Counsellor (M.A.)
Yoga Teacher
Death Doula
Wayfarer
Writer

Who is Tei?

A student of simplicity, motivated by movement, and nurtured by nature.

As someone who has often felt like an outcast, I've wandered and wondered at the edges of conformity for most of my life. These experiences have profoundly shaped my understanding of myself and the world, fostering my passion for supporting others who also find themselves at the fringes, exploring beyond conventional boundaries.


Inspired and influenced by myriad peoples, places, and perspectives, I find myself here — with you.

I’ve navigated a wide range of experiences and braved many transformative thresholds, including diverse studies, travels, traumas, wilderness immersions, relationships, rituals, and practices.

I've been undone many times over. Each unraveling humbles me, prompting the creation of a coherent narrative that honours the mosaic layers of my being, encompassing the somatic, psychological, personal, cultural, ecological, spiritual, and so on.

These experiences deepen my exploration of life's mysteries while nurturing greater resilience and trust in the wisdom of my heart and the story of my soul. They illuminate a path of empowered and grounded service, reminding me of my interconnectedness within the web of life and the dreaming of Earth.

Exploring the fringes of convention, oftentimes alone, facing inevitable challenges and heartbreaks, has fuelled my passion immensely. As a wanderer and wonderer, my tumultuous yet revealing journey has forged an unwavering curiosity:

How can I meaningfully and soulfully meld my Becoming with my Belonging in this time of Great Change?

My curiosity has led me to encounter essential teachers and teachings, many of them more-than-human and beautifully untamed. These enriching encounters have profoundly shaped my unconventional, improvisational, and wildly-inclined approach to personal growth, relationships, transformation, and counselling. Some influences, those that can be put into words, can be found below.

I am here with you now because this is my path. My story weaves with yours, fellow wanderer. Your search for meaning and authenticity at the boundaries of convention and through life's pivotal moments deeply inspires me.

I am wholeheartedly committed to supporting your courageous journey of Becoming and Belonging as you embrace the mythic task of soulfully self-authoring your uniquely beautiful life while expanding your sense of self, even amidst the unsettling uncertainty of Great Change.

I am and always have been interested in the invisibles of life, those meanings and communications that touch us from the heart of Earth and let us know that we are surrounded by more intelligence, mystery, and caring than our culture admits of; how to reinhabit our interbeing with the world; how to sit in the council of all life as kin rather than dominators; and how to live sustainably on this Earth that I love more than I know how to say.

— Stephen Buhner

Relevant Developmental Experience

  • Bachelor of Science, Major in Psychology, Minor in Anthropology [University of Calgary]

  • Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology  [Yorkville University]

Academic: 

  • 200 hour Yoga & Meditation Teacher Certificate (2016)

  • Psycrisis & Harm Reduction Certificate (2017)

  • Life Coach Certificates (2020)

  • Death Doula Certificate (2021)

  • Permaculture Activist and Design Certificates (2021) 

Professional:

Notable Influences

Psychotherapeutic Theories & Modalities (in no particular order):

Ecopsychology, Narrative Therapy, Existential Psychology, Mindfulness-Based Therapy, Wilderness Therapy, Integral Psychology, Transpersonal Psychology, Heart-Wisdom Therapy, Person-Centred Therapy, Compassionate Inquiry, Play Therapy, Depth Psychology, Introspective Psychology, Positive Psychology, Culturally Responsive & Socially Just Counselling, and Native American, Taoist, Buddhist, Vedic, and Toltec Psychology

A few of my dear teachers
(in no particular order): 

Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Stephen Buhner, David Abram, Tara Brach, Gabor Maté, Robert Bly, Robert Moore, Thomas Moore, Carl Jung, Michael Meade, Alan Watts, Aldous Huxley, Pema Chodron, Ram Dass, Joanna Macy, Charles Eisenstein, Joan Halifax, Báyò Akómoláfé, Jack Kornfield, Stephen Levine, Anodea Judith, Mary Oliver, Bessel van der Kolk, Steven Kotler, Don Miguel Ruiz, Esther Perel, John O'donohue, Martin Prechtel, Stephen Jenkinson, Joe Brewer, Tim Macartney, Rainer Rilke, Hafiz, Rumi, Khalil Gibran, Black Elk, Starhawk, and the list goes on . .

A few current passions and research interests (in no particular order):

History & Prehistory, Human Development, Indigenous Epistemologies, Ontologies, and Life Ways, Depth Psychology, Deep Ecology, Ecopsychology Cultural Ecology, Permaculture Design, Systems Thinking, Biological Self-Organisation, Gaian Intelligence & Nonlinearity, Geophilosophy, Personal & Transpersonal Phenomenology, Contemplative Spirituality, Perennial Philosophy, Transpersonal & Transcultural Epistemology, Integral Experientialism, and Guerrilla Ontology

A humble bow of gratitude to the elements of Creation and the innate inspiration that arises when I witness the wild perfection of it all.