MORE ABOUT ME

I discovered mindfulness through my love of learning. Being curious about how my mind, heart, and body work, and how they are integrated and respond to one another, has been an enormous motivator. When I took my first Introduction to Mindfulness course, I knew immediately it was what I needed. Yet in many ways I still was confused about the instructions and read book after book to answer my many questions.

The breakthrough came for me when I stopped trying to learn about meditation and instead began to really feel my breath, my sit bones, my hands; when I began to recognize that I have a body, what Thich Nhat Hanh calls “going home.” “Your body,” he writes, “is your first home.” Through mindfulness training we discover, funnily enough, that the body is the key to stabilizing the mind.

My own struggle has made me a better teacher. I know how to help students navigate the obstacles to meditation because I’ve been there. I’m deeply committed to sharing these practices with others because I have experienced the many benefits myself: the ability to see difficult thoughts, behaviors, and emotions as they arise and to respond to them skillfully, to experience the peace of self-compassion and self-acceptance. The more relaxed and open the mind and body, the more clarity and breadth of perspective we can enjoy.

My immense gratitude for this practice inspired me to become a Certified Mindfulness Teacher in 2023. Teaching was not new to me. I have more than two decades of experience as an English professor at several universities, teaching over a hundred literature and writing courses during my career.

I saw the great potential in using mindfulness approaches in my classroom and in teaching the practice to students. I had witnessed burnout in students and colleagues, serious declines in student focus and engagement, and increases in incidences of mental/emotional illness in students and colleagues. I saw mindfulness-based approaches to learning, or contemplative-based pedagogy, make classroom learning more connected, vibrant, and relevant. My recent work with neuro-divergent middle and high school students showed me that practices such as embodied listening, slow reading and looking, and mindful reflection can improve attention and increase engagement.

I am an experienced mindfulness practitioner, a skilled college teacher, and a committed mindfulness instructor. I’m excited to combine my academic background and mindfulness experiences to offer classes, workshops, and mentoring that meet a diverse range of interests and needs whatever your gender expression, ethnicity, skin color, sexual orientation, religion, age, body type, physical ability, or cultural background.

Whether you know nothing about meditation but want to learn, you are a teacher and are eager to find ways to recover from burnout, or you are an experienced contemplative-based professor who would like to share ideas, let's connect! Please read more about my services here.

Please read more about my background here.

I’m looking forward to starting a new conversation with you! Please contact me at findingmindfulpeace@gmail.com or at 707-706-3213.