open heart-mind studio

My journey for finding my passion began at engineering camp in high school, where I decided environmental engineering was a good direction for me. I could use my math and science aptitude to help solve the mess we were making with the environment. When I found myself feeling disconnected with the engineering path, I searched through the course guide looking for classes that I would enjoy attending.  What did I actually want to learn about?  What would I enjoy doing?  That was when I changed my major to Wildlife and Fisheries Science, and when the conservation emphasis presented itself, I felt I had found the right path, integrating life and earth sciences.  

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After college I made my way to the Mojave desert, studying the magnificent Desert tortoise.  After a few years of Desert tortoise research, I began graduate research on the Amargosa toad.  My thesis work in a small rural mining town, gave me the opportunity to work with folks on all sides of the issue; I was living in the town, participating in town meetings, working with local landowners, and federal, state, and conservation agencies. This brought me to the realization that we need to find a better way to communicate with people about what we were learning from our research.  We all really just want to get along.  

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This work in the community led me down my next path focused on community development.  My intent, learn how to bridge this gap between what we learn through science and how we live as humans. While pursuing my second graduate degree, I finally began to see the social side of this incredibly complex problem.  How can we expect people to make sustainable choices when many are struggling to survive, or so caught up in an unsustainable system that they don’t realize the effects of their choices.  At the same time I was learning these lessons in academia, I was also struggling personally with stress (in the form of more frequent and debilitating migraines).  

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In my search for tools to manage my stress, I found a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course.  This tool changed my life.  It was as if I finally got the user guide to  this machine that is operating me.  And as I have discovered the power of this tool for working with stress, and the need in society for this tool, my path forward began to change course again.  So, I find myself here, trying to cultivate a life that allows me to share what I have learned, tools for living gently on this earth and gently with each other.