A Companion on Your Sacred Journey

Spiritual Direction | Ignatian Spirituality

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A Companion on Your Sacred Journey

Spiritual Direction | Ignatian Spirituality

Get Started

Learn More

Videos to Help You Flourish with Joy

What You Practice Grows Stronger

In her popular TEDx talk (2017), Santa Clara University professor Dr. Shauna Shapiro, Ph.D., describes how she deepened her practice of mindfulness meditation with "kind attention." Her research demonstrated that "what you practice grows stronger" - which is true for any growth in our spiritual and emotional lives. Another key moment is when she explains how focusing on "shame. doesn't. work."

Radical Kinship

Fr. Gregory Boyle, S.J., is best known as the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. In this TEDx talk (2012), "G" talks about the transformative power of kinship, forming circles of compassion, and how we are called to be enlightened witnesses. This talk is a prelude to his book Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship (2017). He is also the bestselling author of Tattoos on the Heart (2010) and The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness (2021).

Evil - Reality vs Fiction

In the popular YouTube channel Breaking in the Habit, Fr. Casey Cole, O.F.M., and other Franciscan friars provide short reflections - often peppered with humor - about various spiritual topics. In this reflection, Fr. Casey focuses on discerning the evil spirit's usual presentation in our lives as opposed to how the evil spirit is often depicted in books, TV, and films. There are many other short videos worth reflecting on, like "Are You Spiritual or Religious?" and "Stop Having an 'Open Mind'."

Spiritual Direction

Virtual or In-Person Appointments

I meet with many of my directees virtually via Zoom or in-person in the Puget Sound region.
The first consultation appointment is free, and then we would agree on a schedule and fee for future sessions.
If needed, I can also help you find a Spiritual Director.

Flourish with Joy

Puyallup, Washington, United States

Flourish with Joy is based on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Coast Salish People, especially the spuyaləpabš, who have been the authentic and spiritual caretakers of these lands and waterways since time immemorial.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please contact me if you cannot find an answer to your question below.

What is prayer?

One of my favorite definitions of prayer is from Greta Schrumm:

"To pray is to laugh, whistle, dance on happy feet, sing, shout, and jump higher than ever before. But it is also to whisper, wonder, stumble in dark places, cry, scream, or just hold a tired head in tired hands and wait . . . Prayer is our tired reaching out to the One who holds us closer and loves us more than we dare imagine."

What is spiritual direction?

Spiritual direction focuses on religious experience. It is concerned with a person’s actual experience of a relationship with God.

Spiritual direction is about a relationship. The religious experience is not isolated, nor does it consist of extraordinary events. It is what happens in an ongoing relationship between the person and God. Most often this is a relationship that is experienced in prayer.

Spiritual direction is a relationship that is going somewhere. God is leading the person to deeper faith and more generous service. The spiritual director asks not just “what is happening?” but “what is moving forward?”

The real spiritual director is God. God touches the human heart directly. The human spiritual director does not “direct” in the sense of giving advice and solving problems. Rather, the director helps a person respond to God’s invitation to a deeper relationship.

(Source: IgntianSpirituality.com blog)

What is distinctive about Ignatian spiritual direction?

Spiritual direction is a feature of many Christian traditions. In fact, forms of spiritual direction are found in all religions. What distinguishes Ignatian spiritual direction from other approaches?

A theological vision rooted in the Spiritual Exercises. The theology of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola is optimistic. It affirms the goodness of the world. But it also is acutely aware of the pervasive problem of evil. At the same time it is contemplative and service-oriented.

Flexible. The Ignatian spiritual director does not impose a program on the directee. The manner of the direction is adjusted to fit the person’s personality, life history, and spiritual experience. The director “cannot know beforehand what he or she will suggest.”

A partnership. Ignatian spiritual direction is a partnership. It thus demands mutual respect and openness to the other’s frame of reference. It follows Ignatius Loyola’s admonition, “Let it be presupposed that every good Christian is to be more ready to save their neighbor’s proposition than to condemn it.”

What do you really want? Ignatian spiritual direction attempts to uncover the deepest desires of the human heart. Typically, these are smothered by superficial desires for transitory things. Our most profound desires are shaped by the Holy Spirit and point toward new choices for spiritual growth and fruitful service.

Rules for discernment. Ignatius Loyola’s rules for discernment of spirits permeate Ignatian spiritual direction. These are methods for identifying inner movements, reflecting on them, and understanding where they come from and where they lead us.

(Adapted from Brian O’Leary, SJ, “What Is Specific to an Ignatian Model of Spiritual Direction?” The Way, Jan/April 2008, pp. 9-28).

How long does a spiritual direction session last?

Spiritual Direction sessions can vary in length, but typically last about an hour. The frequency of sessions can also vary depending on the needs of the directee. Most of my directees ask me to schedule appointments once a month for an hour.

What is your professional training and background?

I have always been a spiritual seeker rooted in the Catholic Christian tradition. My early educational experiences introduced me to imaginative prayer, praying with scripture, and Ignatian spirituality.

As a member of the California Province of the Jesuits for fifteen years, I completed the Spiritual Exercises in a 30-day silent retreat, during annual 8-day silent retreats, and in two 9-month "19th annotation" retreats.

I ministered as a Catholic school educator and administrator in California, Arizona, and New York. I taught English, theology, ethics, drama, philosophy, and psychology. I also led retreats, provided adult faith formation, and led international study tours to 28 countries in Europe, Asia, and Central America - experiences which provided the foundation for ministering in multicultural and multilingual settings.

In addition to ministering as an Ignatian educator, I served as a hospital chaplain and directed spiritual care departments at hospitals in Washington and California. I provided pastoral care and grief support to patients, loved ones, staff, leaders, and volunteers as a board-certified chaplain and clinical ethicist.

In addition to providing spiritual direction, I currently minister in the Archdiocese of Seattle as pastoral assistant for liturgy, outreach, and adult faith formation with a vibrant, growing, synodal parish cluster of over 1000 families. I coordinate liturgical ministries, facilitate parish, school, and community retreats, provide pastoral care and counseling, and lead adult faith formation groups, including grief support groups, RCIA/OCIA classes, faith-sharing groups, JustFaith modules, and the like.

Over the years, I have accompanied individuals as a spiritual director on retreats, in workplaces, in prison, and in the community. My training and experience have helped me embody these key skills as a spiritual director:

Living with authenticity - exploring deep truths, connecting with the Sacred Other, being inclusive and inviting of others, and building bridges rather than walls especially with marginalized and disenfranchised persons;
Listening deeply - being reflective, patient, noticing, wondering, clarifying, probing, and disclosing;
Directee focused - maintaining a posture of reverence for the directee and the sacred relationship of spiritual accompaniment, and honoring confidentiality;
Maintaining my own spiritual practices - including prayer and contemplation, mindfulness mediation, connection with sacred communities, familiarity with personal gifts, limitations, and wounds, and regular engagement with my own spiritual director;
Honoring healthy interpersonal boundaries - acknowledging assumptions and biases, knowing when to make appropriate referrals, and recognizing when I am getting in the way of the Holy Spirit's action/grace for the directee;
Ongoing learning - seeking insights from other wise people and traditions, including the study of various faiths, sacred texts, and exemplars of faith, participating in ongoing training, and engaging with a spiritual directors supervision group.

Holistic healing of body, mind, spirit, and relationships informs my approach. I have an affinity with LGBTQ affirming theology and spirituality, Twelve-Step spirituality, some Buddhist and Daoist practices, and Franciscan spirituality by way of Richard Rohr.

What degrees and certifications do you possess?

Academic Degrees

B.A. English | Santa Clara University
M.Div. | Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University in Berkeley
M.A. Educational Administration and Supervision | Seton Hall University

Certifications (selected)

BCC - Board Certified Chaplain | NACC
HEC-C - Healthcare Ethics Consultant - Certified | ASBH
CISM - Critical Incident Stress Management: Crisis Intervention | ICISF

What other resources do you recommend?

Websites

Key Essays for Spiritual Direction

Books on Ignatian Spirituality

Eric A. Clayton, My Life with the Jedi: The Spirituality of Star Wars (2023)
Austen Ivereigh, First Belong to God: On Retreat with Pope Francis (2024).
Lyn Holley Doucet, A Healing Walk with St. Ignatius (2002).
Jim Manney, Charged with Grandeur: The Book of Ignatian Inspiration (2011).
David Lonsdale, Eyes to See, Ears to Hear: An Introduction to Ignatian Spirituality (2000).
Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout: Daily Spiritual Exercises for a Healthy Faith (2004).
Jacqueline Syrup Bergan and Marie Schwan, Praying with Ignatius of Loyola (1991).

Books on Encountering Jesus/God

Shusaku Endo, A Life of Jesus, translated by Richard A. Schuchert (1973, 1978).
James Martin, S.J., Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone (2021).
Joseph A. Tetlow, S.J., Considering Jesus: The Human Experience of the Redeemer (2022).
Peter van Breeman, S.J., The God of Our Deepest Longings: Seven Biblical Meditations (2009).
Donald Senior, Jesus: A Gospel Portrait (1992).
Albert Nolan, O.P., Jesus Before Christianity(1976, 2001).
Paul Coutinho, S.J., How Big is Your God? The Freedom to Experience the Divine (2007).

Flourish
with Joy

A Companion on Your Sacred Journey

A Companion on Your Sacred Journey

Deepen Your Spiritual Journey

My Commitment

My Approach

This is the beauty of the spiritual life: it keeps unfolding. The path ends only when we stop walking.

Videos to Help You Flourish with Joy

What You Practice Grows Stronger

Radical Kinship

Evil - Reality vs Fiction

Contact me for info or appointment

Spiritual Direction

Flourish with Joy

Frequently Asked Questions

We love because He first loved us.