about Heather, the steward of Lichen

Much of my personal practice was cultivated over time, through deep listening and intentionally rooting, reweaving, and remembering connections with my ancestors, guides, the unseen, and the more than human world. Deepening my relationship with the land that holds me and the more than human world has offered profound learning experiences in how to support myself and all living beings. I give thanks for opportunities to care for, learn from, and tend to lineage and histories of those who foster deep connection with the earth and hold reverence for all life. My hope is within the practice of rooted remembering, mutual respect will increase and suffering will diminish for all.

With living relatives and long lines of ancestors who share deep relationship with the Dawnland, relationship with place stirs deeply within me and continually reminds me of the importance of honoring the land that holds you, kindling collective care, creating bridges of understanding, and supporting the process of releasing ancestral grief. I also believe in the importance of de-centering the human narrative of ancestral lines and feel clear that my ancestral inheritance also comes from the trees, the waters, the mountains, the creatures, the sky, the rocks, the sun, and the winds. The central narrative within my upbringing was the importance of being with nature and respecting the more than human world. I honor that my human relatives passed down these important seeds that now root and bloom within me, and I also honor that I am of the land and the land is me.

I am certified and attuned within the Usui System of Reiki, which I have been practicing since 2013. The certification process took five years, where I spent time honoring my relationship with Reiki between each level of attunement. I was grateful to be held by the same mentor and landscape while cultivating a relationship with Reiki, who both walked with me from Level 1 to Masters attunement. I view my attunement process and being in relationship with the practice as my primary path of awakening, to which I am deeply grateful.

This practice emphasizes the importance of personal growth, self-awareness, and the interconnectedness of all life and promotes mindfulness, gratitude, and kindness towards all beings. The practice also helps practitioners cultivate a deeper understanding of themselves and their place in the world.

Along with being a Reiki practitioner, I also practice mindfulness with the Plum Village community, which is a tradition founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thích Nhất Hạnh) (Thay) and a beautiful complement to my Reiki practice. Within this practice, I center the Five Mindfulness Trainings, and Reiki is one of the central offerings within my Right Livelihood practice, along with stewarding Lichen Center, and fostering sangha in the Plum Village tradition. I inherited this practice from my grandmother, who studied with Thay in her adulthood and transmitted the grace and love of this practice to me throughout my life by simply being aligned within the teachings of interbeing, compassion, and joy.

I have had a clear sense of Lichen and what I wished to practice here since childhood and feel rather amazed to now be walking within a vision kindled so long ago. Being in respectful relationship with Lichen and these practices is a miraculous blessing that I am grateful for each day. Practicing being in respectful relationship with the more than human world brings me great joy, nourishment, and purpose.

And while my days are primarily spent walking mindfully, enjoying each breath, being present, offering sessions, and hosting retreats, I also enjoy time with mountains, waterways, forested paths, islands, tea, singing, music, picnics, fire, the moon, a good book, and sitting on a warm rock in the sun.

May we all find our way to our ancestral inheritance and root our way into home. May we bloom with the sunlight and waters. May we find peace. May it be so.