How I came into teaching mindfulness

When I was 17 years old my mother died in the lead up to my final high school exams, leaving me to look after my 5 younger sisters and run our household. My first coping mechanism, which I’m sure many people will relate to, was to throw all my energy into running our household and studying for my final high school exams, then uni and then into creating a theatre company. 

At 30, I was spent; my body and mind were exhausted and my grief finally caught up with me. I turned to psychotherapy and took a more nurturing direction. I completed a 4-year experiential Professional Feldenkrais Method training. And so, for four years I spent hours every day lying on my mat and practicing gentle, nurturing Feldenkrais.

When I felt healed, I explored careers in cultural and community development. And very soon returned to my habitual pattern of working long hours. Work was satisfying – but so easy to burn out.

When my dear friend Timothea Goddard started teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, I was again ready to slow my body and mind, and in 2007 did my first MBSR course and then the teacher training.  I then taught the MBSR program in person until COVID changed everything. Since then, I mainly teach online, which I find very satisfying, and which enables me to keep teaching from wherever I am.

Background

• BA
• MBSR Teacher trained by Openground
• 19 years of daily meditation practice including a number of week-long retreats
• 38 years of daily Feldenkrais practice
• Creative Development Fellowship recipient for my contribution to theatre
• Grad. Dip. Sustainability Studies
• Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (CEO and senior manager across both the private and public sectors)
• Support worker at Phillip Island Nature Parks supporting the Little Penguins
• Specialist training: Professional Feldenkrais Method

Specialisation

My teaching specialisation is the Feldenkrais Method, which is a form of somatic education and movement therapy designed to improve posture, flexibility, and coordination by enhancing self-awareness and reorganizing connections between the brain and the body. It uses gentle, often slow, and non-habitual movements, to reduce chronic pain, improve mobility, and foster efficient, graceful movement patterns. The philosophy of Feldenkrais is that everybody, every body, is organised in the best way that it knows how, depending on its history and genetics. I help people to respect their bodies and not impose ideals of what their body and mind should be. I teach that kindness, compassion and curiosity in our explorations is the pathway to new possibilities.

Teaching Philosophy

In studying for my final high school biology exam, I had my first epiphany – the formula for photosynthesis and respiration are almost exactly the same only reversed. Thus, began my awareness of the interconnectedness of all things. And this led to my understanding of the body-mind connection. The knowledge that every atom in my body comes from the universe, and has had multiple lives before mine, and every one of those atoms will continue to be returned to the universe, provides a calming context for all that I do and teach.  

I acknowledge our deep interdependence with the rest of nature and recognising our mutual dependence is necessary for social well-being. Feeling safe is so necessary for any healthy exploration to be possible. So, when I teach MBSR, I aim to create a safe environment in which authenticity, sorrow and laughter all have a home.