I’m Martha Brettschneider, Founder and Owner of Damselwings, LLC. My passion is to inspire mindful living through my work as an author, blogger, speaker, nature photographer, and mindfulness teacher.
In early 2018, I was accepted into the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI) teacher certification program, an intensive 9-month training program to teach the mindfulness-based emotional intelligence curriculum developed at Google, based on neuroscience, and adopted in organizations around the globe. I’m thrilled to announce that I have successfully completed that training and am now offering SIYLI programs as a Certified Teacher of this transformative curriculum.
I stumbled upon mindfulness teachings quite by accident after breast cancer forced a complete life reboot in 2009. Mindfulness paved the way for a radical shift in my identity from left-brained international economist and screaming mom to a meditation-touting creative finally at peace with the world. I chronicle this unlikely transformation in Blooming into Mindfulness: How the Universe Used a Garden, Cancer, and Carpools to Teach Me That Calm Is the New Happy.
My writing has also appeared in The Huffington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, MindBodyGreen, Dumb Little Man: Tips for Life, and other print and online media outlets.
My garden was my first mindfulness mentor and has helped me grow more than the other way around. In 2014, my plants and other garden inhabitants provided the bulk of my subjects for the 365Project.org photo-a-day challenge, which I took on as a unique form of mindfulness practice. The commitment to take a photograph every day for a year forced me to carve out a little time every day to slow down and notice the beauty in my midst. Long story short, the challenge added “award-winning photographer” to my credentials, and my Damselwings Photography line was born. Yet another gift from my garden, for which I am eternally grateful.
Check out my products here.
I live in Vienna, Virginia, with my husband, two sons, and a rascally golden retriever who takes great pleasure in eating my garden and teaching me the art of letting go.