Carolyn McCarthy has worked for years cultivating presence, attentiveness, and joy as a writer, actor, and singer. After a decade of solo meditation practice, she was thrilled to find Mindfulness Northwest’s retreats and classes. The process of learning in community under the guidance of a trained teacher has been invaluable, inspiring her to become a teacher herself.

Carolyn offers classes in the hopes of moving us, individually and collectively, toward healing, wholeness, and love. Her practice supports her work in social justice, encouraging her to turn toward the difficult within and without. Mindfulness practices also help her to be a calmer, happier person and a better mother, daughter, partner, and friend (most of the time!).

Carolyn lives with her family where the Chuckanut Mountains meet the Salish Sea in the ancestral homelands of the Coast Salish people. Here by way of colonialism, she is grateful for the ongoing leadership that her neighbors, the Lhaq’te’mish (Lummi Nation), provide in caring for the lands and waters we all call home. In addition to time in the classroom, she loves reading, singing, writing letters, watching birds, and dancing like a fool.

TRAINING: Certified to teach MSC by UCSD Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. Graduate of Mindfulness Northwest’s Mindfulness Teacher Training Program. Has attended retreats & trainings with Michelle Becker, Robin Boudette, Tim Burnett, Chris Germer, Steve Hickman, Michelle Johnson, Kristin Neff, Tuere Sala, Regula Saner, Karen Schwisow, Heather Sundberg, and David Treleaven.