For a while, I have called myself a “Practical Mystic” because I have a variety of experiences and certifications that, put all together, create my own personal mosaic of healing and creative modalities. After a short and misplaced career as a lawyer, I found my way into creative work and then healing work. I have the heart of an artist and was fortunate for many years to develop my skills as a photographer. I look for beauty everywhere and try to reflect it back to people in the images I have printed and captured. As the photography world changed with digital technology and I changed in terms of what I needed to experience in my life, I started my personal spiritual search which led me down various paths of study, healing, and awareness. For a few years, I still operated a fine-art photography gallery and studio and was immersed in a large garden project growing a field of lavender from which I made products. Beauty is always an element in my life.
For more about Mary and to visit her website, click here.
I first learned a little about shamanism and how to facilitate drumming and journey circles around 2007. In 2008 I studied with Denise Linn (Soul Coaching® International Institute) in California and became certified in Soul Coaching®, Past Life Coaching, and later, oracle card reading, to help people tune in and listen to their own inner wisdom, the voice of their soul, if you will, to help them find the essential guidance they are seeking within them, and to learn to create rituals and habits for self-healing.
In 2010 I studied in Pennsylvania and became certified in Interior Alignment® Instinctive Feng Shui™ and Seven Star Blessing Space Clearing™, to augment the earlier studies by learning ways to help people create a home that also nurtures their soul and well-being. I am a big “nester”, and the art of feng shui and an awareness of the energy of my environment helps me create spaces in my home and life that are beautiful, simple, and nourishing for heart and mind. While I do not do full-on feng shui consults generally, I do and can advise coaching clients about ways they can augment or adjust their personal space to support their healing intentions.
Having spent my teen years and university education firmly planted in my very practical and logical left brain, I decided for a while that coaching the “soul” was not enough, was not serious enough, and I sought more credentials for helping people in a way that didn’t perhaps sound so, um, unusual or mystical. So I next became certified in a type of life coaching called “Strategic Intervention,” which was developed in part by personal development titan Anthony Robbins along with psychotherapist Chloe Madanes. “Strategic” sounded much more left-brain, and “Intervention” much more serious! While much of the work was drawn from psychology, which is an imprecise “science” at best, surprisingly, Robbins sometimes uses techniques that involve visualization, meditative journeys, physical movement such as anchoring techniques (from NLP), and archetypal role-playing, to connect with deeper parts of you beyond your logical mind. So, I have drawn on what resonates from that field of study and have let go of some other aspects. I discovered that much of what I practiced as a Soul Coach was equally as helpful in doing inner work that was self-affirming and empowering.