Bio
Some of my earliest memories as a child are from moments of awe and wonder experienced in the rainforest of Northern New South Wales, Australia. After growing up in the Southern Highlands, still fascinated by forest plants and animals and the way they interact, I enrolled at university in Far North Queensland to be nearer to the rainforest. Eventually I undertook doctoral research into the impacts of climate change on biodiversity of rainforest birds. Many silent hours within its vaulted shade however, revealed in the forest a wonderful meditation teacher, and it soon led me to a more holistic approach to “interbeing” articulated in the language of the Dharma.
After postdoctoral research at NMBU in Norway, investigation functional ecology of rainforest birds in the Colombian Andes, in 2014 I visited plum Village in the Dordogne in France. I returned for the winter retreat that year, and spent most of the next two years studying and practicing the art of “mindfulness in daily life” under Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and his disciples there. That experience opened for me a door to the possibility of monastic life. Later I received Vajrayana instruction from His Holiness the 42nd Sakya Trizin - Ratna Vajra Rinpoche, at Rajpur in India in 2017, and requested full ordination as a monk in the Sakya Tibetan Tradition in Kathmandu the same year. My bikkhu ordination preceptor is His Emminence the 27th Chögye Trichen Rinpoche of Jamchen Lakhang, Boudhanath, Kathmandu, Nepal.
In 2017 I also met Thomas Gutmann (Dhammadipa), who along with fundamentals of śamatha-vipassana, teaches a doctrine of “One Buddhism”, informed by his long interest and study in both Theravada and Mahayana, including Zen, as well as other wisdom traditions including Hatha Yoga and Chinese medicine. Inspired by him I have traveled widely for study, pilgrimage and retreat, including periods in Nepal, Myanmar, India, Tibet, Thailand and Vietnam.
My parallel interest in movement practice first found expression through martial arts firstly Shotokan Karate, then the Brazilian “dance-fight-game” of Capoeira. Seeking balance between physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of self, I was gradually drawn to art-forms more based on the breath, with an intensive period of Yoga study in Varanasi in 2012, then studying and practicing in Nepal, France, Thailand and Australia before undertaking a Hatha Yoga teacher training in Mysore in 2017. This was paralleled by study and practice of Qi-Gong, including periods with teachers in France, Australia and Mainland China.
I am interested by the complementarity of the Buddhist, Taoist and Indian Yogic approaches to cultivation of physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. I like to remind myself that I am an “Australian Buddhist”, and look for similarities among traditions as a way to understand an essence which can be applied to my own experience. In this time of global ecological and humanitarian crisis, I am especially interested in engaged spiritual practices that apply mindfulness to the cultivation of harmony within oneself, within community, and with the natural world.
In Deep Ecology I have found a wonderful community of practitioners dedicated to the exploration of the cross-over between these domains, and I am passionate about wilderness yatra — group walking meditation in wild places — incorporating aspects of the “Work That Reconnects” as a modality for exploring healthy individuation and connection with the planet in this time of ecological crisis.
I am currently based on the Dorrigo Plateau in the mid-north of NSW, where with the Gaia Forest Project we nurture an aspiration to build mindful community for the practice of meditation, yoga and Deep Ecology.
For a fuller CV — qualifications, retreat facilitation history, publications and more — see the CV page.