What approach do I take in my work?
I will help you find the right level at which to address your need for healing or growth.
Think of the three levels of a flourishing tree:
1. First groundedness, safety and connection to the earth. In order to grow you need to feel securely anchored, like a tree with strong roots.
My Seasons Newsletter, rituals, and books on the seasons will help you to find a safe anchor in nature’s rhythms.
2. The second is reaching out, like the spreading branches of a tree. Reaching into connection with others, community and cultural knowledge brings in a sense of belonging and the gift of collective wisdom.
Through my love of research, and decades of community building, I bring this wider knowledge into all my writing.
3. The third is reaching up, like the uppermost leaves of a tree. Reaching into spiritual connection and the highest perspective on life gives you access to inspiration, guidance and awakened living.
My books containing spiritual knowledge and nature connection will lift you into an expanded sense of being. Opening to the spiritual dimension of life brings in tremendous support and abundant resource. As a long-term meditator I offer you the fruits of my spiritual practices and study, and inspire you to fulfil your full potential.
When you are grounded in safety, extended through social connection, and able to reach into inspiration, you can joyfully express your potential as a whole person. My role is to help you achieve this sense of wholeness.
What approach do I take in my books?
In my books, I address the three different levels in this way:
1. Grounding through practical exercises, rituals, and contemplations. These will help you to integrate the teachings and explorations of the writing.
2. Stories and experiences from cultural wisdom and people I’ve interviewed. Knowledge gained from research, drawing on my academic training and love of scholarship. My own experience from three decades of work with clients as a psychotherapist, teacher, and mentor.
3. Inspiration and soul nourishment drawn from my spiritual practices and over forty years experience on a meditation path.
In my writing about the seasons of nature, I address the three different levels in this way:
1. Practical suggestions, based on seasonal observations and ritual processes, gathered from decades of teaching and practice.
2. Stories and myths from various traditions around the seasons to connect you with the deep past. Information about seasonal practices in many cultures, including Māori, Christian, Pagan European, Chinese, Japanese, and Australian Aboriginal.
3. Inspiration and soul nourishment through personal stories and uplifting contemplations. My Art in Nature blog and recent Art in Nature publication reveal my personal practices of nature connection over several decades.
In my writing about the seasons of life, I address the three different levels in this way:
1. By offering a map for the midlife journey (Growing into Wisdom) and specific exercises (Spirited Ageing) to ground your experience in understanding and practical steps.
2. Sharing stories and personal experiences, both my own and those of others who are journeying through midlife, spirited ageing, and older life. The Journals of the ‘Seasons of Life’ trilogy — The Pomegranate Journal , The Persimon Journal , and The Pōhutukawa Journal offer you an intimate sharing of my own ageing from seventy-five onwards.
3. Holding the process of growing older in an expanded context that includes the growth of new faculties such as intuition and the potential for deeper spiritual connection.
Click here to receive the free audio file: Filling the cup: ritual of replenishment