When my daughter was 16, we were standing in the kitchen awaiting the arrival of her then boyfriend.  I don’t remember exactly what I was doing, but I will never forget what she said:  “Mom, please be normal - or at least act normal while he’s here.”  The year was 2006, and I was deep in the throws of my Reiki phase.  I was also communicating with plants and animals. Needless to say I was anything but normal.

 

My spiritual journey, however, had started long before that.  At the age of 9, I was already practicing walking meditation and playing with energy fields.  At 12,  my grandfather’s spirit appeared in my bedroom, leaving me to announce to my atheist mother that he had died, a full 30 minutes before my grandmother called with the news.  Needless to say, my mother was less than thrilled.  And she too, instructed me to be normal, or at least, act that way while she was around.

 

And so I did. In fact, I kept my spiritual life hidden for years.  I graduated from college, and ultimately completed my PHD.  I married an engineer and raised three kids. I worked as a nurse, a university professor, and a nature photographer.  But, for better or worse, in 2015, the lines again began to blur.   I had become a laughter yoga teacher and pretty quickly opened a healing arts studio. Before long, I was teaching meditation again and had shifted back into a regular practice.  As an entrepreneur, however, I continued to present myself in the business world as normally as possible.

 

For the first two years, things were going well. My children had launched and my business was thriving. But in December of 2018, just prior to attending an Advaita Tantra immersion in Ojai California with Igor Kufayev, I was surprised by a kundalini awakening.  Suddenly, I could no longer meditate in public.  I simply couldn’t sit still.  Try as I might, once the spontaneous kryias had started, all bets were off.  So, I closed my studio and set off on a six year vanlife / dark night of the soul adventure.

 

As some of you may know, learning to live with kundalini energy in your body is a lot like leaning to surf during a tsunami. It isn’t fun!  And while I pushed thru my journey alone, it is my hope that you won’t have to.

 

My vision for Elephant-Dung is to provide a safe, non-judgmental space for spiritual information and growth.  I am here to answer questions, host workshops, create videos, and hopefully draw together a community of support for anyone caught in the uncomfortable space between spiritual awakening and enlightenment.

 

I have no religious affiliation and maintain a nondual perspective. All are welcome here.