I started the mindfulness journey thinking I was doing something to help me control my eating and lose weight. I also had done meditating and imagery so thought this would be very simple for me and I would know most of what I was going to learn.

       What a shock for me. I have learned so much about myself, how I work with others, especially children, what works for me and what doesn't. Yoga is hard for me and when reviewing the sheets I avoided it a lot if I could. Meditating for me needed to be guided. I strayed a lot when it was not and lost the focus I was finding I could get. I also learned to appreciate things in general. Eating was huge, but so was putting my nose in where it didn't belong or being hard on myself and not see what good I have done. Watching a sunrise keeping mindfulness in mind made me see things and appreciate them.

       I was also surprised that very rarely when I did the exercises right did I not experience anything. My "soul" was filled with warmth and happiness many days for little things I would take for granted. And when I needed to heal and had pain the practice of mindfulness can turn things around very easily if we are open to it and can get past some of my rigid and harsh practices I place on myself.

       I’m Catholic and the one thing that I had not expected was a more focused faith. I am now more in tune to my spiritual needs than I have ever been and it, too, took me by surprise.

       Finally this is an experience/course that I felt was one of the most worthwhile ones I have done in a long time. I bought every book as a resource and will continue to read and reflect on them to continue this journey for myself. They are well written and the resources and videos are some I read/watched more than once during the week.

       Thank you and I will display my certificate proudly. This was/is an awesome experience that will be life-long for me.