About Susan

Susan Meyer, M.A., integrates photography, writing, mindful awareness, and energy work to support presence, awakening, and well-being. She is a contemplative creative whose work is pollinated with a vibrant combination of life experience, formal education, and a lifelong devotion to personal evolution. Her deep interest in the nature of consciousness, coupled with an appreciation for the natural world, informs both her art and teaching.

Mindfulness is a central theme woven through all of Susan’s undertakings. With nearly forty years of meditation practice and guidance from spiritual mentors, she has trained formally with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield and completed both their Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program and Mindfulness Mentor Training Program. She maintains an active teaching schedule and is a teacher on the Insight Timer app. She practices with a sangha in the tradition of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and is an aspirant in the Order of Interbeing.

Specializing in Hudson River photography, Susan regards the river as both her great teacher and muse. She exhibits her nature photography regularly and has earned numerous accolades in the annual Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor photo contest. Several of her images are featured in kiosks along the Empire State Trail in Schuylerville, NY. She is the author of River Time: Mindful Reflections from the Upper Hudson, a book of contemplative short stories, poems, and photographs inspired by nearly two decades of living on the riverside.

Susan recently completed and will release in June 2026 her first children’s picture book, Only a Dream, which she wrote and illustrated to empower children to face their nightmares and nighttime fears with courage, creativity, and calm. 

    • Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, trained by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach through the Greater Good Science Center (2021)

    • Completed the Mindfulness Mentor Training program with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach (2024)

    • Studied mindful non-violent communication with Oren Jay Sofer (2023-2024)

    • Two-time graduate of Eckhart Tolle's School of Awakening (2021, 2023), including the Becoming a Teacher of Presence program (2023)

    • Completed Sound Bath Training Course with Guy Douglas and Simona Asinovski (2023)

    • Completed the three-year Hidden Treasure program (2020) with longtime spiritual guide, Alice McDowell

    • Completed Reiki Master level training in the Usui/Tibetan lineage (2018)

    • Certified clutter coach in the Linn Method of Clutter Clearing (2018)

    • Received feng shui certification in the Earth Home School of Feng Shui (2018)

    • M.A. in Education from Goddard College (2006)

    • Graduate coursework in Social Work at Syracuse University (1991-1996)

    • Graduate certificate in Spiritual Studies from Institute for Transpersonal Psychology/Sofia University (1994)

    • ·B.A. in Psychology from Ithaca College (1988) with minor in Religious Studies

    • Accepted into aspirancy for ordination, Order of Interbeing (Thich Nhat Hanh/Plum Village tradition, 2025)

    • Received transmission of the Five Mindfulness Trainings (Thich Nhat Hanh lineage, 2022)

    • Initiated into the Inayati Sufi Order (1995)

    • Grew up in the United Methodist Church

    • Children’s picture book, Only a Dream author/illustrator (forthcoming, June 2026)

    • Narrative non-fiction book, River Time: Mindful Reflections from the Upper Hudson (published November 2025)

    • Mindful Nature inspirational card deck pairing nature photography with meditation instruction

    • Presented an eight-part nature photography course through Schuylerville Public Library funded by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts

    • Numerous regional photography exhibitions.

    • Taught a session of an upper-level fiction-writing course at Skidmore College.

Susan’s Journey

My interest in spirituality began in my teens, when I met my first spiritual mentor. That early curiosity deepened profoundly after my grandfather’s death when I was seventeen. Later, during my sophomore year at Ithaca College, I eagerly enrolled in a comparative religion course—taught by the professor who would become my lifelong spiritual guide.

When I began meditating back then, my motivation was simple: I wanted insight into what happens after we die and hoped for extraordinary spiritual experiences. Nearly forty years later, the real gift of meditation has been something far more grounded. My practice has taught me how to live—how to see beneath the surface of experience, recognize unconscious patterns as they arise, and create space for transformation. In doing so, it has deepened my capacity for love and connection. That is why I practice.

My meditation practice has been a steady refuge through the many chapters of my life: raising children, navigating divorce, building a career, grieving losses, supporting loved ones through mental health crises, and moving through times of collective uncertainty. Again and again, practice has been the anchor I return to. It helps me to meet and even befriend anxiety—which it seems I came into this world wired for.

In the 1990s, while studying social work and transpersonal psychology in graduate school, I found my calling in hospice work. After becoming a mother, I felt drawn to the other end of the life cycle and moved into Waldorf-inspired early childhood education with a focus on social-emotional learning. Influenced by the teachings of H.H. the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh on educating the heart from an early age, I taught kindergarten and later ran a preschool program. Though I was tenured in the public school system, my approach was always holistic. I created and implemented research-based emotional literacy and mindfulness curricula for children before commercial programs became available. As both a parent and teacher, I was devoted to practicing, modeling, and teaching skills that foster inner and outer peace.

By 2020, I felt called to bring this work to adults. After decades of preparation—and years of feeling not quite ready—I realized this is the work I’m meant to do.

As for my creative path…

Writing and nature photography have been lifelong threads, supporting me in the background when other roles took center stage. During difficult periods, I turned to these practices for renewal, grounding, and gratitude. What began as personal medicine gradually evolved into a passion that now holds a central place in my life. I'm especially drawn to how contemplative photography, sound meditation, and the blending of imagery with contemplative practice can support healing and wellbeing.

VIDEOS OF SUSAN

View Susan’s storytelling performance representing Gateway House of Peace for Caffe Lena’s True Songs: Lyrics of Life (2022)

This mini documentary film about an art exhibition celebrating the Champlain Canal’s 200th anniversary features an interview with Susan.