Hi, my name is Felicity & I am a meditation teacher.
My journey to become a meditation teacher was inspired by some of the toughest moments in my life.
I first began to meditate as a 15-year-old when my beautiful (very) Catholic Mum took me to our local library to participate in a course to learn Transcendental Meditation. Later in life I asked her why a very Catholic Mum would take her children to learn a Sanskrit language based meditation technique…she responded … “that was before I knew better..” well, I am very grateful she did.
Meditation & becoming a meditation teacher have changed my life in the most incredible ways.
How it all started…
So, as many humans do, I meditated off & on throughout my life, mostly when the proverbial hit the fan! …And believe me, there have been many times throughout my life when it has.
I have been a registered Nurse for 35 years (I am not sure where that time went!!). As an Associate Nurse Unit Manager of a busy 30 bed acute medical surgical ward I would look down the long corridors wishing I had roller blades to get to the other end quicker! But then, I would remember my breath. Breathe in….& …out with each step.
I love Thich Nhat Hanh’s walking meditation saying “thank you, thank you, yes, yes” a word with each step. It grounded me, kept me calm & cleared the chaos replacing it with clarity.
When things got tough, I would ask myself, what can I do to help me? My answer was always meditation. Why? Because it always supported me.
Mentally, emotionally & physically.
I could find that divine space of peaceful calmness within, even when my world around me was chaos. Broken marriage, being a single Mum of 2 young children, financial issues, busy hospital shifts where it was simply impossible to complete everything I was supposed to do, and then going on to raise teenagers alone (there were a few hairy moments, but I must say I have been very blessed with my children).
I also found that meditation helped with physical pain. The scientific research is true, meditation can support you in coping with & maybe even reducing your pain. I found insight where before there was confusion.
Meditation helped my anxiety
Things started to really ramp up with my meditation practice when I was met with the dreaded early menopause. Along with it, came horrendous and completely overwhelming, frustrating, awful (do you get the picture?)… Anxiety.
My Anxiety would stop me in my tracks. It came out of nowhere. I couldn’t focus and just wanted to run away. How on earth could I work in a job where so many people depended on me? It was earth shattering because I thought that my life was going really well. Why did I have anxiety??
So, suffice to say, and went inside to the one thing that has always pulled me out of my fearful times ….meditation.
Ah, relief. Every single day I meditated because that’s what I needed.
My anxiety diminished and I felt so much better, and generally coped better with life. Others even begun to comment how calm I seemed.
Then one day, I was practicing Yoga Nidra and was asked for a Sankalpa, which is a positive thought for myself. Out of nowhere a thought came, “I could teach meditation”.
I didn’t even know if it was a thing you could study! But it sparked joy in my heart at the thought that I could support others in bringing the beautiful art of meditation into their lives too. I did some research and was relived to have come across The Australian Centre for Meditation and Mindfulness. It resonated loud & clear with me above all the other courses. And so, I begun my studies.
I was not only gaining a qualification, I was diving deep into myself, exploring parts of my Being I never knew existed. It was life changing. I noticed Me changing, for the better. Others begun to notice even more changes in me too.
From Student to Teacher
Whilst completing the meditation teaching course, the reality of the path I had chosen to walk started to creep in. Where would I teach? I didn’t really know. My experience allowed me to trust that the answer would come. About 6 months before I finished my course, I was giving my husband Reiki, looking out at the deck where we were married. The answer was literally staring me in the face. My meditation room was built in our back garden, mostly from beautiful recycled materials.
I ran my first Beginners Meditation course with some friends & family as a trial, to see what their feedback would be. It was an overwhelming wonderful. Some of them are still meditating every day to this day, feeling all the beautiful benefits I do.
The next question was, when was I going to teach? After work? That’s what I did. I combined my Reiki Master qualification & teaching meditation & created my own business Tranquil Meditation.
The business took off in a way I couldn’t predict. It was becoming difficult to find time for appointments around my shifts. I honestly thought I would be a nurse til I was 90 or dead & here I was contemplating another career!
Walking a new path…
With a complete array of emotions one end of the scale to the other, I resigned my position at the hospital, & begun to put all of my heart & energy into my own business with the amazing support of my beautiful husband Brian. I cannot explain to you how much I had never ever envisioned this prior to my meditation teacher studies!
Instead of working shifts where I didn’t sit still for a full 8 hours in often very stressful situations, I was sitting down on a comfy cushion, in a beautiful space teaching others how to bring calmness into their lives, how to find answers where there were none, how to find peace when in pain, or living with illness.
After 2 years we decided to more than double my meditation room as I couldn’t bare turning people away who wanted to meditate.
Meditation is now not only my beautiful companion in life, it is my “work”. Every single morning after my meditation, I look around my beautiful space & feel the gratitude flowing through me. I now give the gift of meditation to so many, Beginners, experienced meditators, women living with a cancer diagnosis, those wanting to feel their joy more often those with chronic pain & anxiety. Anyone can meditate & feel the benefits.
I also became a coach at ACMM, supporting those who have decided that teaching meditation is for them too, for those that want to make a difference, for themselves & for others.
My friends tell me I am “living the life”. Yes, I am! I made a choice to make a change for me & those I teach.
My “work” is a dream come true.
Felicity x
Perhaps Felicity’s journey has sparked some joy in the thought of becoming a meditation teacher. Find out more about the different courses at ACMM.
