Hello BCBS sangha! I look forward to meeting many of you in the weeks and months (years?) to come. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to learn from, live in, and support the Dharma community here at the Barre Center.
Like perhaps many of you, I’ve dreamt of a monastic life—one where most of my life’s energy is devoted to a spiritual practice that includes meditation, prayer, the occasional fermentation and gardening project, and a lighthearted sense of humor. It is an idealistic dream in the sense that I have an egoic attachment to my hair, but I think I may have found the middle path by serving as the Residential Program Coordinator here at BCBS.
For most of my childhood, I was raised on a west-facing bend of the Green River in Central Kentucky, the soil and water of which gave my inclination for dirty feet and outdoor play a home and provided me with a felt response to poetry by bell hooks and Wendell Berry. I bring this love of and connection to the earth with me to this work and to how I reside on the land here in Barre, MA.
The start of my relationship with the Dharma coincides with my coming out as queer about 13 years ago. I felt drawn toward various Kadampa, Shambhala, and Insight meditation centers as a source of refuge and guidance for how to devote my life to freedom. In 2023, I attended Inward Bound’s Mindfulness Teacher Training program where, with the support of many inspiring and thoughtful teachers, I developed a daily practice, a commitment to a life on the path, and a deep sense of belonging in meditation spaces that I didn’t know was possible.
According to my CV, I also bring to this work about a decade of project management experience in tech and education spaces, and passion work facilitating peer support and movement spaces for folks in the queer community. Off the cushion, you can find me busting a move on a dance floor, practicing somatic teaching, and clowning around with my cat and friends.
Please don’t hesitate to say hi and introduce yourself to me the next time you’re here (I will do the same!)—I deeply look forward to getting to know you and supporting you in your practice here at BCBS.
