Thought Leader. Teacher. Author

Deep Living Lab Board Co-Chair

Since I was a child, I’ve been drawn to the preciousness of this human experiment, to experiencing the Sacred in all that exists, and to exploring the great Mysteries of life. After a substantial period of ‘forgetting who I am,’ I was blessed to reconnect with my deeper guidance and discover both the profound power and practicality of presence. It is a gift available to all if we just know where to look.

My Thread

We all have a thread that runs through our lives. It shows itself when we pay attention to the inner voice. Since my youngest days growing up in the rural Midwest of the U.S., I’ve been drawn to the big spiritual questions of life-Who Am I Really? What’s Life Really About? Why Am I here? What’s my relationship to that which comes onto my path? My quest has led to exploring the deep terrain of the human soul and coming face to face with the Unknown, the great Mystery of life.

I have had many teachers, some of whom I sought and others whose seemingly ‘just’ appeared along the way. I unexpectedly came to know one during my early professional years working at the United Cerebral Palsy Association. There, a young woman named Terri, gave me a lesson in the power of the human spirit. She was a wheelchair user who lived in a nursing home due to the extent of her physical care needs. With no speech or control of any of her limbs, she willingly became the subject of a documentary which she wrote over a long period of time, pointing to one letter at a time using a headstick. She named the video “Don’t Just Look.”

The subtitle could have been, See Deeply What’s Inside. Recognize Who Is Here. I feel her influence still.

For over 20 years, I had the great pleasure of serving on the faculty at San Jose State, San Francisco State and Boston Universities where I taught dozens of undergraduate and graduate courses in leisure theory, recreation therapy, leadership, wellness, and research. With a diverse student body, my most important challenge was to discover ways to deeply connect with students so that they might have a meaningful and real learning and growth experience. I co-authored what turned out to be a leading edge and widely adopted textbook, contributed a dozen sometimes controversial articles in professional, juried literature, served as an editor for professional journals, gave numerous keynote speeches and presented hundreds of workshops and conference sessions to professional groups. I look back with deep gratitude for all the wonderful students and colleagues I came to know.

As much as I loved university teaching, the time came to make a change-I was drawn to work with adults in a new capacity. In 1997, I started an executive and life coaching business. Then the profound wisdom of the Enneagram returned full-force into my life. After years of studying and exploring how it could be meaningfully integrated into coaching, my next book, Deep Coaching: Using the Enneagram as a catalyst for profound change was published in 2007. Adopted internationally, it led to the founding of the Deep Coaching Institute where I served as senior faculty until 2022.  Deep Coaching, 2^nd edition with over 40% new or significantly revised material, was published in August, 2022, on its 15^th anniversary.

I wrote Deep Living with the Enneagram: Recovering Your True Nature, revised and edited, to support readers in building their capacities for directly experiencing their deeper nature in these increasingly uncertain times. Deep Living Lab (DLL) is an outgrowth of this book. Realizing the urgency of this time, DLL offerings focus on healing the inner divide that exists within the nearly universal human experience and inviting us all to reorient to and engage from wholeness and interconnectedness.

The emerging body of work called EnneaCrossings™ stirs within me now, and I look forward to sharing it with you soon.

How amazing it is to be alive at this historic time of profound unraveling and unparalleled possibilities. We are part of the evolutionary arc toward greater consciousness and realization of our true, interconnected nature.

I live with my husband and kitty in the beautiful high mountain desert of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I have long loved this poem.

The Way It Is

There’s a thread you follow.
It goes among things that change.
But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.

Excerpt from William Stafford’s poem, The Way It Is