Anna Howard

My early career in broadcasting began in 1989 when I joined BBC Radio Oxford as a Programme Assistant. I worked on the daily Book Programme, selecting newly published books for review and liaising with authors and publishers to arrange interviews. In the early 1990s, I switched to presenting and producing radio features and, with a degree in Experimental Psychology from Oxford, I focused on mental health, social care and wellbeing where I could. I made documentary series on Alzheimer's Disease, Forensic Psychiatry and the care of dangerous patients, on Young Lifers in Aylesbury prison. In 1994, I started my own weekly programme: rather like 'Desert Island Discs', I interviewed local celebrities about their life story and favourite pieces of music. Recognised for my interviewing skills, I was invited to work with author and photographer, Jon Davison, on his book project for 'Oxford: Images and Recollections'. It was a great success and became a Blackwell's bestseller in 1995. A year later, I produced my first solo book, 'Death: Breaking the Taboo'. After a personal and ultimately positive experience of supporting someone through death, my intention was to write a book that might help others face this difficult but inevitable passage of life. Interviewing a wide range of people, from mystics to murderers, my book was published in 1996 by Arthur James Ltd. During this period, I also underwent a profound spiritual awakening, which changed my priorities and ignited a vocation. In following this vocation, I moved to Scotland in 1997, to live at Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery and Centre and spent the next 10 years largely devoted to the study and application of Tibetan Buddhism, both as a resident in the monastery and as a layperson in Edinburgh. I joined the editorial team for the 5th edition of 'The Good Retreat Guide' and travelled in my campervan to various retreat centres around the UK, writing reviews for the Guide. I also began teaching meditation and working with the Divine Feminine during this period, whilst living at The Salisbury Centre in Edinburgh, and this work eventually grew into the White Tara Healing and Meditation work that continues today. After my father died, I moved back to my home county of Oxfordshire and joined The Abbey Sutton Courtenay as Programme Coordinator and Co-Manager. The Abbey was a small residential retreat and community centre, rooted in the Christian tradition but open to other faiths. As well as inviting and hosting many guest speakers and workshop facilitators, I offered many Tara talks and workshops during this period. After leaving The Abbey in 2010, I joined a fledgling community in northern France and spent several years volunteering at the Chateau de Bambecq. I worked in the UK as a Companion Carer for many years before settling in Dorset in 2020 where I look after an old farm and work at Sherborne Castle whilst also offering White Tara Healing and Meditation sessions locally. It took many years to gather the material for and write 'Quest for the Enlightened Feminine', but it was completed here in February 2022.