I believe meaningful transformation begins when we have enough space and awareness to recognize what is happening within us, rather than reacting out of habit.
A path of practice
My work is shaped by a longstanding commitment to contemplative practice, thoughtful inquiry, and creating welcoming spaces for people to explore their experience.
Integrating contemplative wisdom and contemporary insights
I draw upon Buddhist contemplative wisdom, contemporary insights into the mind, somatic awareness, and neuroscience-informed perspectives, translating these ideas into practical ways to meet life with greater clarity and compassion.
I approach coaching as a collaborative process. Rather than offering ready-made answers, I hope to create a setting where your own wisdom, questions, and capacities have room to emerge. We can explore habitual emotional patterns, relationship dynamics, life transitions, and the possibilities that become visible through awareness.
Experience, learning, and service
For the past 15 years, I have facilitated weekly mindfulness gatherings, guiding practices that cultivate presence, grounding, and greater ease in daily life. I founded and direct a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center, where I develop contemplative programs and support community learning. My work with Hospice of Humboldt has included non-medical end-of-life support and co-facilitating grief groups, including Writing Through Grief.
Alongside this work, I earned a B.A. in Psychology from Cal Poly Humboldt, graduating magna cum laude, and have contributed to research in the Health and Human Behavior Lab. I am currently pursuing doctoral studies in clinical psychology at Meridian University.
My education informs my work, but I offer mindfulness coaching and contemplative guidance, not services as a licensed psychologist.
A lifelong contemplative journey
My lifelong contemplative journey has taken me across cultures and traditions, from living in monasteries and ashrams throughout Asia to studying with Tibetan Buddhist and Daoist masters and learning from Indigenous elders and traditional healers in South America.
Through these years of exploration, one thing has become clear: what I spent so much of my life seeking was never separate from the present moment. Beneath the constant movement of thought and experience is an awareness that has always been here, waiting to be recognized. Today, that insight rests at the heart of my work: helping others discover the awareness, wisdom, and capacity for transformation that are already present within themselves.
Becoming present
To me, becoming present is not about getting rid of difficult feelings or forcing ourselves into a particular state. It is the practice of learning to recognize what arises, meeting it with curiosity, and discovering more freedom in how we respond.
Through embodied presence, we become more empowered participants in our own lives.
Working together
I work with individuals, couples, and groups, including community and workplace settings. My coaching offers a supportive space to deepen self-understanding, practice mindful awareness, and cultivate greater clarity and ease in everyday life and relationships.
My services are mindfulness and personal-development coaching, not psychotherapy, mental-health diagnosis, or crisis treatment.
