BALANCE ~ EASE ~ RESILIENCE

ABOUT MARNIE...

Mindfulness meditation has given me access to the most valuable life skills! I've become more open and interested in life's opportunities and more able to experience compassion and enjoyment in my relationships. I experience less stress in meeting the pull of modern-day adult responsibilities, and I sleep more deeply which leads to more energy.  Most interestingly, I've felt over and over how my practice of meditation has become a valued grounding endeavor which helps me focus and hear the whisperings of wisdom that I already hold inside. I look less to the outside world for validation, which leaves me less caught up in self-worry and more available for those people and things I value and love!  I cannot say life always felt this way and it does not prevent hardship from finding me, but the time I commit to put into the practice I attribute as a clear benefit in my own life from the wisdom of this work. Because of all I've learned and gained through this practice, I feel called to share it with others.

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I meditated for the first time when I was 18 but at that time it was not something I did regularly. Over the years since, I've explored many kinds of meditative practices including: an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course, day and weeklong retreats, and other secular and Buddhist practices. In the beginning, it was something I did intermittently. About five years ago I went on a wilderness retreat called, Awake in the Wild. It was on this retreat in the mountains of Northern New Mexico where I realized that Mindfulness practices in particular felt like home, a spiritual home for me, and that mindfulness meditation was something I wanted to embrace daily. I particularly love to meditate and teach meditation outside in nature! I honor time each day to meditate and find opportunities to learn as much as I can about mindfulness and seek opportunities to share this with others. There's one thing I've learned through my meditation practice, being mindful is something I will forever be learning how to live into!

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In my previous life, as a Nationally Board Certified public school teacher, I sought ways to bring my meditation practice in a secular way to the students I worked with. I completed the Teacher Essentials course with Mindful Schools and began to see a deep shift in my teaching skills as well as in the behaviors and wellbeing of my students. 

 Now, my heart expands when I get to teach drop-in mindfulness meditations outside at local parks, on mountainsides or along riverbanks at sunset! I am  also delighted when I can teach programs with local organizations! Some recent teachings took place at the NM Museum of Natural History and Science, Sandia Preparatory School, with Bernalillo County Parks and Recreation, with local non-profits, and at a local community center.

Recently, I completed a certifying year-long Mindfulness Teacher Training program with Mark Coleman and Martin Aylward. These respected teachers head the Mindfulness Training Institute (MTI) which is an International Mindfulness Teacher Association (IMTA) Accredited program. The depth of study and deepening of personal practice through this program has been life-changing; So much so, I can hear my heart’s call which shows me how much I wish to share this work, as my life’s work, with others. 

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