My story

 

I grew up in a small town in central Oregon.

Desert dirt, juniper trees and sage brush.

The home I lived in never felt safe to me. I could never fully relax, always vigilant and on guard. I learned to go into nature to find sanctuary and to retreat into my bedroom where the piano, stuffed animals and art supplies lived.  This was both my escape and my salvation.

These things kept me alive.

Anakha Coman smiling directly at the camera with sunglasses and a hat on
About Anakha Coman

I learned something in that captivity of what it means to be free.

To be creative, To be powerful. To defy the odds and shed conditioning.

That sensibility and knowing never left me. Although like the secrets that encroached upon it…I buried it beneath layers of performance, perfection and achievement.

Masking, hiding and running hard and long to escape.

By age 26 I had assembled my life according to the play book – college, ran two companies, got married, bought house…corporate job, two dogs, three cars. I stopped short of children. I remember waking up one morning and thinking to myself, “Is this it? I just build all this and then live in it?” 

There was nothing wrong with the life I had created…I just wasn’t there in it.

I was missing.

The next couple of decades took me on an adventure (amazing and at times excruciating) of learning, healing and exploring.

I immersed myself in studying leadership and organizational psychology, theology, expressive arts, spirituality, health and medicine, mindfulness and meditation. Every experience brought me closer to home.

Along the way I’ve created some cool stuff and experienced some of the best life offers. I’ve also struggled, messed up, grieved and healed.

In those depths I cultivated the capacity to be present and navigate pretty much anything life brings.

It’s been a lifelong excavation and renovation to find the lost and disconnected parts and bring them back into the picture. A mosaic of wholeness from things shattered finding their way home.

Nothing true can be lost.  We’ve been here all along. Thanks for reading.

About Anakha Coman

Now let’s come alive again, together.

Work + Play with Me

Anakha Coman (she/her)

My vision is to inspire and nurture a collective re-connection to the awe and wonder of life through relationship, nature and creative expression.

I love to create experiences that bring us back into relationship with ourselves, each other – with eros and soul. My life seems to be about understanding and healing the root causes of disconnection.

I live, play and work at the intersection of creativity, eros, leadership, culture and celebration.

This is where I feel most myself, most true and alive.

Where I Live:

Bend, Oregon on the land belonging to the Wasco, Northern Paiute and Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

Pet:

Javi, 2-year-old Jack Russell Terrier

Things I Believe (at least for right now):

Creativity, embodiment and erotic power are sources for leadership and culture change.

There’s more than enough love for us to feel, speak and share truth.

There is a wild soul which can’t be tamed, and shouldn’t be, in every human.

Anything false is a betrayal of my art, and my work and my life.

There are significant and persistent racial inequities in our culture and it is my responsibility to do what I can to close the gap.

Things I Love:

Painting, Hands in Clay, Mountain Biking, Road Trips, Loreto BCS, Dancing, Cooking, Country Music, Driving on Dirt Roads and Taco Bell.

Credentials / Certifications:

Certified Expressive Arts Therapist – Expressive Arts Therapy Association

MA Leadership Development / Org Psychology – The Leadership Institute of Seattle

MA Divinity, Spiritual Formation and Development – New West Seminary

Professional Certificate in Spiritualty, Health and Medicine – Bastyr University

Professional Certificate in Mindfulness, Meditation and Embodiment – The Realization Process

BS Intercultural Communication – Oregon State University

Unpack Biases Now Certified Facilitator

Creating Safer Spaces Certificate

My DEI Commitments

To continue to increase my awareness of my privilege and systemic advantage and use it honorably and in service to equitable access, resources, opportunities and flourishing for minoritized and racialized people.

To be on a continuous and lifelong learning and unlearning journey about the differences that make a difference.
To heal my personal trauma and coping strategies to minimize harm and to be a presence for healing cultural trauma – racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, ableism, ageism and the toxic systems of patriarchy and white supremacy.
To support, follow and enhance the leadership of minoritized and racialized people.
To learn to honor and regard differences that oppose my own truth and values.
To bring courage, compassion and challenge to social justice issues and conversations.
To disrupt perfectionism – allowing this work be messy, uncertain and out of control.

“At the intersection of immensity, intimacy and intensity… a soul will experience grandeur… awe and wonder.”

— Anakha Coman