From
East to West
&
Back Again
A Remarkable Story of a Woman's Self-Discovery
My passion for the work I do really grew out of my own lifelong yearning for a truer, fuller expression of myself and a relentless, unshakable knowing that I was meant for so much more than I was allowing myself to be, to experience, and to express.
I devoted...
...much of my childhood to training as a competitive ice skater and various forms of dance. The stress of the rigorous training on top of my over-achieving approach in academics was more than my young, impressionable self could handle unbuffered.
As a teenager on the verge of becoming a woman, I, like so many others, battled with low self-esteem, an eating disorder, and a compulsive drive to perfect myself and my body in an attempt to source the power and safety I was desperately seeking to make life more manageable.
I stopped eating at age 14...
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...which was my unconscious way of numbing out my feelings, disappearing from my life, punishing myself for all the ways in which I believed I wasn’t enough, and to cutting myself off from my own aliveness, joy, and pleasure… all of which I didn’t feel worthy.
Like so many young women in our times...
...I was fraught with so much shame and self-loathing that it was stealing every ounce of my joy.
I was putting my life and my happiness on hold, while I consumed myself in the search, struggle, and relentless drive for unachievable perfection. If only I could figure out how I could possibly, hopefully, one day, someday BE enough, then I was finally going to be worthy of living, of happiness, and of pleasure.
Eventually, the numbness and apathy I had been living became so unbearable that I gradually started to wake up to the fact that I had forgotten what it was like to actually feel good in my skin and to feel alive in my body.
I knew that something had to change radically, especially if i was to avoid the grief and regret of an un-lived life.
The Turning Point
The turning point came when I had opportunity to live in a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in the heart of Kathmandu, Nepal. I had been immersing myself in the study of eastern philosophy and Buddhism throughout high school in whatever free time I had, which wasn’t much. But, my thirst for freedom was enough to take me to the other side of the world, to the very source and most direct experience I could tap into.
For months, I lived in this intoxicating trance that the 4 am chanting, gongs, and rituals would transport me into – amidst the incense, cacophony, and profound silence – along with the daily circumambulation of the temple on the mountaintop overlooking the nunnery, while reciting mantra with prayer beads in hand.
As much as this lifestyle of around-the-clock devotion appealed...
to me, and as tempted I was to dive even more deeply into my spiritual growth in this way, my soul was calling me elsewhere. What I was truly here to discover, experience, and embody in service of sharing it with others. was to be done in the very grit and wildness of all the textures of life that are far less predictable and graceful than within the walls and seclusion of a nunnery.
What my soul was truly craving, and what was really being asked of me was to walk head-on into full spectrum living and to taste all the nuances of what life has to offer. What I didn’t know back then but have since come to realize is that…
This is the very process that has allowed me to cultivate the vigilance to all the worldly temptations that continue to threaten to compromise my aliveness, my sense of Self, and seduce me into believing they are the truest source of my ultimate happiness, freedom, and wellness when they are only decoys for that which we are perpetually seeking where it cannot be found.
“It is the most wonderful, empowering thing in the world to have a beautiful soul like yourself radiating such deep presence. It’s like bathing in a warm ocean of loving arms. I wish everyone could feel it.”
~ Pippa Sweet
My Love Affair with Tantra
Upon returning to the U.S. to begin my university education, I fell in love for the very first time – both with Tantra and my first boyfriend.
My appetite was sparked, which brought me into several years of study and training in Classical Tantric hatha yoga throughout my 20’s.
This is a practice steeped in very precise techniques – including asana, pranayama, bhanda, mudra, mantra, deity worship, and kriya – all of which are designed to lead us to that point of ultimate realization and liberation beyond all technique.
It’s at that point that we will have arrived at the end of all separation and seeking into that ecstatic moment of truly meeting the divine both within and without.
My explorations of Tantra continued through my 30’s in the form of reading, attending workshops, spending several weeks in Pune, India at the Osho ashram, and then living for years in an Osho community where we meditated and practiced regularly.
With each passing day...
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I land even deeper into the knowing within in every fiber of my being that discovering how to infuse modern life with the ancient wisdom of Tantra is the path that I was born to walk, to embody, and to devote my life’s work to sharing more and more fully.
With each passing day, I land even deeper into the knowing within in every fiber of my being that discovering how to infuse modern life with the ancient wisdom of Tantra is the path that I was born to walk, to embody, and to devote my life’s work to sharing more and more fully.
My journey of Tantra is ever-evolving. The simplest and most concise way that I can summarize its overarching intention is:
To embody the transcendent and use our ordinary daily existence to be in communion with our divine nature… to experience who we are way beyond our this apparently limited reality.
My journey of Tantra is ever-evolving
​
The simplest and most concise way that I can summarize its overarching intention is:
To embody the transcendent and use our ordinary daily existence to be in communion with our divine nature… to experience who we are way beyond our this apparently limited reality.
For me Tantra is about embracing this very human tension we all face in the whirl of our full lives and technologically-dominant culture as a means to fuel my daily devotion and inspiration to seek even more fiercely that which is unconditional and essential – the true source of my beauty, freedom, power, and lasting joy and fulfillment.
It’s about making the journey of returning to the very essence of my eternal Self a consistent daily practice right in the midst of the very drama and duality – from excruciating to ecstatic – of this mystery we call life.
“Your coaching has been such an honor to receive and is still having a VERY PROFOUND impact on me, my healing, and my life.
I was in a very desperate moment & your gift helped me resolve & move through it. This is probably one of the biggest, deepest, most potent transformations I’ve had. I feel a totally different person all over again.
I have never been met or supported in this way ever. It’s a dream come true. I can’t thank you enough for all the breakthroughs that have turned my life around.”
~ Emily Palmer
My Holistic Approach
The austerity of the eastern monastery does not work in our modern western world.
We require intelligent adaptations of these powerful, ancient technologies that honor their origin but can also embrace the western mind and bring it gently to a higher consciousness.
To that end, I have created a Holistic Approach that honors the traditions that I learned and embraced, while also incorporating the advantages of our western science and capabilities.
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Classical Tantric Hatha Yoga
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Neo-Tantra & Sacred Sexuality
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Female Sexuality
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Trauma Informed Somatic Empowerment
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Energetic and Manual De-Armoring
I hold certification and specialized training in:
The spirit of the ancient traditions paired with the science and technology of our modern times is what I bring to my clients.
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Conscious Embodiment
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Transformational Belief Re-Patterning
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Art of Feminine Presence
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Mindset Mastery
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Inner Reconciliation