Cheri Watchmaker

Cheri Watchmaker is a mindfulness teacher, meditation guide and mentor from New England. She describes herself as a lifelong lover of animals and nature. She grew up riding horses and caring for sheep, and as a teenager she found her passion for communication and public speaking in a local 4-H community.

That passion became a 20-year career as a Professor of Communication Studies. Working with young adults, she found empathy and active listening to be a pathway to connection, and this was the beginning of her journey toward mindfulness. A breast cancer diagnosis then turned her life in a new direction. Overwhelmed by fear, stress and anxiety, she turned to mindfulness meditation. It gave her a space to work with her emotions and strengthened her relationships with others and with herself. She now describes guiding others as her life's work.

Cheri guides people through mindfulness meditation individually and in small groups. She is a level one MBSR teacher, and her approach draws on meditation and breath work, with an emphasis on becoming familiar with the body and the wisdom it offers. She offers one-to-one mentoring and women's circles, in person and online. She also teaches a six-week course, Mindfulness for Stress and Well-being, which is heavily influenced by the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn. She shares free guided meditations on Insight Timer and YouTube.

She works with people who want relief from daily stress and anxiety, or who want to connect with the wisdom of their hearts and explore their relationship with the world and themselves.