— EMMA —

"And if I asked you to name all the things you love,

how long would it take for you to name yourself?"

About Emma

Our truest stories — who we are and where we come from — are often kept quiet, even hidden. Over time, we forget that deep, authentic self. But remembering who we truly are is the real journey home.

For me, that remembering has come through a lifetime of experience — of losing myself and finding myself again. My parents used to say, “Our experiences shape us,” and they were right. Every chapter, every challenge, every awakening has become part of how I see and feel the world.

I’ve been highly intuitive for as long as I can remember. Even as a child, I could sense and feel energy beyond the physical. Being so sensitive required that I learn to work with energy in a grounded, productive way — something that would become the foundation for everything I later studied and continue to.

After growing up in Montana, I moved to Santa Barbara right after high school. College and ocean life awakened my love for movement, nature, and vibrant living. I immersed myself in the arts, conscious health, running, cycling, and travel — following the pull of the ocean to places like Mexico, Fiji, New Zealand, the Virgin Islands, and beyond. The ocean became my mirror — vast, powerful, ever-changing.

My Hawaiian grandmother gave me the name “Wahine o ke kai, kokoke i ka lani” — Woman of the Ocean, Close to the Heavens. She could not have known how perfectly that name would one day reflect my life’s unfolding.

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Deep Nature Connection

One of the most formative chapters of my life took place deep in Kalalau Valley, along Kauai’s Na Pali Coast. I lived for two months in the jungle — off the land, bathing in waterfalls, sleeping under the stars, and learning the language of the earth. Time disappeared. I climbed trees, gathered wild fruits, wrote, meditated, and sang.

That experience reawakened my primal connection to nature — a kind of freedom that only comes when everything unnecessary is stripped away. It was here that I learned what it meant to belong to the natural world.

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The Tsunami and Transformation

September 29th, 2009, while sailing through the South Pacific, I survived the American Samoa tsunami — an event that would forever change me.

That morning, I was alone on the dock when the ocean suddenly disappeared before my eyes. I screamed for the others to “Wake up and cut the lines!” Moments later, the sea returned with devastating force. I clung to a single light post as four massive waves engulfed me, no breath left to breathe, no light, no air, complete darkness. The force of the entire ocean tearing through me and destroying the village all around me. Time dissolved.

In those moments between life and death, I experienced something sacred — a surrender beyond fear, and a love so vast it defies words. It was both an ending and a beginning. Though I survived, I returned home deeply shaken, carrying trauma that would take years to unpack, understand and heal.

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The Path of Healing

After the tsunami, my intuition opened further, and with it came profound emotional and physical challenges. I began to experience the full onset of PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder) — a condition that would become both my greatest teacher and deepest initiation.

For over a decade, I cycled between two very different versions of myself every month. Through this, I sought answers in every direction — studying Ayurveda, Yoga, Shamanism, plant medicine, and the healing arts. Each path brought me closer to understanding that my suffering carried wisdom — ancestral, karmic, and ultimately transformative.

In time, I came to see myself as the wounded healer — one who learns through her own pain how to guide others toward wholeness.

After working with two primary doctors very closely for a number of years and tracking my pathology, I made the choice to undergo surgery — Though it brought me into surgical menopause, it also brought me deep peace and a sense of completion. I now focus on hormone balance through HRT, disease prevention, and living in deep harmony with my body once again.

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Where I Am Now

Today, I stand grounded in my truth — a woman who has lived many lives within one. My path is one of healing, remembering, and giving back.

Sharing my story is an act of closure, but also of offering — for anyone walking through darkness, seeking healing, or wondering if it’s possible to return home to themselves.

We all have the capacity to heal. We all deserve to remember who we truly are. The journey is not easy — it asks for courage, surrender, and devotion — but it is the most worthwhile path there is.

Blessings as we each continue down this road of self-discovery.

— Emma 🌿

EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI AFTERMATH

September 29, 2009

-photos taken by me-

*scroll down..

This is a picture of the Light Post I was holding onto during the Tsumani.