I’m glad to connect with you. I’m Hilary.

I am a healing arts community minister, somatic movement therapist & educator. I guide people through transformative change and initiations into new ways of being. I help to create supportive spaces that allow for the shifts that are needed in our personal and communal lives. These spaces come in many different forms and may be within or around us or even in natural environments. The intention is to guide people into a greater sense of belonging and connection that is available to us all from deep within our bodies and beings.

Who Am I

I come from mostly European lineages including Slavic, Celtic, Norse, Greek and also Asian heritage. While I’ve learned some about my own indigenous heritages, I also honor the people and heritages of those who are from and on the land wherever I am.

I co-create healing spaces in which we are able to reconnect ourselves to the land and our innate gifts and wisdom so that we can weather the winds of change with more grace. If you are needing support or are just wanting some spiritual nourishment or inspiration you may have found what you are looking for.

I offer one-one sessions, group spaces and healing products to support our deepening and growth into who we are called to be together.

The Journey

My journey towards being a healing arts community minister has been a winding one guided by my own and our shared human needs for connection and belonging. These needs are easily unmet in the American cultural context and increasingly around the world. While I had a loving family in many ways and grew up middle class with everything I might want, I felt somewhat empty and alone much of the time and especially as an only child of older parents. I was trying to fit in and find my way like everyone else and had the blessing and challenge of having traveled and lived in different places in the world. Where do I truly belong? How do I be true to myself? I have asked these questions throughout my life. 

 I followed my gifts into performance arts with singing and dancing and focused on performing well in school. I also attended a Methodist church in a run down part of downtown Detroit, and then a very liberal Unitarian Universalist church in the most wealthy neighborhood in the area. I also attended an all girls Catholic high school and was friends with other queer folk while reading whatever I could about Buddhism. There was contrast and paradox present in all aspects of my life.

The Calling

I continued to follow the call to learn about how the performing arts, religion and spirituality inform each other and create opportunities for transformation. I realized that these are all arts that have been separated from each other in modern culture and are still interwoven in indigenous traditions. As I learned from different indigenous traditions, Buddhist studies and traditional arts from teachers around the world, I came to see that we all come from cultures that were created through their relationship with the Earth and the sky or Cosmos.

The Bridge

We as humans bridge this gap and it is our journey to learn how we make that connection in our individual ways. When we reunite our mind with our body we are able to bring our unique genius into the world and be conduits for the change that we are called to no matter where or who we come from. I am inspired to help others bridge these connections within ourselves back to wholeness so that the connections can unfold naturally between us and within our families, lineages, communities, and in the collective. I am available to support your journey of bridging towards your most whole self through one-one sessions and group classes as well as retreats and healing products.

Influences

Buddhist Studies and Ministry
  • Founding Board Member of My Oasis Center – Northern Michigan Interfaith Spirituality Center – 2023-Present
  • Member of Northern Michigan Interfaith Common Ground -Petoskey, MI – 2022-Present
  • Presenter at Parliament of World Religions – 2015 & 2018
  • Masters in Divinity at Harvard Divinity in Buddhist Ministry – 2008-2011
  • Natural Dharma Fellowship – Lama Willa Miller and John Makransky – 2010-Present
  • Tibetan Buddhist Studies in India and Nepal – 2014
  • Buddhist Peacemakers Ministry – Roshi Bernie Glassman – 2008-2009
  • Comparative Religions BA at Kalamazoo College including a year abroad in Thailand studying Buddhism and sustainable development –  2002-2006
Somatic Movement Studies
  • Somatic Attachment Therapy Certificate – Embody Lab – 2023
  • Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate -Embody Lab – 2022
  • Embodied Social Justice Certificate – Embody Lab – 2021
  • Living at or near Earthdance Community practicing Contact Improvisation – 2011-2017
  • Body Mind Centering – 500 hr Somatic Body Training with Christine Cole – 2015-2017
  • Practicing and Studying Yoga – 2006-Present
Community Organizing
  • Unitarian Universalist Community Ministry – 2000-Present
  • Community Coordinator and Manager at Nine Mountain Retreats – 2014-2017
  • Unitarian Universalist Community Coops & Cooperative Housing Development – 2007-2011
  • Kennedy School of Government – Marshall Ganz’s Course – 2010-2011
Chaplaincy
  • Clinical Pastoral Care and Counseling Residency at St. Francis Hospital, Hartford, CT  2019-2020
  • Internship at Bronson Hospital, Kalamazoo, MI – 2009
    Performance
    • Improvisational Vocalization & Vocal Performance in Community – 2006-Present
    • Theater Scholarship Program and Vocal Performance at Kalamazoo College – 2002-2006
    • Various Forms of Dance from Ballet to Modern to Improvisational – 1987-Present
    • Community Theater – 1984-Present on and off
    Indigenous Wisdom
    •  Co-Creavatars – Grief Wheel Facilitation Training with Grandmother Kaariina Saarinen – 2021-Present
    • Community Village – organizing community around indigenous principles with elders and children for reconciliation – 2019-Present
    • Ancestral Healing with Daniel Foor & Grandmother Kaariina – 2019-Present
    • Walking in Balance – restorative justice council practice based on the traditional values of indigenous people – Grandmother Strong Oak – 2018-Present
    • Living within Indigenous Communities in Thailand – 2004-2005
    ​Earth Connection
    • (All the above in Indigenous Wisdom)
    • Wild Earth Intensives – Co-facilitation 10 day experiences with Sky Otter (Bill Pfeiffer) – 2017-2018
    • Growing the Garden of Healing Connection – 2021-Present
    • Backpacking, NOLs courses while studying sustainable development in Thailand – 2004-2005

       

      Activism

    • Member of the Great Start Collaborative – Supporting Healthy Families & Children – Emmet County, MI – 2022-Present
    • Maroon Liberation School – 2020-2021
    • Canvassing for Southern Poverty Law Center – 2017
    • Unitarian Universalist Community Cooperatives Board Member – 2009-2011
    • Center for Law and Renewal – Fetzer Institute – 2006-2008