Blog
“Setting Herself Free”~ Arayla Grace: Jumper!
One of the most fulfilling and rewarding fruits of our move back to Ashland has been the way in which it has allowed me to support our beautiful daughter Arayla (12.5) in truly devoting and committing herself even more fully to her longtime Equestrian passion. At Westport Stables in Talent, Oregon, a Hunter/Jumper training facility, Arayla has been given an incredible riding teacher, Wendy Krohn, who nurtures our girl’s growing confidence and mastery, tracking her carefully with skillful […]
“With My Own Two Hands” ~ A Music Teaching Story
A few weeks ago I found myself sitting in the audience of my son Ezra’s Winter Assembly, a beautiful all-school event held in a big, festively decorated auditorium. Every class, 1st through 8th grades, had prepared an adorable and/or poignant presentation~ a dance, a song, or a poem.When it was time for the 3rd grade, I watched Ezra (9) march onto stage with his classmates, sweetly self-conscious as he found his spot in line. As the class began to recite their Winter poem, I noticed the s […]
Notes from an Ordinary Morning
It’s 46 degrees outside this morning, and my son has dressed himself for school in his normal chosen attire~ athletic shorts and a t-shirt. As I watch him sitting on the floor in his skimpy outfit tying his shoes, I make my routine protest: “Ezra, it’s cold outside now. It’s not Summer anymore. You have to dress warmly. Put on some pants and a long-sleeve shirt please.” Ezra (8) looks up at me, makes direct eye contact, and says with strong, clear assertion: &l […]
The Hardest Blessings are Always the Most Beautiful to Give
The other night I stood before two friends I love dearly, took their hands in mine, and with genuine tears of joy in my eyes, gave them my deepest heart’s blessings, for their gorgeously blossoming love and union.
What made this a particularly powerful and exquisitely challenging blessing for my heart to extend, was that this man was one of my previous beloved lovers, and the woman, a cherished beloved sister of mine, with whom he had fallen in love while he and I were still inside our committed exploration of partnership. It had been I, in fact, in enthusiastic love for them both, who had introduced them to one another, and then stood witness to the exposed pulse of undeniable attraction between them.
It was a sticky unfolding when it all went down a while back, and at the time definitely triggered a core wound within me, of feeling betrayed inside a moment of feeling deeply open, trusting and receptive to love. In the end it served as deep medicine: instigating a profound and essential healing process, resolving a very young place of distrust and sense of victimhood within me. The medicine […]
Meeting Death~ Peering Through the Window of Life Without Us In It
I’m finding my way towards what words wish to be shared following a very profound experience of illness and healing last week. How ironic that the day after I posted my poem “Gravity” and was inspired to write towards my lifelong dance with the holy descent into Body, I would be taken once again (for the first time in many, many years!) on a sacred journey of intense sickness into the very depths of my human life, it’s preciousness and fleetingness.
A week ago Saturday, on my sweet daughter’s 9th birthday, I woke up in such severe pain in my back that by mid-day I could barely move. At first I thought my back was out, but it was all on my left side, […]