MARLA'S STORY

A little black girl from Texas, born and bred. My journey has taken me all over the world and now back to Texas again. It is here, where I have returned, mostly kicking and screaming to find that the illusive elements of fate are melding into the alchemical flame of destiny.

It began, as these things often do as an impulse, slight at first then growing stronger. As a child, as with so many children, I could feel the pulse of life. What was confusing for me was all of the other feelings and emotions I felt at the same time. I would later come to learn that I was blessed with the double edged sword of dynamic empathy. I could walk into a room and have a visceral felt body sense of the emotions at play. You can imagine what adolescence must have been like. I thought I was emotionally unstable until I figured it out with the help of a friend while in college and learned how to buffer and begin developing my gift. Then things began to shift and change as I studied energy healing, meditation and jumped into my path of evolution.

Gifts being what they are, are only potentialities until ignited with the grace of calling and purpose. And, for me, as for so many of us, this meant the arduous task of unlearning much of what I thought of as reality and healing the obvious and subtle wounds of soul, family and culture. What a big sentence that is, huh? I would love to write that I simply woke up one day to a pristine sense of spaciousness, clarity and Oneness, but I cannot. Stones had to be turned, rivers dredged, tears shed, demons fought, forgiveness given. There were long moments where I almost lost hope, feeling that I was doomed to live a life of subtle sadness, low-grade struggle and so-so existence. But that empathy, that double edged sword, kept gnawing at me in the quiet moments of my life. I could feel this tug to keep going, open further, heal more, let go. For what, my mind was not quite sure, but the heart and soul knew, were crystal clear.

Slowly things began to shift, slowly at first then with great leaps and moments of bliss and expansion so rapid that I could hardly contain them/me. At times I felt that I was dissolving into the fabric of creation itself, no longer an individual... only particles of light in an infinite field of light. Eventually, there was and continues to be a deep, felt sense of Being, grace and spaciousness. Moments, turned to days, then weeks and slowly years. It has been an amazing journey of evolution, for which I am so grateful. Of course, there are still emotions, a perfectly imperfect humanity and quirky personality, but they are like ripples on the surface of a vast, deep sea. There is simply access to and knowing of so much more.

The journey of conscious evolution is not for the meek. We all evolve, it is what nature does and we are a part of nature. However, to consciously give oneself over to her infinite intelligence goes against everything that we have been taught. At this moment in time, one must have a driving urge, courage, tenacity and the ability to deeply surrender and trust to continue into the outer limits of this work... which by the way never ends. Embodied awakening, means just that, living your awakened state in a way that is tangible and combines the wisdom of awakened spiritual genuis with the compassion and grace of an awakened heart.


Awakening to Global Perspective

We are given what we need, to do what we came here to do. Even if we are blind to it, it is there. As a young woman, a student at the University of Texas, I was inspired to begin volunteering for the local student YWCA. To make a long story short, this led to doors opening in miraculously rapid succession, whereby I was elected to leadership for national student, national board of directors and then international board of director positions. This gave me experience working with women from all over the world to address the problems that affect women the world over. It opened doors to experiences and possibilities that I never would have had access to coming from a working class neighborhood, raised by aging parents, themselves raised in rural east Texas and Louisiana during the Great Depression.

The YWCA shaped much of my young adult life and I saw the vast differences between rich and poor, working with some of the wealthiest most educated and poorest, most disenfranchised women on the planet. It awakened in me a sense of purpose that is beginning to emerge anew as you see the emphasis on global awakening as you peruse this site. I do believe that if we empower each other, what can emerge from our collective genius could be startling to us. As an awakened humanity, we can heal, change and evolve everything.... fast.

"The soul doesn't care at all what price we have to pay to follow our calls.
Our happiness and security and status simply don't matter to it,
although our courage, faith and aliveness do."
- Gregg Levoy

The Rest of the Story in Brief...

Businesses were built, disintegrated and built again. Hard lessons learned around attachment, worth and trust. The cave became safe haven. Studying with some gifted and amazing people slowly helped forge the crude iron ore of dis-connected humanity into the alchemical gold of awakening. I am particularly grateful for three men. Dr. David R. Hawkins is the first. Dr. Hawkins seminal book Power vs Force, gave me an understanding of the field of consciousness. His calibrated Map of Consciousness gave me a framework within which to understand how we and our perspectives change as we evolve. And, gave me a deeper compassion for the people no matter where they are on their journey. Next is Saniel Bonder, founder of Waking Down in Mutuality. I worked with Saniel for a brief, but pivotal period of time. He saw me and gave me an important piece of transmission and opened the doors for my heart awakening.

Then there is Ken. This quiet, elusive, extremely private man is an enlightened shaman, healer and master. When we met, I knew him immediately and had vivid and visceral memories of several past lives as his student. Ken, helped me to take my then current skill set to amazing new territories; remember and re-awaken many gifts; taught me much and held me as I thought I was losing my mind through the difficult days of reckoning, dissolution and re-integration. I am eternally grateful for him and the enormous gifts he has and continues to bring me and the world.

I am also grateful for the friends who loved, held and believed in me, even when I did not believe in myself. We always walk with others. And, there are so many friends who provide sage council, support, solace and great cheering. Thank you.


The Journey Continues

Awakening has deepened into the calling and I feel the strong urge to serve in a more substantial way. This site is a step in answering that call. My gratitude goes out to students/clients turned friends and creative compadres Rima Bonario and Tobi White for believing in me and the vision of this work so fully that they threw their vast and creative skills, consciousness and love into bringing this site and work to fruition. It is our hope that you find here inspiration, resources and more. Thank you for taking the time to be here.

The expertise/skills I bring to this work are:

May we all remember the beauty, majesty and
grace of who we truly are.