LINEAGE
While some folks say there are no original thoughts, I think there are some indeed.
What I do agree with from that statement is that we are all influenced by what we read, hear, ingest, are socialized by, are shaken by, as is the very nature of culture. That I absolutely get. And thank goodness! My unique experiences and learning have shaped my thoughts such that I can further human contribution and possibility even have a few original ideas of my own.
But it’s so good to name our lineage and I am both compelled and proud to do so. While the practice of naming one’s learning lineage has a lineage of its own, it first clicked for me hiking with the magnificent Jen Louden in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In her naming the naming, I saw that this was very much a practice I wanted to be a part of, as is the tradition in traditions I deeply respect.
I have often said that I hit the parental jackpot because I did.
My parents weren’t some unachievable faultlessness, rather they owned and acknowledged when they wished they’d done something differently or when they learned and then knew differently. I was an astute kid and watched my dad process his time as a young sailor, medic, and POW in Vietnam. While he spoke little of that experience, he did speak to the experience of process psychology and his lessons along the way as he dealt with the tremendous toll of that life experience. I listened. I then heard him process stories as an ER nurse in a Navy hospital and watched him embrace therapeutic modalities while being the most real and most dependable person I knew.
My coaching work began somewhere between rounds of playing on the merry-go-round and reenacting The Wizard of Oz and The Duke of Hazzard, in first grade on the playgrounds of Jacksonville, Florida, and then through elementary and middle school in Portsmouth, Virginia. Kids started to line up to talk with me at recess about how they could talk to their parents about tricky issues, friendships that had hit a bumpy road and feeling like they didn’t fit in.
At this point, you may have noticed the change in venue and my dad’s career path. Moving around as a Navy kid was wildly influential for me. Now, I look back on this period and see that my philosophies and views on boundaries were getting established and honed. Very quickly, I discovered how to find but not rush into new friend groups and communities while always maintaining my sense of self. I was also a stealthy kid and would sneak my parents’ George Carlin albums to play in the night. It’s fair to say Carlin was an influence.
Thinking I would go on to study midwifery and needing a vocational skill to pay for college, in addition to already being a veterinary technician, I became a massage therapist in the early 1990s in Austin, Texas as The Lauterstein-Conway and eventually a doula (Davis, CA). Too many segues to name here, I became an apprentice to an Ayurvedic physician and then taught and trained Ayurvedic therapies to spas and wellness centers around the world, including The Chopra Institute, all Canyon Ranch locations, Ritz-Carlton Paris, The Peninsula Hotel Group, etc.… while opening and consulting for wellness centers and spas.
My academic work includes undergraduate degrees in Modern Language and Culture (emphasis in French), Biomedical Life Sciences/Anatomy and Physiology, and Psychology. I have advanced degrees in Counseling and in ethics.
My coaching style is my own and forged by great traditions and teachers.
Next to my parents and family, Skogfjorden and the congruence of passion, creativity, philosophy, mentoring, culture, conflict resolution, second chances, Nordic, especially Norwegian views, camping, and nature, have deeply shaped who I am and how I go about being the person in the world. Since 1981, I have been a part of this and the greater Concordia Language Villages community, for which I am so deeply grateful.
Profound impact on my being and coaching can be traced to my experiences here and certainly to the kids, colleagues, and one of my now BFFs.
Tove Dahl, PhD has been a rich resource of ideas, sounding boards, and partnership. She and Curt Rice, PhD helped me first experience and hone my work in Systems Thinking, leadership, partnership, and impact.
I remember running to my car to use… my car phone, to call my parents at the break on the first day of first professional training at The Coaches Training Institute. I was in tears and elated. FINALLY, the thing I didn’t think could be a career and so wanted to do… THIS. Coaching. It had a name, it was real, and I was sitting with folks who did professionally and saw that I had the gift for it, too. My advanced training and possibly that work that has sparked me most was in Organizational and Relationships Systems at the Center for Right Relationship.
I then did a coaching supervision and mentorship with phenomenal Marion Franklin, MCC. I have studied Deep Democracy under the tutelage of Amy (and Arnold) Mindell, and Couples Therapy with the Gottman Institute. I have loved my additional and hope to continue my studies Depth Psychology and Biomimicry. I have loved exploring the tip of the iceberg of both Buddhist Psychology and philosophy. I suspect this is a path that I will walk and explore more and more as time moves forward.
The philosophies and/or work of the following people and schools have been influential in my thinking and development:
Harriet Lerner, Mark Twain, Arne Næss/Deep Ecology, Joanna Macy, JJ Rousseau, Alan Watts, Lily Tomlin, bell hooks, Adrienne Rich, Ainsley MacLeod, Rachel Carson, Maya Angelou, Carrie Fischer, Oscar Wilde, David Bowie, Olav Hauge, James Baldwin, Rob Brezny, Carl Jung, George Sand, Noam Chomsky, Pema Chodron, Søren Kierkegaard, Harriet Braiker, Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt, Cal Newport, Margaret Wheatley, Tor Dahl, and Nordic and Irish folklore and mythologies.
Place, whether as a resident or through travel has great impact on our being. A native of Northern Florida, I have lived or spent significant time in Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and Tampa, Florida, Portsmouth, Virginia, Long Island, New York, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Austin, Texas, Hochunk (Winnebago) and Páⁿka (Ponca) Reservations, Nebraska, Davis, California, The Northwoods (Bemidji) Minnesota, Pacific Grove, California, Oslo, Norway, Bénodet, France, among others.