How I came into teaching mindfulness

Truth be told, a few broken hearts in my youth led me to meditation and to want to ponder big existential questions about my own identity. How do I fit in and how do I not fit in? What is society expecting of me?  Who is doing the expecting? 

Luckily, meditation was deeply fruitful for this exploration. I felt an immediate resonance with Buddhist psychology and its acceptance of multiplicity of mind. On a mountaintop In Sri Lanka in the first of many silent retreats, a teacher there loaned me Jon Kabat -Zinn’s book Wherever You Go, There You Are.

I never intended to teach and came to it reluctantly at first. But nearly twenty years later beset by chronic pain and another identity crisis I found the MBSR process to be invaluable: both approachable and deep. It was exciting to sit with people, jargon free in an open curriculum, and experience the growth and ease that the practice can offer. Now MBSR is perhaps my favourite thing to do and I look forward to these evenings.

• B.A., Dip. Counselling, Australian Counselling Association
• Clinical : Somatic Psychotherapy , Internal Family Systems, Somatic Experiencing (SEP), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy , Brainspotting 
• Mindfulness Training Institute Australasia Board Director (1 year),
• MTI Admissions Director (8 years) 
• MTI certified teacher (10 years) Teacher Supervision (10 years) 
• Residential Silent Retreat co-facilitator for MTI (10 years). 
• Personal meditation practice (30+ years)
• Personal retreats annually since 1990: Thich Nhat Hanh (France), Vipassana (Sri Lanka many over 7 years), Western Insight, Vajrayana Retreats (France, Australia) 
• Experienced retreat facilitator having led many weekend and seven day retreats in the past 10 years.

Specialisation

Mary works with a broad range of people of all ages who are wanting to recover from anxiety, rigidity, drivenness, a loss of groundedness, numbness, cognitive overload, trauma. She helps people make friends with growing up and growing old and facilitates their discovery of ease, soothing and healing in holistic ways. For a time, she worked in a hospital based persistent pain grogram.  And she has a particular capacity and interest in working with neurodiverse populations.

Teaching Philosophy

Mindfulness meditation is a beautiful way to wake up to our own lives. Life is precious and in this 21st century moment we are all too easily caught up in distraction. We want meaningful experiences but we avoid them. Mindfulness helps us clarify what deserves attention and what doesn’t and to inhabit the particular moment we find ourselves in. And to develop self-acceptance and self-care along the way.