• awareness in just one breath ... and another ...

    • health coach, meditation/yoga teacher since 1999

       

      Breath-based practices have supported us for thousands of years through all the "thousand joys and sorrows", of this life.

       

      These time-honored methods are designed for the best and worst of life. They work naturally to help us heal, mind and heart and body .... also to share and grow during the most difficult as well as the easier seasons of our life.

       

      To maintain well-being, my clients practice at home, using personal guidance. Some just want a clearer mind and lighter heart, to discover and rediscover self-compassion. Others are navigating recovery from illness, or suffering from life trauma.

       

      I coach and teach in small groups, in coordination with psychotherapists, and one-to-one, online and soon, live!

       

      Mindfulness-based health coaching (Duke University certified health coach) DBT skills facilitator (Dialectical Behavior Therapy).

       

      Certified Yoga Therapist, (IAYT certified therapist, Krishnamacharya tradition)

      Healing breathing techniques, and sound practices for post-illness or trauma recovery

       

      Trauma-sensitive mindfulness practices (graduate of a two-year mindfulness teacher training program, certified by the Greater Good Science Center; also certified Level I Somatic Experiencing; training in social and identity-based trauma through Mindful of Race)

       

       

       

       

       

    • where does well-being begin for you?

      A famous (and somewhat frustrating) answer in my tradition to this question is: "It depends."

       

      But it really is down to the individual heart and mind. That's where we start.

       

      The practice sheets below show a breath-based approach for recovering health and well-being. The practice is designed for one individual I've coached for years. It's focused on what was happening for her, but with an eye to future development of practice, and building on her previous skill set.

       

      Needs, competencies, and future goals are unique to every client I've taught ... from athletes to the differently abled, from kids to elders.

       

      The practices look complex at first but they are well-explained and rehearsed together, live on ZOOM. In the pages below, the text as well as the drawings are shaped to the student's interests, and schedule, to ensure regular practice.

       

      In cases where wellness has been very hard to achieve, I often suggest a formal coaching plan, based on the Duke University Wheel of Integrative Health (see below).

       

      It has been a joy to see students thriving in relationships, and empowered to meet life challenges with greater health, joy, kindness, and confidence.

       

      I began practicing in 1970, and started teaching in hospitals before there was the incredible phenomenon of wellness marketing.

       

      To become acquainted, I still offer a very old-school, 30-minute free consult to new students and coaching clients. Alternatively you can contact me directly for a link to my yoga/meditation ZOOM classes on Friday. Then, we'll meet, we'll be present together, and you'll know if it's a fit.

       

       

      SAMPLE PRACTICE

      Excerpted page from a recent personal practice for a long-time student, shared via laptop and telephonic support.

       

      This is an a.m. practice for an experienced practitioner, a researcher on intensive 12 hour-deadline at home. She did not need coaching at this time, since her diet, exercise, meditation, career and spiritual life were already refined over the decades we've worked together. Although the practice specifies ratios of inhale to exhale, noted in seconds, the formal breathing practice (pranayama) is not shown here.

    • Learn more

       

       

      First, the free 30 minute FaceTime or ZOOM consult (see my contact button below).

       

      Then, three, 75 min. sessions are usually the basis for our work. Follow up when needed. Three 30 min. telephonic coaching sessions to answer questions.

       

      In the first meeting, we get familiar with each other, discuss priorities for practice, and map out some ideal outcomes. Then I offer a practice and health plan, in written form.

       

      Over the past few years, I have been sharing practices and coaching plans almost exclusively online, using Zoom, or Facetime, if that's your preference.

       

      Over a few months, we discuss a follow-up plan to help you develop mastery in contemplative practice, increase your vitality and add to your self-care skills.

       

      After that, we follow up on your preferred schedule, weekly, monthly or bi-annually. My rate is usually per hour. But in the current emergency I am happy to adapt the fee for clients dealing with financial adversity.

       

      Please take a look at the Wheel of Health below to consider possibilities in health and wellness coaching for you...

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

      *Certified by Duke University Integrative Health as a professional health coach

      *Certified Teacher in mindfulness meditation through UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center

      *Certified Yoga Therapist by International Association of Yoga Therapists, training including onsite work in hospitals, and twenty years of one-on-one training through respected senior teachers in the Desikachar tradition of viniyoga. [@1500 hours in traditional-style, closely supervised yoga teacher training].

      *Level I Somatic Experiencing credential for trauma-resilience and embodied awareness.

      *Certificate, Integrative Sound and Music Program, Open Center NYC.

       

      At University of Virginia Graduate School, I studied the beautiful literatures of Sanskrit: the Patanjali Yoga Sutra and its many commentaries, Shaiva Tantra and Buddhist Abhidharma and Samkhya philosophical traditions. I have studied japam (mantra practice) with masters for over 20 years, and I teach chant to support healing, also.

       

       

      CURRENT/RECENT:

       

      During this period of COVID19, I support clients' resilience and engagement in positive change at Mindful Living Space, a private therapy center in Kingston NY.

       

      With the support of Sentara Hospital in Charlottesville, I opened the first independent meditation/yoga center inside a Virginia medical center, serving all patients, and physicians and therapists, at every income level, both in-hospital and in community centers.

       

      With a team of clinicians, I also designed and taught the hospital's meditation/yoga program for women's health, in their cardiac and cancer care departments, where I was also a partner in hospital based research on yoga for breast cancer.

       

       

      RESUME/CV HERE

    • for a complementary 30 min. consult

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