We asked our teachers 5 questions and here is what Rebecca responded:
1) If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self / what do you wish you'd known at the beginning when you started out on this path?
I would love my younger self to know that she was fine as she was – no improvement needed! She just needed to trust life and these beautiful teachings and practices to do their work and allow herself to naturally evolve.
2) What brings you joy? What makes you unhappy?
I feel joy when I am immersed in nature in the present moment. Historically, I had a sense that nature was ‘out there’ - a space I could choose to go out for a walk in for example. I now recognise that this is true, but also that my entire being is nature too. This opens the potential for seamless connection to joy. Of course, moment to moment experience includes times of connection and disconnection, but there is a knowing of the ongoingness of the potential for connection which is the portal to joy.
I feel unhappy when my children are struggling or are unhappy. I keenly feel the challenging legacy of conditions that the next generations are inheriting.
3) If you weren't teaching what career would you have liked to have?
I am passionate about holistic approaches to health which encompass the connection between planetary health, human health and the health of all living systems. This has been a current of interest throughout my adult life. My recent diagnosis of Parkinsons has further stimulated this inquiry. Parkinsons is increasing in prevalence, and like so many chronic health conditions, is thought to be caused by an interaction of environmental insults with individual genetic and metabolic vulnerabilities. I’d love to engage at both individual and collective levels to look at how we can promote healing.
4) What one phrase or teaching do you come back to the most / have you found most useful? (Buddhist or not)
Whatever we frequently think and ponder upon, that will become the inclination of our mind.
5) What’s the most unusual place you've meditated or taught?
In recent years I have been teaching retreats on Ynys Enlli/Bardsey Island. The island has been a pilgrimage destination and a contemplative place for centuries so in many ways it is not an unusual place to meditate. As a remote off grid island, it is very conducive for practice. It is a place that asks us to get back to basics and rediscover the complexity and simplicity of life without modern conveniences.