It All Started When I Was Very Young

After a relatively benign childhood, I finally ran away from home (to college) when I was 20 years old. I only went back after that to collect money, get a good meal, enjoy Christmas, and regroup to go back out into the fray. For many years I blindly followed The Path of Expectations of Others, and stayed obediently inside the lines. Something in the collective consciousness tapped many of us on the shoulder (upside the head?) in the 60's and 70's, and my life began to change subtly and dramatically.

I was always trying to find The Path of Inner Guidance, but it was illusive. Every time I thought I had found it, I discovered that it was someone else's Inner, not mine! I have been, however, most of my life, a seeker and a teacher. I even taught compass and map reading and survival techniques at a school preparing young people for the certain social Armageddon of the 70's. When things settled down, I went into deep relaxation in Mount Shasta and the mountains of Northern California.

Life lead me to the interior mountains of British Columbia to go Back To The Land, but when winter came, I wanted to go Back to a Warmer Climate! When my trip to India got diverted, I found myself managing a large natural foods community restaurant in Brattleboro, Vermont for the next three years-- and stuck in more cold winter weather! My escape to Hawaii was a relief, and put me in charge of a small health food store there. I am grateful for the time I was given to learn about my own health and my responsibility for my emotional well-being.

In Hawaii, I was introduced to the wonderful world of beekeeping. It was love at first sight between me and the little girls, and we were intimate for the next several years. I returned to Sonoma County in Northern California, and started The Kawana Springs Honey Company-- harvesting and distributing luscious local wildflower honey and pollen throughout California. I became the beekeeper that the local newspaper interviewed every spring, with the requisite photo of bees walking all over me without my veil and gloves. What sweet moments of fame!

Oh, and naturally, I also taught beekeeping classes out of my home every spring, and was president of the Beekeepers Association for several years.

During that same time, I restored the extensive gardens of the estate I was caretaking, and found myself in the wedding business, renting the grounds and gazebo most summer weekends to happy brides and grooms. Although I was a licensed minister, and married a few folks myself, I much preferred pouring the champagne at the outdoor bar-- and didn't think it was appropriate to do both.

My love of gardens evolved into a career as a designer and installer of custom home gardens, enhanced by many night courses at the local Jr. College. Of course, I joined the Master Gardener program and taught new gardeners the old tricks. I still garden, and my home is surrounded by the joy of flowers and organic vegetables much of the year.

In the early 1980's I discovered that my fear of traveling in Mexico was left over from some unfortunate experiences as a teenager, and I began a life-long love affair with Latin America which continues to grow and deepen.

In 1990 I spent six months in the village of Santa Cruz, about two hours north of Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's west coast, during which I bought land there which I still own. My dream has always been to build a teaching and retreat hacienda there-- and the dream is coming closer to reality. For now, it is a great place to visit when I am in the neighborhood (like most winters now) and eat some of my own fresh ripe bananas, limes, noni (yuck), mamay, coconuts, mangos, and more bananas. Keep your eyes on my Journeys and Events page to learn how you might join me there this winter.

Before that first long residence in Mexico, I realized i no longer wanted to endure the hard work and long days of a landscaper, so I had begun two searches: The first for my lost Path of Inner Guidance, and, second, for a new career. The first search lead me into therapy, which introduced me to hypnosis, and showed me the answer to the career quest. I was lead to The Alchemical Hypnotherapy Institute, where I became a student and then an instructor (teaching!) with the institute. My work there was a major source of healing and awareness, and my private counseling practice continued to expand my understanding of the limiting effects of my early programming and domestication on my adult life-- and yours.

When fate lead me to don Miguel Ruiz (author of The Four Agreements™ and other books) in 1995, I discovered the next level of my growth and evolution. For ten years I followed don Miguel around in the outer world-- to pyramids and sacred sites in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Egypt-- and into the inner worlds of the dreaming mind. The experiences and teachings with don Miguel were a personal blessing of the love and wisdom of a great human and teacher, and the perfect segue from my earlier counseling career into my current passions.

Of course, mid-way through my time with don Miguel, he began to invite myself and other early apprentices to teach with him, especially on journeys to the Toltec pyramids at Teotihuacán in Mexico. I was eager to learn through teaching (and scared!), and it seems to have worked out OK. I had found my Path of Inner Guidance, and it lead me to become a full-time teacher in this wonderful Toltec tradition. It has lead me to invite you to join me on this path, and walk your own Path of Inner Guidance.

Life is Relationship, and a special passion of mine has become relationships of all kinds. I am grateful to be able to offer my healing guidance to help partners in relationships untangle unspoken agreements and hidden agendas, and establish clear and honest communication-- IN love. I have guided many parents and children to find respect for each other's dreams, and helped heal distorted relationships with drugs, alcohol, food, and addictive suffering in general.

Recently I woke up in the night and wrote down five lines of thoughts, which I discovered in the morning were a gift for me and for you. I have been teaching these five new agreements and am working on the book about them: The New Relationship ~ Changing Five Agreements to Make Love Come True. There is a summary here. I hope you will stay tuned, as I teach and refine this work, and make it available to more people. Your feedback is encouraged.

So now, as a Toltec Master in this lineage of Miguel Ruiz, my work includes guiding "Joydancer Journeys of the Spirit" to the sacred pyramids of Teotihuacán, Mexico, and supporting apprentices and students locally and worldwide through TACO, my Toltec Apprentice Community Online. I share my love and wisdom in conversations on Personal Transformation and Freedom, Love, Addictions, Relationships, Common Sense, and other vital topics on my sacred journeys and tropical beach wellness vacations, in TeleClasses, relationship retreats, Celebration gatherings, this web site, and, of course, more. Go here to see my current events: Joydancer Calendar of Journeys and Events.

I would also love to share my story at your conference, business, school, workshop, or other group. Please contact the Joydancer Office at scheduling@joydancer.com, or call me at (707) 528-1271. You can also Contact Us Here.

It has been a great journey since running away from home so many years ago! Thank you for reading and sharing this little story with me. I hope that you will be in touch, join me on a trip, become a member of the TACO community, come to the Summer Celebration of Life, or in some way give me the chance to share this great adventure of Life with you. We are on The Path of Inner Guidance. Let's make it a grand expedition!.