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For Hawkesbury resident Catherine Sherlock, a life devoted to healing, mindfulness, and inner peace began with a profoundly personal loss.
At just 20, she lost her first love in a horrific car accident. The tragedy left her isolated and grieving, sparking a spiritual journey that would guide her for decades. “Losing my first love at the age of 20… changed the trajectory of my life. It opened questions for me at that young age about life, the universe and everything,” she recalls.
Over the years, Catherine has faced many challenges, from sole parenthood to supporting family members with complex needs. These experiences gave her a deep understanding of grief, depression, and fear but also the insight that these struggles are part of being human, not a sign of brokenness. She focuses on helping people recognise the wholeness and resilience they already possess, even amidst life’s challenges.
Catherine’s approach combines formal training in yoga, meditation, and positive neuroplasticity with decades of personal experience. She explains that transpersonal psychology, the focus of her current Master of Science in Spirituality, Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology, allows her to integrate these insights.
Rather than pathologising the mind or excavating the past, the field emphasises living fully in the present, recognising interconnection, and transforming the sources of suffering. “It recognises our interconnection and wholeness and extends beyond the small, limited self where the suffering originates. It is about transformation or ways to change what causes us to suffer,” she says.
She has also reflected deeply on how Western societies, including communities like the Hawkesbury, struggle with conversations about death and grief. Modern medicine has largely removed death from the home, while cultural values prioritise productivity and control, often leaving people feeling isolated in their grief. Catherine believes that understanding the natural cycles of life, and embracing both the “solar” and “lunar” aspects of existence strength and surrender, action and reflection can help people navigate these experiences with more acceptance.
After decades of study and practice, Catherine says the most important insight she has gained is the sense of connection: “Quite simply, that we aren’t separate… Trusting that, and living that truth gives me the greatest peace and joy. I never feel alone and I recognise that ground of Being that connects everything and everyone.”
Located in her Bilpin studio, Catherine offers a welcoming space where residents can slow down, reflect, and reconnect with themselves. Her classes provide practical tools for healing, self-discovery, and resilience, blending yoga, meditation, and conscious awareness practices. “My life is dedicated to sharing what I have learned and continuing to learn,” she says. She hopes her work also helps bring conversations about grief and life’s challenges out of the shadows, giving people the tools to face them with acceptance and awareness.
Catherine is also needing participants for her questionnaire 'Exploring attitudes toward death and dying, how we navigate Mystery and the dominance of rationality in Western Culture.' To complete her questionnaire please click on this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-mP1oyO3PHiCaiD5vtk5T_p1DD8AawBn8gnTWtdW2DYQ4nw/viewform
For more information or to explore classes with Catherine, visit yogafromtheinside.com.au.
