A monk within the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Choden (aka Sean McGovern) completed a three year, three month retreat in 1997 and has been a practicing Buddhist since 1985. He is originally from South Africa where he trained as a lawyer and learned meditation under the guidance of Rob Nairn, an internationally renowned Buddhist teacher.
Choden is now involved in developing secular mindfulness, compassion and insight programmes drawing upon the wisdom and methods of the Buddhist tradition, as well as contemporary insights from psychology and neuroscience. He is an honorary fellow of the University of Aberdeen and teaches on their Postgraduate Study Programme in Mindfulness (MSc) that is the first of its kind to include compassion in its curriculum. He is also a recognised teacher of the University of West Scotland and teaches on the MSc Teaching Mindfulness and Compassion.
He co-wrote a book with Paul Gilbert in 2012, entitled ‘Mindful Compassion’ that explores the interface between Buddhist and Evolutionary approaches to compassion training. In 2016 he completed a one year retreat focused on the foundation practices of Tibetan Buddhism.
Choden has also co-written 2 other books: The Mindfulness Based Living Course (2018) with Heather Regan-Addis and From Mindfulness to Insight (2019) with Rob Nairn & Heather Regan-Addis.
Heather lives on the East Coast of Yorkshire with her two golden labradors Rosie and Iona. She works as a meditation teacher for the Mindfulness Association, teaches on the University of Aberdeen’s MSc in Studies in Mindfulness and also works as a Buddhist Healthcare Chaplain in the NHS. She is a BAMBA registered Mindfulness teacher and a UKBHC registered healthcare chaplain.
She began training in Mindfulness Meditation with Rob Nairn in 2004 and is currently taking regular retreats with non-dual teacher Rupert Spira who’s teachings are based in Advaita Vedanta and courses with global Buddhist organisation Tara Mandala. She is British Wheel of Yoga trained yoga teacher, has a Post Graduate Diploma in Mindfulness Based Approaches from the University of Bangor, Wales and has a Masters degree in Studies in Mindfulness from the University of Aberdeen.
She is the co-author of three books, Mindfulness Based Living Course, Compassion Based Living Course and From Mindfulness to Insight.