Timothea Goddard

OPENGROUND TEACHER PROFILE

Timothea Goddard

Director of OpenGround, psychotherapist, MSBR, MSC, MiCBT & insight (Vipassana) meditation teacher, yoga teacher, teacher trainer with MTI, retreat leader.

How I came into teaching mindfulness

I did my first 10 day silent meditation retreat when I was 22 and it was intense! But it
opened me to the power of the mind, and the power of the meanings we make – which can really open up the world or close down possibilities. Many retreats followed, and in my early 40’s I began finding out about Jon Kabat-Zinn’s MBSR program. I was keen to find a way to bring this practice into other peoples’ lives as it had been so precious to me.

Human beings are fascinating to me – each one of us is like a whole universe. Bringing this curiosity to ourselves is so important – as it is respectful, and also makes space for learning how we have been shaped, forgiving ourselves for our foibles, and empowering us to make choices.

When I came across MBSR I fell in love with its simplicity and its power to convey deep transformative ideas with practical ways of bringing them in to my life. And the way it trusts people so deeply to find what matters to them.

We can only start from this exact place we are. There is no need for trying to be a different kind of person. Just curiosity and some practice is needed.

Background
  • BA, Dip. Psychotherapy (ANZAP), Cert. IV Workplace Tr., Clin. Mem. PACFA. Yoga
    teacher (YA 200 hr, TCTSY 300 hr)
  • Founding Director of OpenGround
  • Certified MBSR teacher having taught since 2004.
  • 40 years experience as a psychotherapist having trained in humanistic,
    psychodynamic, systemic and somatic psychotherapies
  • 30 + years of meditation practice, including yearly week-long silent retreats
  • Director of Training of the Mindfulness Training Institute – ANZ
  • Experienced retreat facilitator having led many weekend and seven-day insight
    retreats in the past 10 years

Specialisation

Timothea delights in communicating complex ideas with simplicity, humour and pragmaticism. She has been involved for many years in educating health professionals – in somatic psychotherapy and also in Mindfulness Based Programs. She has a deep interest in the life of the body – and how embodiment practices re-organise us from the inside out, clearing the mind by steadying the nervous system and reconnecting us to a deep current of truth and vitality.

Teaching Philosophy

Life is precious. We forget this easily and live in ways that are deadening and a bit
empty. We can so easily get caught in autopilot. I love accompanying others in this
way of very simply taking care of our own minds. Attention is the most powerful ally
in shaping the next moment and the rest of our lives. Awareness steps us out of
disconnection and into intimacy with life – with our beloveds, our work and our
world.This possibility delights me, over and over again in the teaching/learning
process.

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