I first became interested in Buddhism almost accidentally, through a process of artistic discovery following visits to Buddhist temples in China and Japan. When I got home, I tried a drop-in meditation class at the Manchester Buddhist Centre in February 2015, and went on from there, formally requesting ordination in 2016. This was after a Church of England upbringing, from which I turned away in my early teens, and many years as a proud atheist, spurning any notion of religion and adamant that the clinical certainty of western science would eventually come to explain all apparent mysteries in both the physical world and the human psyche.
2016 was also the year in which, as part of this this process of personal evolution, I left a 12 year art teaching career and began to explore other ways to make a meaningful contribution to the world around me. This included six months teaching at a Buddhist social project in Nagpur, offering free education to some of India's poorest and most excluded young people. After this I undertook a five month residential training course on Dharma practice at Adhisthana in Hereford before being honoured with an invitation to join the team at Taraloka as the Finance Officer from January 2018. I put down the spreadsheets and became Kitchen Manager in April 2022. It continues to be a delightful privilege to be part of the Taraloka story and I hope to welcome you along on retreat very soon!