NEUROSCIENTIST + MINDFULNESS EXPERT

I am always searching for access to greater self expression….

I feel like that is the purpose of my life—or anyone’s life. And part of my work as a neuroscientist and mindfulness expert is giving that access to others through meditation and other somatic practices.  In my work as a practitioner, I spend a lot of time thinking of the process of being with the body, the mind and the heart. My ethos are connection, embodiment, presence and creativity. I always had a creative and quiet practice but I officially started practicing mindfulness in 2009. I was a clinical neuroscientist and it was my job. I trained clinical populations how to manage their stress and anxiety and as a result, gave them access to the possibility of living a very different life than they had previously known. It was beautiful and life changing.Mindfulness is our access to authentic creativity and full self expression. As we gain creative identity, we lose the false sense of the self that we were sustaining.  

— Nkechi Deanna Njaka, Msc.
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Nkechi attended Scripps College in Claremont, CA where she majored in neuroscience and dance and went on to complete an MSc. in Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh. She attended the Institute of Integrated Nutrition and holds a certification in Holistic Health and Nutritional Counseling. She has also completed  The Embodied Mind 200 hour Teacher Training with Jill Satterfield and is a RYT and meditation teacher.  

Nkechi has spent the majority of her life investigating the relationship between the brain and the body and has always felt the significance of their integration. She was originally interested in how fear and anxiety prevented her from living a fully expressed life in certain circumstances while simultaneously knowing that participatory arts like dance gave her the freedom to self express.  She longed for this to be in balance and true for all people everywhere. For several years, Nkechi worked as a neuroscientist as well as a professional modern dancer/choreographer. Sometimes she held both professions at the same time, but the work was compartmentalized and separate. After experiencing burn out from pursuing these separately, Nkechi spent a significant amount of time in self inquiry. She asked herself what she could create that would combine both while promoting and sustaining individual and global wellbeing. 

She discovered that mindfulness and creativity are C R U C I A L  for sustaining individual and global wellbeing.