Michael Reed Moritz

Activist, Care taker, Change agent, Concerned citizen, Educator/Teacher, Environmentalist, Explorer, Life mentor, Parent, Student

I am mostly white, eastern Washington farm raised, formal education at University of Washington and Central Washington University in Theater Education, Production and Speech, taught at Yakima Community College, worked for a television marketing research company, crop shared with father and brother on small orchard, educated in and currently practice/teach Yang Style T'ai Chi, Traditional Yoga, Somatic Movement Education, Feldenkrais methods and Mindfulness coaching to our local community elders, school age children, adults. Son, father, grandfather, fourth of six brothers, married.

inclusive community; cross-cultural communication; elder wellness education; child wellness education

What if there was a method for human beings to learn how to stop, however briefly and regularly, as one develops a habit, our incessant addiction to following our thoughts? The method would require simplicity in practice, commonality across cultures and understanding that there is an absence of a goal when thought is tabled, so to speak. When right and wrong, good and bad, worth and worthless are all absent, the mind can truly rest in the mystery of perception itself, whereas, the goal(s) of thought, paradoxically limit our self perception of the essential worth of getting up in the morning and thinking it all over again.

In April of 2013, after several years of watching TED talks, our community offered a TEDxChange event, in coordination with the Gates Foundation in Seattle. I signed up to be an organizer for our, not yet formed, TEDxYakima. I am still on the team and we are applying soon for our eighth season.

working with building top soil and caring for bee colonies.