My Life is My Spiritual Practice
Spirituality has always been the sea in which I swim, not one aspect of my life but rather the context in which my life happens. I’ve been exploring the sacred since I was a child, both within and outside organized religion. For me, spirituality is less about belief and more about resonance and direct interaction with the transcendent.
I regard everything I experience as an invitation – to learn about the nature of existence and to deepen, expand, and become, not a better version of myself, per se, but a truer version. To shed personas and conditioning and return to my Essential Self.
My personal practice is contemplative, earth- and body-based, rooted in devised ritual and the Divine Feminine. Past and current influences include Neopaganism, Taoism, secular Buddhism, the Transcendentalists, Orthodox Christianity, mysticism, and Goddess mythology world-wide. I consider Wicca “home” but I find the sacred everywhere.
My Awakening
Viewing my life experience through the lens of spirituality helps me heal and grow. In this way, every path I travel becomes a journey home. Nowhere is this more evident than in my experience with spinal cord injury.
At 33, I became paraplegic after falling 20 feet out of a tree I’d climbed for fun. As a lifelong dancer and hiker, I expected the loss to crush my spirit. But falling was a profound awakening that brought unprecedented peace, clarity, and purpose. It didn’t spare me the extreme difficulties of paralysis (then or now), but the transformation it inspired confirmed my path of service, helping people return to the sacred and reclaim their wholeness.
“Lyena is a wise and able guide who has lived life’s most humbling lessons. Her seasoned gifts come naturally and through dedication and experience.”
Jonathan Ellerby PhD
Bestselling author of Return to the Sacred.
An acclaimed writer and former professional storyteller, Lyena has been featured on NPR, CNN’s Headline News, and dozens of blogs, podcasts, and other media. She is a contributing author of Dancing at the Shame Prom and the subject of an award-winning documentary. With her autobiographical, one-woman play, Caterpillar Soup, she has toured the US extensively and been recognized by VSA Arts, an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center.
Thirty Years of Spiritual Leadership
- Former congregational leader in the Dianic Wiccan tradition
- Former transformation coach
- Inspirational speaker for students, congregants, and organizational leaders
- Former supervisor and workshop facilitator at One Spirit Learning Alliance
- Student guide at The Thread Interfaith Seminary
- Facilitator of workshops and transformative conversations across the US
Degrees and Certificates
- Bachelor’s Degree in Drama, University of California Irvine
- Master’s Degree in Human Development, Pacific Oaks College
- Certification in Interspiritual Counseling and Companioning, One Spirit Interfaith Seminary
Bicultural, bisexual, and differently-abled, I feel a deep allegiance to diversity, equity, and inclusion. In my work and life, everyone gets to belong.
I live with my intergenerational family and beloved service dog, Grant, in my native California where I love to cook, dance, make art, study, and be in wild places.
