kaila

kaila (my nickname) aka karen marie bell

In 2016 I began this blog as an accumulation of decades of teaching yoga & meditation in Australia, Bali and Nepal as well as many years in private practice as a somatic psychotherapist. My interest in bridging Western and Eastern embodied living culminated in focusing on creative manifestations of the ‘Well ‘n’ Happy practice (2009) and taught to hundreds of students.

The Well ‘n’ Happy prayer flags are waving in the wind all over the world. A ‘well ‘n’ happy’ book for children with experiential games and meditations and designing a whole food mandala garden is in the pipeline.. The Well ‘n’ Happy mantra is complete and The Love and Compassion for Everyone song is a work-in-progress set to music by Keith in New Zealand..

In 2017 I took a sabbatical for ten months living and writing in New Zealand. From 2021-2023 I lived on Norfolk Island, a pristine paradise on what the Tibetan lamas would call a ‘Pure Land’. Numerous empowerments and initiations took place on this exquisite Lemurian-like tiny island in the Pacific Ocean during this time.

In 1995 Somatics Australia was created as a platform of 21 years of teaching yoga and leading retreats. Studio Soma was created in 2006 as a dedicated space for yoga and wellbeing in the Yarra Valley where health practitioners came together to offer services to the community.

Even though I blog on this site it is not mine alone. It is ours, it belongs to us. It’s not about me, it’s about us. Your comments, stories, additions are important for this to become an ‘us blog’ and not a ‘me blog’. Thanks for reading this far.

It is now 2023. I’m off to Mexico. Come journey with me.  In April I was appointed Director of The Lotus Initiative by the founder of Lotus, Reverend Dr. Nancy Ash.