World Rivers Day September 24th

I love nature, although as an environmental scientist for several years I did grow tired of mosquitos and chiggers. I grew up spending time in Charlotte, NC and my grandparents farms in southwest Virginia. My dad would take us hiking and camping and I could sit for hours just digging in the dirt having fun. Today I enjoy being outside as much as I can, hiking, walking, kayaking, and sometimes just reading a book on a quilt on the ground or walking barefoot around my backyard. I also love snorkeling in Hawai'i. After being an environmental scientist/fluvial geomorphologist for several years, I realized my purpose was in the classroom inspiring others to care for and appreciate this beautiful world.

My love for nature guided me into becoming a college instructor. Actually, I knew in first grade I wanted to be a college professor. At that time, I thought I'd be a professor at a veterinary school only because that merged my mom's profession as a teacher and my dad's profession as a veterinarian/business owner. My passion in subject matter however was not within the animal health care field. I get excited sharing the beautiful places and people of our world. My undergraduate degree focused on natural resources and I'm constantly in awe of how amazing various landscapes are, and the processes that created them. I'm also equally in awe of the diversity and similarities we find in societies around the world. I started out as a strictly physical geographer and through teaching my first World Regional Geography course in 2005 found myself intrigued at the various belief systems and practices around the world. I had taken a general anthropology course back in 1996 and although that class was always held outside, I honestly hated the subject for some reason then. Ten years later I found myself getting my doctorate and wondering if it should be in geography, anthropology, or religious studies department. I ended up within a Geography Department because I was an adjunct instructor there at the time already. I was a geographer who wanted to study shamanism, sacred spaces, rituals, and belief systems which was very fringe for quantitative geographers. At the time my qualitative approach and topic was a little far out there for the faculty in my department. However, I had a supportive committee and something beyond me was guiding me to get through it. Today what I do teach, often overlaps with the fields of Anthropology and Religious Studies.  

My doctoral research focused on non-secular uses of public areas in nature within the Appalachian Mountains. I visited state parks from Georgia to Kentucky in search of how people today in the 21st century engage with nature for spiritual reasons (non-secular uses). Through meditations, group ceremonies, memorials (although the spreading of ashes is typically banned at most parks), and weddings I investigated the spiritual experiences and activities people were having and doing within nature. Although unlike other regions in the world, there is no large extensive collection of such activities being done for the sacred mountains and healing waters of this region. Through tapping into the numinous, cosmic, and aesthetic dimensions of defining a spiritual landscape it became clear that although we may not have globally known mountains for these experiences in the Southeast, people were and are still responding with spiritual experiences individually and collectively at these natural features.

I teach courses centered around regional geographies as well as specific courses on Sacred Spaces and Spiritual Landscapes. Geography is the mother of all sciences I do believe. As a traditionally trained geographer, I merge the physical/natural and social sciences. I hope to inspire students to become more aware of their natural outside environments both locally and around the world. I aim to engage critical thinking skills and I offer freedom within my courses to pursue the many interests and facets of each students individual nature, career interest, and personal interest related to topics that are just as diverse around the world.  This freedom however is not something everyone is used to being presented with in college courses. There is frequently an adjustment period for students with my style of facilitating a course. I am a guide as a teacher who aims to inspire life long learning and interests, self responsibility and accountability, empowerment, skills at observing, critical thinking, and good research skills for life beyond the classroom. I teach in a student-centered style and focus more on andragogy than pedagogy.

I am constantly researching and seeking various experiences with life myself. Just before I started my doctorate program, I went through my Saturn Return phase and my world turned upside down in a good way! The upcoming book series to be released in 2022, is about my life between the academic and spiritual worlds as well as the dimensions of existence shamans around the world talk about. When I started asking why I was here as I knew there was so much more to life than what we are programed with, the universe or some force began to guide me on a very unique adventure inward and eventually out in service. I sat with elders, teachers, shamans, mystics, healing practitioners from various traditions and religions both ancient/traditional and modern/alternative. I became a Reiki Master/Teacher, I studied crystals with a Cherokee medicine man, I participated in despacho ceremonies with paqo's, and I studied Hawaiian Hula with a Kumu and other Hawaiian spiritual practices with Aunty's.  I also became an Interfaith Minister due to my love of ceremony and ritual and helping others navigate celebrations, transitions, and changes to enrich their lives, humanity, and our connection to the Earth. Most recently I decided one of the highest services I could do for others would to be trained as a Funeral Celebrant. Teaching can be a wonderful, however holding compassionate presence for others through transitions is beyond words. I also trained to become a Labyrinth Facilitator as a way to hold and guide others through walking in a sacred space.  

• The views and opinions expressed here as well within my books are my own and do not represent the institutions I'm contracted with. They are my personal experiences and stories in what I discovered along my path (so far) in working with elders, mystics, and shamans around the world. My stories and experiential activity suggestions are meant for entertainment, personal growth, and for alternative educational perspectives to amplify love of self, community, and humanity.
• I taught as an adjunct from 2005-2021 for several community colleges and universities.  Adjunct Instructors are part-time employees with no benefits nor job security, it was a wild ride of trusting the universe. Being an adjunct gave me free time and freedom to explore a variety of unusual topics and alternative perspectives freely that I would not have been able to go do within a full time position. Not every way of learning or experiencing fits into the standard 8-5 world! Shamans show up when the energies are ready for whatever they are doing in ceremony and/or healing and not all understand set schedules. I was blessed to have fluidity in my schedule for over a decade to weave in between worlds and dimensions with my elders and teachers. 
• Since completing my doctorate, I have lived life and had many wonderful experiences (while trying to financial survive as an adjunct).  I also worked at a jewelry store surrounded by crystals from all over the world, some only recently discovered. I worked as a veterinary technician on and off over the years and integrated Reiki with Animals. I also taught meditation classes and provided CE's for massage therapists for several years in Energy work modalities of Reiki, Reflexology, and Kahi Loa. In offering CE's I learned a different way of instructing. This experience greatly enhanced and added to my teaching skills.
• The information around energy work is designed for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care provided by physicians, qualified medical professionals or current medical practices. This information is not intended for diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease. The techniques described in my teachings through talks and writings can be used for an effective stress reduction and relaxation regimen.
• The information presented is based upon the spiritual practices of many cultures around the world.  
• I am considered to be a classically trained geographer. Some of my research interest and my applied avenues of service cross over into anthropology, history, and religious studies.