I am a dedicated practitioner of mindfulness and meditation, with a decades long practice, both on and off the cushion. I am also a gardener and a maker. I believe wholeheartedly in the alchemical powers of listening and meeting "what is" with curiosity and compassion.

In the late 1980’s I began cultivating a fledgeling, tenderhearted, self-guided, mindfulness practice for myself. After a couple of years in the creative cocoon of art school (The Portland School of Art), I longed to be engaged and in service in “the real world”. So at the bold age of twenty I made my way to Central America (Friends World College) in search of life experience and an education offering more social and cultural context/learning. My world view broadened exponentially over the course of my first year living in this region. I witnessed the bare bones of human suffering and unfathomable heart of human resilience. I was forever changed. This was the path for completing my undergraduate degree in cultural anthropology, but what was unexpectedly unearthed was the ground for daily practice.

Through a simple self-reflection practice, I began to explore my cultural conditioning; uncovering my deeply held biases, beliefs and attitudes. I sat with my fears, grief, shame and longing… some of the roots of my own suffering. I sat with refugees and farmers, human rights advocates, politicians and children. I listened to their stories of loved ones “disappeared”, of families displaced, of whole communities ravaged by poverty, violence and war. I sat with human suffering. It was in those years that I learned to look injustice in the eye, hold space for others, and not turn away from suffering.

This formative experience of being with adversity and developing a contemplative and compassionate practice in the face of my own and other’s suffering has guided the trajectory of my life’s work. In the years since, I have been deeply informed by my work in education, social justice, somatic psychology, mindfulness meditation, classroom teaching and trauma-sensitive mindfulness. I have been counseling, teaching, guiding, supporting and working with groups and individuals for over three decades.

I am a Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Certified Practitioner. I hold a BA in Cultural Anthropology and an MA in Counseling Psychology. I was a somatic psychotherapist in California before returning to my New England roots and establishing Wakefulheart - a mindfulness based coaching and teaching practice serving groups and individuals in Mid-coast Maine. Today, through One Red Pine I offer classes, retreats and individual sessions in Freeport, Maine and virtually.