ELIZABETH has been growing roots as a Wellness Educator for over 40 years. She vividly recalls an extraordinary summer morning in 1969 at Pulaski Heights Methodist Church in her hometown of Little Rock, when the first seed was planted. She arrived at Sunday school to discover that she was the only teenager in attendance, and that her usual teachers were strangely absent. The mysterious substitutes introduced her to the unconventional teachings of Edgar Cayce, a Christian mystic who spoke of soul evolution and oneness with the Creative Forces. That was  Elizabeth’s first inkling that there was more than one way to understand the Divine.

Her curiosity aroused, Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahamsa Yogananda soon followed, fertilizing the ground. Reading his words, Elizabeth became intrigued by the path of yoga, as described by Yogananda, True education…must aid in bringing spontaneously to the surface the infinite hoards of wisdom within. Three summers later, while traveling in the Arkansas Ozarks, she chanced upon the Integral Yoga Ashram, a center sharing  the teachings of Sri Swami Satchidananda, where she lingered for a brief but powerful introduction to yoga’s daily practices.

While studying at Vanderbilt University, Elizabeth continued to seek inspiration from those few brave souls who dared to share yoga in the conservative South of the early 1970’s. After pursuing her academic understanding of human nature, she completed her BA in Psychology with Honors. When she was accepted to Vanderbilt’s Doctoral Program in Psychology, it seemed that her course was set.

However, the summer of 1975 proved to be pivotal. After reading Thomas Szasz’s  radical perspectives on the institution of psychotherapy in The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct, Elizabeth was no longer convinced that she was suited to a career within the confines of the existing constructs of psychotherapy. Although she did not know what lay ahead, she did know what she was ready to leave behind. With some trepidation, and much delight, Elizabeth stepped out of the world of academia and embarked on a path of experiential learning and discovery.

Her first travels were in miles…from the uncomfortable familiarity of the Deep South to the strangely diverse pulsing center of Boston. It wasn’t long before Elizabeth gravitated to the salt marshes and tidal waters of the North Shore, where something deep within her recognized that place as home. There she made three heartfelt commitments: one to Gregory, the man who became her husband and the father of her two sons, her studies at the Ashram Integral Yoga Center, and the third to Mother Earth, whose natural vitality was under threat on the Massachusetts shoreline she called home.

For twenty-five years, Elizabeth enjoyed a long New England season of growth. She co-founded two environmental organizations to protect the salt marsh tidal zones from toxic pesticides and low level radioactive pollutants from Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant. In 1977 she earned her first Yoga Teacher Certification. The  following year she was initiated into Transcendental Meditation and joined A Course in Miracles study group. Elizabeth and Gregory deepened their appreciation for Mother Earth through their Native American studies. She learned to trust her personal truth as it was revealed through the intrinsic intelligence of the yoga asanas and the stillness of her sitting meditation practices.

Elizabeth also cultivated complementary skills in the healing arts, studying various styles of massage. When she felt called for her touch to go beyond the relief of muscular tension, she certified in Polarity Therapy, Dr. Randolph Stone’s therapeutic system for balancing our governing “energy body.” Following an automobile accident, Elizabeth credited her rapid recovery to Craniosacral Therapy, prompting continued education with The Upledger Institute. Bringing these skills together she founded  The Opening Space in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

There were “weeds” in Elizabeth’s garden as well. Inner turmoil erupted when old wounds from childhood trauma were unearthed soon after the birth of her first son, Seavron, in 1986. She stepped away from her practice to focus on personal healing then became a full -time mother when her second son, Shawnan, was born in 1992. A few short years later, her husband’s accidental death unleashed a staggering grief that necessitated an extended sabbatical so that Elizabeth could find her new footing as the head of a young family.

These darker seasons were fertile as well. It was during this period that Elizabeth found strength in the practical spirituality of her Unity Church community, and absorbed the “essential nutrients for the soul” provided by the teachings of Florence Scovel Shinn. After two years of healing dormancy, Elizabeth reopened her office doors, bringing a seasoned depth of presence, honed by grief, to her clients.

Elizabeth’s “California Years” began with a leap of faith that landed her family in the sunny Napa Valley in 2002, where they were embraced by the welcoming community of Calistoga. She gave her business a fresh start as Simply Wonderful Living. Soon she completed her Advanced Yoga Studies, qualifying for her Yoga Alliance RYT500 Certification, and joined the ranks of California Certified Massage Therapists.

Elizabeth underwent a radical shift in her healing paradigm after studying  the Sacred Art of Temple Lomilomi with Kahuna Harry Uhane Jim. Harry modeled the powerful use of intuition, punctuated with his infectious laughter. This confirmed Elizabeth’s  growing belief that although techniques are foundational, her heart-centered intuition would always be her most creative and trustworthy guide.

An unexpected gift from her new community was the introduction to John, an inspiring fellow yogi. In 2006 they committed to spend their lives together, balancing work and play and the lively care of two teenaged boys. However those happy years were all too soon interrupted, when tragedy struck yet again.

In 2015, her youngest son, Shawnan, lost his battle with a crippling depression and took his own life. Heartbroken, Elizabeth once again withdrew from her work to occupy the liminal space into which she had been thrust… existing somewhere between the shock and pain of loss, and the unexpected ethereal experience of communication with the Spirit of her departed son from his Afterlife.

Now, Elizabeth has shared this extraordinary story of love, loss and renewal in her transformational memoir, Shawnan Spirit Speaks: Love is the Forever Adventure.

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