In the first week of spring 2019, the ground beneath the feet of writer, surfer and teacher Alice MacKinnon, disintegrated. Hell descended upon her home and neighbourhood in the form of the worst recorded bushfire in Queensland's history. As she scrambled to regain a foothold on her life, it shifted again and again, leaving her reeling for three years.
In amongst those years of groundlessness, free-falling and endings, Alice chose to begin again and become someone entirely new. She has a new name, a new wife, a new home, a new community, and a new mindset and skillset.
She applied herself to transformation out of collapse like a martial artist. She practised inner stillness like a ninja to harness her mind and cultivate peace so she could more skilfully ride the waves of life with alignment and grace.
"Becoming a Stillness Ninja: Reflections on Resilience, Recovery and Love" is Alice's story about becoming the person she always had the potential to be - more loving, wholehearted, joyful, kind, patient and true to herself.
This is a book of deeply personal reflections in the form of stories, poems and photographs, beautifully presented by designer Ingrid Schroder. It is Alice's intention and great hope that this book reaches out and helps give your own life a feeling of substance, meaning, purpose and coherence.
"Becoming a Stillness Ninja: Reflections on Resilience, Recovery and Love" is a sister book to "Surfing as a Dance: How one woman found grace in and out of the water" which was published in 2018 when Alice was named Sally.
Author Biography:
Dr Alice MacKinnon is a mindfulness martial artist. Her work focuses on presenting, sharing and practising dynamic, hands-on and embodied activities that take mindfulness from a worthy idea into the rough and tumble of daily life - at work, in the community, the home, relationships and family. Alice is a long-time practitioner of meditation, yoga, qigong, surfing, journaling and fitness - these are the foundations of mindfulness as a martial art in her own life.For over 24 years, Alice was a professional and community environmental sustainability educator, consultant and communicator. She earned a PhD in Adult Learning (University of Technology Sydney), that focused on transformative education and multi-party stakeholder negotiation and their potential to create systemic change. The insights gained from that research continue to inform her work today.At the age of 50, Alice stepped aside from the environmental sustainability field and retrained to gather fitness, yoga, surfing and qigong teaching under the applied mindfulness umbrella. She hosts community and online classes in fitness, yoga and qigong. She facilitates and hosts public retreats and workshops in mindfulness and well-being. She is a speaker, facilitator and trainer to business, schools and not for profit organisations in Mindfulness as a Martial Art and Gritty Mindfulness. She also does one-on-one coaching in these areas.Alice collaborates with her wife Jennifer Jefferies, an internationally renowned speaker and naturopath, to host the Smart Sassy Seniors podcast and live events. These are gathering enthusiastic audiences in Australia and around the world. Jen and Alice also collaborated with Surf Witches Board Riders Club to produce the documentary film "Taking Off: Tales of Older Women Who Surf" (World Premiere May 2023). Alice has published three other books: "Expanding Green Strategies: Creating change through negotiation" (2009)"the dharma of surfing: wisdom from the water for life" (2016)"Surfing as a Dance: How one woman found grace in and out of the water" (2018)Alice's formal qualifications include: PhD in Adult Education (UTS), Masters in Applied Science in Social Ecology (University of Western Sydney), Graduate Diploma Education (University of NSW), Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Public Relations (UTS). She is also a qualified and experienced fitness instructor, yoga instructor and qigong instructor. For six years she was a surfing instructor on the Gold Coast helping mostly middle-aged women grasp their dream of surfing.Most recently Alice is trained in Trauma Informed Practice, Mental Health First Aid, Gentle Somatic Yoga, Creative Community Recovery Facilitation, Rites of Passage Facilitation, Bringing Up Great Kids (BUGKs), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), PSYCH-K and Evidence Based Emotional Freedom Techniques (EBEFT).www.aliceionamackinnon.com
