Having come from a health, social care, and teaching background, I completely lost my mojo with it and promised myself I would never teach anything other than dance ever again, I was unprepared to feel my passion for teaching others re-ignite in 2014. This is how!
I completed my 8 week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course in 2012 and found it hugely beneficial. Before this I had meditated on and off since the age of 19, but never in the moment. I had always enjoyed visualisations and chakra meditations (I still do).
Being in the moment was challenging, I lived in the past or worried about the future, which I still do but I catch myself now. It had never occurred to me to be in the moment. Like many people I found mindfulness practices challenging in that I realised how stressed I had become, how much pain I felt physically from injuries and emotionally. I started to read and research compassion, something Karen Atkinson, my MBSR teacher had talked about, a lot.
In 2014 I was one of the first cohort to do the Integrating Mindfulness and Compassion (IMC) qualification and it just made so much sense to me, practising compassion literally transformed my relationship with myself and with life.
I never set out to train to teach others, but with my skillset and passion my relationship with Karen and MindfulnessUK just blossomed, and my role grew within the organisation leading to me now working as Head of Teacher Training.
With MindfulnessUK I have had the amazing privilege of being supported to train and teach mindfulness and compassion in so many ways; one to one, 8 week MBSR, Minding your Health in Schools, children and young people masterclasses, bespoke courses, workshops at the Mindful Living Show and the IMC qualification. I have been a part of hundreds of graduate’s journeys and love hearing about the wonderful work they now do in their fields of expertise and communities.
Huge thank you to Karen, Claire, Steph, Kate, Neil, Anna, and our admin support for being such a fab team and to all the people we have taught. My message to you all is to keep practising compassionate mindfulness – it’s the best way to live
