Maureen Braun has lived in the Northwest since 1972. She was born and grew up in Ontario, Canada.
Her career has spanned her beginnings as a pediatric and public health nurse through many innovative health care positions which have included children, mothers and babies, to her present role as local and well known yoga teacher and artist.
Maureen loves to teach and share her passion and experience of yoga with others. She is known for her thorough, creative and warm approach.
Through various crafts, drawing and painting Maureen has consistently found a quality of "present moment", an engagement with life and is often surprised by what comes up.
She says, "I think I am an intuitive explorer, discovering what is true for me NOW and learning from that. Whether I am working with people or art materials, I am learning about trust, nature, humanity and what makes me happy and at peace. There is hardly a moment when I don't feel guided by Spirit. It flows through me and informs me even in my darkest moments."
Maureen has practiced with different art mediums at different stages of her life... "what ever I feel drawn to"... and she has learned from all of them. Her pastel and watercolor paintings have been shown in various venues around town such as Hamann's Gallery, The Green House, Colophon Café, Northwest Handspun Yarns, The Bean Blossom, The Bagelry, La Vie en Rose, Allied Arts, the Blue Horse Gallery, 3 OMS Yoga and Toad Mountain Coffee Company.
Maureen is also an avid knitter and teaches "Yoga and Knitting Retreats" She says, "Knitting is a refuge for me. It puts me in a peaceful place when I need comfort and stillness, and delights me with color and texture and design possibilities."
Maureen is married, has two adult children and two grandchildren.
She lives on Lake Whatcom in Bellingham WA.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
"As an artist, I am touched by unique and beautiful shapes, unexpected hues, shadows and light, subtleties and boldness and how it comes together into an interesting composition. I am drawn to the human form and anything organic and a mystery of nature. My art is my teacher. It teaches me to let go and listen, to trust and not be too ambitious, to sometimes be safe and sometimes outrageous. It is always a surprise."