I learned of the Purpose Guides Institute while taking care of my mother at the end of her life. She encouraged me to be brave and to follow the path I choose in life even if it seems difficult.
In my youth I was a long distance runner who was a Native American Studies student at UC Davis. There was much beauty but also great despair. Studying genocide and broken treaties as a teenager broke my heart. I needed some solace. I ended up graduating with a degree in Studio Art focusing on ceramics.
With my art degree I continued to run. I ended up working for a bakery The Bread Workshop in Berkeley (yes named after the Jazz Workshop of Charles Mingus fame). I sat at the Berkeley Zen Center daily for 3 years. I became a dance student and eventually a member of a Butoh dance group Harupin-Ha. I became a teacher with the group and led dance classes. I met my wife who came as a student. I also became an aikido student at Berkeley Aikikai. My family grew and we had a son and daughter. After seven years at the bakery I changed careers and started on a path of computer science as a database administrator at UC Berkeley.
My wife became homesick and I wanted to live in Japan so we moved to Tokyo with our young kids. I continued to study butoh dance with Akira Kasai. I worked as a software developer for MIT Systems Research Institute. After six years we decided to move back to the United States and arrived in Seattle.
I ended up working for Adobe and going back to school for a second degree in computer science from the University of Washington. Raising a family and navigating life I had moved away from my physical health. 50 pounds overweight and suffering from high blood pressure I decided to get healthy. I ended up doing bootcamp at Embody Health and improved my nutrition. I took up running again and joined a friend in cycling. I ended up getting a wetsuit and doing some triathlons and swimming across Lake Washington. The ultra-athlete Rich Roll got me interested in yoga.
I felt at home in all aspects of yoga. I ended up becoming a yoga teacher at a local studio and also teaching iRest yoga nidra, a form of somatic guided meditation, at Adobe to fellow employees. One day at the yoga studio I took a breathwork workshop where I learned about conscious connected breath. I ended up studying with many breath teachers including Tai Hubbert, Adam Turner, Elif Clarke, and Ivo and Cosetti Romani. Most recently I completed a 7 month pranyama teacher training with Linda Oshins.
And then my mom got cancer with a forecast of 6 years to live. It ended up only being three months. I lived with her in Port Townsend during those 3 months and was introduced to shamanism and drum making by local teachers Heather and Angelo Gatto. My mom encouraged this new interest and delighted in hearing about it. I reconnected to dance through Soul Motion taught by Michael Molin-Skelton. I practiced Authentic Relating with psychologist Dr. Jessica Tartaro. I learned of online school Embodied Philosophy and was introduced to the work of Isa Gucciardi at the Sacred Stream in Berkeley.
Amidst this deep renaissance of learning my mom passed and I began as a purpose discovery student. I decided to continue on this path and studied to become a Purpose Guide with Jonathan Gustin and Brody Hartman, leading 5 clients through the program of purpose discovery. I find deep joy in being on a path of service supporting people’s discovery and growth.
Epic Ken Rice 