Phoenix Be

Relationship, Health Coaching, and Therapeutic Bodywork

Aflame with Momentum | Bringer of Progress, The Future, And Getting Things Done / Yang to Avyanna’s Yin

The Seed:

I was the oldest of three boys born to Hungarian and Lithuanian immigrant parents in Kansas City, Missouri circa 1965. I was school-smart and physically gifted (I made the 1976 Olympic swim team), but I was also a “bad boy” by age twelve—listening to Black Sabbath, playing tag with Roman candles, getting expelled.

The Darkness:

In my teens and early twenties, I continued my daredevil ways. I fought the school bully (and won). I followed my dad to Dallas (and got expelled again). I turned down a soccer scholarship to Stanford; I backpacked through Europe; I joined the Army. But throughout all of that, I was still acting out, still lonely, still looking for something. In 1994, after a lonely marriage and a painful divorce, I entered an intense period of recovery and self-exploration. I learned Nonviolent Communication, ate according to my Dosha, and lived in the woods like Thoreau. But even though I was doing all these healing things, I was still repeating the same codependent relationship patterns. After my third separation I found myself curled in a ball, wanting to die. I thought I’d be alone for the rest of my life.

The Bloom:

At the bottom of that darkness was a question: What else can I do? I’d been cheating death for years; surely there was a more meaningful way to spend my time. I poured my fiery spirit into building an eco-village and starting my own green-built construction company, and finally started dealing with the root cause of my codependency. In 2012 I spent my first full year as a single man—and in 2013, I took a trip out west and met Avyanna. After completing Higher Alignment™ training together, I realized (with her help) that my background in personal training and nutrition was an untapped resource that could help a lot of people. In 2016 I hung up my construction belt to practice full-time bodywork and coaching.