Meet the Author - Alexandra Koster

What was your path to Mindfulness?

Of course, I can only speak for myself, but from chatting with other practitioners over the years, many of us come to Mindfulness because of our personal struggles.

I was a really anxious child and as I got older my anxiety ebbed and flowed. When I hit my 30s, there was a more significant change, I started to get panic attacks on a regular basis.

Anyone who has ever suffered from panic attacks knows that they are “real”: the physical sensations can be severe and you literally think, this is it, I’m going to die. They really started to impact my everyday life and I knew I had to do something about it.

I started counselling, and I came across a couple of books through my therapist at the time. One was Jon Kabat Zinn’s “Full Catastrophe Living”, the other one was by a German author and I can safely say that these books were lifesavers and a gateway to exploring mindfulness further.

I enrolled in my first 10-week mindfulness course and I knew very early on that this was fundamental. Learning that the goal is not to get rid of my anxiety and overwhelm but to sit with it compassionately was a game changer.

I grew up in a relatively alternative household, my mum was one of the first Reiki Masters in Germany and yoga, naturopathy and other holistic approaches would have been a normal part of my life but mindfulness really expanded on these experiences.