Elisabeth’s Story

Elisabeth’s Practitioner’s Story

The path is made by walking it!

Before you read this story, I invite you to pause. Remember, it is just a story, just like any story.  You could be reading your story.  Maybe, write your own story, the one which you have been telling others and yourself all these years.  Write your story down.  Notice how you write it, depending on who is going to read it. Take a highlighter and mark your lessons.  Realize, this is history.  Right this very moment you are creating a new story, consciously or unconsciously:  your life story.  Do you have the courage to create your story moment by moment, new, fresh; responding to life as it is showing up right now?  A story that resonates with your deepest being, taking full responsibility for your actions, thoughts and words?  Be honest, are you maturing and growing, or just replaying old records, over and over again?

Yet, since everyone likes stories, here you go:

In my young adult life, I studied education, with an emphasis on childhood development. This was against the wishes and advice of a nun, Schwester Demut. Her name translates to humility, she taught math and thought I had a brain for logic and numbers. I don’t really care for numbers very much but I think she recognized a capability of common sense and therefore didn’t hold me accountable to memorization, as long as I could figure out the answers, in whatever way. Without her knowing she introduced me to a concept, that there are infinite ways to come to the “right” answer.  I have to admit, she was very disappointed in me choosing a path of education. This was in Germany, where early childhood development is considered the cornerstone of ones success in life! Little did I know, this was going to be an in-depth study of each phase of growing-up and its effect on adult life and society.  Learning in depth what care and support and attention a developing child needs from the time it is born into this world. I studied what the appropriate care, play, guidance, art, independence, freedom, belonging, relationship-building, expression in speech and gestures could provide to not only the individual but to create a caring, responsible, free and loving society.   I was very intrigued by psychology at that point in my life (and continue to study psychology to this day), yet I abandoned the formal study after my degree in education and social work, since I was disappointed by the teachers and psychologists who talked, yet didn’t walk their talk themselves.  I wanted to use my hands; so, I embarked on a hand-weaving apprenticeship to feed my hands their need to create. This journeymen degree opened the door to work at the U.S. Armed Forces Recreation and Arts Center in my hometown of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.  There I taught textiles, from weaving, spinning, dying, and knitting to painting on silk to spouses of soldiers who were on leave, at that time often from Vietnam.  Without the official title and job description, I practiced psychotherapy, while working with yarn, following the thread to unravel postwar anxieties in soldiers and their families.

After moving to the United States, I practiced my knowledge of early child development with my two sons. I used my love for skiing to work with inner city kids, designed a recreation program for the elderly and kept my studies up in psychology, always applying it to everyday life, trying to understand the new culture.  I also developed a regular yoga practice to support my body, so it could keep up with all the demands I put on it.  During my yoga teachers’ training I was introduced to the chakra energies and had this strong feeling that this is the key to bringing it all together.  I studied with Anodea Judith the Psychology of the chakras. Yes!  All my lifelong learning, which seemed sort of disconnected and without a specific goal, made sense all of a sudden.  The puzzle pieces fell into place.  I had a strong desire to share this experience and Mountain Meditation on KPCW was my first outlet.  At the same time my private practice was growing based out of my home studio.

My mission is to share this knowledge, to help fellow human beings on their journey. I am continuously learning through my students what it means to be fully alive and aware in every moment, and staying true to myself.  Sitting in silence, becoming conscious of the habitual movements in our minds, emotions and bodies has been a cornerstone of my practice and always returning to center while being present to the moment as it appears. I use movement, meditation, and self-inquiry/focusing in my work which often enables each individual to make the changes needed, uniquely for them to truly feel alive.

For more information, contact Elisabeth.