Instructor
Marie Atkinson
BSc(Hons), PGDip Ed, Adv Dip Naturopathy, Yoga Teacher
About me
I became involved with meditation, yoga and NLP at a stage in my life when I had lost my direction, I wasn’t sure where I was going, I couldn’t visualise where I was headed and I didn’t really know what I wanted. I was in my forty’s at the time!
My biggest flaw was never appreciating what I had, always rushing, always wanting more, never satisfied, always anxious, always living for future moments which I thought were going to be so much better than where I was at. And yet it didn’t seem to matter what I accomplished I was never satisfied, never happy with what I’d achieved. I had incredible jobs, travelled around the world, and still I always wanted more, expected more, and I was my own worst critique. I look back now and wonder at the opportunities, the fabulous experiences, places, people, challenges, achievements I had and only now do I appreciate those times. Not living in the present moment has a high price to pay.
For the last 15 years, I’ve been teaching science to high school students whilst also providing meditation classes and coaching services to students and clients. During this time I also trained as a Naturopath which expanded my expertise in the areas of mind body coherence, nutrition, natural medicine and the incredible healing modalities that exist outside of conventional medicine.
Before I started a yoga and meditation practice, I always held the belief that only hard work and pushing myself, would I achieve anything. So I just kept on striving to do more, to be more, always pushing, forcing outcome, working day and night. Always believing that, “I’ll be happy when….” The ‘when’ never comes, no matter what you achieve.
Through all of the years of being tormented emotionally I read all the personal growth books from Wayne Dyer to Eckhart Tolle and ‘in theory’ what these enlightened people were saying was incredible but it wasn’t until I started meditating, practicing yoga and following key life coaching strategies that the theory became practice.
Then my life started changing. I trained as a Life Coach and in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). I learnt meditation from incredible teachers at the Chopra Centre in the US which was not just a life changer but a life saver and I trained as a yoga teacher in Dubai. Over time, I found meditation effortlessly connected me to something far greater than my own tormented mind, that not only gave me peace, but also the strength to be of service without being drained. Through meditation, NLP and life coaching strategies, I was becoming more productive in helping others and more constructive in my own life without force. Although I was working far more, I had much more energy than before. My stress levels dramatically reduced without doing anything differently. I was meditating and practicing yoga every day and within the first 1-2 months, I can only describe it as though a portal opened and I was accessing peace, serenity I’d never experienced before.
I was using my life coaching skills to help clients, meditation techniques to increase their ability in expanding their awareness and teaching yoga to create vitality from the inside out. The modalities of Life Coaching, NLP, meditation together with naturopathy become incredible tools in which I was being of service to others. Gratitude became my key to present moment awareness. And as I travelled through each day, I began to notice my thoughts, I became more aware of the choices I was making. Quite naturally a lot of my negative habitual thoughts were being replaced with new thought patterns.
I became present, really present, I became aware of the small things that I just never noticed before. And when you notice the small things you can’t help but feel more gratitude, more love, more appreciation. And when you’re in that mode of thinking and feeling from a higher state of being, you just become more understanding, more loving, more compassionate. So I lost my anger (without any effort) and automatically that huge space was refilled with compassion, more focus and a clear intention of where my life was headed. I was actually able to be of greater service to others without being drained. I found myself responding to situations constructively rather than with my usual conditioned impatient reactions.
So at first I started teaching meditation to my science students from ages 11-18 years old. And once I could see how much it was increasing student’s focus, their ability to listen, less stress over exams I knew that I could help a great deal of others that needed to destress, refocus, calm the mind, find peace, find themselves, create new things in their life.
So my career path has changed dramatically from teaching Science to being a Yoga Instructor and a meditation teacher, helping others how to create a new vision for the future and how to use meditation and NLP techniques to heal the mind and the body.
And the incredible thing is there’s been a great deal of studying, working, researching, but no effort. Learning meditation was effortless, and the benefits are ongoing. The only hurdle to cross was finding the time, making the commitment. I still have roller coaster days but now the way in which I handle them is incredibly different. I know how to access calm, I’m able to step out of chaos and think clearly from a place of compassion rather than annoyance and frustration. I can find silent spaces and it’s in those moments my mind, my body, my emotions, can in a sense reset.
I searched for my purpose, ‘my dharma,’ for a very long time. Whilst I know I’ve been of service to students teaching science and to the lives of countless animals I’ve rescued, I feel like at last I’ve found my dharma, my purpose as a teacher of meditation and yoga. I’ve also been able to maintain a passion in scientific research and follow the incredible work that is now being done by scientists and researchers on the practice of meditation.
I know, don’t just believe, that if more people learn to take advantage of the tools and techniques used in yoga and the beautiful, ancient art of meditation there will absolutely be more people living their dream, more joy, more love, and a greater sense of gratitude for life, and together we can make this world a much kinder, more compassionate place.
My Qualifications:
- Bachelor of Science (Honours in Genetics) from The University of Melbourne, Australia.
- Post Graduate Certificate of Education from The University of Sunderland, UK
- Naturopathy Advanced Diploma with the Australian Institute of Applied Sciences.
- Small Animal Nutrition Specialist with the Natural College of Traditional Medicine, Victoria, Australia.
- Reconnective Healing Level I & II with Dr Eric Pearl
- Bach Flower Remedy Level I & II with the Dr Edward Bach Centre, UK
- Certified Meditation Instructor with The Chopra Centre, California, U.S.
- RSCI Life Coach and NLP Practitioner
- Yoga Teacher RYT200 approved by Yoga Alliance