About Birdi
A young, new social worker in a group home I was in for a short time, gave me 2 books, one by Kahlil Gibran and the other by Edgar Cayce, when I was 11. I somehow still have them. I called myself Giddeon then for some unknown reason and she addressed me by that name in what she wrote on the inside of the cover. I don't know what she and others saw in me, because she is an example of the odd encounters of care I would have along my path as a young runaway who left home at 9, but It brought me a sense of inner home, a spiritual family maybe, and comforted me as much as taught me along my travels. I believe it led me to places like a couple of Thich Nhat Hanh's, US sanghas, for example.
I feel like Mowgli from the Jungle book, but really, I think we're all a bit of Mowgli. We grow up in a Jungle, discover the Village of Man, and disillusioned, realizing we can't go backwards because we are no longer who we were, we have to reconcile home is inside of ourselves...
Then, home is everywhere. This is a type of Liberation, Peace.
I eventually found myself in NYC in the 1980s. My identity as a young nurse and paramedic, AIDS, hospice, and interfaith activist and mystic were evolving simultaneously. It seemed natural timing as these paths merged with my sense of self, justice, impermanence, intuition, belonging and humanity. So I leaned in. As a young, new, single mother, becoming a nurse seemed a practical option. I was also ordained as an early adopter of interfaith ministery because it spoke to my core beliefs and the humanitarian ideals of spiritual unity, inter-being, and free-will. Eventually, I became a therapeutic artist and spiritual sociologist, and finally completed my doctorate in exploring sacred dialogue, engagement, and activism through wholeness practices..
My goal is to awaken your spiritual, intuitive super self through science, self-discovery, spiritual direction and where helpful, the arts as a decoder or a bridge. I am primarily a peace coach and crossroads maven. Whether I am working with private individuals or executive coaching groups, I simplify, guide, and companion change. To embrace life amid loss and enhance self-discovery is to restore one’s relationships with oneself, others, and make the world a kinder, gentler place.
My methods draw from science, spiritual sociology, psychology, mysticism, nature, and the arts. My spirituality and mystic practices infuse a centered, holistic approach into my skills. I have been spiritually connected since a child, as long as I can know, and I trust each person to have their own connections, value set. I don't have a spiritual agenda in my practices that I impose on another. I live that each being beholds infinite worth, equality, and uniqueness. Combining more esoteric senses, I have assisted thousands over the decades with practical information, deepening and freeing their own connections with their bodies and their lives.
Death, Grief, Illness: People and Animals: I have also trained extensively with grief, chronic illness, and death literacy. I combine a person's cultural, spiritual, and root practices as we demystify relationships and perceptions around illness, death, grief, loss, especially when there is a new diagnosis for oneself, a loved one, or even a beloved animal companion. This is a time for curiosity and a mind-body-spirit care like no other, and also a time for planning. These things don't actually take care of themselves.
I have always been actively involved as a spiritual support, advocate, activist, and panelist supporting LGBTQA+ public, government, and corporate education around spiritual, community, health, and death rights in particular. As I mentioned earlier, the dawn of AIDS in NYC was my baptism into my nursing career, and you simply can't unsee, unknown, or unfeel some things. My family is also a part of the LGBTQA+ community. It's societal, spiritual, moral, and personal for me that all people be given dignity and safety. I continue to speak in many organizations regularly.
I have been very fortunate to learn from some true masters. Time, place, my age, surprise, and gumption, brought me into these environments. So I've been able to train in mindfulness, meditation, and breath work before it was cool. I'm a Movement Chaplain, Spiritual director, certified as a death doula for people and animals, in adult ADHD, Grief, a death literacy and wellness specialist, and many other nifty things. I even studied over 200 mollusks over 2 years. That was a favorite honestly.
Everything mingles to provide a fresh, approachable skillset for the many types of guidance and crossroads people come to me with. I am committed to being my best when we meet and having the skills and resources available to draw from.
Our soul's wonderings and wanderings rest and connect our paths with one another and the more of life.
Why do I keep learning? Because you keep trusting me with your most vulnerable life challenges. Because I have experienced so much that I wanted to know more. Because I had amazing mentors along the way, and a few crappy ones too. Because if you show up, I'm showing up with you. Because everything changes,
whether or not we notice or keep up,
so why not wonder? Maybe that is the most true answer -
Why not wonder?
I have added a short video about the Bardo - the Dear Between we sometimes find ourselves in. Contact me any time. I'd love to hear from you. Connect@birdisinclair.com
Begin Peace is my sister website, and sums the core of my work. We can begin peace again and again, no matter our condition, circumstances,
within and around us.
My children are grown and flown, and I live in New England with my sweetheart and cuddly adventure pup, always into something. Which one of us do you ask? Good question.
Come on in. I'll turn down the music, and put on the kettle.
"There’s always time for tea.”
I made this for you...
This Mind Body Spirit Check-in is an in-depth guide as compared with the Be not Do guide on the home page. It's specially crafted for those times we need some guidance and care connecting with our selves, our relationships, our changes, to be on path with our selves. This is the only spot with a live link to get it. Know yourself. Take time. Update. Enjoy. Ask me questions.
I'm here.
I made it with the most asked questions, and principals of science, psychology, spirituality, in mind so you can use it again and again.
The Hand of Thought
I am here. I know you are here, and I am glad. However you have come to be here, it is good. We are here now, together. Let's have some tea, and rest a while. In that rest, you will know what it is you most need, and I am here with you. We are truly never alone.
Zen teaches what it is to explore opening the hand of thought, into loving awareness, and true connection. How do we open this hand of thought? If we sit next to a rock, the rock will not have a thought. We will have a thought. We are not trying to be lifeless like a rock. We will let go of thoughts and allow an openness without grasping. We think without thinking. The thought comes, and goes, like a cloud or a sound. In this way, the thought is equally you and not you.
Try this as a practice, and it will ripple into life in surprising ways, living a life of increased peace, compassion, and kindness. It changes perspective and what happens to you.
We begin to realize that stillness is not inactive, it is filled with choice, calming. Instead of doing, which is grasping and holding thought tightly, it is opening the hand of thought, being allowing choice and truth to breathe.
When we have a class together, a coaching time, a group, we open the hand of thought. We enter a curious space of newness, allowing our true connection to be. We begin peace.
I look forward to knowing you as we share our experiences together in these spaces.
