Image: The child in the center of this image is likely my grandfather, Swifty. Click here to read more about this image.
I love to read, write, edit, teach, and work compassionately for others.
Warm greetings to you! I am humbled by your visit to my website. tree turtle (spelled lowercase even at the beginning of a sentence) is my Buddhist upāsikā ordination vow name and my legal name. Click here to learn more about my names. I write, publish, and edit under my other name, Cleis Abeni.
I live compassionately and contemplatively for healing and justice. I love to read, write, edit, teach, and work benevolently for others.
Currently, I am the Director (CEO) and Lead Teaching Artist of the Baltimore Wisdom Project (BWP) and I also Co-Direct Wisdom Projects, Inc., the larger 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization within which the BWP is one of two divisions (along with the Chicago Wisdom Project).
I am also a longtime professional editor and writer. Along with editing, writing, and teaching, I have worked on staff at several nonprofit organizations to uplift their communications, operations, and fundraising. I am a longtime writer and editor for behavioral, social, and environmental science.
I am a formerly licensed nurse, a certified community counselor, a former substance abuse counselor, a certified specialist in conflict transformation, and a multifaceted healer with a certificate in trauma-informed care. As a nurse (LPN) and a health navigator, I worked at DC General, Maryland General, Providence Hospital, the Walter P. Carter Center, FutureCare, Hahnemann Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, and the Ohio Hospital For Psychiatry.
Since 1986 (over 30 years), I've worked with children, youth, and adults to share anti-oppressive, liberationist systems for behavioral enhancement, character development, peace-building, and arts education. I am a longtime mindfulness teacher, restorative practitioner, and peace educator. I am devoted to healing in a culturally-responsive, scientifically expert, and trauma-informed way using the mediums and media of storytelling, dance, and music.
I am trained in a variety of contemplative traditions including several different forms of meditation, especially Vipassanā, and Mettā Bhāvanā; active breathing practices; Qigong; San Soo internal martial art; Tuina; Wat Po healing; Hatha yoga for adults; and Isha yoga for children. At the core of my contemplative practice is daily meditative breathing practice, insight meditation, and loving-kindness meditation.
I am a former foster child and homeless child in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia who was also blessed to attend private schools for short periods. My firsthand challenges inform my practical research on the impact of homelessness, trauma, and poverty on youth and adults. For all of my life—even during my late childhood—I have been interested in two main themes:
Everything that I do is about fostering peaceful, deliberative, and empathetic engagement with others. Writing, editing, teaching, creating media messaging, public speaking, organizing for justice, offering restorative peace-building services, teaching mindfulness—these are my tools to uplift people.
Storytelling—written, visualized, spoken, and physicalized—is my lifelong method to realize a caring, inquisitive and reflective world.
I hold an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts with a focus on arts education, child development, and choreography studies from the former College of the Arts (COA) at The Ohio State University (OSU); an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University; and a BA in English with minors in Theater, Dance, and Philosophy/Religion from Goucher College. I am completing my MS in Psychology from Southern New Hampshire University.
Deep down, I am a poet smitten with restorative narrative (or contemplative forms like sutras, psalms, or healing texts).
I live compassionately and contemplatively for healing and justice. I love to read, write, edit, teach, and work benevolently for others.
Currently, I am the Director (CEO) and Lead Teaching Artist of the Baltimore Wisdom Project (BWP) and I also Co-Direct Wisdom Projects, Inc., the larger 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization within which the BWP is one of two divisions (along with the Chicago Wisdom Project).
I am also a longtime professional editor and writer. Along with editing, writing, and teaching, I have worked on staff at several nonprofit organizations to uplift their communications, operations, and fundraising. I am a longtime writer and editor for behavioral, social, and environmental science.
I am a formerly licensed nurse, a certified community counselor, a former substance abuse counselor, a certified specialist in conflict transformation, and a multifaceted healer with a certificate in trauma-informed care. As a nurse (LPN) and a health navigator, I worked at DC General, Maryland General, Providence Hospital, the Walter P. Carter Center, FutureCare, Hahnemann Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, and the Ohio Hospital For Psychiatry.
Since 1986 (over 30 years), I've worked with children, youth, and adults to share anti-oppressive, liberationist systems for behavioral enhancement, character development, peace-building, and arts education. I am a longtime mindfulness teacher, restorative practitioner, and peace educator. I am devoted to healing in a culturally-responsive, scientifically expert, and trauma-informed way using the mediums and media of storytelling, dance, and music.
I am trained in a variety of contemplative traditions including several different forms of meditation, especially Vipassanā, and Mettā Bhāvanā; active breathing practices; Qigong; San Soo internal martial art; Tuina; Wat Po healing; Hatha yoga for adults; and Isha yoga for children. At the core of my contemplative practice is daily meditative breathing practice, insight meditation, and loving-kindness meditation.
I am a former foster child and homeless child in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia who was also blessed to attend private schools for short periods. My firsthand challenges inform my practical research on the impact of homelessness, trauma, and poverty on youth and adults. For all of my life—even during my late childhood—I have been interested in two main themes:
- How practices—intentional, highly crafted disciplines (be they the arts, restorative justice, or mindfulness) forge resilience, reflection, and healing in the wake of trauma and violence; and
- How people on the social, economic, and political margins of societies survive and thrive despite fluctuating power and powerlessness.
Everything that I do is about fostering peaceful, deliberative, and empathetic engagement with others. Writing, editing, teaching, creating media messaging, public speaking, organizing for justice, offering restorative peace-building services, teaching mindfulness—these are my tools to uplift people.
Storytelling—written, visualized, spoken, and physicalized—is my lifelong method to realize a caring, inquisitive and reflective world.
I hold an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts with a focus on arts education, child development, and choreography studies from the former College of the Arts (COA) at The Ohio State University (OSU); an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University; and a BA in English with minors in Theater, Dance, and Philosophy/Religion from Goucher College. I am completing my MS in Psychology from Southern New Hampshire University.
Deep down, I am a poet smitten with restorative narrative (or contemplative forms like sutras, psalms, or healing texts).