I am a 46-year-old newbie US citizen of Norwegian descent living on the ancestral lands of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe caretakers in Boulder, Colorado, USA.

A meditator for the last decade, I identify as a cis-gender female, parent, polyglot, and bookworm. I eat vegan, drive solar-powered electric, reuse and recycle with Ridwell, move with Boulder Ecstatic Dance, hike with Women's Wilderness, cross country in snow, retreat at the Rocky Mountain Edodharma Retreat Center, donate blood, love dogs, and find refuge outdoors. 

My previous Western medical education and work as a physician left me deeply unhappy and unaligned. Re-aligning to my true being, I did Jack Kornfield & Tara Brach’s US-based Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) in the years 2021-23.

During this mindfulness meditation teacher training, I was woken up to my whiteness through DEIA work (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility), and aspire to be an anti-racist. Working in a diverse multicultural elementary school as a bilingual Spanish/English preschool paraeducator, I run into opportunities to practice this aspiration as well as loving awareness and deep listening every day.

Through the same mindfulness meditation teacher training I met my teacher Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in his poem Please Call Me by My True Names. In 2021 i joined the Online Rains Retreat with his International Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, committed to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, and was given the name Compassionate Understanding of the Heart. Currently I am doing another 3-month online rains retreat "Who is Thich Nhat Hanh? " out of Deer Park Monastery exploring his life and teachings.

I see the purpose of my human existence as guiding and supporting fellow humans in healing and reconnecting in reverence to Mother Earth. My 2023 One Earth Sangha EcoSattva Training instilled the aspiration of fierce compassion in me. I am passionate about sharing these teachings with the power to heal, transform, and bring joy to life.

I offer a six-week online introduction to mindfulness meditation class (info). My teaching approach is diversity- and trauma sensitive. Please click here for my guided meditation on Joy & Happiness <3

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One Earth Sangha's Dedication of Merit: 

May all places be held sacred.

May all beings be cherished.

May all injustices of oppression, devaluation, and theft be fully righted, remedied and healed. 

May all wounds to forests, rivers, deserts, oceans, all wounds to Mother Earth be lovingly restored to bountiful health.

May all beings everywhere delight in whale song, birdsong and blue sky.

May all beings abide in peace and well-being, awaken and be free.