Hi, I’m Wendy Cook. 

This is my journey into yoga, meditation, and the embodied arts. It starts here

I was born in Omeo, Victoria, Australia, on the Kurnai country, the land of the Kurnai people, the Traditional Owners, first peoples of the land. I pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging. 

In 1986, a French-Canadian boyfriend showed me how to do Triangle Pose. It felt magical! When he mentioned the Dalai Lama and Tibet I said, Who? Where? Thus, the first seeds of interest in both yoga and Buddhism were planted.

The boyfriend suggested we travel together in Asia. I sold my motorbike, bicycle, color TV, and washing machine, had a farewell party where I told my friends, “See you in six months or six years.” But, on New Year’s Eve, in a small village in Northern Thailand, said boyfriend unceremoniously dumped me. Boo hoo.  

The Crucial Years

Even though I cried, ate my feelings, and hid away in a room for a week, no way I was going back to Australia with my tail between my legs after less than two months on the road! I made my way to a forest monastery in south Thailand to attend a ten-day silent meditation retreat. The schedule was from 4:30 am until 9:30 pm with sitting and walking meditation and practice instruction throughout the day. Each morning there was an hour of yoga. Late afternoon we chanted, which I loved, because it reminded me of glee club and church choir. After those rich, silent ten days I felt utterly transformed, more alive and grounded in my body, more peace and inspiration in my heart, than I’d ever experienced before. The previous ten years had been full of confusion and pain with periods of deep depression. To feel like this was a revelation.

I spent the rest of 1987 traveling through Myanmar, Nepal, and, mostly, India. In Dharamsala in Northern India I met His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet and listened to hours of teachings on Buddhist philosophy. I also met my first yoga teacher, Sharat Arora, and attended classes both underneath the Himalayan Cedar trees, and later, on the beaches in Goa, further south in India. 

After two years of back-packing solo through Asia, I arrived home in Australia. Soon I was living and working at a large Buddhist Center in Melbourne and attending yoga classes during my days off. 

Bringing it Home

I met my Australian-born husband, Nicholas Ribush, and we had a “temple romance” sitting next to one another during the teachings and meditation sessions. He was already living in Boston and in 1993 I moved to the United States to be with him and work at Wisdom Publications. I have lived in the Boston area with Nick, and various pets, for nearly thirty years. 

I did my first official yoga teacher training with Maty Ezraty and Lisa Walford in California in 2001 and have been teaching ever since. I completed four years of Alexander Technique training with Tommy Thompson in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2013 and have offered AT lessons since. 

I have many interests and areas of inquiry including functional anatomy, Ayurveda, bunny rescue and advocacy, social justice issues, growing food and flowers, watching movies, being in nature, and travel. I regularly make time for formal meditation retreats. 

What’s your journey?

I would love for our paths to cross.

Find out more about my teaching experience in and around Boston, a glimpse of the studies I’ve done with the Dalai Lama, and the sacred pilgrimage sites I have traveled to...

Trainings and Certificates 

300-hour Vajra Yoga Teacher Training with Professor Bob Thurman, Richard Freeman, Mary Taylor, and Michele Loew. September 2020 – May 2021. 

40-hour Firefly Training in Trauma Informed Yoga with Annie Kiel. The Corner Studio, Medford, MA. January 2018. 

200-hour Fundamentals of Ayurveda with Hilary Garivaltis, Kate O’Donnell, and Anusha Sehgal. Down Under Yoga, Newton, MA. March – November 2017. 

1600-hour Alexander Teacher Training with Tommy Thompson, Debi Fishbein, Bob Lada, and Jamee Culbertson. The Alexander Technique at Cambridge, MA. September 2009 – December 2013.

100-hour Yin Yoga Teacher Training with Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley. Napa Valley retreat, CA. January 2005

200-hour Yoga Teacher Training with Maty Ezraty and Lisa Walford at Yoga Works, Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA. February – March 2001. 

100-hr Esalen and Sports Massage with Peter Farnsworth, Adelaide, Australia. 1985

Enrolled Nurse Training at the Adelaide Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide, Australia. 1984 – 1985.