About Deborah

About Deborah:

In my 50 years of living and loving I have explored a variety of diverse life-paths.  For about a decade I was a scholar and educator of the art and science of human communication.  For another decade or so, I worked in the field of alternative dispute resolution, first as support staff for a mediation training program, then as a case manager assisting people to navigate the processes of mediation and arbitration to resolve their disputes.  For another decade I devoted my energies to a particular stream of personal growth and enlightenment work, developing curricula, assisting to produce and facilitate events, programs and coaching for people longing to live deeper, fuller, more potently embodied lives.

I have sat, studied, practiced, danced and celebrated with many teachers, guides and companions along the way, exploring yoga, dance, meditation, communications arts, sacred intimacy, ritual & ceremony, and a variety of spiritual practices.  On this journey I have come to understand and celebrate myself as a woman and to truly appreciate the value and power of Sisterhood.

And now?

Now my life has quite literally gone to the dogs.

HAPPY TAILS & PAW’NDERINGS

In 2011 I began a radical new phase of my life as a pet care companion.   What I thought would be a temporary dalliance has become instead a wildly fulfilling career path into dogdom.  In addition to hours and hours and hours of real time practice with and observation of a whole lotta dogs, I immersed myself in personal study of how to communicate with – to understand and be understood by – dogs. I have devoted myself to enhancing the quality of life for the dogs I care for and for their humans.  I have become one of those crazy dog people who spends way more time with canines than with humans.  This canine-to-human ratio increased dramatically in late 2012 when Macy came to live with us.

I hadn’t shared life with a dog of “my own” for about 30 years and I wanted to have and cherish that experience in the next phase of my stint here on this planet.   In a few short months of raising this little red dog, the intensity of my devotion to that process for myself and for others has blossomed into what may indeed be the life purpose for my next 50 years. Having dedicated myself to studying and observing and applying what I have learned with the many dogs I care for, I consider myself a competent canine advisor in the “naturalist” tradition common in biology, ecology and other natural sciences.  I am also currently in the process of earning professional credentials as a dog trainer and canine relationship coach.

Humans wanting to affect the behavior of a dog usually resort to some form of “training,” traditionally accompanied by the word “obedience.”  I suppose some of us would like to cultivate a bit more “obedience” from others with whom we share a relationship. : )  But mere obedience is really just a shadow of what I imagine many of us truly long for in a relationship, including the one we have with a dog.  One of my favorite canine professionals talks about the possibility of creating, in every interaction we have with another being, an event of quality:

“Within a loving relationship, we must be willing to do the work of choosing the event of quality, aware that in each interaction, we are moving in only one of two directions: toward greater trust, understanding and intensity of connection, or greater distance between ourselves and another” (from Bones Would Rain from the Sky, Suzanne Clothier, p. 86).

Words to live and love by, whether the being in question is on the other end of a leash, other end of the phone, across the table or cash register from us, or sharing our bed. My life has become an offering of devotion to the event of quality in all things: to being a Lover and creating an extraordinary love affair with life.

LOVIN’ THE LOVERS

To that end, Gary Moskowitz, (my lover, partner and co-conspirator) and I facilitate an ongoing gathering dedicated to celebrating and playfully practicing the art of living and loving as a couple.  Drawing on a variety of modalities, we strive to help couples create and celebrate an intimacy infused with passion, play and practical truth, and to fortify a dynamic relationship that can roll with the waves of change on the sea of life.

The Couples’ Gatherings have been riding the waves on that sea for nearly a decade now.

MOVEMENT IS MY MEDICINE, SISTERHOOD MY RHYTHM

Devotional movement is the heart of my personal practice and a vital element in the playful practice I share with my Sisters. Participating in movement sessions to expand, express and experience, to tenderize, harmonize, mobilize is my favorite form of worship. Devotional movement is medicine — medicine in the shamanic sense.  Medicine that opens portals and heals, that connects us to and celebrates the Great Mystery breathing everything.

I was inspired most potently by my training with Shiva Rea in Yoga Trance Dance and in being initiated with Roxanne Minoa’s Dancing the Divine.   Over the years, I have been shaped by these and other divine chisels.  So many deep, courageous and gifted women have pressed their live into my life it is impossible to name them all or describe the role they have played in my evolution.

When given the privilege of facilitating, I strive to create and offer movement journeys that are medicine for body & soul, that serve as  gesture and offering, of and for the Sacred.  Whether its movement or ceremony or circle of sisterly communion, my goal is to make whatever I am facilitating accessible, fun and pleasurably profound for everyone, regardless of age or ability or experience.

DEVOTION & DELIGHT

I feel like my life, down to my relationship, vocation and daily actions, has become a gift of surrendered service, infused with a passionate, playful spirit and commitment to celebration that I refuse to suppress, even if it gets me labeled as a whacko.

I am not quite certain why I feel compelled to write this blog.  I mean, just because I am constantly writing essays in my head to capture the poetry of the moment, doesn’t mean anyone will want to read them. Feels self-indulgent. Maybe it is.  I recogize that part of me that wants to be wanted.   I don’t have a particular “audience” in mind.  I am not writing as part of a marketing strategy to attract interest in my product or offering.  I guess I AM the product and the offering.  Perhaps I am finally accepting that I am an artist,;that the way in which divinity shimmers through the facets of “me,” while inexpressible, must be shared.  Beauty is magnified in the sharing somehow.

In full disclosure I do admit that Brevity and I are only casual acquaintances.  I flirt with Her, but she is a tease.  Be forewarned :  my view and voice are laced with a generous dollop of irreverence.  I will try to poke holes gently and in my myself  as much as I do others — holes that let the light in and let the light out.

I have been told that one of my greatest gifts is to lovingly invite others -– humans and non-humans alike — to open and shine beyond what they thought possible, and to have fun doing it. May it be so.