Dekyi-Lee Oldershaw - a unique journey
Dekyi-Lee Oldershaw, from Burlington, Canada, has developed and facilitated Transformative Mindfulness methods since 1988 and has trained facilitators in Australia, North America, Europe and Malaysia since 1991.
She has dedicated herself to the practical and universal application of Buddhist philosophy and meditative techniques internationally and began introducing these methods in the social services, education, medical and healthcare fields, first in 1994 at St. Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital in Brisbane Australia, with a program of rehabilitation for patients with cardiac problems. In 1997, she facilitated a program including these methods for the health staff, volunteers and clients of Karuna Hospice, Queensland, Australia.
Subsequently, she supervised the inclusion of these in the design and delivery of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program in Brisbane, Australia.
In 2006 she was invited by Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster Hospital to conduct enquiry sessions with their Palliative Care Consultation Team to deepen compassion and wisdom in palliative care.
She has applied these methods and trained others to use them with children, youth and adults for sexual abuse, cancer, migraines, depression, anger, grief, HIV, MS, substance abuse, self-esteem, life purpose, right livelihood, advocacy, community building and other areas.
Her Transformative Mindfulness programs are showcased internationally by the Foundation for Developing Wisdom and Compassion in UK, whose patron isHis Holiness The Dalai Lama. She presently is a board member of this organization which offers programs, publications, resources and communication support for Essential Wisdom Education that helps anyone to become kind and wise. She co-authored a book with Alison Murdoch for the organization, 16 Guidelines for Life, which is presently in 5 languages, with prototype programs and training internationally. www.essential-education.org
A contributing author to Medical Marriage, the Marriage of Orthodox and Complementary Medicine, 1996, she has also been featured on various television programs focusing on her life story and has been an advisor to the media for His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s visit to Toronto in 2002.
She is former director of Lama Yeshe Ling Tibetan Buddhist Group and The Centre for Compassion and Wisdom in Ontario, Canada.
Dekyi-Lee has studied with a variety of Tibetan and Western teachers of various traditions including the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayan
a Tradition. She was ordained from 1996 to 2002 at Chenrezig Institute, Australia and her teachers include His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Geshe Tashi Tsering. She co-facilitated month-long retreats with Denma Locho Rinpoche and Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche.
A unique journey
Imagine coming from a family of five Olympic althletes. A national level athlete herself, she understood the power of the mind over the body for performance. Her own illness shifted her interest to the vast potential of the mind to heal. She spent 7 years as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in Australia and India, after 7 years at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland.
After returning to Burlington, Canada, Dekyi-Lee founded Lamp On The Path, which offers self-healing workshops and facilitator training in Transformative Mindfulness, 5 Tibetan Yogas, 16 Guidelines for Life and Clarifying Life Purpose. She was the Director of Lama Yeshe Ling Tibetan Buddhist Group and The Centre for Compassion and Wisdom from 2006 to 2010.
Dekyi-Lee's unique journey and methods have been featured in a 30 minute biography on TV Ontario’s Studio 2, The Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator, Eastern Horizons and Mandala magazines. She has written articles for Toronto’s Globe and Mail and more recently Hamilton Spectator's Live Happy: Learning by Example, a 17 week community campaign with 80 video interviews.