Meet Laurence

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Laurence spent her childhood in the South of France where she developed a strong love of nature and a lifestyle based on balancing mental and physical activity. Her father was a self-taught yoga practitioner as early as the 1960's and naturally modeled present-mindedness and wonderment at the world. This fed her early interest in the biology of physical and mental health.

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Laurence and her father.

For more than 20 years Laurence has been practicing and exploring meditation and western mind-body techniques After earning a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and practicing as a traditional psychotherapist, Laurence became increasingly interested in the mindfulness-based interventions of MBSR and MBCT. She later sought to develop mind-body approaches to relieve pain and illness as well as to foster healthy relationships with food and eating.

Having lived, studied, and worked in many parts of the world allows her a “global perspective of mind and heart.” Laurence is dedicated to teaching mindfulness tools to educators and healthcare professionals for whom enhanced focus, presence and compassion can benefit a wide circle of students and patients. She also has a deep interest in sharing the transformational practice of mindfulness with young people at the inception of their professional lives.

Laurence is married with three daughters in Westchester County, New York.  In addition to her life-long personal practice of meditation and yoga she also enjoys swimming, biking, skiing, traveling and meeting people of different backgrounds and cultures.

ACHIEVEMENTS & CERTIFICATIONS:

  • Personal yoga and meditation practice with master teachers in the Theravada tradition for more than 20 years.

  • Full certification as an MBSR teacher following extensive training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) methodologies pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Center for Mindfulness of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (CFM)

  • Accreditation from the Center for Mindfulness (CFM) to provide supervision to individuals seeking to become MBSR teachers.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Qualified facilitator of ‘Eat-Right-Now' and Unwinding Anxiety protocols developed by Dr. Jud Brewer (Brown University)

  • Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) from Zindel Segal (University of Toronto,Centre for Addictive and Mental Health)

  • Mindfulness-Based Pain Management Program (MBMP) from UK-based Breathworks

  • Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Pace University

  • MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago & early career in corporate finance

  • Active member of the NY Collaborative of MBSR teachers, the National Counseling Association and the Association pour le Development de la Mindfulness (ADA) in France

  • Co-author of a paper published in the Journal of Pediatric Oncology: Helping the Helpers: Mindfulness Training for Burnout Prevention in Pediatric Oncology−−A Pilot Program (October 2013)

  • Led more than 45 eight-week MBSR programs as well as workshops for professional organizations including: Montefiore Medical Center pediatric oncology unit, the American Dental Association, Riverdale Country School and Hackley School faculties, Portigon AG NYC, the New York State Judicial Institute, AppNexus, Eileen Fisher Life-Work, CohnReznick, IAC/InterActiveCorp, 24seven Talent.