I have been interested in Buddhism as a religion without a god ever since reading Hermann Hesse’s ‘Siddhartha’ as a teenager, and read around the subject somewhat randomly at the time. I also explored Native American shamanic traditions in my 20’s, and still vividly remember details of an excellently guided Vision Quest from that time, with what has now morphed into the beautifully named ‘School of Lost Borders’ in the US. Then in the early 1990s, I lived and worked as a Primary Teacher Trainer in the eastern hills of Nepal for two years, and was very moved by the simple yet profound, lived, shamanically tinged buddhism in the tribal villages there. In retrospect I realise this aroused my faith in the power of the Buddhist teachings.

After some searching around on my return to the West, I finally formally learnt to meditate at the North London Triratna Buddhist Centre in 1999, and have had a daily meditation practice ever since. What immediately struck me was the space and freedom meditation opened in my mind, as well as the pragmatism and common sense of the teachers I met there, who were really trying to put the teachings into practice in their everyday lives. I joined the London Buddhist Centre Sangha, eventually moved into a Buddhist community and was then ordained and given the aspirational name Akashadevi - Light Being of Infinite Space - in 2011. Since then, I have taught Meditation, Mindfulness and Buddhism in weekly classes and on retreats at the London Buddhist Centre , West London Buddhist Centre. and more recently in my own home in Penzance

What I can offer in and around Penzance: