I am a Mindfulness Teacher, Mother and Grandmother, Lifelong-Learner and a Work-in-Progress.
When I was reading “Healing and the Mind” by Bill Moyers, specifically the chapter on meditation by Jon Kabat-Zinn, I saw that most of us create or intensify our physical, psychological and spiritual suffering when we aren’t present.
Given that numerous others who are dealing with stress, anxiety, and trauma struggle to find relief from physical, psychological, and spiritual pain, I thought I could help.
That’s why I launched Cheryl Mills Coaching: Mindfulness training to help people increase mindful awareness to reduce suffering and improve overall health and well-being by learning to be more present in their lives.
I speak from personal experience when I say that living mindfully can change your life. It holds the potential to change our world. It has enabled me to gain clarity, confidence, understanding, strength, compassion, perspective, peace and improved psychological and physical health after decades of emotional and verbal abuse.
Waking up to your life can present challenges but it’s the only way to live fully. Sometimes it’s easier to bury and ignore what’s going on, but the pain just goes deeper inside and comes out in ways that you may never have intended.
To truly heal one must look closely and see clearly. Seeing things clearly and as they are gives you power and choices that you may not have known you had.
I am one of the Co-Founders and Creators of The Healing Trauma Conference, and Co-Founder and President of Haelan House, an Oregon Nonprofit Organization dedicated to helping people heal the effects of trauma.
A Pacific Northwest native, I have been a spiritual seeker for decades. I graduated from Eastern Washington University (many, many moons ago) with a Bachelor’s degree in Recreation & Leisure Services and a minor in Business Administration. I like to tell people I majored in fun.
I adopted Central Oregon as my forever home after landing a job here and starting a new adventure with my 4-year-old son as a single mom, way back when. After a couple of decades working in the hospitality and tourism industries, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up.
It wasn’t until I began my journey with mindfulness that I discovered my desire to serve and teach people how to use their own inner resources for vibrant health and well-being.
After reading an interview with Jon Kabat-Zinn I was struck by the power of meditation and gentle yoga to transform a person’s life, and potentially our whole world, through the power of mindfulness. I began to understand what it means to be truly present for your life and am passionate about sharing these insights with others.
In 2013, I began the training program to become a Qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Teacher through the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, School of Medicine, where Jon Kabat-Zinn started this work. I completed training in 2015 and began teaching in January of 2016.
Coincidentally, about that same time, I learned that I had been experiencing the effects of trauma from emotional and verbal abuse since childhood. I began reading and doing research on what it was, realizing that I had experienced trauma because of it. I learned more about how it affected my life and relationships, and what to do about it for myself. My mindfulness practice has been invaluable to my healing.
I enjoy working with groups and individuals, helping them to realize their own abilities, and capacity for healing.
I look forward to meeting you.
May you be well,