Today is my youngest’s birthday. Every year as my kids pass these milestones, I think back to the miracle of their arrival and marvel.

This milestone is no different, but today, I am struck with a bit more awe as I contemplate his arrival. Eleven years ago, after spending about 20 hours in labor at home...as I was attempting my third home birth, my midwife suggested it was time to go to the hospital, she said his head was coming in sideways and there was just no hope of making progress.

I was honestly devastated, crying and exhausted, we made our way to the hospital, afraid, feeling totally off my path and way out of sorts, I was greeted by doctors and staff that thought I was crazy for having attempted home birth in the first place.  This attitude culminated by a doctor walking out on me after I rejected a dose of Pitocin saying I could sit and wait a few hours until the next doctor on staff could see me.

This went like this for hours until I finally suggested they break my water t...

Who am I and what is my story?
Someone asked me the other day if I was really a doctor, and I thought it was a great question, so, here is my brief about my video. Enjoy!

I find it fascinating just what we fear but don’t say. 

In my conversations with women every day, there are these things hanging around in the background….

I am worried this exhaustion might really be cancer

I am worried this pain might be something serious

What if I have diabetes?

What if my heart fails?

What if this weight never moves?

All the what if’s and worry...all real things...things we really should be paying attention to.

But we don’t, not really, because, in truth, we don’t know-how. This is what I hear from these same women…

Maybe this diet

Maybe Dr. so and so’s plan

Maybe if I just cut my sugar

Maybe if I just move more

Maybe if I just rest a bit

Maybe if I just….

That place, the maybe if I just place is so dangerous because in truth it is our mind’s way of making it a bit less daunting, a bit less painful, that truth, the one where we would have to admit we don’t really have a plan, that the doctors we see don’t have a plan either, and that recognition of t...

I remember when I first encountered true healing, or at least the introduction to what real healing is, it was in a Classical Chinese Medicine class nearly 20 years ago.  The lecturer was Dr. Heiner Fruehauf and he was talking about the dynamic nature of healing and it was in that lecture that my soul called out “this is what we are here for”.  Up until then, although I had had fantastic lectures on the potential magic available in the body through various methods in Naturopathic medicine, nothing had ever touched on a philosophy of healing that evoked the combined abilities of Heaven-Earth and Human Beings together.

When he spoke, he made it clear that our body is not just a body, it is a full system within a larger system, and is dynamically engaging with and connected to the entire universe always.  Therefore, authentic and true healing is accomplished by identifying where that connection needs work and invoking methods which work with respect for the system as a whole and operate ...

As I was contemplating my day and the week ahead of me this morning, I found myself thinking on rest.
At first, I felt kind of like: “I am not sure I got enough chance to rest this weekend”, but then I realized, no, that’s not it. “I am not sure I am taking enough time to experience meaning in my life and in turn, rest and activity of meaning too.”

Upon hearing this truth speak from within, I sat stunned and still, taking it in. I could see clearly, that what I was feeling wasn’t really fatigue, but a craving for more of my life spent in direct connection between me and my DIVINE purpose, gift, essence, and path.

As I took this further within myself, I could see that there was a definite divide between just activity and DIVINE activity, between rest and DIVINE rest. Gay Hendricks refers to this place as our zone of Genius, the operating place where we commit to an expression of our true gift our most authentic self and all that comes with that.

It got me thinking about conversations I ...

He came careening from the left, just a blur, barely fitting between the car next to us and the space in front of us. My breath caught in my chest, I gasped and exclaimed “Oh My GOD”.

We looked at each other, my husband less wide-eyed than me, because he had seen the guy coming, and had managed to slow down just in time to make the space he knew the car was headed to big enough to fit.  We continued driving, catching our breath, slowing our heart rate, until we reached the next light and by chance the very same car.

We pulled up next to it, both still in shock, the passenger rolls down the window sheepishly, obviously expecting to be yelled at, immediately saying I’m sorry, really, sorry.  The driver, however, begins with bravado, “you all right buddy” he says with just a touch of arrogant tone.  My husband calmly answers, “yes, I was more worried about you”. It goes like this back and forth, my husband encouraging him to consider the other people around him, the driver mocking with ...

I am learning to say no.

It’s not as easy as I thought it would be, invoking this little word.  Saying “NO” is a big part of my own personal healing journey, in fact, you could say it is part of my prescription for healing.

See, I like to say yes, even when it isn’t in my best interest, “yes, I will help you”, “yes, I can do that too”, “yes, I can contribute”.

Yes is great, yes is awesome, but yes can take us down to almost nothing.

Some people proclaim no to be a limiting word, one to eliminate from our vocabulary, but to me, no is liberation and rest and freedom.

How would your life change if you felt you could say no to the things you really didn’t want to do?

Realistically, I am not speaking of life’s little annoyances (paying bills, taxes, running errands, or going to the dentist), no, I am speaking of the commitments we make out of obligation, or to keep up appearances. I am speaking of the minutia that tends to fill any remaining “free” time in our lives to the point that ...

So, I am laying on my couch with an oyster shell full of burning embers on the side of my head…..

This is me, treating the consequences of not following my own advice.  See, yesterday, while at a local health food store with my daughter, I, against my own best knowledge had about 4 ounces of a smoothie.

Any of you who have ever sat and listened to me talk nutrition know, I am avidly against smoothies, they are cold, filled with hard to digest sugar from fruit and cause the Spleen to feel utterly rejected.

Well, we all make bad decisions, and yesterday, this was mine. It was such a small amount, but almost immediately I had an ice cream headache (which apparently didn’t stop me) and a few minutes later had another one.

Today, I woke up with pain on the side of my head where the ice cream headache had been and along with that, trouble opening my jaw.

Hence, the shell and embers. See, the cold from drinks like smoothies can get lodged in the body, and in my case, it lodged in th...

Some days you just wake up feeling a bit "off".  That’s me today, a bit off, a bit fatigued, my mind a bit slow.

I try to pay attention when this happens, check in with my body, try to see if I can locate the feelings or sensations, and then feel deeper into them.  My goal is to experience their totality, not just the fact that they are there, but what I think of or notice when I draw myself into the awareness of their presence.  Today, I felt a desire for some quiet time, a tinge of frustration, a bit of sadness, and a voice speaking a sort of “I don’t want to”.

Noticing into these sensations got me thinking about how I have in the past tried to silence or mute the sensations of a day like today. Maybe stopping for a sweet coffee, or having something starchy or rich for my breakfast, or maybe just by being grumpy with others.

But today, as I noticed and honored what I was feeling I also experienced a deep sense of connection to the routines I use every day to keep me balanced, stro...