Welcome, I’m glad you’re here.
We are nature. Read that again, slowly, and let it sink in. WE ARE NATURE.
In truth, everything is nature. We are all stitched together from stardust and space. All of it— feather and fur, scale and skin, flower and branch, deep roots and towering trunks, glistening eyes and gossamer wings, stones and water and wind and flame, the snowflakes dancing in the winter storm and the sunbeams casting rainbows in the spring. All of this, and more — everything is nature.
This means that everything, everywhere, is connected. When we sit in stillness and silence, with peace in our minds and hearts, this truth starts to become clear. It is a memory held within every cell of our bodies, and within every cell of every other being on this planet.
Please know. I do not claim to be a teacher, a healer, a shaman or a medicine person. I am not here to heal you. I am not here to teach you how to serve tea. I am not the holder of any secret knowledge or ancient wisdom. What I do offer is a safe space away from the commotion of the loud and busy world to begin to curate your own deep connection to self and to nature. I will pour the water, but your own soul must guide you from there.
“You must learn one thing. / The world was made to be free in. / Give up all the other / worlds / except the one to which you belong. / Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet / confinement of your aloneness / to learn / anything or anyone / that does not bring you / alive / is too small for you. ”
My Path
As David Whyte says in his poem Sweet Darkness, it can take those dark, confined moments of our lives when we are deeply and truly alone for us to learn that any part of the world that does not bring us alive is not meant for us.
From an early age I have known that the ‘one world to which I belong’ was alive. I spent time growing up in small communities in Northern Canada, where the people around still live in active connection with the land. I learned to ask permission before picking wild berries, to honour cycles of birth, life, and death, and to be mindful of other beings (human and non-human) as I moved through the world. In my teenage years, much of that original tender connectedness to all things was pushed aside; it was not how my peers saw the world, and so to better fit in and feel accepted, I tamped it down, but it never really left.
Now, as an adult, I have returned home again to those original ways of knowing, the ones that are written in the veins of leaves, the tracks of moose, the way the sun reflects off the ocean, and the precise timing of when flowers open in spring. I do not call this a belief system; this is something I know. It expands both deeper and wider than simply believing something to be true, no matter how fervent the believer. “Not only does the self use the environment to find its fullest expression, but, at the same time, the environment leads the self toward that which needs to be known. The mystery... resides in this interchange...” (Tennes, 2007). To me, that ‘interchange,’ that constant, ever-flowing-exchange between our animal bodies and the more-than-human world is where magic happens.
My Practice
“You do not have to be good. / You do not have to walk on your knees / For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. / You only have to let the soft animal of your body / love what it loves... ”
Western society is not built for people who can talk with trees…and yet, and yet…something has been shifting recently. Have you felt it?
The collective consciousness feels more spacious now than it ever has in my lifetime. People seem to be openly and actively seeking alternatives to our current cultural ways of being in the world - maybe that’s why you’re here. In that case, I’m grateful you’ve found me amongst the wide array of practitioners out in the world today.
This is often the space where people try to convince potential clients that they alone are qualified to teach you, help you, heal you, and that only they can provide you with whatever it is they think you need to grow into your fullest and most actualized self. That they, and somehow only they, have the magic combination of weekend trainings or year-long retreat experience or time spent with such-and-such a guru or revered teacher that makes them qualified above everyone else to handle your spiritual awakening, growth, or healing.
True awakening, growth and healing (Self, Spirit and Soul) comes from within - end of sentence. You do not need a guide, guru, teacher, or anyone else to do the work of soul awakening. Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is selling something. Be wary.
To be as clear as possible: I am not offering any secret knowledge, I am merely holding a quiet space for the wisdom of Nature inherent within every one and every thing to be able to come to the surface. I am not the magic, the messenger nor the teacher. I am here to curate the container, pour the water, and be of service as a listener. Nothing beyond that is within my control, nor should it be.
(If, after reading all this, you still want to see my credientials, please ask me here and I will send them to you directly.)
In Full Transparency
While I do not generally use this term, what I am offering with Tea Journey™ + Deep Listening™ could be considered to lay within the scope of a Spiritual Counseling practice. This is not the same as a Registered Clinical Counselor.
Spiritual Counseling is an evolving profession within the wider field of Psychology. Within Canada, it is considered a Special Interest Group and is represented as a chapter within the Canadian Counseling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). The Spirituality in Counseling chapter’s mission as stated on their website is “to offer a sacred space to our clients while listening to their story and to value compassion, empathy and respect to all people.”
Currently, there is no pathway within Canada for legal registration of those with postgraduate studies in Psychology who identify solely as Spiritual Counselors. It is within the current legal confines (as far as I am aware) to use the term Spiritual Counselor for individuals with proper training and aptitude. It is also essential to note that it is against the law to misrepresent qualifications, deceive or fraudulently represent oneself or one’s practice in any way. I am a student member of the CCPA and a member of the Spirituality in Counseling Chapter. I am completing a masters degree in East-West Psychology and will enter the PhD program of the same in January, 2025.
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