G’day and welcome! I’m Melli
I’m a mindfulness teacher but, first and foremost, a devoted mindfulness practitioner (who’s still learning, discovering and deepening every day).
Sharing the joy of mindful living is my passion and my purpose.
My mission is to help you enjoy a more conscious and connected life.
I am not a monk or an evangelist of any particular religion or technique. I live in the real world and my mindfulness training occurred under real life circumstances. I teach and write this blog to share my journey to wholeness; a wholeness that I found through mindfulness.
Wholeness, deep peace and joy are available to anyone who taps into the stillness and silence that dwell within them.
This blog is designed for those who are beginners on the path to mindful living as well as those who’ve walked it for some time. It’s for those who want practical, non-dogmatic ways to come home to the here and now in this busy stressful age we live in.
What I offer here are simple teachings and tips for everyday people.
If that sounds like it’s for you, I invite you to join me (and thousands of others) in this discovery of the deep peace, abundance, clarity and fulfilment that are discovered through mindfulness.
Lets stay connected! Sign up to my blog to get weekly insights and inspiration in your inbox as well as updates on upcoming events. I love hearing from you too so feel free to leave your comments and share your own wisdom on blog posts, twitter and facebook too.
I run regular mindfulness retreats and courses too so check them out here and maybe we can meet in person : )
Mindfulness Retreats & Courses
I teach meditation and mindful living through ‘immersion’ retreats as well as courses.
As an internationally accredited meditation and yoga teacher, and a mindfulness teacher (I completed the Level 1 training in mindfulness based interventions with MTIA (Mindfulness Institute of Australia)), I have a unique blend of skills to draw upon to make these retreats one-of-a-kind.
I’m also honoured to have been selected by the Satyananda Mangrove Mountain Ashram (the largest ashram in the southern hemisphere) to teach their mindfulness retreats.
I am not affiliated with any one religion or tradition but rather I draw from them all.
My goal is to distill the essence of the world’s wisdom traditions and to make those teachings easy to understand and simple for you to apply in daily life.
My passion for teaching mindfulness stems from my firm belief that anyone can create the kind of incredible inner transformation I have undergone once they know how.
I’m available to teach and talk on meditation and mindfulness at conferences, festivals and for workshops.
If you are interested in arranging me to teach/speak at one of your events, let’s get in touch.
I run regular mindfulness retreats and courses in Australia and abroad. Check Out My Up And Coming Public Events Here
What People Are Saying
“It is one thing to talk eloquently on the subject of mindfulness and it is another thing to actually practice mindfulness. Mellissa is one of those select few who walks her talk.”
– Swami Kriyatma Saraswati – Mangrove Mountain, Australia
“I am enthralled when I listen to Mellissa teach because there is a delightful mixture of gentleness and incredible power that comes through her message. She has intelligent ideas, a strength of experience, and a driving passion to help the world in an area that is most neglected – the mind. If we tuned in to her message, we would make profound changes in our lives. She is a voice that must be heard.”
– Charmaine Burke – Sydney, Australia
“My weekend with Mellissa, learning the keys to mindfulness, was such a treat! Melli has a calm and confidence that allows her to share her passion and knowledge in a way that is inspiring and everlasting. She is organised yet relaxed, and the techniques I bought home with me have given me confidence to manage everyday challenges as a new mother and bring a new found balance to work and enjoying the magical moments that is my life.”
– Kathleen Moore – Brisbane, Australia
“Thank you for giving me the ability to have more peace, more understanding of what it means to be fulfilled and happy. Through cultivating mindfulness, I have learnt to manage my anxiety and enjoy life so much more.”
– Richard Cowell – Sydney, Australia
Buddhism has been teaching this for over 2500 years – it would be nice if you gave credit where credits due!
G’day James, it’s not only buddhism but also sufism, christianity (in it’s original form), hinduism and many others. There is a universal teaching, a perennial philosophy, and that is what i am a small part of passing on.
Indeed, mindfulness practice is attributable to ALL of the world’s great wisdom traditions and is a way of living day to day, from breath to breath, action to action, word to word. A Himalayan certified yoga and meditation teacher, I’ve been practicing mindfulness for several years. Currently I’m participating in your October Mindfulness Summit and have been enjoying your discussions with other mindfulness practitioners. I’m thankful a friend shared the information. Blessings to you!
Melli, as a Buddhist I’m bothered by this as well. I realize in my mind that this mindfulness vs Buddhism vs Christianity issue is about race and cultures. It’s unconscious and its a BEAST!! It’s hard to look beyond the culture that we’re living in, no matter how mindful we are.
agree…beautifully said
Blessings!
Exactly Melli – You enjoy it! Vedamurti
Hey thanks for touching in Vedamurti : )
Hi Melli.
It was great to find your page.
I am in the middle of very negative feelings and I just googled “what’s stopping me from changing my negative thoughts and feelings”…then I got to your page and started reading about the 4 keys…
I have done a MBSR course a couple of years ago in Dunsborough Western Australia. I have just registered for a new course with the same teacher starting in 2 weeks. I have been bombarded by negative feelings lately and I was feeling at the edge today when I wrote down a page of my feelings …all negative and terrible…I’m glad I did…it helped me to identify them as you mention in that article.
I think I need to re-start my mindfulness practice every day…why is so difficult to stick to it if we know that it is so vital?? I’m on anti-depressants with a higher dose now after visiting the doctor this week…I really need help and I found it in your website. THANK YOU.
Hi Pablo, Thanks for your comment. I am so glad this has been helpful for you. I think MBSR is really great and good on you for going back and giving it another go. Yes, daily practice helps so much. I think you’ll find it very helpful indeed to reduce negativity. Take it easy on yourself. Your doing really great to be recognising that ways in which you get ‘caught up’ so just keep at it one moment at a time, one breath at a time. Gently, kindly and with an attitude of friendly patience towards yourself. Your doing great and your doing the best you can.
Hi There,
I have been searching for a down to earth and practical source for intergrating mindfulness as a form of meditation, your presentation is refreshingly fitting for me. Thanks!
Hey Tina, I’m so glad you’re finding value in this blog. Stay in touch : )
Your excellent article – Hurry Up and Slow Down – resonated deeply with me and I have retweeted it – twice. Yours is a voice of wisdom. Anyone who can explain a complex topic in a simple to understand manner like you do has deep knowledge. I am very happy to have found your blog.
Hi Miriam, Thanks for touching base and for your kind words. I am so glad your finding the blog helpful. All the best to you : )
Dear Melli,
I want to commend you for your efforts in spreading mainstream mindfulness. The world needs more mindfulness and quickly.
A few years ago, Mindful Magazine was launched with the intention of bringing mindfulness to the mainstream. What stood out after the first series of well crafted and content packed issues was the complete absence of diversity in the teachers depicted on the covers. All were middle-aged Caucasians. The magazine has since featured a more diverse face of the movement. In America, we have worked hard in the mindfulness community and in the expert Dharma community to change that narrative, and to represent “mainstream” as colorful, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic. Let’s all together keep an eye out for not creating barriers to entry to mindfulness by giving the impression that it is simply the domain of college educated, upper middle class white people (many of whom are fantastic, extraordinary people and among my close friends). We have too much at stake and the promise of mindfulness is too great.
There are some amazing and diverse young teachers in the world that should be on your presenter list and who’s faces should be seen in your ads.
Again, I applaud you for your efforts and for thinking big. I just want to ask you to think even bigger. Think 5 generations, think multi-cultural and multi-ethnicity. That will really make it a summit, and not just a repetition of the status quo.
As someone currently involved in accrediting mindfulness teachers globally I would be happy to share more of our best thinking on this if you are interested. I will be in Melbourne and Sydney in October. Maybe our paths will cross sometime.
Until then wishing you and your team much Metta and success.
Sincerely,
Dawa Tarchin Phillips
Mindfulness Education and Research Specialist
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
University of California Santa Barbara
G’day Dawa, I sent you an email re us working together on this! Looking forward to your response mate. Great suggestions and would love to have a cuppa when your in Australia!
Greetings, Feelings of gratitude! All of my tiny sixty seven years of earth time I have yearned to belong to á spiritual group that allows freedom to be an individual and discuss and explore knowledge. I have experienced moments of bliss in all I have visited yet at the threshold of ‘signing up or taking a pledge’ I stop. My hesitation stems from a sense of caution. Often group/organisation rule is to assume loyalty and often that may mean surrender of personal integrity or stem a healthy quest to question, so I have walked a solo path. I love life: group ritual, ceremony and celebration however My spirit responds to the silent transitions of the day and the numerous and often very funny voices in nature. Listening to you and reading some of the other comments I hear Mindfulness combines many traditions and sense that is testimony of respect for and expansion of humanities move to embrace holistic living and thus resume our role as custodians of our home the Earth. walk gently
Melli, Thanks so much for all your work on the Mindfulness Summit. The format is most appreciated – slow enough to allow this graduate student in Mindfulness Studies to catch them all. I have a personal interest in the Japanese tea ceremony as a non-religious mindful practice that has been preserved for 500 years like a time capsule of cultural wisdom. It has much to teach regarding mindfulness applied to activities of every day living as well as relationships. If you are interested in the topic, contact me by regular email. Thanks again.
Hey Kathleen, thanks for touching in. I’m so glad you’re joining us for the summit. You know I have never had the chance to be part of a Japanese tea ceremony but have heard so much about them. I wonder where I could give it a try.
Fantastic stuff Melli,
went into this Summit not knowing what to expect but your kind thoughtful questions and presence really send out a warmth even from the other side of the world!
Thanks again
Hello, Melli,
With so many charlatans out there (in the world and on the Internet), I think it’s important to know the messenger as well as the message. Is your biography available? – Paul
Hi Melli, I am from the states, wondering if you ever come out to the New York City tri-state area to offer your retreats?
Hey Jill, Thanks for your comment. It’s lovely to e-meet you. I do all of my retreats in Australia at this point but if you stay on our mailing list you’ll know my movements. Hope to get over there one day!
Thank you so much for the wonderful Mindfulness Summit!
Andrea
Hi Melli
I came across your site by chance, or maybe by fate or by serendipity or a hidden hand! Who knows but it is great to discover you and this inter connectedness. I have long been interested in Mindfulness and more recently in ACT, Acceptance Commitment Therapy, which has a strong Mindfulness dimension. Like you, I have always felt a strong inner urge to express this interest, become passion, for myself and for others. I write poetry and have recently launched a blog at actmadelyrical.com. The poetry comes naturally but the sharing of it in this strange new world of social media does not. I feel like a baby stumbling around and discovering things by chance. I keep falling down and tripping up but I have a compulsion to keep going. I try to make Mindfulness part of my daily life and in the past I have belonged to a group. Sharing with others is great. I am so glad to have found this community online and I look forward to staying in touch.
Melli,
I took part in the Mindfulness Summit and found it to be so wonderful. I would love to attend a retreat given by you. I live in Toronto, Canada. Sometime in the next couple of years I will be visiting Australia. I’ll try to create my trip around one of your retreats. Thank you so much for all of your hard work with organizing the Mindfulness Summit.
Heya Susan, Thanks for your sweet comment. It would be so lovely to meet in person when you come on your trip. I look forward to it : )
Hi Melli
Thanks for sharing your journey and passing on the experience and insights that you have learned along the way. Although each of us travel alone it is wonderful to do it in good company. We have much to learn from one another and if we can reach out a helping hand along the way so much the better. I discovered Mindfulness at a low point of my life and it helped me then and it continues to help me every time I remember to turn to it now. I know I am out of touch when I become too busy! Reading your page has helped me to slow down and reconnect. Thanks for that
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