Meditation Teacher, Artist, Auckland, NZ
Please introduce yourself and describe your career. What do you do for a living?
Hi, my name is Sierra. I am an artist, meditation teacher, tea person (cha’ren in Chinese) and writer based in Auckland, New Zealand. My meditation journey began in my early twenties when I joined a spiritual path of Bhakti yoga for 4 years.
In 2022, I founded The Grounded Circle (TGC) community, a sanctuary for those seeking wellness through the grounding practices of meditation, cha dao (the way of tea), and art. Since January 2023, at TGC, we have been running monthly Tea meditation circles, weekly meditation classes and other wellness & creative workshops, fostering connections and mindfulness all around Auckland Central. I co-host the Grounded Circle podcast with my partner Dean in which we share stories and insights on navigating life in a more grounding way.
Recently, I have been working on publishing my oracle deck, a 52 card deck with my own illustrations.
Below is my YouTube video that tells a bit more on what I do as an artist and meditation teacher:
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Interestingly, when I was small all I wanted was to be a housewife who doesn’t work at an office and does art at home all day long. Reflecting back at this vision, “housewife” would be the wrong word but as a kid, I guess that is how I see married women that don’t have a traditional job at an office. I think what I wanted was to have a long term loving partner and also to retire early.
What did you study? How much schooling do you think is required to get into your role? What could you have skipped?
I did architecture for 6.5 years (4 years in Hanoi, 2.5 years in Auckland for a Master degree). What I am doing now requires no university degree. I could have skipped 3 years in high school in Vietnam actually. In Vietnam, our program for highschoolers is too heavy and not practical.
Was your path hard or smooth getting to where you are in your career? (Can you briefly describe what it was like on your journey so far?)
The path that I am on with my career is both smooth and bumpy. It has been a smooth ride creatively. I love exploring my ideas and I don’t mind failing. I am quite good at executing on ideas. I think my architecture brain helps me be both creative and practical. Finance wise, it has been a wild ride. I am blessed to have my partner, Dean, supporting me in every way of my journey. These days, I don’t feel like marriage is necessary but I sometimes feel like I am a housewife in a way that I stay at home to do art most of the time then clean and tidy up some other time.
Sierra teaching a wellness and meditation workshop
Walk us through your typical work day—when do you start, end, and do all day? (Where do you work from?)
I am usually up somewhere between 5.30am to 6.30am. I meditate then read a spiritual book for an hour in total. My favourite books are Eckhart Tolle’s, Michael Singer’s and the Tao Te Ching. I have another practice that I do after breakfast which is tea meditation. I sit in my tea meditation practice for another hour.
The rest of the day will be prioritised for writing and drawing. I love working at home and I am most productive in the first half of the day. I usually host my tea meditation sessions on a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon these days.
In the evening, I go to yoga or qi gong classes after dinner from 6pm til 7pm. I get ready for bed at 8.30pm, usually teach my partner Vietnamese, then read for 30 mins. We turn off the light at 9.30pm.
What are some questions someone should really ask themselves if they want to get into your industry / career path?
“Would I be willing to slow down & do less?”
“Would I be willing to be content with less?”
What do you enjoy most about your career? (What do you enjoy least?)
I enjoy being creative and grounded. Meditation is a must do practice for me in the morning. Everything else is just a bonus. Other activities need to fit around my meditation practice. And it has been working wonderfully for me in being able to hold space for myself and others, being able to connect deeply to myself and the world around me.
The thing I enjoy the least in what I am doing is that I have quite a lot of art supplies, oracle decks, books and tea sets. I am working on being a lot more minimal these days. It is not very easy when I have 3-4 different offerings at the moment.
What tools/resources do you frequently use? (Books, podcasts, mentors, wellness habits, software, etc.)
I love books, podcasts or any other long form content resources. I prefer longer podcasts of over 45 minutes.
What is something you do when things get difficult? How do you handle stress/ challenges?
When things get tough, I remind myself to practice surrendering and letting go of control. I like to meditate on stress, to be in my body and feel the sensations of stress.
What advice would you give to someone who is trying to figure out what they want to do (for work) in general?
Follow your curiosity, welcome failures and be patient with yourself.
Sierra at one of her Tea Meditation Sessions in Auckland in April, 2024
Do you have any mentors or key pieces of career advice that helped you get to where you are today?
My advice would be: be like water, be soft and flexible to find and follow the least resistant path. Water can cut through rocks with its resilience and consistency. Water also flows to the lower level, to return to the greater source; so be humble in willing to learn from and connect with other people.
What excites you about the future OR what's up next for you in the near future? (Could be career-related, life-related, or even a future career pivot / path)
Host more wellness events and connect with more wonderful beings. I believe Community is Wealth.
Where can readers find/connect with you if they have questions? OR How can we support you?
You can connect with me through my website:
https://innerbeautybysierra.com