With a background in nursing I qualified as an RGN 1973 and in Oncology

and Radiotherapy (Royal Marsden Hospitals) becoming a sister of an

Intensive Care Unit at the age of 23.

Following this I studied pastoral counselling for two years in 1981, and then

went on to qualify in Systemic Counselling at the Institute of Family Therapy,

London.

Starting my own business Manushi Ltd, in 1995, as the founder and

managing director of a training, facilitation, coaching and counselling

business until 2013 I worked in charities and multinational businesses.

Passionate about exploring life, with an interest in empowering people and a

more inclusive approach to healing, my path lead me to the world of holistic

medicine and Buddhism. I became a student of Japanese master Okinobu

Kishi, studying and practicing Seiki for over nine years, and qualified the first

year of an ITTA diploma course in Ku Nye with Eric Rosenbush.

In 1991, I started practicing in the Zen Buddhist tradition and subsequently

Vajrayana in 2002, My path crossed with Dr Nida many times in the UK and

Tibet but I didn’t meet him until COVID Lockdown when I was gratefully

accepted onto the Sowa Rigpa Foundation course followed by the counsellor

program which was an amazing blend of Eastern and Western approaches to

Medicine.

I have long been interested in the connection between dreams and our daily

life perceptions of reality and in 2009 collaborated with a dear friend, Charlie

Morley, running Mindfulness of Dream and sleep retreats whilst chair of the

Crystal Group UK. The Sowa Rigpa training gave me a wonderful opportunity

to explore more fully the gifts dreams give us.

My interest in dreams and their personal insights started in childhood through my own traumas and came to the forefront again in my 50’s. This was encouraged when I started co-facilitating Dream retreats with Charlie Morley, a practitioner, friend and writer of many books on Lucid dreaming and Mindfulness of Dream and Sleep. Fascinated about integrating day and night dreams, which are often approached separately, I explored the seamless transition between day and night with our endless stories, known and unknown. These became apparent and their insights useful grist for the mill.

During the SW Counsellor course, dreams were explored in both Eastern and

Western traditions and we also studied the use of Metaphors in Psychology. For my final project I decided to weave these together as a tool for diagnosis and embarked upon a case study to show how our dream metaphors can help clients go deeper to explore their challenges in an environment of trust and non-judgment. Where they can feel safe exploring hidden traumas without shame. I adapted the metaphor model for this case study and six months after my clients sessions a wonderful outcome manifested. Sharing this with the SW team they suggested I speak about it at the SW Forum. I feel sure this model has more to offer and wanted to share it with those who appreciate an integrated approach to life and how using the magical world of dreams can assist us in helping others.