This feels like a tough one to write. In some ways it’s easy to pick out the teachers who have meant the most to me, whose ideas and support have strongly influenced this work. But picking some means leaving others out. And I know that they all stand on great shoulders themselves… how to honour all these lineages as they deserve?
Also, they’ve helped me with different things. Maybe it’s worth setting out the themes, the interweaving paths:
Sociology and critical thinking
Feminism (particularly Black feminism)
Indian contemplative practices including yoga and Buddhist meditation
Non-violence, mediation and emotional literacy
Other non-Indian embodied and somatic practices
Psychology and trauma-informed practice
And for the individual teachers, I’ll start with a simple list. Maybe there will be other fuller posts to write and other names to name in the longer term. It’s a struggle to write with such a full heart. Deep breath.
Martin Aylward is my main meditation and dharma teacher. From him I learn practices and ways of being that help my inner and outer lives.
Thich Nhat Hanh, who sadly died on 22nd January this year, was a Vietnamese Zen master who played a huge part in bringing meditation and mindfulness practice alive for a global audience, without ever dumbing it down or losing its heart. I went on retreat with him twice, and received my dharma name from him directly in a moving ceremony in 2012.
