Before I came to the practices of mindfulness and self-compassion in 2008, my life felt serious and heavy. I didn’t know how to laugh. It was as if my sense of humor went missing somewhere in my childhood.

Thankfully my sense of humor reappeared on my first 7-day retreat of silence when, after listening to my own mind loop ‘round and ‘round for days on end, I realized my own thoughts ranged from absurd to insightful and everything in between. I was relieved that I didn’t have to take everything I thought so seriously. In fact, I began to play with how I thought about life, love, and learning. A new sense of playfulness and creativity emerged in my life.

As I began to lighten up and slow down, I made the crucial connection between the importance of stillness and silence, movement and expression as tools of learning how to turn toward sticky patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. I began to learn how to take seriously that which was serious in my life and to let the rest be beautiful in its simple ordinariness.

After a 7-year stint as a stay-at-home mother to my 3 children, I returned to the professional world when I began teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. I went on to co-found the Grand Rapids Center for Mindfulness in 2010. I opened my private psychotherapy practice in 2013.

Using the tools that have helped me learn how to turn toward both the pain and the joy of life, I welcome people from all walks of life to join me in the process of learning to show up for the fullness of life.

I promise we will laugh and cry together along the way.