https://heartmind.org.uk/about/

I am Hosshin, a hermit and retired yoga teacher living at Heartmind Retreat, on a remote hillside in Argyll, Scotland. I live alone, off grid, close to nature and the land.

My path began at eighteen, when I trained as a nurse for disabled people while also finding my way into yoga and meditation. I went on to work in social services, then spent fifteen years with an NHS drug team, supporting people with substance misuse issues. Yoga remained central throughout, and I travelled to India to qualify as a yoga teacher, later training as a mindfulness teacher at Bangor University and as a qi gong instructor.

I studied sustainable development, organic farming and permaculture, and in 2008 founded Heartmind as a charitable enterprise, running it for fifteen years. Through Heartmind I led mindfulness programmes, retreats and regular yoga, mindfulness and qi gong groups. I also trained as a Buddhist healthcare chaplain and was ordained into a modern Zen tradition.

My spiritual outlook draws on many traditions, including Kashmir Shaivism, Dzogchen, Sufism and the teaching of Meister Eckhart. I describe my own philosophy as Omnism, an open hearted approach rooted in lived practice rather than fixed belief.

I had a stroke last year, and this has changed the shape of my daily life. I no longer tend the land in the way I once did, and I am rebuilding my strength and my rhythms around this new reality.

Sustainability and ecological living remain at the heart of what I care about. I am now looking for others of similar heart and mind to help form a kin’s domain at Heartmind Retreat.