I am a facilitator, workshop leader, community resilience trainer and educator with over 40 years of experience designing programs which inspire and build deep connections to ourselves, each other, and the natural world. With 40 years of Buddhist meditation practice and 25 years of yoga practice, I use mindfulness and movement techniques to increase awareness and connection to our inner knowing. My early years in the theater teaching acting and improvisation, directing and performing informs my work today and I bring creativity and ritual into my programs
As a Community Resilience Model trainer I teach skills to build resilience in the face of the ongoing stresses and traumas we are facing today. These science based skills are easily learned by adults and children in all different situations. They have profound affects on wellbeing. Given the tools to self regulate our nervous systems we can remain resilient and bring forth our best thinking and highest selves.
As a facilitator of the “Work That Reconnects”, I use my theater background and deep nature connection to create powerful experiences for participants. Having studied with Joanna Macy for over 20 years I am steeped in the Work and able to design and deliver transformational workshops which address a wide range of issues; climate change, racial wounds, elderhood and aging.
As an educator I design exciting interactive programs for teachers and students and organizations. I trained classroom teachers in the uses of drama the classroom and trained actors to work in the schools in support of curriculum. I co-founded the Marin Agriculture and Education Alliance ( MAEA ) which created Marin's first Agricultural Institute for Teachers and launched the Farm Field Studies program, providing curriculum for hands-on and magical experiences on farms for thousands of K-12 students, as well as starting the Indian Valley College farm and garden. For 18 years as Education Director at the Marin Agricultural Land Trust and then at Marin Organic, I educated the public about the food and farms of West Marin as well as expanding awareness, memberships, and funding. MAEA also created a blue print for collaboration across sectors to build a local healthy food system which has been very successful in Marin County.
EDUCATION & TRAINING M.A., Education/Theater (double major), New York University, 1976 B.A., Child Development/Drama (double major), Hampshire College, 1974 Non-profit management certificate, Hartford Foundation, 1981 Secondary school teaching credentials (permanent), New York and Massachusetts Permaculture Design Certificate, Regenerative Design Institute, Bolinas CA, 2007 Ecology of Leadership - Regenerative Design Institute, 2009 Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training - The Mindful Body, San Francisco, 2012 Community Dharma Leader - Sukhassidhi Foundation, Fairfax CA, 2015 Certificate – Transforming business, society, and self. Ulab MITx , 2016 Transformational Resilience Train-the-Trainer - International Transformational Resilience Coalition, 2018 Social Presencing Theater - The Art of Making a True Move - U. Academy by The Presencing Institute - 2020 Community Resilience Model - The Trauma Resource Institute, 2020
Accomplishments include:
Designed, initiated, and managed eight successful education programs.
Founded and/or managed six non-profit and community organizations.
Generated substantial funding from private and public sectors.
Designed and managed two productive volunteer programs.
Produced and raised funds for hundreds of public events.
Designed and ran two on going training programs for school teachers.
Designed and co-facilitates the Spiral Journey a Facilitator Development Program in the Work That Reconnects,
Designed and facilitates The Elder Action Networks Foundational Course; Empowered Elder Webinar.