Find more peace. Live as you are. Love who you are becoming.
Creative yoga therapy and transition coaching for anyone going through identity crisis—especially those in midlife gender, sexuality, and relationship transitions.
Training and support for yoga studios, gyms, and wellness spaces to be more trans+ inclusive.
Yoga is a path of self-awareness toward the goal of reducing suffering and increasing joy.
Creativity and play are how we discover which specific practices are most suited to ourselves and our unique lives.
Art and object-making are deep expressions of the human spirit that grow our creativity, offer balm to our souls, and lead us through to joy, even in the darkest times.
Welcome. I can’t wait to practice with you.
Why are art and object-making an important part of this practice?
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No matter how small your home (or your budget), you can make, select, and arrange the objects you surround yourself with to encourage the feelings and experiences you want to have. Whether you need more calm in your life, more creative energy, more sense of freedom, making and working with art are two of the most powerful ways to achieve them.
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To know yourself as you truly are is the first step to liberation and joy. Making, discovering, living with, and practicing through objects and art works can be an incredibly revelatory practice. Uncover and find peace with who you really are, what you really want in your life, and how to overcome the barriers to your goals with compassion for yourself.
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Everyone I’ve ever worked with in this practice has discovered courage and strength within themselves that they did not know existed. Making and practicing with art works and objects uncovers deeply-hidden truths about ourselves and helps us see the resources we already have inside.
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Deep inside you, you know that there is something you’re meant to do on this Earth. But knowing what that something is—and then figuring out how to live it in the world—can be difficult and scary. Working with objects and art works creates a safe, creative space in which to uncover what you really want and play with the idea of sharing and expressing it.
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As someone who has lived with severe depression and chronic suicidality for a lot of my life, I can tell you that there are times when it’s hard to believe joy even exists, much less that I can access it. This creative practice is the one thing I can come back to and find a way through to joy, even in the face of depression and grief (and without having to push it away or even let it go).
Moments of identity crisis can be the most important moments of your life. These are the moments in which you can become someone completely new and live in a wholly new way.
Change is inevitable. Transformation is how we meet it.
Change does not always come to us when we’re prepared. Whether it’s injury or illness, career loss, or a midlife awakening, change will ask us not only to shift our behaviors, but to re-imagine and reinvent our very selves.
But stepping back from identities, beliefs, and roles we have held for a long time can feel threatening. We cling to old ways of being or find ourselves in deep waters without a compass. In the gap between what we were (and have lost) and what we might become, there is often suffering. But there is also the possibility for incredible growth, creativity, and joy.
The ability to re-imagine yourself creatively, compassionately, and without boundaries is the ability to live without fear in a world of change. It is the very definition of freedom.
For those at midlife, transformation can seem like a requirement rather than a choice. That can be a burden—or a source of incredible joy. The difference is in how we undertake it, and how we let it change us, open us up, and grow us.
I invite you to join me in this deeply human, vastly creative, and always collaborative work.
What is transition coaching?
Transition is complicated, whether you’re talking about gender, work, or relationship changes. Transition coaching is 360-degree support from someone who has been there.
Transition coaching is designed to help you:
Identify what you really want and how to get there
Develop increased self-awareness and self-compassion
Support in decision making and planning
Coping with difficult emotions and self-doubt
Managing relationships and communicating with others
Finding joy and euphoria, no matter where you are in your transition
What is creative yoga therapy?
Yoga therapy, generally speaking, is the application of the tools and methods of yoga to improving wellbeing and quality of life. Yoga therapy may include elements like movement, breath work, self-study, creative play, self-regulation and calming, and sound, among many others. The tools of yoga are nearly infinite. The practice of yoga therapy is to find the tools that give you what you need.
Creative yoga therapy , specifically, involves object-making, art, and life design to deepen self-awareness, shift and expand your sense of self, and find peace, calm, and joy even in the most difficult times.
You don’ t need to know anything about yoga (or art) to start this work! In yoga therapy, the practice is shaped to fit you, not the other way around. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.
Schedule a Call
I you are in a moment of change—if your inner being is calling out for expansion—transition coaching and/or yoga therapy might be for you. Let go of fear, find new ways of being, and live as the person you were meant to be.
It’s simple:
Set up a free half hour consultation call to talk about what you need and what challenges you are facing.
Decide whether my particular style of transformational coaching will open up what you need to open up in yourself or your work.
Show up to sessions ready to go deep, learn about yourself, and move and be moved.
Create the self that can live your highest calling.
Meet Mark (They/Them)
I have been through many transformational crises in my life. I started my career as a college professor and academic, moved into nonprofit work, conducted and published research, trained leaders, worked in community building, and coached new faculty. I have been a book coach and writer.
Then I hit a moment of absolute shift, in which everything I thought I knew about myself had to be reimagined and created anew. I came out as trans, and my life turned upside down. The next few years were hard, I won’t lie. But nothing else in my life has been as meaningful, powerful, or important. Joy matters. Who you really are matters. Your creative spirit is needed in the world.
If I have learned one thing in all my years of leadership, coaching, teaching, creative work, and transition, it is this: You can be the person you want to be. It will take work, and it will be scary, and you will have to let go of things you thought were central to your being. But it will be utterly worth it.
When you are ready to step into the expansive future that awaits you, I’m here. In the meantime, you can learn more about my story here.
Photo (c) queerjoyphoto.com