Friends,

It’s been a while.

So long, in fact, you might be thinking: ‘who even are you?’

Fair.

It’s question I ask myself all too often 🤪

Well, we might have crossed paths while I was hanging around on FB and IG plugging free meditation courses and you signed up to my newsletter.

Or if you’re in Wellington, you might remember me from The Heart Space, the meditation pop-up I ran last year in Wellington with my friend Dan.

Maybe you came to a session, followed along online, or heard about it through someone in your circle.

Regardless, it’s been too long since you’ve heard from me. 7 months in fact.

(Is it even ghosting if I say sawwwwry 😇 )

(OK, yes it is…)

So what happened?

Gather around and I’ll tell you quite the story.

Trust me, this is a rollercoaster.

We probably first met when I looked like this:

And I was living up to my hippy hair credentials running meditation groups.

Yep, I’m a mindfulness coach

Back then I went by Eli Freeman.

I started using Eli when I arrived to New Zealand.

I thought it would be a fun experiment to see what it would be like to use a pseudonym.

Just how much of my identity is carried across in a sound?

All the times I’ve been yelled at to come inside, introduced myself nervously or disappointed lovers…

Well, what I learned: is that it doesn’t matter one iota for me 🤷‍♀️

And as I’ve reconnected with myself in the last few months, I’ve decided to return to my roots and my birth name.

So hey 👋

I’m Elliot.

(Not exactly a wild change…)

If you slip up and call me Eli - no worries at all. I still answer to both.

Oh, and I’ve also had a bit of a haircut so now I look like this:

So yeah.

I look different on the outside.

And truthfully, a lot has changed on the inside.

But before I get to that, let’s take a step back.

To the spark that started it all.

See, around June 2024 - after some soul searching and psilocybin adventures with friends - I stumbled into an ocean all around me that I’d never felt before.

Like a fish discovering water.

...

Love

...

It was a very different experience of reality.

Not just presence. Not just a calm mind. But a deep, vibrant, warmth. A feeling of connection with life around me.

I’ve experienced a lot of loving relationships in my life.

But my body had been closed off to this feeling of love within me.

For years I’d been doing meditations on the heart but it really felt like something was awakening in me.

I felt inspired.

So I decided to collaborate with one of my friends on a business idea.

We put aside all financial objectives.

Forget about making money, let’s just follow our joy.

What would it be like if everyone felt this good?

I found an empty yoga studio and was able to rent it for 3 months as a sort of meditation pop-up.

The Heart Space was born.

It was a light and airy place to experiment in and see what we loved to do.

I started off running one meditation group a week. But by the end of the period, I was facilitating 7 events a week.

Crazy, right? But the work was hugely energising for me.

If you came along, you'll know that meditation was the core of each event and was combined with something unique, like poetry sharing, business mentorship, group coaching, ecstatic dance, breathwork, even a movie night.

Meditation became this gateway. An absorption technique to help strangers settle into a space together and open up and be more vulnerable.

I really wanted people to experience somatically what was going on in their body. To feel again.

There were tears, people found connection, they felt safe and seen.

And I loved it!

The financials weren’t quite stacking up but I had a lot of faith that things would work out.

And then an opportunity came from a friend in Australia to help him start his own meditation business.

I thought, great! I can work for him on the side while The Heart Space scales.

I paused what I was doing and went over to Australia for 10 days.

And this would turn out to be perhaps the greatest turning point of my life.

Something I deeply regretted...

But anyway, enough for now.

This has been a very long email.

Stay tuned for the second part tomorrow where I’ll share what happened over the last 7 months.

And a little bit about what's to come.

And if you’ve got this far, I just want to say:

Thank you!

Whoever you are, you’ve been part of this journey with me and I really appreciate it.

See you tomorrow.

With love,

Elliot