The Story of Butterfly Minds

Empathy is a skill.

Butterfly Minds was created during a time of transformation. In 2021, I qualified as a yoga teacher and creative mindfulness teacher for children and teenagers. I decided it was time to take the leap to create my own business.

I had been working within the voluntary sector for over a decade and developed a wide range of experience and skills during this time. I realised that, during my time in various roles, I had been using practices which are explored in yoga and mindfulness.

I’m very much an empath and feel people's emotions deeply.

For the last seven years, I worked with children and their parents/carers in the community learning and development field, I have a PG (Dip) in Community Education and BA (Hons) Criminology.

I provided social and emotional support individually and for small and large groups. Many of the children had additional support needs, mostly neurodivergent, undiagnosed and diagnosed.

When lockdown began, changing from being in an office all day everyday to fully working from home was an insightful shift.

Although there were stressful times, I noticed that I had more mental space and I spent a lot more time outdoors than previously.

This is when I deepened my mindfulness and yoga practice.

I prioritised creating time to look after my mental and physical wellbeing during the period of collective stress and mourning.

I began teaching yoga to friends and family during lockdown and noticed the positive impact it had on them. Which motivated me to undertake my full yoga teaching qualification and share the practices with more people. I have been teaching since then!

While I was working with children and families and building my yoga and mindfulness business I studied various courses including:

200h Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training

70h Soulful Yin Yoga Teacher Training

60h Children’s and Teen’s Yoga Training

60h Yin and Restorative Yoga Teacher Training

50h Yoga Nidra Teacher Training

Creative Mindfulness for Children and Teenagers

Neurodiversity Informed Mindfulness

Mentoring and Coaching in Professional Practice

Life Purpose Life Coaching 

Mindfulness Teacher and Coaching Training 

And other CPD courses, such as child protection training.

Mindfulness and Youth/Family Work

When I started learning and practicing mindfulness more regularly I discovered that I had been using the techniques without being consciously aware.

Parent carers had shared with me before that I had a “calming presence” they felt “heard and listened to” as well as many other kind compliments.

Being an empath, I automatically fully and mindfully listened to parents when they shared their worries, concerns and frustrations with me.

I regularly attended meetings and appointments to support them, help advocate for their child and discuss ways to best meet the family's needs.

I was aware of the level of stress, overwhelm and exhaustion that they felt before, during and after the meetings.

The mindfulness practices were beneficial when working with children too. I brought my full attention to conversations and adapted my activities to meet their needs at that moment.

In my sessions, I often included simple mindfulness activities to share with children to help support their social-emotional learning and wellbeing. The children particularly loved the mindful breathing, mindfulness with senses and colouring activities.

Since spring 2024 I have shared mindfulness with over 400 children.

Business Transformation

This sparked the realisation that I could combine my knowledge, skills and experience from working in community education with mindfulness and yoga.

I published my debut book, Slow Down Amaya, shortlisted in the Ink Book Prize 2024, which features two Black Neurodiverse characters, to explore mindfulness through storytelling . I was aware of the lack of representation within picture books and wanted to increase the number of diverse picture books.

I thought, “why hadn't I thought about this before?”

It made sense to provide you with offers which combine my areas of expertise.

However, putting the idea into action was what was holding me back.

Would I need to build a whole new community and create new social media accounts?

I didn't have a specific ‘niche’ before but making this shift would change that.

After going to and fro and reflecting on the pros and cons I decided to take small actions towards the big change!

Working as an Author

I have three independently published books for parents and children. They were written to support families wellbeing with mindfulness.

Additionally, my children's books, in The Mindfully Slow Down Series, promote diversity and inclusion to help children see themselves and others in literature.

I strive to share the importance of representation in the wellness and creative industries. Therefore, I offer author visits and speaking events/trainings to schools and organisations. 

I look forward to connecting with you and sharing my vision and journey with you.

Natasha