Every week I teach a lecture at Canyon Ranch about Women's Wisdom. We talk about the steps and stages of womanhood and the importance of honoring each stage with ceremony. I love the women that show up, open-hearted and willing to offer their perspectives, experiences and wisdom. I also talk about how women are the ritual keepers; we gather the community, organize the meals and light the candles. We talk about what is real, what needs to be changed, what other people need, who is hurting and who is healing. We often focus on what nurtures and what heals and we are often looking for solutions to 'make things better.'

Many of the women that I have worked with are seeking a reconnection with what is 'true.' Often they have taken part in the myth of the 'perfect woman;' that they must be the most amazing, mother, sister, daughter, worker, wife, lover 24/7, al...

Recently, I was working with a client who spoke for half an hour about her life before we went into the next step of the session. Every aspect of her life seemed filled with anger, sadness, resentment and bitterness. Everything was unfair and the more she talked the more I saw that her feeling that 'everything is unfair' became stronger, bigger, bolder. When I would interject with an idea to help her reframe the experiences she was talking about so that they might be more useful, she would immediately return to the negative talk, holding on tightly to the pattern.

I have worked with many people over the years, mostly women, and I have listened to countless personal stories, some deeply heartbreaking and others amazingly joyful. Most, a combination of both. I have noticed what makes some people thrive and what has others simply have the experience of surviving life. I have ...

My Dearest Daughter,

I'd like to share some things with you about this journey of life because I love you and it is time.

In some places in this world, girls your age are given a ceremony to bring them into the next stage of their journey as a young woman. The Grandmothers and Mothers prepare the girl for this transition, offering her sacred knowledge. It's a very beautiful thing and I have been lucky enough to have been witness to ceremonies like this before.

You see Daughter, there is such a thing called Women's Mysteries. Women and men are different in their ways as you have by now noticed, I am sure. One wise teacher named Chief Reyna of the Yaqui-Carrizo-Coahuilteka nations has said that women are enchanted beings who are here to help heal the earth. He says that men are to remember to show their deepest respect to women in assisting them in this healing work. A...

I have had the privilege of being present for both birth and death, two of life's most extraordinary spiritual transitions. When I was sixteen, a woman named Jackie came to live with my family. Jackie was in her late sixties, Jewish by birth and with a distinctly Buddhist outlook on life. She had been a family friend for many years and she had spinal cancer at the time when she came to be with us. She was receiving radiation treatment. Jackie's life had been colorful. She had lived in Asia, gently rubbing elbows through society with queens, heads of state and theater folk. She had a rich life and as often comes with such a life, Jackie had her share of tragedy as well. She lost both her husband and her daughter in heartbreaking sadness.

Jackie was an artist and craftswoman and she taught me how to knit. My interest began be...