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.
- Co-author of the groundbreaking book, Adoption Unfiltered.
- Author of the acclaimed adoption guide, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption
- Co-founder of the Root To Rise Yoga Teaching Method
- Host for five years of the podcast Adoption: The Long View
- Adoption Expert , Educator, Coach
- Chief Civilizer at Tessa & Reed, Associates for 20+ years (retired; now on a contract basis with these two amazing young adults)
- Honored as an Angel in Adoption® by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
Books
Are you mystified in relating well with an adoptee or a birth family member — or even your self?
Do you seek 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 better connect with and serve your adoptee but 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 listen. I write. I speak. I coach. I teach.
- Adoption Unfiltered
- The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption
- The Root To Rise Yoga Teaching Method
- Free booklet: “Rethinking Open Adoption”

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

Songs to Access Big Emotions & Facilitate Healing (part 7)
From lullabies to laments, music can heal. Here is part 7 of 7 of Lori’s healing playlist for infertility and adoption.

Marriage vs Parenting—Which is More Difficult? A Retrospective
In revisiting a 16 year-old debate the internet was having about marriage vs parenting, I discover my own problematic thinking.

Songs to Access Big Emotions & Facilitate Healing (part 6)
From lullabies to laments, music can heal Here is part 6 of 7 of Lori’s healing playlist for infertility and adoption.

Adoption: The Long View Finale | Best Of Season 5 Advice
Best advice from adoption experts in Season 5 of Adoption: The Long View. Plus the series finale & a song from a new adoption-themed musical.
Why Strive for Openness in Adoption?
(whether you can have contact or not)

To the Woman Who Longs to Be a Mom and Wants 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.