“For years, I kept telling myself that life would feel easier once I’d got through the next week, the next term or the next thing on my list. Mindfulness helped me realise that life was already here, hidden in the ordinary moments I’d been too busy to notice.” (Joanna Roffey – Founder of Joanna Rose Wellbeing)
Jo is based in Swansea and is a primary school teacher as well as the founder of Joanna Rose Wellbeing. She has trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Living in the Present and Coming to Our Senses. She is also a mentor and advisor for the Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP), delivering. b Foundations, .b, .breathe, Paws b and Dots. Alongside this, she is a qualified yoga teacher and has also trained in somatic movement, breath work, meditation, forest bathing, and nervous system reset programmes. Today, she brings all these experiences together to support individuals, schools, workplaces and communities in developing greater mindfulness, compassion and wellbeing.
Alongside her role as a primary school teacher, she has worked with schools to develop mindfulness through classroom teaching and staff wellbeing. What began as a personal search for a different way of living has gradually grown into supporting schools, workplaces and communities across Wales through mindfulness and compassion. This work has led to her becoming a mentor and advisor for the Mindfulness in Schools Project. Through Joanna Rose Wellbeing she works with the community offering mindfulness courses, Compassionate Mind Training, mindful movement, seasonal retreats and, more recently, nature-based wellbeing experiences. Through mindful movement, yoga and somatic practices, Jo found another way of helping people experience mindfulness, not simply as something to think about, but something to feel, embody and carry into everyday life. She noticed that people often talked more about how it had helped them slow down, reconnect and feel more at home in themselves. She is passionate about creating welcoming spaces where people can slow down enough to reconnect with themselves, with others and with what matters and develop practical skills to navigate life’s challenges with greater awareness, kindness and self-compassion.
One experience has stayed with her throughout her teaching career. During a swimming lesson, one child was frightened to let go of the side of the pool. Before Jo could step in, another pupil quietly walked over and said, “It’s just your amygdala trying to keep you safe. Notice your breathing.” Slowly, the frightened child relaxed, took a breath and stepped away from the wall. “That moment has always stayed with me,” Jo says. “It wasn’t about remembering a mindfulness lesson. It was one child using understanding and compassion to help another. That’s when I realised these weren’t simply skills for school; they were skills for life.”
Another key moment for Jo was when a participant who attended her yoga classes and was recovering from cancer, shared that the mindful movement and meditation practices had become an anchor during treatment. He told Jo that it helped him find moments of calm, reconnect with his body and appreciate the small, ordinary moments of joy in everyday life.
For Jo, mindful communities begin when people are given permission to slow down and come home to themselves. In a world that often encourages us to rush, creating space to pause can be surprisingly powerful. Whether she is working with children, supporting school staff, facilitating Compassionate Mind Training, teaching mindful movement or leading retreats, her hope is always the same: to help people reconnect, with themselves, with one another and with what really matters. From that place, people often begin to understand themselves with greater awareness and compassion, strengthening the way they relate to others. She has seen first-hand those small changes ripple through classrooms, families, workplaces and community groups. It’s often the quiet moments that stay with her the most, someone realising they’re not alone, a child beginning to understand what’s happening in their mind and body, or people leaving feeling a more connected than when they arrived. She believes those everyday moments of slowing down, understanding and compassion are where mindful communities begin.
Jo’s hope for the future is to continue helping mindfulness and compassion become part of everyday life, rather than something people only experience on a course. She is currently developing a whole-school approach to mindfulness and compassion within her own school and hopes to support other schools on a similar journey. She is continuing to build partnerships across communities, workplaces and healthcare professions to help create welcoming spaces where people can slow down, reconnect with themselves, one another and the natural world. Ultimately, Jo would love to help build communities where wellbeing, compassion and meaningful human connection are valued and supported.
To read Jo’s full story, visit her website. If you would like to connect with her, she would love to hear from you.
Joanna 07798700563
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