Hello!
It’s mid-summer. It’s steamy. The blueberries are racing to ripen. I hope you’re finding small moments of pause amidst the swirl.
Since my last post, I’ve reached the one-year mark in both my Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Prescott College and my somatic therapy certification at SIH. What once felt like a nosedive into the shallows now feels more like a steady backstroke across a placid lake, somewhere in the middle of six craggy mountains. Things are unfolding: messy, meaningful, and more layered than I could have imagined.
I’m also in the home stretch of my manuscript, Consider The Sun, thanks in large part to a few generous writing workshops and their teachers. Writing solo can be brutal and community has made all the difference.
Last month, as part of my ongoing studies in Buddhism, I took refuge with Khenchen Lodro Rinpoche and formally took the Bodhisattva Vow (Pic below). I chose a non-binary refuge name—Gyalse Nyime Ozer—which translates to “Bodhisattva Rays of the Sun.” Over the past couple of years, I’ve grown more at ease naming the non-binary piece of myself. Portland offers a relatively safe container for that kind of clarity. I still feel connected to the female spirit, but she/they fits best these days. Mostly, I just feel like a human mammal trying to make sense of things…
If you’re in Portland and need of a nervous system tune-up, I’m offering free practice somatic sessions. I’ve a small setup at home (I can also do online sessions if you're not in PDX), and there may still be a few blueberries left to pick afterward. If that suits your fancy, shoot me an email.
