Introduction and Background
Please introduce yourself and share a bit about your background, wisdom tradition you most identify with, and the language you use in that tradition (Sacred Presence, Creator, Spirit, Universe, etc.).
I am the mother of two little ones, wife, yoga instructor, entrepreneur, retreat leader, community collaborator, activist, and steward of our little creek.
I have been practicing yoga for over 20 years and began teaching about 13 years ago. I studied under my teachers who stem from the Tantric traditions of yoga, rooted in non-dualism. I have also studied Ayurveda and the intersections of everyday life and how we curate our own ultimate well-being and health.
Over the years and travels, I have also incorporated some indigenous tradition practices that recognize the seasonal phenomenon’s and sacredness of our wild spaces and creatures.
I refer to the universal principle as; ‘Great Spirit’, ‘Universal Spirit’, ‘Universal Energy’
Anticipate ~ Inviting Wisdom
In what ways do you invite and engage Wisdom to be present with you? What rhythms or practices help you to be present Now, in each moment, with an expectant, listening heart?
I use my body as the initial portal of which to embrace and connect with spirit and the universe. (within and without). My yoga practice, somatic movements, dance have always transported me into the meditative realm, of which I can connect to the subtleties within.
Creating sacred space such as lighting candles, prayers and invocations/mantra to open sacred space are also a part of my daily practice. I find great importance in having an altar space which can included deities, seasonal plants and items that incorporate the wheel of the year and auspicious thresholds.
I also incorporate using Tarot cards, plant medicine, ‘kitchen witch’ alchemy, and lunar traditions such as recognizing the energetic currents of the lunar cycle: new moon (intention setting), full moon (celebratory, expressive, community).
Resonate ~ Engaging Understanding
How do you receive Wisdom’s Life and Presence into your own self? Is there a rhythm or practice that helps you to go deeper or expand your heart, understanding, and awareness in light of each exchange and encounter?
Sitting in Nature, surfing (being with momma ocean) witnessing life and stillness in this great amphitheatre of life, oftentimes is my most accessible gateway to integrate how wisdom and presence moves through me and my life. My yoga practice or rhythm, has been my backbone to returning to my embodied experience and making sense of the sensational and spirit energy that animates and expresses. I am comforted that the more I practice, the easier it is to tap into that wisdom and curiosity!
Translate ~ Sharing Knowledge
How do you creatively engage and reflect to others and the world around you what you have gained in the energy of this encounter?
I host an array of yoga workshops, classes, series, and gatherings that explore our embodied and reflective experiences of healing, connection, grief, rage, and action. I also love to draw and create as expression of this connection to the universal spirit.
Surfing has also become a beloved practice, that has humbled and reawakened me in infinite ways. To be in communion with the ocean, a moving, dynamic element is beyond words. The pure bliss I experience when getting to dance along a wave, is otherworldly. And it is how my beloved and I forged our life together. We love to surf together, and we love to take people on pilgrimages to the ocean to dive into her depths and learn to dance on waves! Feathers and Fur Experiences was born of this love!
Emanate ~ Embodying Being
What rhythms or practices do you engage to help you become more integrated in your tradition ~ your own wholeness and well-being? Are there any practices from outside your tradition with which you also engage?
Yoga practice, pranayama, mantra, meditation, smudging, dancing, breathwork, vigils, death rites.
Practices that inspire me …
- When does your tradition celebrate the beginning of the new year?
Diwali marks the new year for most Hindu people and lands at end of March, beginning of April.
Spring Equinox marks the new year, new cycle for me!
- Please share any rituals, celebrations, and/or practices your wisdom tradition engages with or celebrates on the wheel of time/seasons/cycle of the year and their respective dates.
Vernal Equinox, ~ March 19/20/21 2024
Summer Solstice ~ June 20/21 2024
Autumnal Equinox ~ Sept 21Winter Solstice ~ Dec. 21
- Is there anything else you would like to share about your process, practices, or your journey into your particular way of honoring the tradition(s) you currently engage???
I came to yoga as an activist, heart-broken by the world and systems of oppression that I had studied in University and witnessed in my own communities and abroad. So much disconnect, so much potential for healing to re-write and heal the cycles of harm that seemed to many, to keep manifesting with little thought and blind tending. In all the reckoning, activism, marching I had done, I realized that I could not save the world, but I could save myself. I had to tend to the wounds within, to tend to the wounds beyond. I needed so many tools to heal and potentially hold space for healing.
Yoga and these ancient rituals and renewed magics are nothing but revolutionary for me. These sacred acts and communities tether me to my ancestry, both of blood and of soul and remind me of the legacy I leave, the world I dare to dream of for my great-great-grandchildren. Yoga is my rebellion and devotion, my revolutionary love in action, that which weaves me into the great web of this universe and offers up healing from the inside out. Shall we dare to breathe together?! xo