My Journey

Hi, I’m Brett Young. I started practicing yoga because after 20 years of rugby, my body was bruised and broken, and I needed to #getflexible.

By accident I discovered that during the little stillness breaks in a yoga class I was able to notice my mind wandering, my body recovering.. and I realised, this was the first time I had been able to be deliberately still in my whole life.

Because of the teacher’s precise guidance to pay attention inwards to cues from my body during movement, I was getting better at observing inwards.. and learning how to apply that skill when I was still as well.

I’ve spent a lifetime dealing with ADHD and from my teenage years I used medication to help me to survive the normal trials of society. They worked from the perspective of helping me get into an engineering degree and succeed in a large company. But I didn’t feel like I was able to ‘be myself’ on them (this was just my perspective at that time and I don’t project that experience onto others).

Along the way, I discovered mindfulness and loved the feeling of understanding it gave me. I started to notice my distractions as they happened. I started to enjoy noticing them and choosing which ones to follow and which ones to redirect.

Finally, I was able to survive and thrive without my medication. I worked together with my psychiatrist to understand my ADHD and safely reduce my dependence on medication, whilst still maintaining effective executive control and function in the world of distraction that we live in.

I am not against the use of medication, it can play a critical role in the treatment of ADHD. I believe a combination of medication, practical coaching, behavioral therapy and mindfulness (to assist with your ‘coachability’) is the most fruitful combination of treatments in many cases.

My interest in mindfulness grew exponentially and with it, my ability to apply it. Each lesson helped me to understand myself more and equally realise something I didn’t understand. Soon I was being educated in meditation, yoga and learning how to teach it to all members of society.

I appreciate my experience in the corporate sector as it has taught me great habits, discipline and an understanding of that environment. I use the facilitation and leadership skills I obtained to help me communicate my knowledge to others now.

I love being able to share the practices and perspective that has helped me so much in my life.

My passion is to help the people I come into contact with to deepen their satisfaction with their life and by sharing mindfulness, I am following my passion every day.

FAQs

  • I am so grateful for all of the amazing teachers I have encountered in person, in books and online. I have completed Yoga Teacher Training (Flow Space Yoga Pty Ltd), Teach Yoga and Mindfulness to Children & Yoga and Mindfulness for Teens (Yogazeit, a not for profit mindfulness education organisation), Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Training (Palousse Mindfulness, based on John Kabat-Zinn’s research-based mindfulness practices), Meditation Teacher Training (Perth Meditation Centre).

    My focus has always been on living what I learn. When you meet me, you will realise, that I am not a grumpy or self-rightious man with knowledge of meditation, I live the skills I teach and choose to lead by example.

    Ultimately, you will be your own best teacher, I simply help you with techniques and reflections, to find yourself.

  • In a word: empathy.

    1) A psychiatrist told me once, “Oh great you do yoga, I recommend it to lots of clients, but lots of them struggle to understand the intent of it or to feel comfortable in a studio”. Sadly she no longer practices. The stretchy classes we call Yoga are a body / movement-based mindfulness practice. I want to help people with ADHD understand why, and how to practice… What it is doing, feel that in their own body & mind, get excited by it, grow habits from a fun starting point, not an intimidating one covered in lycra!

    2) I am upset about the focus on ‘rectifying the chemical imbalance’ of ADHD with medication. I participate in ADHD community meetings and empathise with the pain so many people experience having trouble accessing medication, getting the balance right when they have it, managing dis-functional symptoms despite being medicated.

    Research has demonstrated that a balanced approach with a full toolkit of options including but not limited to therapy, mindfulness, nutrition and exercise is the most effective way of dealing with the symptoms of ADHD at any age.

    3) I want to share the knowledge that I have learned about how to apply mindfulness to manage ADHD so that people are aware of it.

  • In each session I make sure you have a skill, technique or practical thing to take home with you.

    I strike a balance between education and coaching. Which involves listening, talking, interacting then I choose a mindfulness practice that will suit this situation, a technique.

    This is where I put on a teacher hat, guide you through an experience of movement or stillness that helps you to understand the intension of this particular practice.

    Then we discuss, learn through evaluation. We will use visual aids, creative art, physical objects and movement to learn. This is not a sit still and learn experience!

  • I am a Mechanical Engineer. That career path was fabulous and towards to end of it, I was taking mostly leadership and cultural change roles because as I became more mindful, I became aware that my passion was now with serving others and helping them to realise their potential. So I left behind my engineering role and began teaching mindfulness and yoga full time.

    Dr Lidia Zylowska’s book ‘The Mindfulness Prescription for ADHD’ was a life changer for me. I read it during my first silent meditation retreat and embedded the mindset and perspective.

    I research behavior science frequently and the latest in habit creation and evaluation by BJ Fogg PhD 2019 is a simple and effective model for interrogating challenging behavior removal or positive behavior creation.

    I continue to educate myself and develop my knowledge monthly. I don’t know everything and I love to learn.

    I often get asked questions that I don’t have the expertise to recommend on (eg- “should I reduce the amount of medication I take?”).

    I acknowledge that I work in an area of coaching, counselling, therapy and mindfulness, which is unregulated. I am grateful for my knowledge and respect the limits of my education. I will not overextend that.

“Each lesson helped me to understand myself more and equally realise something I didn’t understand”