My interest in meditation began in the late 1990s, when I was a young reporter for a large media network, stressed, strung out, and often unhappy.

A colleague mentioned that her mother taught meditation and suggested I take the course. I went along, and to my surprise, I felt less anxious and started sleeping better. Still, despite these benefits, I decided I was “too busy” to sit with my eyes closed for up to 40 minutes a day, so I gave up before I’d really started.

Two things from that first course stayed with me, though. After each session, I felt a rare sense of peace. And I was deeply struck by my teacher’s calm, compassionate presence. I knew I wanted to be more like that.

About seven years later, now a media executive leading large teams of journalists and producers across multiple platforms, my anxiety became crippling. I still loved many aspects of my work, but the pressure was taking a toll—my health and relationships were suffering.

I tried everything I could think of: yoga, working out, jogging, eating well, even giving up alcohol. These helped to a point, but I still felt stressed and despondent. I was trying so hard, but getting nowhere. Then I remembered how meditation had helped me years before.

I bought guided meditation CDs (this was before smartphones and apps) and attended drop-in meditation groups. But my mind was so busy, the practices felt impossible. I wasn’t sure if I was doing them “right,” and it seemed like I was wasting my time.

Frustrated, I asked another colleague for advice. She referred me to a Vedic Meditation teacher. Within days, I was sitting in his living room. Over four short classes, he taught me a technique that had an immediate impact. I remember leaving the very first session feeling slightly high. Something had lifted, and all I’d done was close my eyes for 20 minutes and think a mantra (or sound) he’d given me.

It was incredibly easy.

I didn’t continue to feel high every time I meditated! But gradually life began to change. I started sleeping properly, my anxiety and depression lifted, m energy returned. I felt genuinely happier.

At first, I didn’t care why it worked, and honestly I doubted meditation was the real reason for these changes. But as the weeks became months, and the months became years, the benefits kept building. Eventually, I couldn’t deny it, I was thriving in a way I hadn’t thought possible.

By then, I’d set my skepticism aside and felt called to share this experience with others and become a meditation teacher. I studied Vedic Meditation and the Vedic worldview in Sydney and India, graduating in 2013.

At first, I kept my role in the Sydney media while teaching meditation in my spare time. But in 2015, I followed a long-held dream to live in New York City. I sold my house, packed up my life, and moved, on my own, to Brooklyn. Leaving family and friends was hard, but teaching meditation in New York, now in Manhattan, has been the most rewarding career and life change I could have imagined.

Today, my teaching practice is based in New York City but I travel regularly to teach in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. I also teach in Bismarck, North Dakota.

My work has also expanded into the U.S. prison system. In 2021, I founded The Light Inside, a nonprofit that brings meditation to incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated people, corrections officers, and prison staff. The Light Inside’s programs are now running in NYC’s Rikers Island jail and across the North Dakota corrections system.