With a style ranging from comedian to philosopher to rabble-rouser, I'm a seasoned workshop leader, speaker, musician, and poet.

I've been teaching yoga since I was certified as a Kripalu yoga instructor in 1979. I've also trained as a yoga and bodywork therapist.

From 1981 to 1988, I served on staff at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, MA. During that time, I shared yoga with thousands of guests, conducted a practice in bodywork therapy, led workshops on many approaches to holistic health, and trained yoga teachers and bodyworkers.

I graduated from Brown University with honors in biology. The highlight of my academic career occurred one afternoon as I walked past the bioscience library and heard a whisper: "The purpose of life is the evolution of consciousness."

My articles on honoring the body's center have appeared in publications including Yoga Journal, SageWoman, Radiance, and Personal Transformation. My workshops have been sponsored by colleges and universities, health education agencies, and holistic learning centers.

The Woman's Belly Book shares what I've learned in the process of healing beyond an eating disorder — twenty years of dieting and bingeing during which I gained and lost more than 2,000 pounds.

I prize the human body's astounding intelligence, grace, and talent for forgiveness. And I admire the capacity within each of us to overcome adversity.

In my public speaking and in my workshops, I love to create the safety and comfort in which people discover and celebrate the wisdom that is already theirs.