ABOUT

BELIEF #1

No book, podcast, video, app, festival, retreat, chemical experience, or therapist can heal us on their own. We can explore theories and listen to countless podcasts, but at some point, we have to put their advice into action and make real changes ourselves.

BELIEF #2

Doing this work is challenging—and it may bring up some painful memories—but it's absolutely worth it. What we resist persists; only by understanding our inner world can we truly influence how we react to the outer world.

BELIEF #3

Life will always have its challenges, pain, and difficult moments—even after these new skills start to feel more natural. The benefit is that we can learn to influence how much we suffer during those tough times.

Hi, I'M APRIL

Life for me has been full of adventure from the very beginning. My father was a National Park Ranger (his dad too) and we moved three times by the time I was 4 years old: born in Arizona, then to Appomattox, VA and to Lovell, Wyoming. After that, my parents split up and my mom moved to Utah where her family was from. I grew up spending the school years there with her. My dad got another Park Ranger job in the U.S. Virgin Islands and I spent my summers there with him.

*If you prefer video to reading, check it out on the right.

Photo of April M. Jones wearing a dark blue short sleeved shirt, with blonde hair and white skin, sitting with wooden stairs in the background. A second image below show the front cover of video game boxes from her time working in that industry.

My path into mindfulness and wellness started somewhat unexpectedly. After earning a B.A. in Public Communication from American University in Washington, DC, I dived into an exciting career in public relations within the video game industry. As an avid gamer (I grew up playing games with my dad and brother) with a passion for travel, this dream job took me around the world. I managed product campaigns for some of the top games at the time, developed creative press events, served as a spokesperson at game conferences, and enjoyed interacting with fans directly in online spaces or at fan events.

It was high-paced and high-stress, but full of excitement. I lived in North Carolina, Norway, San Diego, and San Francisco. while traveling to China, Taiwan, South Korea, Russia, and regularly throughout Europe. At the time, I would say I was gone so often that I couldn't keep a house plant or a romantic relationship alive.

Even with the tough parts of that time, I feelincredibly fortunate for all of my experiences.

Details gamers may appreciate:

Everything changed for me in the summer of 2009.

The recession hit hard, and I found myself without a job while living in San Francisco. During a year-long struggle to find work, I confronted the burnout that had been simmering beneath my busy lifestyle. This challenging period led me to discover mindfulness—despite a lot of skepticism. I tried it out of desperation to help with overwhelming depression and crippling anxiety. Even though I saw it was working for me, I didn't tell anyone I was doing it until I started to see more articles talking about the science behind why it helps. Until then, it felt like some mystical thing that I couldn't explain.

This led me to read more about mental health and that inner dialogue we all have running in our heads nearly constantly. I learned to be less attached to those internal stories and started to understand how to stop worrying so much about the same thing over and over.

I also read a book called The Power of Habit and realized that I needed to make mindfulness and meditation into a regular habit. This led to my discovery that once those became a regular part of my routine, I had a solid foundation to better manage the rest of the inner work I needed to address. Years later, James Clear came out with Atomic Habits and added even more wonderful tools for making lasting change.

Embracing these new practices, I decided to make a big change. At 34 years old, I gave up my high-salaried, high-stress video game career and went back to school. I became a certified massage therapist and health educator, specializing in stress management, injury management, and post-surgery recovery. I did that work full time for 10 years and it was a deeply rewarding experience. Having someone walk in with pain and leave with a pep in their step was incredible.

I feel so fortunate to have found this work of helping others. The friend who encouraged me to make this career shift felt I would be good at it because I am a communicator. Once I was armed with knowledge about the mind and body, it was a joy to share related details with my clients.

Life threw a couple more curveballs at me during the pandemic. The first a wrist injury that meant I could no longer do massage full time. The decision to look for a desk job again and to no longer help people so directly was extremely difficult. I decided to stay in the field of health and this lead to a wonderful opportunity to move to Boston. My day job is managing training programs for the Center for Mindfulness & Compassion; a research center that is part of a non-profit public hospital, working to integrate proven mindfulness practices into healthcare systems. Learning more about research and how its conducted has been fascinating, although I'm on the training side, teaching healthcare and mental health professionals based on what we know.

The second curve ball in the middle of the job search was a serious concussion. I mention it because it was the first time I had a long-term health issue that I had to manage very carefully. For 2 1/2 years I was dizzy, had brain fog, difficulty spelling and writing, trouble remembering basic words, extreme fatigue in the middle of the day, and sharp pain in my neck. Concussions can also bring on depression and when that's something you're already prone to...well...I went through a dark episode for a couple of years.

What got me though the move to the new job and helped me manage the symptoms of the concussion? Everything I had already learned about mindfulness. I don't know how I would have made it through otherwise.

I have now taken three different 8-week mindfulness programs; Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), and Mindful Behavior Change (MBC). I'm also certified to teach a very basic program called Introducing Mindfulness; three sessions of one hour each. It does a great job of explaining what mindfulness is exactly - no woo woo - and what the research says about why it can be helpful.

My life experiences have taught me a lot about resilience and adapting to change. I'm excited to share what I've learned—both personally and professionally. I hope to offer helpful insights and practical resources, in a space that is oversaturated with information, to anyone looking to improve their mental and emotional well-being. Once you have an understanding of your own mind, what drives your thoughts and behaviors, you feel empowered to make all kinds of changes.