is sacred, what is beautiful, what is most meaningful.
And…I just love this Buddhism stuff. I think it’s cool to read the Buddha’s teachings, to look at the endless lists he made. Most days I walk in the forest with a Dharma talk in my headphones and revel at the Buddhist roadmaps of the mind.
And I meditate because I truly believe that in some magical and mysterious way, the challenging, delicate work of looking within can be shared with all the beings of this planet. I meditate because I want to sparkle out the love I uncover through practice to this beautiful, wounded planet and all its beings.
dharma mentoring
For almost twenty years I have had the great blessing of having my own dharma mentor, a teacher who I have been able to check in with about meditation practice, about relationships, parenting, career, and all my general personal angst and drama. Having someone lovingly witness my life and practice and keep pointing me in the direction of awakening has been a key ingredient of my dharma journey.
The magic of the dharma mentoring relationship is having someone listen, witness, love, and remind you that whatever is happening right now is perfect. Even when (and especially when) it is uncomfortable, life is offering itself as a doorway to the path of opening the heart and mind. It’s not always east to recognize that what is happening in any given moment is an important part of our paths. When connecting with a dharma mentor and teacher, we are reminded to ask the questions, “How is this my curriculum? What am I cultivating in the face of what life is offering right now?”
“You took birth here because you have certain work to do that involves the suffering you do, the kinds of situations you find yourself in. This is your curriculum. It’s not an error. Your entire life is a curriculum. Everything you've got on your plate is where the stuff for your enlightenment is. It’s breathtaking when you see the beauty of this design.”
— Ram Dass
about
I have been practicing mediation since 2003. I spent most of my twenties on and off many multi-month meditation retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Insight Meditation Center, including a 5-Month retreat at the Forest Refuge. I hold a BA in Visual Arts and MA in Creation Spirituality from Naropa University.
I have been an educator in many realms over the last twenty years, including Waldorf Kindergarten teacher, program teacher for Mindful Schools, and Eating Disorders/Body Positive Educator at Beyond Hunger.
I started the Family Sangha at the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, and the Saturday Night Sangha, a young adult meditation community at the East Bay Healing Collective. I have been a guest dharma teacher at the Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley, the Sacramento Insight Community and the Sonoma Insight Meditation Community.
I am currently a mentor for Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s Mindfulness Meditation Certification Program and teaches for Cloud Sangha, leading weekly community discussion groups, meditations, and immersion sanghas.
I live in Portland, Oregon with my violinist husband and 9 year old son, Koya Moon. When not leading dharma sessions, I make art. A lot of art.
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