Our Stories

Heather was born and brought up in York and enjoyed many happy family days out on the East Coast of Yorkshire, where she now lives peacefully and happily with her two Golden Labradors Rosie and Iona.

She has 20 years’ of experience of working with hundreds of meditation students from many different walks of life, from beginners to experienced meditators.

Heather is a BAMBA Registered Mindfulness Teacher and follows BAMBA’s Professional Standards and Good Practice Guidelines. She is also a UKBHC Registered Healthcare Chaplain and works part time as a Buddhist NHS Chaplain at Scarborough and Bridlington Hospitals.

Heather’s first career was as a patent lawyer, protecting inventions from power tools to lasers. She was a highly stressed perfectionist with a savage inner self-critic but managed to thrive until the birth of her daughter Jenny. Jenny was poorly as a baby, which threw Heather’s life into a chaos that she was unable to control, leading to stress and burnout.

This led Heather to yoga, which she trained to teach, and then in 2004 to her meditation teacher Rob Nairn and to Buddhism. She took refuge with Akong Rinpoche and became a Buddhist in 2004. From 2008 to 2010 Heather studied for and gained a Post Graduate Diploma in Mindfulness Based Approaches at the University of Bangor, Wales, where she trained to teach secular mindfulness.

In 2009 Rob Nairn asked her to join his teaching team which led to the founding of the Mindfulness Association in 2010, which Heather was involved in setting up, and then developing and managing. Also, in 2010 Aberdeen University’s successful MSc in Studies in Mindfulness began, which Heather helped to set up and continued to teach on. She attained an MSc in Studies in Mindfulness from the University of Aberdeen in 2014.

While working for the Mindfulness Association, Heather has been involved in developing many meditation courses, including compassion, insight and wisdom meditation as well as a BAMBA recognised mindfulness teacher training pathway.

She has co-authored three books, which you can learn more about on our books page. 

She also continued her Buddhist training, including four annual trips to India for Mahamudra training with Tai Situpa Rinpoche. More recently she has been attending regular online retreats with non-dual awareness teacher Rupert Spira.

In September 2024, Heather obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Healthcare Chaplaincy with Anglia Ruskin University. As part of her studies, she began a part time placement as a healthcare chaplain at Hull Royal Infirmary in November 2022, which led to a part time job. She now works as a part time NHS healthcare chaplain in Bridlington and Scarborough hospitals.

Heather has spent many years studying meditation, mindfulness, religion, psychology and neuroscience. She has applied what she has learned from these studies to the working of her mind and her daily life by the rigorous practice of reflection and contemplation. Then she has meditated, at home, on retreat and while teaching others, so that this learning became a part of her being.

She knows from her own experience that we can all connect with a deep inner peace and happiness, which is our birthright as human beings. She knows that this deep inner peace is never damaged in any way by the difficult circumstances that life throws at us. She knows that the good things in this precious life are to be enjoyed, here and now and that life’s challenges are a learning opportunity, our curriculum for the day, through which we can grow and learn.

Heather’s own meditation practice has completely transformed her life. Gone is the perfectionist, control freak, terrified of rejection, stressed and anxious. Replaced by a happier, more spontaneous person, who accepts herself as she is and who loves life.

After sixteen years of working with the Mindfulness Association, Heather decided to move on to pastures new. This has led Heather to set up Beachcomber Meditation. The idea of beachcombing reflects her daily walks on the beach with Rosie and Iona and the location of our retreat holidays on the beautiful East Coast of Yorkshire. It also reflects that if we pay attention to what is here and now, there are hidden gems to be discovered which are already present within our mind and our life, just as there are beautiful gem stones, shells and sea glass to be found on the beach. 

Beachcomber Meditation aims to help people connect with their natural state of inner calm, resilience and joy, regardless of their income, life circumstances or busy schedule. Heather has been humbled that so many of her beautiful friends and supportive family members are behind her in this new venture. You can read about some of them below.

Her wish is that we can all together be present to enjoy the next part of our life journey together, to see what can be learned.