Mark Coleman is an inner and outer explorer, who has devotedly studied mindfulness meditation practices for three decades. He is passionate about sharing the power of meditation and has taught mindfulness workshops and meditation retreats in six continents for the past twenty years.  Mark is a senior meditation teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught there since 2000. Mark holds a MA in Clinical Psychology and draws on his extensive experience in working with people as a therapist and coach.

Through the Mindfulness Training Institute Mark leads Professional Mindfulness Teacher Trainings in the US and UK annually.  Mark likes to share the fruits of meditation to wider audiences and founded The Mindfulness Institute, where he has brought mindfulness training programs to companies and the nonprofit sector across North America and Europe. Mark is a trainer for  the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, developed at Google and teaches on their teacher trainings.

Mark is an unabashed nature lover and, through his organization Awake in the Wild, he shares his passion for integrating meditation and nature. He leads wilderness meditation retreats from Alaska to Peru, taking people on inner and outdoor adventures. Through Awake in the Wild, Mark also leads year-long meditation-in-nature teacher trainings in the US.

Mark is the author of From Suffering to Peace: The True Promise of Mindfulness, Make Peace with Your Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Help Free You from the Inner Critic and Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery.

Mark lives in Marin County, California and enjoys spending his free time hiking, biking and kayaking.

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Connect with Mark: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Awaken in the Wild

Mark’s book:

• From Suffering to Peace: The True Promise of Mindfulness,
• Make Peace with Your Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Help Free You from the Inner Critic
•  Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery.

Download Audio:

Stream the audio here

Books Mentioned:

• The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness
• Invitation to Meditation: How to Find Peace Wherever You Are

People Mentioned:

• Diana Winston
• Howard Cohn
• Joseph Goldstein 
• Jack Kornfield
• Peter Levine
• Bob Licht

Show Notes:

• What’s your connection with kayaking and nature and how did you fall in love with kayaking?
• While growing up in England, was your family also connected to nature and mindfulness? 
• When did meditation exactly came into the picture of your life? 
• Finding peace is always a lifelong process and never-ending. You were 19 years old when you visited that Buddhist center and you mentioned that you were angry and had unacknowledged self hatred. What were the reasons of you being angry and having self-hatred?
• Did you have any kind of childhood trauma behind your anger and depression and self-hatred? 
• If I try to paint the picture of your life, where were you exactly in your life when you were really recognizing your pre-verbal traumas?
• Did you get support from others to work through your trauma? 
• Meditation retreat helped you to recognize your trauma and later on you did bodywork and somatic therapeutic work. Could you double click on somatic based therapy?
• It requires a constant practice to work on grounding. For someone who is new in the mindfulness space, how should they remind themselves to have all these grounding practices. What would be the best approach for someone to stick to all these practices?
• What do you do in the first few minutes of your waking up, let’s say in the first 60 minutes of your waking up? 
• How many minutes of meditation practice do you have personally on a daily basis?
• While growing up – who did you want to be? Did you want to be meditation mindfulness teacher?
• I’ve seen some beautiful testimonials from Jack Kornfield in your work. How did you connect with Jack? 
• Jack Kornfield is like a godfather in mindfulness space. So what have you learned from him in your experience if you don’t mind sharing with us? 
• I would like to touch upon the context of meditation in relationships to be specific. So how can meditation helps us cultivating more deeper amd rich romantic relationships?
• In your work, you bring mindfulness to be free from the inner critic. We all have inner critic sometimes, that inner voice, that judgmental voice. So how do we work towards resolving that?
• What gives you joy in life? How do you cultivate joy and happiness?
• Could you recommend some resources in terms of books or online to cultivate the quality of awareness and attention in our day-to-day lives?
• and much more!

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