Dr Adele Stewart

OPENGROUND TEACHER PROFILE

Dr Adele Stewart

GP, psychotherapist, chronic pain expert, MBSR, Pain to Peace & Mindful Compassion teacher, retreat leader.

How I came into teaching mindfulness

I came to mindfulness long before I taught it. As a young doctor, I saw that while medicine excels at diagnosing disease, it often struggles to meet people in their whole human experience—especially when symptoms persist, don't fit neatly into categories, or arise from stress, trauma, or nervous system patterns. I wanted to meet people with honouring both science and their humanity.

I completed my first silent retreat in 1987, practicing irregularly until 2004. What drew me to mindfulness—and keeps me returning—is its honesty and directness. Rather than fading with time, my commitment deepened as life grew more complex: navigating being a doctor, parent, and living with chronic pain. Mindfulness didn't promise to fix me or make life easy. It offered a way to be present with what was actually happening—pain, fear, frustration, uncertainty. Over time, the practice softened my nervous system's constant threat response, creating space for steadier listening, clearer responding, and greater ease.

Working as a GP with people living with chronic pain and medically unexplained symptoms deepened this understanding. I witnessed how difficult it is to inhabit a body that feels unsafe or unpredictable, and how invalidating it feels when told "nothing's wrong" while still suffering. Mindfulness provided a framework for meeting this territory—not to push through or control, but to approach with steadiness, kindness, and curiosity. When I teach, this lived reality remains central. I know practice can be confronting—some days supportive, others frustrating or impossible. My intention is creating space where all of that is welcome, where participants needn't perform "get it right" but can gradually trust their own experience and discover what genuinely helps.

Background
  • MBBS FRACGP; General Practitioner with over 30 years’ clinical experience
  • Certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher
  • Certified Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) teacher
  • RACGP recognised for extended skills in psychological medicine -  Internal Family
    Systems (IFS)–trained therapist
  • Chair, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ Pain Management Specific
    Interest Group
  • Contributor to national pain education and policy work, including with the Faculty
    of Pain Medicine (ANZCA)
  • Decades of personal meditation practice, including regular annual silent retreats
    since 2004
  • Experienced retreat facilitator leading weekend retreats over the past 5 years in
    the areas of mindfulness, compassion and pain management

Specialisation

I specialise in working with people living with chronic pain, persistent physical symptoms, stress-related illness, and the complex overlap between physical and emotional suffering. Many of the people I work with feel worn down by years of trying to “fix” themselves, or by being told their symptoms are either purely physical or “all in the head”.

My background as a GP, pain educator, and mindfulness teacher allows me to bridge these worlds. I bring a trauma-informed, nervous-system-aware approach that integrates mindfulness, self-compassion, and parts-based understanding.

Along with Timothea Goddard I co-developed the Pain to Peace programme created
specifically to support people living with these symptoms.

Teaching Philosophy

I teach mindfulness with a strong emphasis on compassion and safety, meeting
people exactly where they are right now. My role is to create a steady, supportive
space where participants can explore their experience in the body and nervous
system with curiosity and care. Life can be deeply challenging, and it can also hold
moments of real joy. Through practice, I invite people to listen more carefully to
themselves and to begin trusting their own inner signals — the wisdom of the body,
the heart, and the gut. I also very much enjoy translating complex ideas and practices
into language and experiences that feel clear, practical and down-to earth.

Get to know more of our teachers:

See All
1 3
See All