About Sophie
My practice of meditation and inner work began when I was fifteen, establishing spiritual practice as the focus for the rest of my life. My journey began within the Daoist arts as I was deeply interested in the relationship between the body, the subtle energy system, and the psychological work I was doing. After exploring many spiritual traditions at that time I couldn’t find a Daoist teacher that fulfilled the rounded development I was looking for. So I found myself on the way to Denmark in 1989 to meet the Irish spiritual teacher Bob Moore. It was with Bob’s work that I found a form of development that brought together many of the things I had found of value in different approaches. This period of study and training lasted around 20 years, during which time I brought up my three children and set up Bonhays as a retreat and meditation centre here in the Southwest.
After Bob’s death, I spent some years without a teacher. I knew I needed another teacher as there were many ‘blank’ spots not just within myself but also within my learning and understanding of the energy arts. During a period of difficult upheaval and disintegration within my personal life, I found my current teacher - Damo Mitchell with whom I am in on-going training with, returning again, full circle to Daoism! I am so fortunate to have found such an exceptional teacher with whom I am learning a great deal. Deepening my lifelong study of energy work, integrating this with the body, and returning to Taiji, Neigong, Nei Dan and now a study of traditional and ancient Chinese medicine. Having undertaken various trainings and on-going development, I am proud to be an inner door, Nei Gong, and Senior teacher for Lotus Nei Gong, an internationally renowned school for the Daoist arts.
For the last 20 years I have been teaching meditation, running residential courses and retreats and developing the spiritual development programme at Bonhays, the retreat centre I set up and run with the help of many exceptional people. My study and work continues to change and develop, I have a particular passion for supporting serious female practitioners, an area often overlooked in the internal arts and spiritual traditions generally. I am fortunate to teach for a school that not only honours the differences within the female energy system, but also supports this with women specific practices.
The sole focus of my work now is teaching Nei Gong, and developing the meditation work established here over many years. When not teaching you will find me training, studying, walking or wild swimming.