Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Class

I started taking seminary classes at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in order to find healing for my own broken spirituality. By the time I graduated eight years later, I not only found my own healing, but also a passion for the reconciliation of the whole person - body, mind, soul, and spirit. This embodied approach to spiritual formation grew out of my own struggle with health and wholeness.

While my spirituality was healing at seminary, old, chronic, unresolved physical symptoms persisted. My body was bound up with traumatic past experiences and I sought relief from, but fell through the cracks of, both talking therapy and medicine. I eventually realized that I couldn’t access or alleviate my pain by these means alone. Feeling rather helpless, I knew I would probably continue to bear my symptoms unless I reconnected to my body in a more sacred way.

During seminary, I discovered Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, a spiritually neutral body awareness system that helped me reconnect with my body. After completing over 1,000 hours for certification, I came to understand that God equips the human body with invaluable felt sense messages in order to keep people authentic and safe. Felt senses are senses that have meaning. Some common ways people talk about felt senses are by saying things like “butterflies in my stomach,” “a lump in my throat,” or “a knot in my stomach.” My symptoms were the result of silencing and stuffing down my felt senses and feelings. In the process of awakening my dulled awareness of my senses, I awakened to my body’s role in my spiritual wholeness.

Over time, I began connecting more intentionally with God by blending both spiritual direction and body awareness practices which allowed me to become more genuine and present to myself, God, and others. It has taken me over thirty years of being in a relationship with Christ to understand how intricately related my body is with my spirit, mind and soul. Restoration took place on all levels of my being as I exchanged old, unhealthy thinking for new perspectives that transformed my life story and relieved my physical symptoms.

I have experienced the importance of honoring the integrity of my clients’ spiritual journeys. Some of my clients have been wounded by human relationships that negatively affected their image of God. They are most drawn to the spiritually neutral practice. Others who have experienced a healthy relationship with Christ are more drawn to the practice that intentionally invites the presence of the Holy Spirit.
I live in Sherwood, Oregon with my husband, Dan, who I often describe as the wind beneath my wings. My two grown children, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren are a constant source of deeply felt joy.

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