I live at a remote off-grid home in the Yolla Bolly Mountains of northern California with my partner Willow. As an undergraduate at University of California, Santa Cruz, in the mid-70's, I participated in an environmental studies field program called Sierra Institute. Twelve years later (1988), after completing a graduate program with ecopsychology pioneer Robert Greenway, I came back to teach for Sierra Institute, which I did for 28 years. I also took on the role of director in 2003. In 2015, the Sierra Institute closed its doors after 41 years of programming.
Retirement has allowed me to give more attention to writing. Most of my poetry was first recorded in field journals while out on Sierra Institute academic programs, which were 9 weeks long and entirely taught during a series of backpacking trips. It was not unusual for me to teach three programs a year, amounting to a total of up to 6 months in the backcountry. One of my greatest joys was watching each new group of students open over time to the transformative influence of wilderness immersion. I have practiced Zen with Roshis John Tarrant and David Weinstein of Pacific Zen Institute, and I am currently a student of Roshi Teja Bell of Qigong Dharma, who has put together a holistic teaching and practice that combines the earth-based wisdom and energy work of Daoism with the more space-oriented wisdom and meditation/insight practices of Buddhism.. |