Grounded Presence: Coming Home to Earth-Aware Mindfulness

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We live in a time of profound disconnection — from ourselves, from each other, and from the living world we are part of. Mindfulness and compassion offer a well-evidenced pathway back to presence and connection, but what happens when we bring Earth itself into that practice?

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A nature lover since childhood, Kate's own mindfulness practice has deepened and softened through her connection with the natural world. As a nature-based and animal-assisted coach, she has witnessed time and again how nature can support a sense of grounding, fresh perspective, and acceptance. Her masters-level study brought this to life by exploring what it looks and feels like to weave Earth-awareness through the established MBSR curriculum — honouring its integrity whilst opening it to something that was perhaps always there.

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Together with a contribution from Margaret Fletcher and Trish Magyari co-directors of the MBSR and EcoAwareness Project, this session explores that journey through three lenses: what participants experienced, what insights it offers for mindfulness teachers, and why it matters for our shared world.

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Attendees will leave with a felt sense of what Earth-aware mindfulness looks and feels like in practice, and practical insights into how to weave nature connection into our mindfulness practice. For teachers, we explore how to integrate Earth-awareness into an existing curriculum without compromising its integrity — and offer a wider frame for why this matters now.

 

About Your Speakers

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A nature lover since childhood, Kate Ensor has spent over 25 years supporting people to live and work with greater presence, kindness and connection. As a mindfulness and compassion teacher, nature-based coach and facilitator, and trained mindfulness-based supervisor with the Mindfulness Network, she has witnessed time and again how nature can support people to settle, see more clearly, and come home to themselves.

 

Over many years of working in nature as an animal-assisted and forest-based coach, Kate grew increasingly aware of a sense of receiving far more from the natural world than she was offering back. Sharing a passion for Earth-aware mindfulness and compassion teaching has become one of the ways she seeks to redress that balance. Wellbeing, sustainability and nature connection are at the heart of all she offers. As a BAMBA-registered, MBI:TAC competency assessed mindfulness teacher and supervisor and experienced professional coach, Kate is also a trained Community Climate Coach and a founding member of an Inner Development Goals Hub, Learning in the Flow of Life, Luxembourg. She recently completed a Masters in Mindfulness-Based Approaches at Bangor

University. Her final teaching project and thesis, informed by the MBSR and EcoAwareness approach, explore how weaving nature-awareness through an established mindfulness programme can support participants to move from personal stress reduction toward a deeper sense of relational and ecological belonging.

 

Kate will be joined in this session by a short video contribution from Margaret Fletcher and Trish Magyari, co-directors of the MBSR and EcoAwareness Project. Margaret is a senior MBSR teacher trainer certified through the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School and co-founder of East Coast Mindfulness, prior to originating the EcoAwareness Project. Trish is a certified MBSR and Mindful Self-Compassion teacher with a Masters in Clinical Counselling from Johns Hopkins University, who has studied with Joanna Macy since the 1980s. Together they will offer context on the global movement and the growing community of teachers bringing Earth-awareness into their practice and teaching. Kate is based in Luxembourg and teaches internationally.