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As a certified coach, I focus on life transitions, trauma integration, & end-of-life.

As a guide, I also support people with  integration work in expanded states.

I am a Rights of Passage and Wilderness Guide and a Hakomi-trained Somatic Practitioner.

I am also a mother, stepmother, and long-time certified Waldorf teacher.

My Journey

The Wilderness has served as my home for learning, teaching, facilitation and grounding for over 40 years.  Beneath the forest canopy, high on the tops of mountains, exposed in vast deserts, I have supported adults, teens, elders and children to learn, listen, and transform.

 

"I was born and raised in Palo Alto, CA, ancestral home of the Ohlone people, the auspicious founding location for so much technology: (Apple, Google, Facebook, Logitech, Intuit, Pinterest, Paypal), and adjacent to Stanford University.  It was quite a place to grow up: creative, intellectual, stressful.  My upbringing in this stimulating yet highly pressured environment gave me perspective on the effects of conflict between cultural expectations and inner truth.  Luckily, I was surrounded by people who appreciated the outdoors: the hills and mountains felt like my real home. There I felt freedom to roam and discovered the wisdom of the earth.  

 

Since then I have traveled several paths.  I went to college at UC Berkeley. I raced bicycles and played ultimate frisbee for fun. I lived on a Quaker-inspired farm in Vermont and sat daily in silent group meetings.  I got married, divorced and married again. I am a mother of two adult children, and a stepmother of four.  I have served professionally as a wilderness guide, a classroom teacher, a music teacher, a naturalist, an environmental engineer, a mountain bike coach, a team-building facilitator, a public speaker.  I have witnessed death, experienced injury, held space for the grieving.  I have moved through life as a deep-seeing soul, a tender of the earth, a sensitive listener.   My lifelong depth practices include silence in nature, writing, dancing, yoga and music.  

 

I would not change even one of my life experiences,

as difficult as some of them have been.

 

My practice is now focused on those who have traversed an arc of life’s journey and wish to integrate and embody their experiences to form new perspectives moving forward.  It is my calling to support the navigation of transitions, look into the path of life that lies ahead, and clear the path forward.  My inspiration is found through my own travels with grief, joy, struggle, and trauma, finding the depth and wisdom that lies within these experiences.  My approach is to trust the wisdom of the body and of the earth.  

Forest

... Heather will help you re-enchant your life on your own terms... she'll do so with strength, softness, humor, and reverence.  Expect her to be honest, to challenge you, and to lovingly support you on your path! 

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-J.C., Somatic Psychedelic Therapist and Mentor

Certifications
& Associated Training

My training specific to this work includes:

 

Mindful Somatic Inquiry through the Hakomi Institute 

Manuela Mischke-Reeds’  ISITTA Somatic Trauma Integration

The Conscious Dying Institute’s End-of-Life Coaching and Sacred Passage Doula

Guiding Rites of Passage and Wilderness Quest through The School of Lost Borders

Life Coaching through No Barriers

Multi-year apprenticeship in guiding expanded state journey work

Restorative Justice Facilitation

Wilderness First Responder

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Certifications
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