ABOUT
My first introduction to meditation was inspired by the Beatles. who encouraged us “Beatlemanics” to meet the Maharishi and “give peace a chance.” So after getting mazed in the face at the peace march in Washington, D.C, run over by barbwire at Chicago 7, and staying up all night at Woodstock to hear Jimmy Hendrix sing “Freedom” -I hitch-hiked across county with Ram Das’ “Be Here Now” book in my backpack and took my first meditation intensive with the Maharishi. And for a “wild child” it was the beginning of slowing down enough to “feel”, “see”, and “be” in life moment to moment. And the beginning of a wondrous path of what the Buddha calls 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows”
My travels drew me to Santa Barbara where I decided to get my Masters in Education. Santa Barbara was a spiritual hub at that time.. I would listen to Sunday talks by Krishnmurti in the olive groves of Ojai; practice yoga with Swami Satchidananda in his ashram, hear talks at my university by Buck Minister Fuller; bump into the Dalai Lama at the Dharma Datu and do meditation intensives with Swami Muktananda at the Santa Monica pier. I was excited and eager to learn and practice everything I could about yoga and meditation, and in doing so felt a joy inside myself that had been missing for a long long time.
I also started taking yoga classes which slowly increased from one to four times a week. My teachers were students of Desikacharya and B.K.S Iyengar. Their classes were an amazing balance of outer dynamism and humor, as well as inner awareness and breath. After studying with them for a few years, they decided to leave town and asked me to take over their classes. I was both shocked and honored, but longed to have more knowledge. So after covering their classes for a few years, and getting my degree from USCB, I decided to move to San Francisco to attend the Iyengar Yoga Teacher Training Institute and get more knowledge and confidence in my teaching.
I was overjoyed to be in the company of such amazing teachers as Mary Dunn, Kofi Bufia, Aadil Palkhivala, Felicity Hall and Ramanand Patel. I absorbed everything like a sponge! The greatest honor was getting to take intensives with B.K.S. Iyengar at his institute in Pune, India. His masterful eye and deep wisdom continued to ignite my passion, enthusiasm, and devotion to this practice and path.
After graduation from the Iyengar Yoga Institute, I moved to Berkeley to assist in Donald Moyer’s classes at his Yoga Room. In Berkley I got introduced to the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa and his truly remarkable approach that steadily rejected aggression as a strategy for overcoming obstacles, and instead, inspired a deeper and more powerful well of gentleness and compassion. I continued to attend talks by Pema Chodron whose light-hearted wisdom allowed me to soften inside and access a spaceousness in my body and mind that I had never known before. This awakened a new tenderhearted bravery to both my yoga practice and my life.
Then my yoga “karma” continued to call and I was invited to join a tour headed by meditation master Gurumayi Chidvilasanada to teach yoga classes, workshops and teacher trainings all over the world for the 10 years. It was such a honor to play a small part in spreading the gift of yoga to so many new people. And who knew back then, that “Om” would be a household word, a yoga mat would be in everyones’ carry-on, and most doctors would be recommending yoga and meditation for good health…… It takes a village!
During the following decade I returned to the Northwestern corner of Connecticut where I continued Buddhist studies taking my first Zen training at the Zen Mountain Monastery in New York with Daido Lori. Soon after I founded “Yoga Sangha”, a yoga community with heart which integrated Buddhist teachings into my yoga classes, workshops and trainings.
A few years later I got introduced to a new hatha yoga paradigm Anusara Yoga. This consisted of applying principles of alignment, and balanced actions for the inner and outer body that are in harmony with the pulsation of the Universe. After continued study and practice, I got certified in this new methodology and still continue to offer these principles of Attitude, Alignment, balanced Actions in my present classes.
In 2020, during the pandemic, my first book of poetry “wrote me”. The book is called “Pure & Simple Poems,” and is available on Amazon. It was so unexpected, and I am tickled to be able to offer it. My second book is calling, and so are memoirs of my wild and wonderful life-so stay tun.
I am still teaching full time, and keeping up my yoga, and meditation practices daily. I am currently studying and practicing in Tibetan Buddhism with Yongey Mingur Rinpoche and the Tergar Organization. It feels like I have come full circle and am returning back home to myself.
It is in my everyday life that I am noticing the true fruits of the practice. I pause more- not because I am an old fart , but because I don’t want to miss a moment of this precious human life. And for a former triathlon and marathon participant, I now walk without getting somewhere, listen instead of cutting people off mid-sentence, and enjoy just “being”. I spend summers in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where I get further inspiration from the Tibetan community there and from my great love -the sea.
Thank you for visiting my page and I look forward to meeting you soon.
Namaste
.