As a child I was the ‘worry wart’. I didn’t really know what this meant early on but I remember hearing the label numerous times from different people. I was the kid who cried all through preschool. I was the kid who cried at kindergarten drop offs. I was the kid who spent all of Year 2 worrying about going into Year 3 and primary school. I now realise I had anxiety in its many forms – separation anxiety, social anxiety, and bedtime anxiety being the main ones. 

As I ventured through childhood I learnt strategies to deal with my anxieties and my ever busy mind. I would practise conversations in my head about what I was going to say. I would run through events before they happened and play out all sorts of possibilities. These weren’t really strategies to help – they were coping mechanisms. 

Meditation was my friend as a child. I remember being taught meditation, or relaxation it was called then, in Year 1 at school by a relief teacher. She would come once a week and read us beautiful stories about worry trees and space adventures and magical flower gardens. I remember feeling free in my own little worlds. I remember feeling so calm and happy after the sessions. Enlightened. 

My wonderful mother and father supported me in many different ways throughout childhood. I vividly remember my mum taking me to a kinesiologist/hypnotist who taught me visualisation to help me feel safe and protected and who made me an audio tape (no CD’s or USB sticks back then) with a meditation to listen to, to help me go to sleep and help with my anxieties. Mum and Dad did body scans with me to help me relax and get calm and ready for sleep. Something I still do to this day. 

From this meditation programming in childhood, I continued doing my own simple practises in my teen years but honestly not enough. 

In early adulthood I went to see a counsellor when I was having a tough time with my mind and in my life. I remember telling a friend: “If I had a problem with my leg I’d go to the doctor; I have a problem with my mind so I’ll see a counsellor.” 

This counsellor introduced me to mindfulness. At the time, I just started learning about mindfulness as a tool to re-direct my obsessive anxious thoughts by focusing on ‘the now’ through the five senses. It worked and I was instantly hooked.

I continued using mindfulness, seeing a kinesiologist, and increased my meditation throughout my twenties. This helped me ease into adulthood, find independence, settle my anxieties and helped me deal with life in a positive manner.

When I had my first baby, I really amped it up and researched more on mindfulness and tried different meditations to help me cope with this big change in my life. It was an amazing stage in my life but a change, a demanding change, and I needed to look after myself so that I could look after my beautiful baby. When I had my second child, I did the same thing. Mindfulness and meditation were my saviours some days and allowed me to dance with my crying baby instead of rocking/shaking him. They allowed me to engage with my toddler and give her my full attention. They allowed me to be grateful for all that I had and get my sh** together when I needed.  

As a teacher, I found it extremely hard to switch off. I was always thinking about what I had to do to help my students and what I still had to catch up on paperwork wise. The responsibilities of teaching, a job I loved and still do, hung very heavily over me. For a period in my life, I found that I didn’t enjoy a lot of my family time or time to myself because I was always thinking about school and putting pressure on myself. I knew this had to change and again mindfulness helped me be in the moment with my beautiful family. 

When I decided in my change of career path to become a specialist mindfulness teacher, I did some hard-core mindfulness training. This actually made me enjoy my job more! It made it so much easier for me to accept my limitations, difficult situations, be more kind and compassionate to myself, and be a mindful mentor to my students. 

The most valuable part of this training was learning about heartfulness. Heartfulness refers to our heartfelt connection to the present moment. It is comprised of qualities such as kindness, gratitude, generosity, compassion and empathy. All of these qualities can be practised to bring a greater sense of happiness to ourselves and others. I now integrate heartfulness into each and everyday for myself, my own family and my students. Which makes me feel awesome about my life and the people in it. 

Head and Heart Mindfulness was created as a culmination of my own life story. Turning my difficulties into a positive experience and using the practises that have helped me – mindfulness, meditation and heartfulness – to help others. I aim to provide children, and those special people who care for them, with life skills to deal with their thoughts and feelings and to cope with the busy world that we live in. I aim for myself and my team to create ‘calm minds, happy hearts’ for all those we come in contact with. And I aim to continue to live a fulfilling life with mindfulness, meditation and heartfulness.