I have a passion for presence. It began when I was a performing modern dancer in my undergraduate program where I discovered how presence allowed me to connect in profound ways with my audience. It grew with my 20 year practices of tai chi, yoga and meditation which I return to over and over again, and which have helped me cope with particularly difficult and painful situations. And it has deepened in my ongoing quest to find ways to help my clients speak, lead and live with confidence, authenticity and joy.
Professionally I’ve been a public speaking presence coach for the past 10 years, helping people to develop an authentic presence when they speak. Through this work I have developed a comprehensive set of workbooks, CDs and DVDs, and subscription series on the subject of presence.
I am most interested in how we embody presence. Presence is not just a mind thing. It’s not in the words that we speak. It is holistic. We experience presence when we “occupy” or are present with all of our self— our body, our mind, our spirit — and when we place a priority on our connection with our audience, our environment, and our place in the world.
In my quest for presence, I have found that my camera has been a wonderful teacher. It has shown me how everything has presence if we simply focus our lens with intention and attention. It has also shown me that presence isn’t just about who we are, but also how we attend to the world. Our presence is simply a reflection of the presence that is revealed when we become curious about the world around us. I have developed a photography practice which I call revealed presence and am in the process of setting up a website to share my photos.
Last year, I’ve expanded my exploration of presence while living for two months in a yurt at Axladitsa-Avatakia, on the Pelion Peninsula in Greece. What stood out for me most during this experience was that the ability to slow down was an absolutely essential key to well being and presence; With stories of my life in a yurt and photos of my time in Greece, I’m now speaking and writing on the topic, Sustainable Joy: Two Months in a Yurt.
I am so pleased to announce that all of these aspects of presence will be distilled into a 4 day Presence Retreat at Axladitsa Avatakia in Greece in May 2009. I will be co-hosting this inquiry with four other wonderful “presence inquirers” as part of a three week immersion into an exploration of how we can learn collectively through the power of place, nature, self and community.
