How did you become interested in this line of work? (tell us a little bit about your background)

A combination of the images and places (both in history and in the imagination) that intrigued and fascinated me as a child, which seemed to call me I suppose. As an adult, it was a fairly non- linear pathway into following the History of Art academically, while creating businesses, writing books and training as a teacher in yoga, mindfulness and meditation. I couldn’t understand why a lot of Eastern philosophies I studied seemed to neglect the imagination as a real aspect of reality, and also why in the Western traditions of the humanities such as English literature and Art History, ideas around consciousness, philosophical knowing and embodied responses were neglected. I wasn’t so much as trying to marry the two, but seeking to find a broader context in which to understand and experience aspects of both.

Please share a wellness tip or word of advice that relates to the workshop you will be presenting.

Keep your eyes open to the world around you and cultivate the ‘art of seeing’ as Jung would say. Notice which works of art, places, times and figures from history inspire your imagination or seem to draw you towards them or evoke a sense of depth in you. Art is not just a pretty picture but it is the ideas both in and through art which offer an entire corpus of wisdom and knowing usually obscured from our every day view.

What or who inspires you? (This could be anything from your mentor to your favorite quote)

Who – So many to mention but here are few – Iain McGilchrist, James Hillman, Carl Jung, Rainer Maria Rilke, Leonardo da Vinci (and most of the Renaissance artists), Saint John of the Cross, Saint Teresa of Avila, E. H. Gombrich, William Blake, Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, modern day sculptor Antony Gormley to name but a few.

What – old places, churches, cathedrals, ancient ruins, beautiful homes, Florence, paintings, sculpture, Nature…

What personal or professional accomplishments are you most proud of?

My wonderful 14 year old son, my home in London, everything I have achieved academically and professionally; training as a yoga, meditation and mindfulness teacher, my BA honors degree in the History of Art from London University, my MA with distinction in Renaissance Art under the umbrella of Myth, Cosmology and the Sacred, the wonderful people I am privileged to work with, co- founding the Centre for Myth, Cosmology and the Sacred, co- founding Dr. Iain McGilchrist’s online platform Channel McGilchrist, the wonderful people I meet through my private gallery visits and tours I run and those who attend my classes and courses, for I learn so much from others all the time.