About

I wasn’t always as dedicated to following my own inner compass as I am now.” In fact I’m pretty sure there were years when my compass was lost somewhere in the bottom of my old Girl Scout backpack!

When I was 41 I found myself fluctuating between apathy and rage. I looked everywhere for the cause – my work, my husband, my children -but couldn’t determine a source. And couldn’t see any way out of what I was feeling. I would find myself driving down the road wondering if it wouldn’t be easier – and if my family wouldn’t be better off – if I just drifted into oncoming traffic.

I had no idea what was wrong with me.

Luckily for me, a serendipitous encounter with just the right novel (Sue Monk Kidd’s The Mermaid Chair) was my gateway to realizing that what I was feeling was classically perimenopausal.

I‘ve spent the decade since then researching, learning and doing my own midlife soulwork. In fact it’s still an ongoing process, because ‘midlife’ is pretty long phase!

A brief summary of the basic tenets that inform my work

• I reject the idea that midlife is the start of a downhill slide into old age.
• I reject the notion that the best solutions to women’s midlife concerns are drugs, surgery or affairs.

AND

• I believe that ease is each person’s birthright. It’s our natural state of being – if we can just get out of our own way.
• I believe the confusion and discontent some women feel at midlife is in reality a call to introspection and transformation.
• I believe in doing this work at your own pace and honoring it as a sacred journey.
• I believe in the mantra “Trust the Process”.
• I believe in the power of being in the company of other women who are equally committed to becoming their best, most whole selves.
• I believe in the importance of Radical Self-care.
• I believe that we are living in a time of transition in the evolution of human consciousness that is calling each of us to our highest selves.
• I believe that becoming our best selves is the first step in creating a better world.

I fully admit to being an education junkie. Here are the highlights of what I bring to the table:

• I received my BA in Psychology, with a minor in Gerontology, from Miami University in Oxford OH
• I received my Masters degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Pennsylvania State University, State College PA. My focus was Adult Development and Aging and Women’s Health.
• After grad school, I changed direction and got my license in massage therapy from the State Medical Board of Ohio. Since 1994, I’ve incorporated many different modalities into my work, primarily craniosacral therapy supported with visceral manipulation and Reiki.
• I discovered SoulCollage® in the fall of 2008, quickly fell in love, and was trained as a Facilitator in the spring of 2009. Life hasn’t been the same since!
• I apprenticed with Alexandra Pope in her Women’s Quest program, a pioneering program using the inherent wisdom of the menstrual cycle as the model for women’s biological, psychological and spiritual development
• Most recently I began training in Somatic Experiencing®. Created by Peter Levine, PhD., SE is a psychobiological approach for dealing with physical and emotional trauma, overwhelm, and stress-related conditions

A stream of consciousness list of random things that make me happy:

• silent retreats
• stunning shades of indigo and violet on a snowy twilight landscape
• old 1970s-era VW Beetles – especially convertibles
• Star Trek (all generations, all versions – except that very first movie)
• the work of Ohio artist Charley Harper
• vintage pitchers, especially Hall Pottery ball jugs (I know, weird, right?)
• reruns of 1970s American Top 40 broadcasts the (favorite year 1976)
• fairies and mermaids
• our Siberian cat, Obi