Maria Martinez Alonso

Maria was born in Spain and attended her first meditation retreats in France as a teenager. As life got more challenging as a young adult, she found refuge in the teachings of Zen Masters Willigis Jaeger and Thich Nhat Hanh. She participated in the retreats they offered deepening the art of sitting in silence, breathing with the present moment and watering seeds of gratitude and self-compassion. These precious tools supported her resilience as she lived, studied and worked in various countries and changing circumstances, reliably finding inner peace, clarity and a home in the practice of Mindfulness. In addition to her academic studies, she became a certified MBSR instructor through Brown University and a certified Hatha Yoga teacher. Maria practiced for 20 years as a clinical psychologist in Switzerland integrating Eastern and Western approaches to healing. Currently, as the co-director of the NJ Center for Mindful Awareness, Maria delivers MBSR and yoga classes, presentations, nature workshops and silent retreats with her husband. Since 2016, she has worked as a senior mental health consultant at the United Nations Headquarters facilitating mind-body approaches and delivering trainings on self-care and wellness for UN employees. Maria also teaches the program on Mindfulness and Wellness in Counseling for graduate students at The College of New Jersey. In her personal life, Maria enjoys spending time with her husband, dogs, cat, chickens and bees in rural New Jersey, savoring deeply all the gifts Nature and life have to offer. She plays the handpan drum and the ukulele and has been an artist for most of her life. Painting is for her another doorway into presence and beauty.