The sudden “death” of a relationship left me heartbroken and unhappy again. I leaned on my yoga practice, deepening it with teacher trainings that raised my awareness, brought clarity and form to meditation, and brought me back to letting go of what doesn’t work.  In the process I earned certificates in Hatha Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Therapeutic Yoga.

 

The new clarity around letting go of what no longer worked led to leaving my job teaching Science and Theater Arts in New Jersey, getting rid of clutter, moving to NYC, and starting a new career path as an actor and voiceover artist.  Everything I was DO-ing was great, and energizing but something was still off.  My BE-ing, my heart, was still locked down and broken. Maybe it was time to stop moving, get still, and face the old wounds … maybe it was time to start pulling up the old weeds that were stunting new growth with their deep roots.

 

When the student is ready the teacher appears and, with that seed planted, great resources came my way. I discovered insightful teachers, interesting webinars, and books that raised my awareness and gave me tangible ways of loosening the grip of the past.  It hurt.  I cried. 

I started meditating more often.  I cried a little less and the hurt wasn’t as painful.  Since helping others is a way to cultivate happiness and, believing I had something to share with others, I trained to become a hospice and vigil volunteer with Visiting Nurse Service of NY.  My heart and my awareness of how precious this sacred life is expanded exponentially as I spent time with my beautiful patients and their families.  My view of life and life itself began transforming. I’d evolved from sitting at my parents’ bedsides in a state of emotional chaos and confusion to this more grounded, more aware state of sitting with the transition of life.  I was healing.  And I was asked to share my experiences on training panels for new volunteers.  That seed I planted had blossomed in place of some of the old weeds.

 

And then, with a milestone birthday at hand and the sense that time is precious, it was time to open more; to send my ripple a little wider.  What could I do next with these sacred precious moments?

 

Deep down I wanted to branch out and meet like-minded people from all over the world.  And with that new seed planted, BOOM! Up popped the Secrets of Meditation Healing Immersion with internationally recognized stress-management expert, corporate trainer, meditation teacher, and best selling author davidji, a beautiful and gifted teacher whose work I’d been sampling for several years.  During that transformational weekend I met beautiful, soulful seekers.  Together we learned easy meditation techniques, spent a ton of time exploring, practicing, and healing, and my heart finally cracked open under davidji’s loving guidance.  My own daily meditation practice that brings me home and continues to ground, enrich, and enhance my life blossomed from the seeds I’d planted and took root that weekend.  Like brushing my teeth twice a day, meditating twice a day gives me two opportunities to dip into my inner well of cool water making me a little more “chill” when the heat of this hectic world hits me.

 

I’m honored to be one of davidji’s certified Masters of Wisdom and Meditation teachers and would be happy to share these techniques with you. 

 

These days it fills my heart to be able to weave meditation practices into my daily interactions with people and, most especially, into my work with hospice and vigil patients and their families.  And I provide Restorative Yoga and Meditation sessions in the Wellness Center at Ronald McDonald House NY.  Connecting with people humbles me.  To witness a sense of clarity, calm, and peace arise during fragile, difficult times, is beyond words.  And through deeper training with INELDA, I’ve expanded my work to be an End of Life Doula, what I also refer to as an End of Life Coach.  With my own mortality in clear focus, and through this work, I’m able to provide compassionate end of life support to patients and their families with the hope of transforming how we look at life and how we view the sacred process of death. 

 

In my experience meditation and yoga became my key companions out of necessity, holding me up by the seat of my pants as I journeyed through death and crisis in my life.  Over time though, growing and grounding those practices and turning them into rituals has made it easier to meet and deal with the challenges that come my way today. From that space, I can guarantee that developing a simple daily meditation practice, a practice that works for you now, will weave grace and ease into the day bit by bit and transform how you meet your life challenges too. 

 

If we transform how we meet life’s challenges by learning how to accept and create some space around them, we can then expand the grace and ease with which we approach whatever lies beyond what we know here, in our human bodies. 

 

It all begins by learning how to dip into your own well of stillness and silence that’s right there in your tender heart … in your home sweet home.  No equipment necessary. 

 

Let’s come home together.