About Craig.
When I was four years old, I asked myself: is life a dream?
There weren’t any Buddhist monks wandering around the Western suburbs of Adelaide in those days, or things might have turned out a bit differently.
That question, Is life a dream?, stayed with me until I couldn’t put it off any longer.
That question led me through acting schools and film sets, meditation centres and monasteries.
I began my mindfulness practice at Plum Village, France with Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village community and the Deer Park, California. I trained to teach meditation and mindfulness with Julian Daizan Skinner Roshi through Zenways, UK. I’m an emerging dharma teacher in the Insight tradition through the Insight Meditation Institute Australia, mentored by Subhana Barzaghi.
I’ve become a counsellor, coach and therapist and I’ve spent years working with creatives and leaders. Across all the study, teaching and learning, a couple of key themes stand out.
When we can release the grip of our conditioning, we can pay attention to what’s emerging. We can get to know where we’re coming from. When we live with awareness, presence and compassion for ourselves, we can make the most of life in this moment.
How I Work Now
My work now is about helping people find that presence — through meditation, mindful inquiry, and creative exploration.
I’ve also worked and taught for years in the world of screen and theatre. If you’d like to know more about that, please read here.
The way art reveals who we are and how we’re striving to connect with self and other has been and continues to be a huge inspiration.
If you’re looking for help with creative work and you’d like to know more about my specific work in that world, you can read more about that here.
We May Be A Good Fit If:
You want to talk about the deep questions, not have surface conversation.
We’ll often look at your whole body/mind experience.
All of your mental/psychological/emotional/physiological functions – your emotions, body sensations, thoughts, imagination, intuition and intellect – can show you the way in combination.
I’ll offer exercises and practices to take us deeper into the heart of the question you’re working with. The closer we get to the source, the closer you come to the insight and transformation.
You want to work with someone who’s invested in doing the work with you.
We’ll pause and look deeply at the stories that have shaped your life to this point. We’ll take our time to do this, spending time to see the deeper origins of these stories and how they play in your life.
As one of my teachers says, we’ll slow down to speed up.
Looking deeply at one aspect of a question or a story you bring to a session can open much deeper insights into who you are. That’s the gold of this work.
My Qualifications
I’m an emerging Dharma teacher in the Insight tradition through the Insight Meditation Institute Australia. I trained in Narrative Therapy (MA first class, University of Melbourne), as a Meditation and Mindfulness teacher (Zenways, Zendo Kai, U.K.) and as a Psychosynthesis coach (Synthesis Center, San Francisco).
My approach draws on:
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Mindfulness and Buddhist psychology
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Narrative therapy and coaching
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Psychosynthesis and Internal Family Systems
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Creative process and embodied awareness