Profile

Laura Sidwell Smith is a mindfulness meditation teacher and facilitator, offering virtual and in-person classes, private sessions and workplace programs that help reduce stress, deepen self-awareness, and increase wellbeing. She completed the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program in 2021 and the Certified Workplace Mindfulness Facilitator program by Mindful Leader in 2022. She incorporates mindfulness into her work with the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, offering weekly meditations, conference sessions, staff trainings, and other information and resources to creative professionals across the country. She also served on the board of Minds, Inc., a nonprofit that taught mindfulness-based practices to students, educators, and parents in the Washington, DC metro area. Laura has a BA in English from the University of Minnesota and a MA in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University, where she explored the question, through various worldviews and spiritual practices, of what it means to live a good life. She's been practicing for 18 years and embodies a warm, inclusive, practical approach to teaching mindfulness, meeting people where they are and encouraging compassion, curiosity, humor and allowing as key elements of practice. A writer and birdwatcher, she lives with her partner and two rescue cats in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC.