As children our egos are formed in order to get our needs met. In childhood, the ego tries to protect us and to help us get the love that we need and want. As a result we stop acting from our true self and form a false self from which we begin to operate. This false self can take different forms, such as “people pleaser”, “good boy/good girl”, or the “victim”. Or perhaps we take on core stories such as:  “There’s never enough”, “No one will be there for me”, or “I have to give up my own needs in order to get love.” The ego limits and stunts who we are, even in adulthood. It denies us the full expression of our being. It robs us of our authenticity, and dictates many of our behaviors and our life choices, usually keeping us trapped in smaller versions of ourselves. Understanding our ego allows us to begin to lessen its power over us, thereby enabling us to feel more integrated and whole. 

Learning Outcomes

At this talk, you will increase your understanding of your ego's negative power and the core stories that result from it. You will begin to see how to dismantle your ego’s negative impact on your relationships and your happiness, thereby allowing you to feel more integrated and whole. As a result, you can feel empowered to write a new life-affirming story for yourself.

Modern society moves at such a fast pace that we inevitably find ourselves taking quick, shallow breaths just to keep up. We are so stressed that many of us unknowingly even hold our breath for periods of time. As a result, we send signals to our brain that a crisis is about to happen. Our bodies get flooded with stress chemicals and we feel agitated and even more exhausted. However, when we breathe deeply we instantly flood our bodies with vigor and vitality. We send a signal to our body that all is well. We become grounded, peaceful and filled with a sense of well-being. Our health improves and our lives are filled with more joy and greater ease. 

Learning Outcomes

In this workshop, you will come to understand the importance of breathing for your health and well-being and you will practice several breathing techniques to help you feel simultaneously calm and filled with vitality.

We are taught that suffering is either punishment for poor behavior, an inevitable fact of life to be endured, or rotten luck to be avoided at all costs. What if instead we saw it as a purposeful invitation toward growing into the most humble, loving, and joyful version of ourselves? What if we embraced our trials, tribulations, and traumas as gifts that nudge us to take responsibility for our lives in a way that opens our hearts to ourselves and to the suffering of the world? What if we could surrender to life’s hardships knowing that their wisdom and lessons propel us along our journeys just as much as our joys and our ecstasies do? 

Learning Outcomes

At this talk you will learn about the power of embracing adversity as a gift that can help you grow into the most powerful and loving person you can be. You will come to see that the pain that you experience in life is an invitation to love yourself and others more.

Guided meditation is a purposeful use of the imagination to create a deeply relaxed state, thereby allowing healing to take place. Guided meditation focuses on using directed “positive” imagery to reduce stress and pain, to decrease anxiety and depression, to increase your energy, and to augment joy. It accesses the subconscious mind to tap into your body’s innate ability to heal and create well-being. 

Learning Outcomes

In this workshop, you’ll explore why guided meditation is a powerful gift for cultivating health and you’ll experience several guided meditations designed to facilitate the well-being of your body, mind and spirit.

Our modern lives are fraught with stress and anxiety. We have a myriad of commitments, demands, and pressures to deal with on a daily basis. As a result, much of the time we are left feeling exhausted and unhappy. Sometimes all of this stress seems insurmountable, which makes it hard to fit yet another task, like taking time for ourselves, into an already crammed schedule. Luckily, ancient Eastern wisdom and modern stress expertise have much to teach us about how to help prevent the damage of chronic stress. When we begin to regularly implement easy-to-use tools for managing stress we can impact our lives in a powerful way. 

Learning Outcomes

At this talk you will come to understand the nature of stress and its negative impact upon your health. You will feel better equipped to implement practices to help reduce your stress levels by learning several easy-to-use relaxation techniques. As a result, you will feel empowered to live with a greater sense of peace and equanimity.

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The hectic pace of modern life and its ensuing strain on our relationships can leave us with a closed heart, which results in much unnecessary suffering and pain. One beautiful and accessible way out of living with a closed heart is by cultivating the practices of gratitude and forgiveness. Through practicing gratitude and forgiveness we can begin to choose love and engage in a life filled with abundance and joy. By making the decision to choose love instead of fear we can powerfully heal ourselves and by extension, the world.

Learning Outcomes

At this talk you will learn about the detrimental effects of a closed heart upon your physical body and upon your relationships. You will come to understand why practicing gratitude and forgiveness are powerful tools with which to open your heart. 

In these challenging and strife-ridden times it is easy to see the world as cruel and ugly. We badly want to ameliorate the suffering of the world yet often feel like our actions don’t have much effect. Often, we are left feeling depleted, frustrated, and angry. Yet, to be an activist (in both large and small ways) and to work for social justice is necessary and right. However, to really have a powerful impact on the suffering we see all around us it is important to be a force of love in each and every arena of our lives. In this way, we can become change-makers in our relationships, our communities, and our world.

Learning Outcomes

You will learn to be a sacred activist who combines the heart-centered focus of the mystic with the action-oriented mission of the activist. You will see how sacred activism invites you to act from a place of love for the good of humanity

We are born to express all of our magnificence and to honor our entire being:  our strength, our open-hearted nature, our creativity, our kindness, and the beautiful temple that houses our spirit, our body. However, life’s demands, self-denying expectations, and society’s body-shaming tendencies can leave us feeling depleted and less than whole. Thankfully, learning to view our bodies with reverence and attending to them tenderly can undo years of self-harming beliefs and assumptions. Practicing self-care and self-nourishment is a way of reclaiming our bodies and by extension ourselves.

Learning Outcomes

In this workshop, you will learn how to implement new body-positive practices so you will be free to inhabit your body in life-affirming and self-loving ways. You’ll come to feel empowered to embrace yourself regardless of age, illness, or perceived imperfections, thereby allowing you to cherish your whole being with love and acceptance.

In the Western world, we are quite aware of the relationship between human health and the body’s main systems, such as the central nervous and the cardiovascular systems. However, we are less aware of the body’s bioenergetic system (the chakra system), which consists of the vibrating, animating life-force inherent in all living things. This vibrational energy source is constantly fluctuating in response to the world around us and the world within us. The chakra system’s function is to receive, assimilate and express life-force energy to keep the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health of the body in balance.

Learning Outcomes

In this workshop, you will learn about the bioenergetic system and explore the mental and emotional components of each of its chakras. With this knowledge and understanding you will practice opening and balancing the energy in your chakra system through sound vibration, breath, meditation, visualization, and affirmation.

Our partners and family members push our buttons in ways that keep us stuck in an ongoing cycle of conflict. Often, we spend years arguing over the same sorts of issues with exactly the same people. As a result, we nurture feelings of blame and resentment that seem irresolvable. However, many of our negative reactions have more to do with our own childhood wounds than with our present-day relationship realities. Moreover, in arguments with our loved ones our subconscious mind is continually trying to help us heal from our early hurt. Again and again we are given the opportunity to gain mastery over the sorts of situations (and the ensuing feelings) that we couldn't master when we were children. Understanding why we react the way we do to issues with our loved ones invites us to learn how to meet our needs, speak our truth, and live a more joyful life.

Learning Outcomes

At this talk, you will come to see why your loved ones push your buttons in ways that seem confounding. You will learn about your core stories and your shadow and how they negatively impact your life. With this knowledge, you will be more empowered to heal from difficult interactions so that your relationships will be more healthy and whole.

The labyrinth is an ancient gift that invites you to walk a path to wholeness. When you walk a labyrinth you are invited to integrate both the positive and negative experiences of your life. The more you integrate all of who you are, the more you will discover the natural state of joy inherent in your being. Known as a path of meditation or as a path of prayer, the labyrinth has an uncanny ability to open one’s receptivity, intuition, and inner knowing. It will gently and graciously offer you guidance on how best to proceed on your journey with an open, joyous heart.

Learning Outcomes

In the workshop, you will learn how to use the labyrinth as a powerful tool to help you process and integrate all of your life experiences so that you can more easily access your inner wisdom. You will have an opportunity to walk the labyrinth and spend time reflecting upon your experience through journaling, drawing, and/or discussion.  

*Note: I own my own canvas labyrinth (which I also rent out to groups & organizations). Contact me for more information.