A Sanctuary for Spirit
It is revealed through the way we live. Welcome Om is an intermystical sanctuary where people of all ages, backgrounds, and traditions gather to reconnect with themselves, one another, nature, creativity, and the Divine through direct experience.
Our Story
Welcome Om grew from a simple longing: for a place where the sacred is not confined to a single hour or a single room, but recognized in the ordinary textures of a shared life. A place where a child can paint while someone practices yoga, where a grandmother tells stories beneath a tree, where music drifts through the garden and tea is being shared.
Welcome Om grew from the creative roots of Unframed Artists Gallery, and the gallery continues to be an integral part of the Welcome Om vision by fostering creativity, community, and artistic expression.
We believe yoga, music, art, movement, service, wisdom, play, and community are not separate paths. They are living expressions of the same mystery. Here, creativity becomes prayer, service becomes devotion, and community becomes family.
Whether you come to practice, create, celebrate, learn, serve, or simply rest for a while, there is a place for you here.
The Origin Story
So here's the deal. When I was six, my parents, Michele and Brian, moved us from a little cabin in the woods of Virginia to an old creamery in upstate New York. Built in the 1900s, it had a history: once a thriving dairy, it fell into disrepair during the Great Depression, eventually becoming a garage and hangout for wanderers.
Then, in 1984, my parents saw something no one else could. They fell in love with this hulking, forgotten building and decided to make it our home. They brought me along, a little girl with wide eyes and wild hair, and dreamed of turning it into a commune, an art center, a place for magic to live.
When we first moved in, we lived in what we called “The White Room.” It was raw in every sense of the word. No central heat, no bathroom, just a kerosene heater trying its best against the upstate winters. For a while, we all crammed into this one space, which was once filled to the ceiling with rows of old newspapers. Fun fact: hidden in those stacks, they found machine guns. Yeah, it was a wild kinda place.
We roughed it hard in those early years. Picture this: me, a kid in a snowsuit, sitting at a table trying to eat breakfast because it was too cold to go without layers. At night, there was a geriatric toilet in the corner for emergencies, a bucket, really.
Then came The Great Room. It's the heart of this place, the first part of the creamery we made livable. It had a tiny wood stove, a hammock, some gymnastics rings hanging from the ceiling, and a rickety old TV in the corner that only played Channel 62. This was where we lived, played, dreamed. People would walk in and say, “Wow, this is a great room!” And the name stuck.
Fast forward a few years, and we finally moved into “the real house”, you know, with central heating and a bathroom. The Great Room turned into my mom's and dad's playground. She held performances there, homeschooled my brother and his friends there. They also created “Friday Night Live”, a wild, beautiful mix of theater games, poetry, music, and community. It was art and play and everything good about being alive.
Now I'm back. I've left my life in Hollywood behind to be here. To heal the old wounds, to unearth the dreams my parents planted, and to build something new: Welcome Om.
It's a wild thing, not for the weak-coming home. They say, “If you think you're enlightened, go spend a week with your parents.” And yeah, it can be challenging, but also truly precious. Every day is an opportunity to let go of an old story, to face the parts of myself I'd rather ignore, and to find my way back to something deeper. It's messy. It's beautiful. It's humbling.
The first step is bringing The Great Room back to life. This room has held so much already, our family's beginnings, years of art, dance and laughter. Now, it's becoming the first cornerstone of Welcome Om, a space where devotion, play, and prayer can live side by side.
And..This is just the beginning.
What Welcome Om will become is still unfolding, but the vision is clear: a place where people come together to remember who they are. A place for art, connection, and the sacred. As Ram Dass said, “We're all just walking each other home.”
So come. Let's walk together.
Our Mission
We exist to create spaces where children, elders, families, seekers, artists, musicians, teachers, and neighbors can gather in belonging. Through movement, music, creativity, contemplation, service, and celebration, we nurture the conditions for people to experience peace, not as something given to them, but as something remembered within themselves.
Our mission is to restore the understanding that spirituality is not separate from everyday life. It lives in how we move, how we create, how we care for one another, and how we tend the Earth. When people reconnect with their own hearts, they naturally become more compassionate stewards of their families, communities, and the living world.
What "A Sanctuary for Spirit" Means
Welcome Om is not a yoga studio, a retreat center, or a meditation hall. It is a living sound temple where the sacred is rediscovered through every expression of life.
Everything grows together here, like roots beneath a forest: nature, people, children, music, art, wisdom, spirit, and community. No part of this place is isolated from the rest. Life itself is the ceremony.
Our Guiding Principles
A way of living that honors the sacredness of all life, together we remember that devotion becomes service, creativity becomes prayer, and wisdom becomes compassionate action.
Everything is alive. Everything belongs.
We honor the inherent sacredness of all beings, human, animal, plant, water, earth, and cosmos. We cultivate compassion, wonder, and care, remembering that every thought, word, and action helps shape the world we share.
Receive with gratitude. Give with generosity.
Life flourishes through relationship. We practice stewardship, generosity, and right exchange, knowing that abundance grows when we care for one another and for the Earth.
Love is devotion expressed through action.
We honor the body, relationships, and intimacy as worthy of care. Through honesty, consent, freedom, commitment, and compassion, we cultivate relationships rooted in mutual respect and trust.
Speak from the heart. Listen with your whole being.
We practice courageous honesty, deep listening, and compassionate dialogue. We seek understanding before judgment, trusting that authentic connection is one of our greatest medicines.
What we take in becomes who we become.
We nourish ourselves through wholesome food, beauty, music, wisdom, movement, silence, nature, and meaningful community. We choose what supports clarity, vitality, creativity, and awakening.
Creation is prayer made visible.
Music, art, movement, storytelling, play, ritual, and beauty are pathways of remembrance. Every authentic act of creation can awaken the heart, strengthen community, and reveal the Divine moving through ordinary life.
Many paths. One living mystery.
We honor the wisdom found within the world's spiritual traditions while recognizing that no single path contains the whole truth. We gather not to erase our differences, but to celebrate them as expressions of a greater unity.
We gather with teachers, artists, musicians, elders, and seekers from many traditions. Wisdom is not information to be collected, but a living transmission shared from heart to heart.
Children remind us how to meet the world with curiosity and delight. We welcome them not only to learn, but to teach us the freedom to play, imagine, create, and begin again.
Service is devotion made visible. Tending the garden, preparing the table, and caring for the space are ways of belonging. Abundance grows when we care for one another and for the Earth.
