Sangha : Community
Katie Austin
Katie and I have been studying and teaching together for the past 5 years in the UK. Katie started practicing mindfulness since 2014 to help her navigate a low period of her life. Since then her practice has helped her to navigate the highs and inevitable lows of life with more ease, presence and compassion.
In 2019, Katie started training to teach mindfulness through a post-graduate diploma in Mindfulness-Based Approaches to Wellbeing specialising in Teaching Mindfulness-Based Courses, at Bangor University.
Katie has also been a yoga teacher since 2016 and has always woven mindfulness into her yoga classes and retreats. Since 2020 she has begun to regularly teach mindfulness in the community through teaches regular mindfulness courses, workshops and private sessions in the UK.
You can contact her via her website.
Alys Pardoe
Vici Williams
In honour of my Dharma teacher, MBSR teacher & supervisor, and embodiment of the divine mother; the late Vici Williams…
Vici has worked in mental health since 1999 in a variety of voluntary and statutory services. She began teaching mindfulness in a specialist mental health service in Cornwall and offered 1:1 Mindfulness based Therapy to clients in the Community Mental Health Team and group mindfulness practices on the mental health inpatient units.
Vici has a Post Graduate Diploma from Exeter University in Mindfulness based Approaches and has subsequently co-taught on the Level 1 and Level 2 Supervised pathway retreats for the University. Vici is an MBI:TAC assessor for The Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice and Exeter University, a supervisor and Personal Practice Mentor with the Mindfulness Network and co-founder of Mindfulness Cornwall.
Alys first introduced me to Ashtanga Yoga nearly 10 years ago now. I have recently had the pleasure of returning to her Shala in Margaret River Western Australia.
Alys began practising yoga in England in 1998 when she met my first teacher John Scott. Having tried other styles of yoga, it was Ashtanga that fulfilled her search for a practice that was both physical and spiritual.
After moving to Western Australia with her husband and two daughters in 2008 she continued her practice, learning with teachers from around the world.
In 2011 under their guidance, she started to teach, beginning a year-long apprenticeship. In the same year, she began the first of many trips to Mysore in India to practise and study with Sharath Jois. In 2016 she received his authorisation to teach.
The practice of yoga has provided both a supportive foundation and platform for growth that still fulfils and challenges Alys on a daily basis and teaches her as she hopes to teach others that kindness and awareness of our true nature is a practice for everyone.
You can explore more of Alys’ offerings through her website.