About Staci
Briefly
Staci Boden is a San Francisco-based writer, healing practitioner and business consultant. She offers Practical Spirituality™ as an approach to cultivating awareness, intuition and authenticity in everyday life. Staci is a certified Doula with a Master’s in Women’s Spirituality from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and 15 years of small business experience. She provides a range of individual and group facilitation: from body movement and guided visualization to organizational assessment and on-site employee training. Staci’s husband, two tweenage children and precious dog teach her to surrender with a smile daily.
Not so brief
I was a year old when my parents moved to San Francisco in 1970 in time to catch the waves of new consciousness coming from California’s infamous shores. My parents divorced when I was 4 and they each followed their hearts in different ways. My mother, who is legally blind, became a feminist lesbian psychotherapist and built a family with her partner that is still vibrant after 35 years. My lawyer father discovered meditation and spirituality, eventually founding a spiritual community that has also been thriving for over 25 years.
I was encouraged at a very early age to question everything and find my own truths. At 15, I had a spiritual awakening. Almost immediately, I bumped into a belief I could not accept: the idea that reality is a reflection of a magic formula of inner growth plus only focusing on the positive. The reality of my mother’s eyes combined with an urge to connect with the mystery created a paradox that fueled my spiritual explorations.
As a teenager and throughout college I studied meditation, tarot, and a tingling in my hands. I realized that despite my Jewish heritage, I could not move past my feminism to open to the Jewish religion. I felt more naturally at home with earth based traditions. I found my way to California Institute of Integral Studies and earned a Master’s in Women’s Spirituality. At the same time I apprenticed for 5 years at Oneisha Healing Store in Half Moon Bay, California (see below). After that, I participated in a 4 year program studying non-ordinary states of consciousness.
Throughout adulthood my 19 year relationship with my husband with a mutual commitment to learning has been foundational in teaching me about conscious partnership. The pregnancy and birth of our two children inspired me to explore how pregnancy, birth and mothering can be a spiritual path unto itself. I co-created Birthing Intuition in 2003 and became a certified Doula in 2005.
Alongside my spiritual training I worked in a variety of small business settings including a mediation firm, healing store and midwifery practice. I developed a specialty in educating clients, creating organizational systems, scheduling, writing and editing materials and coordinating events.
Through these doorways, with practical spirituality as my guide, I have developed ways to work with people who wish to learn and grow in the context of their daily lives. In 1997 I began offering individual sessions and group experiences to facilitate growth regarding intuition, authenticity, personal authority and body wisdom. In 2008 I am expanding my practice to include small business consulting where I offer communication and organizational support.
© Staci Boden, 2007-2008
