Jaime has a Masters in Education and has spent much of his adult life listening, developing and teaching educational pathways that explore wholeness. Jaime’s background involved teaching Health and allowing nature to impart her wisdom to young people as a part of the NZ school system. He has spent the last fifteen years studying meditation and community building processes that open the heart and build strong foundations to the living earth.
In 2006 Jaime began facilitating rites of passage events for families and communities. The result of both a three year research thesis and many years in service is a rich and deepening appreciation for the intelligence and heart of well facilitated group processes; these include the use of sharing circles, the telling of stories new and old and the use of ritual.
“The community led rite of passage assists fathers and mothers to restructure their relationships with their sons and daughters, to hear them see them anew, it offers a door way to initiating youth into functional young adulthood and honours that brave journey. It takes a community to raise a child and a whole child to build a community.”
Jaime began studying and practising meditation in the Burmese Tradition of Insight practice. Later he studied for a number of years with Ajahn Munindo in the Thai Forest Tradition. After meeting Tarchin in 2005 he committed to the School of Living Dharma. Since then Jaime has attended many retreats by many wonderful and insightful teachers in the Namgyal lineage. Alongside a number of months of solo retreat experience Jaime has been developing and exploring dance, bodywork, poetry and music as vehicles of integration and contemplation.
Currently Jaime is the director of Opening Minds an organisation dedicated to developing mindfulness and education. He has developed mindfulness programmes for primary/secondary school children, teachers and parents. He is currently contracted by the Mental Health Foundation to deliver the Mindfulness in school programme. He is a trained to deliver the MBSR programme. Alongside his colleagues Kath Mitchell And Mark Schrader he organises and teaches the Young Adult Retreat at the Wangapeka Retreat Centre. He is a co-director for the rites of passage foundation.
Having said all this Jamie explains that he has been an apprentice to both the order and chaos of life; work force burn out, the challenges of long term body pains, accidents, house buildings, post graduate study, relationships…the full catastrophe. In 2013 Jaime decided to devote a period of life to service. He is currently the practitioner in residence at the Wangapeka Retreat Centre.
I aspire to live a life in truth. To meet reality as it is with an open heart and these feet solidly in the ground. I am excited, inspired and concerned for the young people now and far children to come. mindfulness provides the sense of belonging, and dynamic ever present refuge, a pole star to navigate the beauties and the challenges of living in a modern age. In its simplest sense it is a remembering to breathe, feel with feet on the floor and smile.