Honoring My Teachers
I’ve had many teachers as I’ve embarked on my Wayfinding, Sacred Circling, and Web Design journeys, and I’d like to take a moment to thank and honor the most influential of them.
Wayfinding
Martha Beck
To Martha Beck and your amazing master coach trainers, know that you have been some of THE most powerful human forces on my path of personal and professional transformation. Wayfinder Life Coach Training was such an incredible soul journey, and some of my closest friendships were sourced from our cohort. Thank you.
Adi Shakti
To Adi Shakti and your dedicated guides, you are the real deal. Your teachings rooted in the Nath Shiv lineage were what my soul yearned to explore. To anyone who craves the depth that an ancient yogic lineage offers but lacks the ability to study with Adi’s teacher Yogrishi Vishveketu’s in the Himalayan foothills or prefers a powerful female guide, I invite you to explore her training programs.
Margaret G.
To Margaret G., you were my sponsor for seven years and helped me far more than any single human ever has. If it weren’t for you, my life would be radically different today, and not for the better! You held my hand as I developed the courage to set boundaries with the most challenging person I’ve ever had to navigate in my 48+ years. You were the one who witnessed my personal inventory, and I saw the tears that accompanied your shaky but deeply determined words that wouldn’t allow me to accept responsibility for a rape I’d endured. I am so eternally grateful to you, and though I haven’t seen you in well over a decade, you are often in my thoughts. If I had one wish, it would be that everyone had a Margaret G. in their life. I love you.
Paul Weitz
To Paul Weitz, you introduced me to yoga rooted in lineage at a pivotal time in my life. Thank you.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
To the late Jiddu Krishnamurti, if it wasn’t for your book Think on these Things, I would have graduated from Purdue University in 2001 and would be (miserably) working in a cubicle making someone else rich. At least that’s the trajectory I was on until I encountered your work. Thankfully, that’s not my story because your teachings inspired me to question all that I’d ever been taught, give up all that I knew, and follow my heart’s calling. And, you helped me to “find” my purpose: that I am Love and that my work on Planet Earth is to be an expression of that Love. Thank you.
Sacred Circling
I’ve been gathering in various circles and Sacred Circles since the late 90s, and I’ve been calling my own since May of 2022. I’ve taken a ton of on-demand and live trainings, and those that I’ve included here are those that have influenced my work the most.
Adi Shakti
To Adi Shakti, thank you (again!). The trauma-informed trainings I’ve received from you have been invaluable for me on this circling journey. And should I decide one day to hold retreats, your Becoming The Guide training will be put to good use!
Center for Transformational Coaching
To the Center for Transformational Coaching, thank you for offering a Sacred Circle Facilitation workshop a month after I started calling circles! I learned so much from this training, and my circles today include many of its teachings. Perhaps the most profound teaching that I gleaned from it that I haven’t experienced anywhere else is “equity in sharing.” This has become a cherished hallmark of the circles I guide.
Chris Maddox
To Chris Maddox, thank you for creating The Wild Woman’s Project Circle Leader Training back in 2011. You are such a beautiful, humble soul, and I continue to learn from you long after your training ended.
Alanon
To my one-time Alanon home group, thank you for entrusting me to facilitate many of our weekly meetings. Though it took me a while to connect the dots, it was you who taught me the importance having circling agreements (aka “12 Traditions”), as well as including fellowship. Thank you.
Sisters in circle
To my sisters in circle - my sisters who gather with me monthly around my fire pit or indoors - I thank you for being some of my best teachers. For growing with me, showing me what works and what doesn’t, and for being beautiful examples of why this work matters in the world. I love you.
Bear
To Bear, you are included here because I stood or sat with you in many a Sacred Circle. Thank you for taking me under your wing when I arrived at the Minnehaha Free State in 1999 without knowing a soul. Thank you for the many spiritual and ceremonial gifts you gave me, even though you yourself had so little. The turtle rattle, red tailed hawk feather, medicine bag, bear claw…Thank you for bringing me to watch the sacred drum group practice, for showing me how to offer tobacco, for teaching me mitakuye oyasin and what it means. Thank you for bringing me to Stephanie Autumn’s home, where people I’d read about in history books were gathered to organize a march, and where I committed to embark on a five-day spiritual fast. Thank you for inviting me to my first sacred sweat lodge and for some that followed. I am deeply indebted to you and wish I could turn back time so that we could share more fry bread and have that final conversation that we needed to have.
Jimmy Anderson
To Jimmy Anderson of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota tribal community, thank you for introducing me to smudging, to honoring the four directions, to recognizing messages from “Brother Eagle” and other animal friends. Thank you for your willingness and enthusiasm for inviting people like me in your Sacred Pipe Ceremonies and Sacred Sweat Lodges. You left an important imprint on me during this era of my life, and I am so deeply grateful.
Website Design
Whoever thought that I’d become a web designer! I was married to one over 15 years ago, and I NEVER saw it in coming. Even when the bug finally did bite, I thought I’d be designing Wordpress sites because that’s what I knew and loved, and yet now I find myself coding in Squarespace…and freaking LOVING IT!! Anyway…
Alana Jade
To Alana Jade, I first encountered your work via Dani Gardner’s site. Thank you for exposing me to your earthy, calming aesthetic, 1-week website process, and emphasis on working with kind people who are here to change the world. And I especially want to thank you for encouraging me to learn web design and coding from your teacher, Rache.
Rache (aka the Squarestylist)
To Rache, founder of Squarestylist* and Standout Squarespace* (*affiliate links), you’ve created the most invaluable web design courses and workshops I’ve ever encountered! Your generosity and desire to share your knowledge with others at such an accessible price point, along with your emphasis on making sites accessible so that everyone can enjoy them, inspires me deeply. Finally, I love how you teach Squarespace web design and development/coding, and I am truly grateful that I’ve crossed paths with your work.