Lori Holden:
Adoption Expert, Learner, Interviewer, Educator, Author, Coach
Welcome to LavenderLuz.com. Here you’ll discover what I’m (still) learning about openness in adoption, parenting, yoga, living mindfully, thinking critically, and other topics that make me wonder and want to explore.
Lori Holden, M.A.
- Author of The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption, Adoption Unfiltered, and the Root To Rise Yoga Teaching Method
- Host of the podcast Adoption: The Long View
- Adoption Expert , Educator, Coach
- Chief Civilizer at Tessa & Reed, Associates for 20 years (retired; now on contract basis with these two amazing young adults)
- Yogini & Wonderer
- Honored as an Angel in Adoption® by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
Books by Lori
Are you seeking guidance on becoming the adoptive parent your child needs you to be? Do you want help setting and patrolling boundaries in an open adoption? Do you wish to “do” adoption better but are not quite sure how?
Do you teach yoga and want to do it with more confidence and ease?
I have a book for you.
I write. I speak. I listen. I coach. I teach.
I’m thrilled to announce the release of my two latest books, Adoption Unfiltered (December 2023) and Standing Room Only (available now).




Podcast:
Adoption: The Long View
You’re invited to take a closer look at what happens after you adopt your child and begin parenting them. Your adoption journey isn’t over then — it’s just beginning.
In Adoption: The Long View you’ll hear from a variety of thought-provoking and influential guests as we help you make the most of your adoption journey. Like any trip worth taking, there will be ups and downs and challenges. Here’s what you’re going to wish you’d known right from the start. Ready? Let’s go.
Recent Articles

Introducing Field Notes: an Adoptee Columnist!
Introducing a new column: Field Notes How can adoptive parents relay hard parts of their child’s story to them? Brad Ewell responds.

Dr Brad Reedy: What Adoptive Parents Need to Know about guilt, Shame, & Boundaries
Dr Brad Reedy on the heroic journeys all parents undertake, but especially adoptive parents. Insight on icky emotions and boundaries.

The Truth, the Whole Truth & Nothing But the Truth for Adoptees
What’s the fallout from a huge secret kept from you? Brad Ewell & Fred Nicora tell about discovering their adoption truth…finally.

Dawn Davenport: Why Adoptive Parents Need to Be Continual Learners
Dawn Davenport of Creating A Family on saying YES to continuing education for adoptive parents, and NO to adoption echo chambers.
Open Adoption vs Closed Adoption

To the Woman Who Longs to Be a Mom and Who Says “I Want a Closed Adoption”
I hear you when you say “I want a closed adoption.” I was there, too, and I had to unlearn a few things everyone “knows” about adoption.

The Future of Adoption
Reader Question: What is the future of adoption regarding openness? We’ve moved from completely closed adoptions to semi-open (pictures and letters sent through the agency,

Kohl’s Adoption Video Brings Out the Either/Or Brigade
A commercial shows reunion between an adoptee & his birth mom. SO many viewers are incensed! I hold the either/or mindset responsible.

“Real” in Adoption and how it Splits our Babies
When we talk about who is and isn’t real in adoption, we split the baby. Fortunately there is a better alternative to this Either/Or mindset.