I was never meant for the traditional school system. 

Not as a student. 

Not as an employee.

Not as an entrepreneur going back into schools to share mindfulness. 

& I was there as a student for 16 years, including post secondary - doing everything I was told, never straying far from the line, terrified of getting it wrong, messing it up or saying the wrong thing, petrified to use my voice to answer a question or a wonder I had that may have contradicted what the teacher said. 

Always doing what I was told. 

Then I immediately went back in as an educational assistant - for close to 20 twenty years. 

& something always felt “off” as I was supporting children, as I tried to advocate for them & was shut down or silenced every time. 

It was becoming clear that that setting probably wasn’t my place I was meant to stay.

So I got really good at balancing, walking the line between what I knew was right for a student (& their family) and what was expected of me in that role in that giant engine of the system. 

Until I had had enough.

Until I decided to leave. 

To do things on my own terms. 

In a way that helped children be themselves, to empower them, not limit them.

Because when I was there,

I saw confidence dwindle. 

I felt self esteem plummet.

I recognized self-worth no longer there. 

I wanted to see a student’s confidence soar

Their self-esteem rise. 

Their self-worth reinstated. 

That’s why you haven’t seen me in traditional school settings in quite a while. 

Because the minute you take mindfulness in schools, it changes the game for kids.

It becomes a subject for them

It becomes a “im doing this right” or I’m doing this wrong” in their minds

Even though it’s technically not on a report card with a letter and grade, it's there, hidden within the wording.

& some kids come to resent mindfulness, choosing to turn away from it because they have been conditioned to think they are failing.

& they aren’t.

That's not what mindfulness is.

Mindfulness is a lifestyle.

Mindfulness is flow.

Mindfulness is being present & connected in heart and mind.

Mindfulness is getting it right for self every single time one practises it, uses it, talks about it, shares it or is one with it.

Mindfulness is a positive way to cope with all the waves of emotions in our human experience.

Mindfulness is about letting kids be their natural, unique, meant to be self.

So you will see me, quietly (or not so quietly) working behind the scenes, in different places and places, guiding children, supporting mama’s, & cheering on women through mindfulness & more modalities to come.

Because as I continue to uncondition myself, I get to know myself better.

& I am here for the change within me to continue.

To be clear, the only kind of conditioning that I want moving forward is…..for my hair only….