Drawing on her own experiences with abuse and addiction, Valerie Mason-John presents a well-grounded series of meditations that transform anger, hatred, and fear to heal emotional trauma.

Valerie Mason-John knows what it is like to be filled with toxic emotions—and how to release them. After years of abuse and struggles with addiction, she was mired in anger, resentment, and fear. But through meditation and willingness to forge a new path, she learned how to disarm such toxins and find peace.

In this presentation aligned with her book Detox Your Heart: Meditations for Healing Emotional Trauma, Mason-John will provide tools for recognizing our emotions, good and bad, and present meditation exercises based on the Buddhist principles of mindfulness, loving-kindness, and compassion to heal our own hurts and to close the gap that toxic emotions create between heart and mind.

Dr. Valerie Mason-John (Vimalasara) is a playwright and the author of seven books in the diverse genres of fiction, non-fiction and anthology.

Mason-John works as a consultant in Conflict Transformation, Restorative Justice, and Leadership in the domestic fields of education, social services, youth, addiction and the police, as well as in the corporate world.

She was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2005 and was named 'Vimalasara', ‘she whose essence is stainless and pure’. Currently based at the Vancouver Buddhist Centre, she leads ongoing meditation classes for people in recovery from addiction. She lives between North America and the UK.