I was born in Sweden, in 1973. I have a Swedish mom and a Spanish dad. I lived in Spain from 0-8 years old and then in Sweden from 8-18. Then back to Spain to go to college. I am the oldest of 4 siblings.
I studied Business Administration and an MBA that was in 3 countries over 3 years: Paris, Oxford and Berlin where I had the opportunity to meet amazing people and come across a lot of different nationalities and cultures. I enjoyed finding myself in places I had never been to and didn’t know from a very young age.
I started my working career in the corporate world, specifically in the Marketing department of the cosmetic multinational giant L’Oreal: “because I’m worth it” 😉 After 4 years working hard in Spain’s capital, Madrid, I had a what I later have understood to be an “existential crisis” meaning I started questioning everything and was feeling miserable even though from the outside it seemed like I had everything I could possibly want: I had a good job, nice colleagues, good friends, a loving boyfriend, a beautiful apartment in one of the nicest areas of Madrid (barrio de Salamanca), a sexy car, etc, etc. What was wrong with me?
Not having attended the signs of stress and overwhelm that were present in my life for a long time (headaches, skin rashes, chronic fatigue, un-excitement about life, etc), I got burned-out and shortly after realized I had a depression … my life didn’t make sense and nothing made me happy. I went on a quest to find “the meaning of life”.
How I started to do that was through leaving everything behind, everything I knew, to explore territories (countries, people, cultures) that I didn’t know. I backpacked through Bali, Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia for about a year looking for answers and relief from my pain. It was in South East Asia that my interest for Buddhism started to take place and I would spend hours and days around monks asking them questions and feeling their presence. They all seem so happy to me. They possessed nothing and had such simple lives, how could that be?
A couple of years later, in 2004, I found myself on a yoga retreat on the magical island of Ibiza in Spain where I met my current husband, Braddon, and magic started unfolding…. I decided once again to give everything up and move to Boulder, Colorado, where Braddon and his two sons Calvin and Creek lived. It was in Boulder where I stumbled upon meditation and Buddhism and I realized that the Buddhist teachings and the practice of meditation offered a lot of answers to questions I had had my whole life.
I started exploring enthusiastically for a year: taking courses at Naropa University, partaking in programs at Shambhala and Shambhala Mountain Center where I also worked in the Marketing department for 2 years and eventually found my main teacher Reggie Ray and his Dharma Ocean Foundation, with whom I’ve studied devotedly ever since.
Some of the radical benefits that I have enjoyed from the practice of meditation and the reasons why I am now inspired to share it, includes: becoming migraine-free, decrease the amount of seasonal allergies, no more skin rashes, a less judgemental mind and much more empathy and compassion for others, more kindness towards myself and more acceptance and joy with what is, more sense of humor and opening for unconditional joy.
Now, after 8 years of learning and practising meditation, 5 years as an active meditation instructor and 3 years of guiding meditation for a few different groups here in Boulder, Colorado (where my home has been since 2005), I am feeling the strong inspiration to start sharing what I have learned and has helped me so much with others abroad. I am combining my passion for travel, my love for spending time with my husband, my devotion to meditation practice and my burning desire to share by leaving the Boulder bubble and taking off for Latin America to explore new cultures, get to know new people and sharing with whomever is inspired to join me to learn and explore the gift of meditation.
I hope to meet you somewhere, sometime.
With love and devotion,
Rebeca
15 Things You Might not Know About Me:
| 1. I end all my showers with cold water…. Ahh it feels so good. And…during the cold water ending, I sing the song “Wild women do” by Natalie Cole from 1990 (ever since then, can you believe it?) |  |
| 2. I spent the first 2 years that I learned “meditating with the body” falling asleep for every single practice period. |  |
| 3. I am a “foodie”: I love eating good food… My hubby is the cook, I am the “eater”. One of my favorite meals is paella (typical dish from my home town in Spain, Valencia, based on rice, meat or seafood and vegetables, yam!) and Braddon has learned how to do it! |  |
| 4. My favorite workplace is anywhere outside in nature: mountains, beach, forest, wherever I find a beautiful spot, there I work the best. |  |
| 5. I prefer cold weather to hot weather. The cold makes me feel alive, fresh and present! |  |
| 6. I never wanted to have children…. I feel I have been a mum soooo many times around and that this lifetime is for something else: a break from being a mum and having children. One of my favorite roles in this life so far is the one of “auntie”. I have 1 adorable nephew and 2 (almost 3) nieces – they live in Italy and Spain 🙂 |  |
| 7. One of my favorite things to do is to paint and drive our 2nd home – “Bluebie”, our electric blue camper van. |  |
| 8. I love airplanes, it feels like my second home and I’ve had the most profound a-ha’s and philosophical reflections while “in-between worlds” on an airplane. |  |
| 9. I am a bargain shopper: I only shop for clothes twice a year when I go back to Europe and there are sales. |  |
| 10. My hubby and I love hot springs and we visit hot springs whenever we have a chance. |  |
| 11. One of my favorite moments of joy is seeing sunset. |  |
| 12. I spend about 1-3 months per year in meditation retreat: half of it in solitary and the other half in group retreat. |  |
| 13. My favorite season is fall. I love the feeling of the calm and inward orientation of this season after the ecstatic activity energy of the summer and I love the chill in the air and the fall colors in nature. |  |
| 14. I love naked sunshine 😉 – it re-energizes me! |  |
| 15. I am a Buddha-mother (traditionally called Godmother) to my newest little niece Alessandra, who lives in Italy – she looks like a Buddha and is sooo cute. |  |