The echoes of our drums fade away as we breathe deeply into our bellies, sitting in front of the fall altar, and a smaller one just crafted spontaneously for this night’s ceremony. I lead us in a meditation to connect with the resonant field of our glorious community, the NorCal region of Shakti Rising, tapping into our intertwined roots. We listen and are seeking to answer these questions: What is the nature of the living energy of our region? What are the special medicines we add to the pot of magic Shakti is cooking up across our five regions? What is needed to expand this medicine, particularly in the Sacramento micro-region where we live and teach? And why does it matter? We are exploring , in the fall tradition of Shakti Rising, to Uncover Our Roots.
Read moreHow Shakti Rising is Growing the Leadership our World Needs
The most valuable experiences of our lives, those that have the deepest impact on our paths to becoming and expressing who we are, must sometimes cycle in and out of our lives for a while--sometimes years--before the time is right for us to reach out and claim them as our own. They come into our awareness when we are in a space of curiosity or vulnerability, a space that lends a certain stickiness to our minds and hearts. It's just sticky enough to capture a lasting impression of the potential that this experience could hold for us. Some day. Not today, but some time in the liminal future. When we are ready, or curious enough, to step into it.
Read moreBe the Kind of Person in Whose Presence Others Unfold**
Photo by Michaela
What does it mean to be fully present with another person? This question has been on my mind, as I deepen my learning and practice as a coach. The concept of presence is central to both Integral Coaching (New Ventures West) and Values Coaching (Values Technology), with whom I am training. Presence is the primary ingredient of coaching, the foundation on which stands everything else a coaching relationship can be. It is so simple, and something that generally comes naturally to me, and so I find myself taking for granted that I am consistent in my practice of being present and holding space for others. Until a painful experience ran me right up against the reality that this is not always true.
Read moreSisters Rising: An International Women’s Day Dream-Weaving
When the Goddess fell, Woman learned to expertly conceal, to deflect and to hide in plain sight. Concealing the natural grace of her body within the rigid hourglass of the corset and the destabilizing tilt of the high heel. Hiding her spells and incantations within the lullaby and the bedtime story. Deflecting attention from her cat’s eyes with the distraction of mascara and a down-turned gaze.
When the Goddess fell she did not die; no, she shape-shifted, sank into the softness of the soil, into the tangle of the roots, into the consciousness of the mycelium, into the darkness of mystery and life and growth and death. Territory that was always Hers to begin with.
Read moreFinding Your Song of Authentic Resistance: What I learned from gifting 21 Reiki sessions in 15 days
“You know? I’m just not feeling the way I should be feeling at Christmas time this year. I can see it all around me, but I’m not connected to it at all.”
Joe’s tone of voice caught my attention, and I looked across the restaurant table at him. For my heartful, sweet and deeply optimistic partner, this was the closest he’s been to seeming depressed. Although Christmas means very different things to each of us, I, too, was struggling to feel connected—not just to the season, but to my own sense of openness and engagement with the world. I nodded in silent agreement, feeling my mood slip further.
And in that moment, when I dipped my toe into the pool of despair on whose banks I’d been standing since the presidential election, my heart responded with inspired resistance.
Read moreSurviving My Immunity to Change™
I’m silently observing from the back corner of the classroom. Bent over art supplies and paper, the students are bringing to life images of a world at peace, drawn from a guided meditation I’d led them through moments before. A visitor to the room might guess that they’d entered an art class, rather than the Women’s Leadership Seminar I had the honor of teaching at Mills College for seven years. Overseeing this creative moment, a part of me feels excited and proud. But that part is drowned out by my beating heart, sweaty hands, churning stomach–physical manifestations of genuine fear and dread coursing through me. In this moment–the first time I’ve brought my identity as an artist into the classroom–I feel exposed and vulnerable. I feel afraid. For my students, the point of this exercise is to make images of a world free from injustice. For me, the point of this exercise is to stand in this fear, to observe myself within it, and to answer the question of whether or not I can survive it.
Read moreRetiring My Impostor Syndrome
Sitting down to make my first SoulCollage® card, I wished to step into an experience of myself as creative, powerful, beautiful, or perhaps mysterious. But all of the beautiful, inspirational images I had torn from magazines refused to come together into a coherent card. Through this intuitive process of collaging one’s inner world, I intended to represent my Artist, or Goddess, or maybe the Archetype of Joy. In other words, I wanted to make visible a beautiful aspect of myself I could feel proud of.
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