I also spent three years at the Animas Valley Institute, training as a Wild Mind Guide. There, I immersed myself in my own personal work as well as learning nature-based soul work, dream work, depth psychology, and shadow work. This training emphasized embodiment, creative expression, and ritual, helping people engage with the deeper layers of the soul and psyche, integrate fragmented parts of themselves, and uncover meaning and purpose through their connection to the natural world.

My background in mindfulness practice is extensive. I have studied at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and trained as a mindfulness meditation teacher, leading groups for over a decade in sitting and walking meditation, as well as compassionate communication practices. I have attended fifteen silent meditation retreats. I also hold three yoga teacher certifications and have taught yoga, mindful movement, and dance.

I am a seasoned wilderness guide, and have guided people in wilderness settings, including facilitating ceremonial wilderness vigils and retreats both individually and in groups.

My cross-cultural studies of indigenous wisdom traditions include time learning from Bushmen healers in the Kalahari Desert and time spent with Australian Aboriginal elders. These experiences are informed by my academic background in anthropology and human evolutionary ecology.

Through fieldwork as a trained archaeologist, studies in cultural anthropology, and personal research, I have developed a deep understanding of how many traditional cultures understand community, spirit, body, land, and ancestors as inseparable aspects of human wellbeing. This animistic worldview, in which humans exist within a living field of relationships that includes ancestors, spirit beings, animals, plants, and living landscapes, continues to inform my approach to healing work.