Lineages are the stories from where I have received wisdom, skills and knowledge. I recognize and acknowledge that the lens through which I experience the world influences how I experience and share these lineages. I offer gratitude to all my guides, mentors and teachers. May the way I walk on the Earth reflecting the best intentions, wisdom and skills of what they have given me.

I offer gratitude to the Land. Some specific places that have given me gifts include the Land where I was born and the foothills where I first learned to camp and hike - Treaty 7, the shared traditional and ancestral home of the Blackfoot Confederacy, consisting of the Piikani, Amksapi Piikani, Siksika, and Kainai Nations, as well as the Tsuu’tina and the Îethka Nakoda Nations, which includes the Chinikii, Bears Paw, and Good Stoney First Nations, also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III. The Traditional Territories of the Inuvialuit and Gwich’in in the Beaufort Delta region, for holding me as explored all seasons in the Beaufort Delta, began my adulthood, my career in healthcare and most importantly as I became a mother and wife. The Traditional Territories of the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council and the Kwanlin Dün First Nation, also known as Whitehorse, as I became a mother again and have had the great privilege to live as a grateful guest throughout oaver 20 years of my adulthood. The Traditional Territories of the Taku River Tlingit and the waters of T’ooch He’eni where my family – chosen and biological - have the great blessing of regularly meeting to to recharge and immerse deeply with the more-than-human world.

I offer my deep thanks to all the beings that have helped me and continue to help me each day – Animal beings, Plant beings, Elemental beings and Human beings.

Lineages:

Humans – direct teachers and mentors

My mom – Gayle Bougie and my dad – Steve Gordon; my Nana - Gwen Kelly; my grandpa Roger Bougie, my grandma Muriel Chevalier.  My daughters Emma and Gwen who have given me the gift of being their mother. My husband Graham.  Pepper.

Emily Anne Brandt, Nadine Mazzola, Darlene Rooney- Keller, Youmin Yap, Amanda Yik, Maikikko Sugishita, Martha Beck, Wolf Martinez, Asha Frost, Rose LeMay, Kelly Brownbill, Dennis Berry, Christine Cleghorn, Kristina Baré, Sarah Lennie, Kathryn Rad, Erica Bernklau.

Humans - indirect teachers and mentors (authors, inspirations)

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Sebene Selassie, Nicole Redvers, Thích Naht Hahn, Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Joseph Goldstein, Eckhart Tolle, Dan Harris, Derek Sivers, Sonya Renne Taylor, Mary Oliver, Rob King.

Other than human teachers and mentors

Earth element, Bear medicine, Turtle medicine, Wolf medicine, Balsam Fir, Pine, Spruce, Wild Rose, Labrador Tea.  Specifically, those beings that have helped me in my ‘wordless knowing’ lineage – River Stone, Amur Cherry Tree, Mouse, Ant.

Primary career strands

Babysitting – babies are awesome – like in the true sense of ‘awe’

Exercise physiology and physical therapy where I learned so much about the human body and about guiding and coaching and supporting people along their journeys

Health leadership where I learned ways to think about systems and how changing one component of system or how changing the relationship between two components of a system introduces changes throughout the system – ripples.

Entrepreneurship which is spiritually driven. Wayfinder coaching, forest bath guiding and deeper insight meditation practice and teaching, Buddhism, primarily Theraveda tradition. Indigenous Wisdom exploration.

Gather and Share/Circle

Juniper Redvers, Kaitlyn Charlie, Rose LeMay, ANFT

Forest Bathing/Nature and Forest Therapy

Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT) certification which identifies as being influenced by the practice of Shinrin-yoku, specifically the unhurried walking of short distance (not hiking), idea of sensory focus, offering tea and snacks, healing power of the forest. The ANFT model additionally offers an opportunity…and invitation for each participant to perhaps uncover something they may have lost connection with.

Guide Ethos

I am not an expert in anyone’s life – everyone has their own wisdom within them.  The teachings and on this aspect of a guide ethos from Martha Beck, Amos Beck, Eckhart Tolle, Asha Forst.  We are all capable of meeting challenges and through meetings challenges may come an opportunity for change or growth. A guide walks that path with another, not to save, not to do for, not to prescribe, but rather to bear witness and support on an individual’s journey so they can encounter the treasure they are meant to bring to the world.

My experiences

As I have had the great fortune to reside in this human body for 51 years so far, my experiences must be acknowledged as part of my lineage. Motherhood, losses, deep friendships and relationships, occupational burnout, spiritual explorations through yoga, insight meditation, direct access meditation, silent meditation retreats, ceremonies, plant medicines.