I live in Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire with my husband Mark, daughter Jenny and three dogs Nutmeg, Holly and Daisy.
I first encountered meditation as part of the yoga classes I attended. Through these yoga classes I attended a day workshop led by Rob Nairn and then visited Samye Ling Tibetan Centre to attend a yoga weekend. This deepened my interest in meditation and I became a student of Rob Nairn’s, beginning by attending his weekend courses and other weekend courses at Samye Ling and then moving on to attend an eight day retreat led by Rob each year. I have benefitted greatly from his psychological style of teaching meditation, which is very clear and precise and has enabled me to spot obstacles to my meditation practice and then work with them.
This training in meditation has benefitted me immensely. It has enabled me to recognise and begin to work with deeply ingrained habit patterns, in particular, of perfectionism, worry, moodiness and control. I have lightened up considerably, enjoy and appreciate my life to a greater extent and my husband says I am much easier to live with! My practice has also helped me to deal effectively with physical pain, including migraine headaches and to work with psychological pain, including the long term illness and death of a loved one.
In 2004 I became a Buddhist in the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
I am passionate about sharing the benefits of mindfulness meditation with people from all walks of life. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) provide a secular mindfulness training which is very accessible. I was drawn to these Mindfulness Based Approaches (MBAs) as a way to share the benefits of mindfulness.
In the summer of 2007 I completed an eight week distance learning course in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) with Michael Chaskalson. Then in October 2007 I began a Masters Degree Course in Mindfulness Based Approaches at University of Wales, Bangor CMRP. I have completed four modules (Foundation, Research, Teaching 1 and Buddhist Background), equivalent to Post Graduate Diploma level. I aim to complete a Masters thesis in the 2010/2011 academic year to hopefully receive an MA qualification.
The Bangor course has been a wonderful experience. It has given me an opportunity to work further with some of my ingrained habit patterns, through the MBSR/MBCT practices of the bodyscan, mindful movement and mindful sitting.
I have a British Wheel of Yoga teaching diploma and I have been teaching yoga since August 2004. As my yoga teaching has developed I have moved towards teaching mindfulness through yoga. On the Teaching 1 module of the Bangor course, I have explored the teaching of mindfulness in my yoga classes. My classes include yoga poses, lying body scan, breathing exercises and short sessions of sitting mindfulness practice.
I am currently working with Rob Nairn and Choden on behalf of Samye Ling Tibetan Centre and the Mindfulness Association Ltd to develop and teach on the new University of Aberdeen MSc in Mindfulness Studies. We are working with a team from the School of Education of the University of Aberdeen, who will run the MSc. We are also working with Professor Paul Gilbert of Derby University Compassionate Mind Foundation in the development and delivery of the Compassion module of the MSc. We began delivery of this Master programme at Samye Ling in July 2010. For more information please see the following link:
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/education/programmes/mindfulness/index.shtml
We are also providing in depth non-academic trainings in secular Mindfulness and in secular Compassion at Samye Ling Tibetan Centre, both led by Rob Nairn. The Mindfulness Training is over one year and takes place over four weekends and the next training will begin in July 2011. Similarly, the Compassion Training is over one year over four weekends and the next training will begin in August 2011. Typically, participants will do the Mindfulness training, the Compassion training and then the Insight and Wisdom training. For those who have an interest in teaching Mindfulness in groups and who have completed the Mindfulness and/or Compassion training, we are providing a teaching skills module, comprising two weekends starting in March 2012. For details of these trainings, please visit the Samye Ling website www.samyeling.org and look under 'Courses' or e-mail info@mindfulnessassociation.org.
Heather can be contacted at hreganaddis@btinternet.com.