I studied Forest Sciences at the University of Dresden with stays in Canada, Ecuador and Sweden. During my doctoral and postdoctoral research I worked at the University of Freiburg in the field of forest ecology and was active in the graduate school "Environment, Society and Global Change". Inspired by my private study of Buddhist meditation and psychology with teachers from India and Nepal since 2009, I am still fascinated by the question of what we can learn from this ancient psychology for ourselves personally and for the transformation towards social and ecological sustainability.
Over time, my private and professional interests grew together, so that in 2016 I initiated the seminar "Linking Mind and Environmental Sustainability" at the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Fribourg. I later trained as an MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) teacher at Bangor University and with the Mindfulness Network, Wales, UK, respectively, and as a Mindfulness Teacher for Schools (MISP) in London. Since 2020, I have also been working as a PostDoc at the Systemic Health Research Section at the University Medical Centre Freiburg, and as a research assistant at the Forest Research Institute Baden-Württemberg.
My interests are in meditation as an ancient, traditional method to gain deep insight and knowledge about the existential nature of ourselves. This familiarity and expertise is directly related to our (world) views and consequently our values and attitudes towards ourselves (health, well-being, meaning of life etc.), our fellow human beings (benevolence, consideration, cooperation etc.) and the world we live in (forest, nature, sustainability etc.), which we continuously co-create.
Therefore, in my view, familiarity with our own nature and the nature of mind is particularly important. It is connected with the power and freedom to identify and overcome suffering-bringing assumptions, ways of seeing and behaving, and to cultivate connecting, healing ones that are meaningful and life-giving.
Together with my colleagues and partner institutions, I discuss these often very practical insights into meditation and sustainability on a scientific level and in connection with sustainability (see the projects "MindEnvironment" and "Contemplative Psychology of Self and Sustainability"). From this discourse and in combination with my personal experiences, numerous lectures, workshops, a conference, a university course (see Teaching) as well as practical educational offers, always also oriented towards personal development and sustainability, have emerged so far.
The traditional psychological and philosophical roots of my work are clearly in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. They complement the science and philosophy of secular MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction). The origin of this journey and combination of subjects is my personal desire to work for more genuine and honest goodwill and consideration towards "nature and life". Not least because man and nature are inseparably linked. This led to my interest in forests and my work as a forest scientist, which was later combined with psychology and contemplative science.