Freedom of choice is what truly guides my every interaction

Being Different

I have never quite fitted in to societal norms. My parents were deemed alternative (my father taught the Alexander Technique from the 1950s!). After a few years of living abroad - moving to London and training to be an Alexander Technique Teacher didn’t put me in the mainstream camp either! When my time came to be a parent, my own parenting style embraced home-birthing, long-term breast-feeding, some home-schooling and doing my best to limit consumption and reduce toxins in our family’s lives through natural living. Later, when I bumped up against the challenges of the teenage years and pain and conflict with my husband - even though we deeply loved each other - embracing the principles of Nonviolent Communication became a natural next step on my path of discovery.

Finding Acceptance

As my life experience expands, I am coming to see more and more, the pain and suffering and hidden toxic-systems that permeate society. No wonder so many of us struggle in life! This seeing inevitably brings the need to deeply mourn what is seen - I have come to see that without the regular expression of sorrow - full aliveness and the expression of joy is diminished.   

This need to mourn has never been as visceral and apparent to me as when my husband became gravely ill and died some years ago. I can hold both the huge loss and the gratitude to life only through the fully accepting of what is. It was during this time that I leant into my, by now, integrated practice of Nonviolent Communication the most.

Discovering Skills

Life is my teacher! Along the way there have been many particular people and systems that have given me some quantum leaps. In different ways, both the Alexander Technique and Nonviolent Communication gave me ways to accept myself and open into a more authentically alive me. The Alexander Technique helped me create space between what happened to me and my reactions as well as a means to embody greater presence and openness of being in my daily living and interactions with people..

Nonviolent Communication helped me examine my subconscious thinking (judging or blaming of myself or others for example) and reframe those thoughts in a much more positive, needs-based light which has transformed my life and has enabled me to see and live life through a lens of gratitude, appreciation, mourning, sorrow and joy.

Permaculture, another love of mine for decades, has given me practical ways to appreciate and value the interconnection to all of life - nature, human and the more-than-human and helps me be more aware of this when I live, plant, grow, harvest, consume and limit ‘waste’.

Trusting in our True nature

Now in my late fifties, I have learnt to have much greater trust in my own inner wisdom, to embrace with humility all that I don’t know and to see all of us as living the best life we know how - with the history, knowledge and skills we have; knowing that suffering can be diminished and choice and creativity increased when we learn the right skills and get the right support.

Being in Service

Now, more than ever, I want to be in service to helping people live with less suffering and discover the beauty in the purer sorrow, joy and embracing of purpose and meaning in a world that needs this now more than ever in this great turning-point in history. Shall we embrace interconnectedness or separation? The choice is in our hands!

Would you like to learn the skills to experience trust in your choices both for your body and your relationships?