My mom’s ALS diagnosis in 2014 was the catalyst to step onto this path of spiritual care. The experience rewired me, showing me what I was going to learn: how to sit with uncertainty, how to be with what cannot be fixed, how to meet life fully—even in the face of endings. And probably the most important: that learning to truly, deeply, befriend ourselves is everything.

In 2017 I dove headlong into those teachings at the New York Zen Center, where I began my training as a hospital chaplain. Over the years, I’ve companioned folks in hospital rooms, at kitchen tables, in conversations about all that it means to be in these human bodies. Through this work, I have come to understand a few things:

How we show up matters. The work we do to reclaim our aliveness, our bodies, our belonging, is work that ripples out beyond us – interrupting the systems that keep us disconnected, numb, and blind to patterns of harm. 

Play and pleasure are essential. Play is medicine. Pleasure is sacred. We were never meant to move through life numb.


We’re not separate from the Earth. Our bones, breath, and blood are shaped by the same forces that carve rivers and grow forests. To honor ourselves is to honor Earth, and vice versa. 










I offer words of thanks and recognition to my teachers and way-showers, especially to Meg Vellejos McCoy and Koshin Pailey Ellison. Their wisdom, care, steady encouragement and unwavering patience continues to shape my path, including my commitment to re-education, service and justice.

I do this work because I believe we all deserve to come home to ourselves. To be met, witnessed, and held. To wake up—fully, fiercely…together.

Experience and Education
Alchemy: Advanced Mentorship (May 2024 – Present) with Meg Vellejos McCoy
A two-year advanced training in ritual, energetic and hands-on tending, somatic practice, ancestral wisdom, and spiritual re-education. This mentorship emphasizes holding complexity with care and the ability to cultivate "power with" rather than "power over" in the practitioner-client dynamic, fostering ethical, attuned, and liberatory healing spaces.

Soul Friend: Spiritual Companionship Training (March 2022 – March 2024) with Meg Vellejos McCoy
A two-year training in spiritual companionship, presence, and relational tending, with a focus on group dynamics, deep listening, and holding space for transformation. This program explores themes of social justice, spiritual calling, conflict navigation, and the interplay between personal and community values, fostering the skills needed to support others through life’s thresholds with clarity and care.

Chaplaincy training (September 2017-September 2019)
800 hrs The Brooklyn Hospital Center: Main hospital wards, ER, ICU
400 hrs The New York Zen Center: Zen education and practice
400 hrs Seattle Veteran’s Affairs: Bone Marrow Transplant Unit / Oncology

Bachelor of Arts: Middle Eastern Studies (2003) University of Washington
A multidisciplinary study of history, religion, and language with emphasis in Jewish studies.