Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Oriah is, first and foremost, a storyteller, a lover of words and symbols and the stories that lift our spirits, open our hearts, and offer us ways to see patterns and create meaning in our lives. The focus of her life and work has been an ongoing inquiry into the Sacred Mystery. Her writing, teaching, and personal journey all explore how we can each become the individual we are at the deepest level of being and how we can co-create meaning together in the world. 

Blending humor, insight, and compassion for our human struggles, Oriah encourages herself and others to be ruthlessly honest and infinitely kind toward our own strengths and our weaknesses. Raised in a small community in Northern Ontario, Oriah’s family encouraged her to bring her questions and explorations to the Christian tradition they espoused. 

At home in the wilderness, she was drawn to and at home in the ceremonies and earth-based teachings of the First People’s, eventually teaching and sharing what she learned. Her daily practice includes ceremonial prayer, yoga, meditation, and writing. A graduate of Ryerson University’s social work program (Toronto) and a student of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, she has facilitated groups, offered classes, and counseled individuals for over thirty-five years. 

The mother of two grown sons, Oriah, lives in Toronto, Canada. Oriah is the author of several best-selling books: The Invitation (now translated into more than fifteen languages), The Dance, and The Call: Discovering Why You Are Here. Her book, What We Ache For Creativity and the Unfolding of Your Soul, explores the challenges, rewards, and necessity of doing our creative work. Opening the Invitation is a small book that shares Oriah’s story of writing and sharing her much-loved poem, “The Invitation.” 

All five of Oriah’s books are published by HarperOne, San Francisco. Using story and sharing meditations, Oriah’s writing explores how to follow the thread of our deepest heart's longing into a life where we can choose joy without denying the difficulties we each face. Facing the challenges and finding the joy of living who we are is further explored on her Sounds True CD, Your Heart’s Prayer. 

Oriah has shared her insights and stories with audiences throughout the world at conferences and retreats and through radio and TV appearances (CBC, TVO, Oprah, NPR, PBS, Wisdom Network.) Oriah is currently focused on writing. She is working on a novel, another non-fiction book- a collection of stories about deepening our inner lives- and writing a weekly blog, “The Green Bough,” at oriahsinvitation.blogspot.com