About Ramona Lane
MINDFULNESS MEDITATION TEACHER AND COACH
I’m Ramona, owner of Tara Labyrinth and Meditation in Innes Park, Queensland.
I first came across meditation when I was about 16 when I attended a meditation evening run by the Hare Krishnas. I had a very deep experience but thought that my father wouldn’t approve of me attending meditation classes so I never went back. Over the years, I was always curious about what meditation actually was and what it could do for me but I was busy being a working Mum and believed that I had no time left at the end of a busy week to do anything for myself.
Fast forward a few years and I found myself in a very dark place. I was totally overwhelmed with all of the different “hats” I was wearing as well as travelling more than 3 hours daily (on a good day) to get to a highly stressful job. Add to that parenting teenage children and being pseudo-Mum to two siblings. Something eventually gave and that something was me. My legal career of more than 30 years came to a sudden halt and I was unable to work at all. I was taking antidepressants, too scared to put a foot outside of my home, unable to sleep and spent most of my time in bed crying.
I remember after the umpteenth visit to my GP going home and opening my pantry door. I had a sudden realisation that no-one could “fix” me – not my GP, not my spouse nor any other family members, not my friends. The only one who could get me to be a happy, healthy, functioning human being again was me. And that was the start of my meditation journey.
Synchronistically, I saw an ad in a local paper about Sahaja Yoga Meditation classes. I practically forced myself to go and then enjoyed it so much that I started going weekly. I then started going to other meditation classes as well and the veil of darkness that had been enveloping me, gradually began to lift.
In 2012, I went on pilgrimage to Crete with my eldest daughter and it was here that I walked my first ever Labyrinth. This experience had such a profound effect on me that when I returned home, I researched whatever I could find about Labyrinths. This led me to come across Dr Lauren Artress who had founded Veriditas, a non-profit organisation dedicated to “peppering the planet with Labyrinths”. I trained with Dr Artress and Veriditas and became an Advanced Certified Labyrinth Facilitator. Walking Labyrinths became my walking meditation and I built one on our property so that I could walk it every day.
When I was considering what I wanted to do after leaving my paid work as a midwife, I actually walked a local Labyrinth with a question in mind about whether I should also train as a Meditation Teacher. The positive answer came the very next day! As a result, I have completed the following:
· Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching and Guiding Meditation (Australian Centre for Meditation and Mindfulness)
· Currently studying a Masters in Teaching and Guiding Meditation (Australian Centre for Meditation and Mindfulness)
· Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Programme – a 2 year course run by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield
· Power of Awareness course (Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield)
I facilitate Introduction to Mindfulness courses on behalf of Mindfulness Works Australia. I am also a Meditation Coach with ACMM where I help others to fulfil their dream of becoming a meditation teacher. I hold two meditation sessions each week, monthly meditation classes for pregnant women, regular Labyrinth walks as well as other workshops and events. Classes are held in my traditional Mongolian Ger (yurt) on the small acreage property close to the beach that I share with my husband, our pooch and countless other wildlife.
I am a member of Meditation Australia and the International Institute for Complementary Therapists (IICT) as well as the Australian Labyrinth Network.
Meditation and Mindfulness have allowed me to be a more compassionate, happier person and to find the inner peace that I had been seeking for such a long time. I am passionate about living a mindful life and helping others to find their own sense of inner peace through the practice of meditation and mindfulness.
I look forward to seeing you soon in the ger.
