Black Conch

About Black Conch When I was in my mid-twenties, my then psychologist recommended that I begin practicing Meditation, to assist in managing the waves of depression I had been experiencing since my teens. At times, these waves were crippling. They felt like someone had taken over my body, and that this someone was living my life without my consent. I felt both detached, and watching from afar, whilst at the same time feeling trapped in my mind, screaming to be let out. I would capture these waves in my journal, writing page after page after page, sometimes looking back over my words days later without recognising the person that had written them. So, I began attending guided Meditation classes at a local yoga studio. Through Meditation, I found I was able to connect with this trapped self and hear her. And through this, I experienced several profound realisations. The one that has stood out the most, was when a voice spoke to me and said, ‘I will protect you.’ Immediately, I became aware, that I had been living this whole time, in alignment with other people’s values, and expectations of me. This awareness was followed by an all-encompassing knowing, that I had everything I needed within me to begin healing and moving forward. And so began my journey to manifesting a vision for my life, establishing my own values to live by, and for making time to be still, to connect with myself and listen. I am an Environmental Scientist (BA Env. Sci. Hons.), Meditation and Mindfulness Teacher and Group Facilitator, retraining in my thirties to follow a calling to jump off the corporate ladder to build my own playground, Black Conch. The name ‘Black Conch’ is a nod to one of my earliest memories, of myself holding a shell mum kept on her dresser up to my ear, to hear the ocean roaring. Years later, I would come to understand that this was the sound of my mind, and that through connection with Mother Earth, I would find the strongest connection with myself. Love, Donna Founder of Black Conch