Member Profile

I grew up in North Carolina and still live here today, although several study programs have led me to live in Boston and Berkeley. I had a strong interest in poetry as an undergrad at UNC Chapel Hill, but moved to a small island upon graduating, became a teacher, and later a small business owner there. I started and owned an island bed and breakfast for 33 years. What an amazing teacher it was! And also the 20,000 people who stayed in my home! Poetry was sidelined. Anyway, decades went by as a B&B owner, a professional photographer, and then healing studies which led me to an apprenticeship for Reiki Teaching Master (now for 25 years), practitioner of Chinese Acupressure and Rosen Method Emotional Bodywork. These practices have enriched my life beyond measure. As my mother moved into Assisted Living with Alzheimer’s, I began to write poetry to express some of the responses I was having to her illness. It simply arose after so long, as a way to handle and reflect on experience. Poetry became an avenue to connect with the new, enigmatic challenges of her care and wellbeing. In December 2022 I participated in Rohatsu silence for seven days with Breadloaf Mt Zen Center in Vermont. This was a very deep experience for me, as I seemed to slip beneath the level of word communication for days on end. I spoke to no one, even when the days’ meditation periods were over. Afterwards, I slowly began to find my way back, first noticing that I was not putting words together in the same old ways; then finding that words seemed almost transparent to me, i.e. I was seeing right through them somehow. So I began to write poems about my word recovery. Poetry seems so suited for expressing unusual states of mind and being awareness. The Poetry Circle at ZLMC is a wonderful place to share. Bodywork, both giving and receiving, is very grounding. We notice how our bodies feel and are carrying our experiences. I believe we need grounding practices to have more honest communication, starting with ourselves. I feel the honor of touching people in a healing way. And poetry also can be a healing practice. It allows us to form deeper connections with our awareness and experiences, as we express them in ways that readers may grasp, marvel and even rest within. Every poem is a new way of expressing life, simple and profound. Please consider joining us on for the Poetry Workshop, Sat. Feb 4, for meditation, acupressure, and some diving into poetry. All the best in 2023. Ann Ehringhaus