Hello! My name is Yael and I am a fine-art printmaker, retreat leader, ecologist, and ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.

I hold a Master of Arts degree in biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Master of Divinity degree from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. With years of experience as a teacher, artist, and spiritual mentor for children, youth, and adults, I am passionate about helping folks of all ages hear and answer the creative longings of their souls while building spiritual communities that are deeply attuned to the sacred rhythms of the earth.

From an early age, I felt most joyful and alive when I was hiking and camping in the Sierra Nevada and coastal mountain ranges of Northern California. Following my love of wild places, I took up graduate studies in the field of ecology and evolutionary biology. While I enjoyed doing doing field work in forest ecology and conservation biology, I found that my most joyful moments came when I was teaching field biology and contemplative nature journaling.

I loved taking students out into wild places and helping them learn to practice stillness, to notice the world around them, and to collect their observations in the field journals we would make together.

Out in the midst of an ancient forest, the students and I knew ourselves to be part of a vast, more-than-human community. We watched and sketched in wonder as acorn woodpeckers stocked and shared their granary tree. We helped each other mix paint to match the color of redwood duff. We invented symbols to document the flight pattern of Steller’s jays. Again and again, I watched in awe as students found themselves at home in the natural world, some for the very first time. I rejoiced as they learned to rest their hearts and minds in sacred silence. And I marveled at the way we were able to create community together – the kind of community in which it is safe to open ourselves to wonder and joy, where each individual comes to see and honor the unique gifts we each bring to the world.

Ever since those days of taking students into nature, I have been creating safe, joyful, learning communities for folks of all ages – in forests and on farms, in libraries and nature centers, and in multi-generational congregations from coast to coast.

As a congregational minister, artist, and ecologist, my work has taken me all the way to Maine, to the rainy Willamette Valley of Oregon, and back home again to California, where I lead Alder and Oak: a free-range spiritual community that makes its home among the forests, rivers, and farmlands of the Central Valley. I hope you’ll join me for a gathering online or in person one day soon!