Dagmara Urbanowicz and Anna Marie Batelaan are co-founders of Mud & Lotus Wellness. Both are long term Mindfulness Practitioners, each holding a personal practice for 14 years, who have found Mindfulness and Compassion to be transformative to their personal and professional well-being and resilience. They have translated their passion for the practice into Teaching.
Dagmara and Anna Marie both completed their Level A and Level B Mindfulness Certification Training through the Applied Mindfulness Meditation Continuing Education Program at The University of Toronto. Dagmara went on to study Transformative Mindfulness Methods, Level 1 & 2 certificate, and completed facilitator training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) while Anna Marie completed Level C training in Core Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Facilitation. Both have completed Compassion Cultivation Training, Mindful Self Compassion (MSC) training at The Centre for Mindfulness Studies and are MSC Trained Teachers. They have attended Mindfulness and Compassion workshops with Dr Dan Siegal, Dr Kristin Neff, Dr. Shauna Shapiro and Dr Rick Hanson. Dagmara and Anna Marie are regular attendees and presenters at A Mindful Society Conference. They are the recipients of the 2018 Excellence in Interprofessional Education Award through the Holland Bloorview Teaching and Learning Institute for their work in bringing Mindfulness and Compassion based practices to U of T healthcare students. For the past 3 years they have facilitated the Mindful Self-Compassion Program to Holland Bloorview staff as part of the Employee Mental Health Strategy. Both Anna Marie and Dagmara are instructors of the foundation level courses in the Applied Mindfulness Meditation Program at the School of Continuing Education at the University of Toronto. They are also members of the advisory committee for the Applied Mindfulness Meditation Program at University of Toronto.
Anna Marie’s and Dagmara’s primary focus is on attending supporting their clients to building their reslience and well-being toolbox. They are passionate about managing Burnout and Empathy Fatigue amongst professional caregivers and how to address this. Their efforts have been supported by attending a number of conferences and offering workshops focused on this topic. Dagmara and Anna Marie have engaged in actively promoting the wellbeing of professional caregivers at an organizational level through their active participation in the Holland Bloorview employee mental health committee.
Dagmara and Anna Marie, each have a Master’s degree in Social Work with extensive experience in healthcare and working with vulnerable populations. Both are registered members in good standing with the Ontario College for Social Workers and Social Service Workers and members of the Ontario Association of Social Workers. Both have Adjunct Lecturer Status at the University of Toronto Factor-Intwentish Faculty of Social Work.
Dagmara and Anna Marie have collaborated, co-created and taught many Mindfulness and Compassion offerings to various populations, including healthcare colleagues, students, and others in the community and at the University of Toronto.
Anna Marie has facilitated a number of Mindfulness Meditation groups in a hospital setting including a weekly Inpatient Parent Group, a weekly Staff Mindfulness Group, a monthly Parent Talk Group. She co-created and co-facilitated of 7 week Mindfulness group for health care Professionals with Dagmara. She currently co-facilitates Mindful Self-Compassion Program with Dagmara for staff at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.
Dagmara is part of the Mindfulness Meditation community, Wake Up Toronto, in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, where she cultivates her practice of Engaged Mindfulness. Dagmara participates in facilitating Wake Up Toronto and is a member of the groups Care Taking Council, and an aspirant of the lay Order of Interbeing. Dagmara has also facilitated a number of other Mindfulness groups including a Mindfulness Meditation Group for at risk youth and a Women’s Mindfulness Group.
Mud & Lotus Wellness 