I grew up in a small Montana town nestled on the Eastern side of the Rocky Mountains over 5000 ft high in the sky. Most of my cherished memories happened in the fields, rivers, and forests of that wild country.

When I was about 10, I made these really detailed “personality profiles” for all of my Barbies. I had their character traits outlined, personal histories, birthdates and even general astrology for each Barbie. This makes me laugh so hard because I see the seeds for why I have a fascination with people and how we live, why we connect, and what meaning we make in our lives.

I fell into a dependent relationship with alcohol when I was 15. My life unravelled pretty quickly and culminated in a death defying car accident of my own doing. This experience stripped be bare and pivoted me toward the series of massive changes, inside and out, that would follow. It took me nearly two decades to transform the depths of shame and humiliation I felt from that mistake, and my inner world is richer for it.

I dropped out of public high school and enrolled in a correspondence high school. When left to my own devices, I finished two years of high school curriculum in 6 months time and I was accepted into Wagner college in the midst.

I moved to New York City when I was 17 to begin at Wagner College. I started on a “good” and “reliable” track, had a massive panic attack that brought me to the ER, so I decided to just go with my interests. I graduated at the top of my class with degrees in Western philosophy and Anthropology.

I love to travel. One of my most epic trips was traveling solo (more or less) through Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile over 6 months. It was an incredible, illuminating, daring, and absolutely exhausting journey.

In Oregon, I was a farmer for three years. Working with plants taught me so much about the rhythms of nature, how to manage the flow of energy in all things, and how to be more fully embodied as a human. Foraging in our forest has become my new passion pursuit and has deepened my relationship to plants and place.

My husband and I have been together for 14 years now and he has taught me so much about beauty, growth, facing and moving through conflict, what it means to love, and how to bring dreams to life.

I once cut off all of my hair to explore my sense of self worth and beauty outside the conventional concepts of culture.

We have two young boys, 8 and 5, who are free spirited and unique beings with their own ways of coaxing me into the fullest expression of myself. Motherhood does not feel natural or easeful to me, I have taken it on as an intentional practice for personal and spiritual growth. Being a stay at home mom for 7 years brought my shadows into the light and taught me deep lessons about who I am as a person.

I live a full and gratifying life with a chronic autoimmune condition. Seeking health over the last decade has brought significant and difficult compromises and shifts to where and how we live. I feel vibrant and full of vitality these days because of the bold and brave shifts I made over time.

The heart of my personal daily practice these days is about developing a deep relationship with cold water and the power of breath and intention. Braving the cold water gives me a daily opportunity to transform fear and hesitation into courage and acceptance while strengthening my body and the resiliency of my nervous system.

Over the years I’ve had passion pursuits studying Tibetan Buddhism, Christian mysticism, The Gene Keys, Astrology, Mythology, Ayurveda, nutrition, cooking, Nordic shamanism, and an array of personal development philosophies and methodologies. Each of these has been synthesized and impressed upon my being and informs how I meet my days.