And there it comes: learning and practicing gardening teaches us to be patient, accepting, consistent, curious, observing, following nature’s rhythms and knowing that it is an everyday work. That is why I like to take my friends and students to the garden.
Hi, I’m Theya Ghilardi and I can help you to reach your full potential
Mindfulness is not a difficult and complicated concept. It is an accessible life-long personal skill. If you master it - it stays with you for your whole life. And is completely free to practise it - you do not require any equipment or special settings.
Hi, my name is Theya and I prefer to present myself as a mindfulness guide. I prefer to say that I am not teaching you mindfulness, but I am guiding you, as mindfulness is as unique as everybody is.
My own journey to become a mindfulness guide
My own journey as a mindfulness guide started two years ago when a friend sent me a small picture with colourful circles and the unknown word “IKIGAI” in the middle. It made me think and for the first time fully understand how I would like my professional career to look like and to fit in my whole life. Then a question came: What should I do exactly to fulfil those ideal pictures? At this time I was part time Forest School practitioner in a London primary school, casual outdoor educator at WWT London Wetland centre, volunteer urban gardener and full time mum…
My clear inner vision is that being a mindfulness guide is my IKIGAI – the combination of something I love, something the world needs, something that resonates well with my values, skills and personality and possibly something that I can be good in.
Mindfulness has changed my own life for good and that is where my inspirations came to share it with others.
Practicing mindfulness helped me a lot to manage and navigate the mental health conditions that I have been experiencing since I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and panic disorder in 2008.
Mindfulness guided me through the different challenges of parenthood and helped me to be a happy and confident mum. It helped me to be an empathetic, understanding and supporting, playful and wise parent who grows and learns alongside its child.
I’ve always been connected to nature, starting with growing in a house with a big garden and having grandparents and parents who were and still are patient about their gardens. This took me on my professional journey as field biologist and environment conservationist. But also later literally saved my life when struggling with severe mental health illness.
Today I am still a very keen hobby gardener, as well as part time professional horticulturist working in our family-owned green business.
I do believe mindfulness and nature could be great catalysts for personal positive transformations, as well as healing power and paths to a richer and meaningful life.
I am doing my best to spend time with my family in the great outdoors every weekend and during the holidays. We are hiking, bird watching, sketching, taking photos, using all our senses to adore and immerse ourselves in nature. The mindful approach to all those activities is coming quite naturally.
“The mind is a fertile garden – it will grow anything you wish to plant – beautiful flowers or weeds. And it is with successful, healthy thoughts or negative ones that will, like weeds, strangle and crowd the others. Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind, for they are the weeds that strangle confidence.” Bruce Lee
My experiences and qualifications in Mindfulness
– 2021 – I am proud to be part of the Teach Mindfulness Academy – a vivid and inspiring community of mindfulness and ACT practitioners
– I finished in 2020 and 2021 a Mindfulness Training and Kindfulness (Advanced Mindfulness Training) course with Shamash Alidina (the author of a famous book called “Mindfulness for Dummies”).
– Meanwhile I’ve also completed Training in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Training) for beginners.
– I am a certified teacher in Hatha Yoga and keen practitioner of yoga for more than 10 years.
– I am trained as a Level 3 Forest School Practitioner and got practice in the last four years in leading groups of kids – ages 4 to 11.
Leading Forest School sessions was also the moment I discovered the potential of outdoor activities as a therapy…and fell in love with the mindfulness exercises in the woods.
– During my work with the WWT London Wetland Centre as an outdoor family educator I was leading children and family groups in outdoor activities such as building shelters, campfire cooking, birdwatching, etc.
– I also have a Level 2 certificate in understanding children and young peoples mental health (2020).
– I have long experience in gardening and leading volunteers in gardening. I work as professional gardener since 2015.
– I have a solid background in biological sciences as I did MSci in Biology and Vertebrate zoology and my PhD is in ecology and nature conservation. I’ve been studying mammal behaviour and cognitive evolution of senses.
– I have also had quite serious personal experience with different therapies as I have had mental health issues and went through a long journey of healing and learning how to manage my symptoms and live with them . I know exactly what anxiety and depression is from my own experience.
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Contact
theya@mindroots.uk
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