Mindful Art Academy began with a simple observation:

Many people think they cannot do something.
Often, they simply have not yet found a way that works for them.

Drawing on years of teaching and facilitation experience, Carmen began developing creative systems that are easy to understand, practical to facilitate, and flexible enough to evolve in different settings.

From Star Flower and Eye of Life to Draw for JOY, each system is designed not simply around the finished artwork, but around what happens during the creative process—

focus, awareness and connection.

These systems have since been used in a variety of settings, allowing creativity to become more than a hobby.

It becomes a meaningful practice that can support the way we live, learn and work.

- Ph.D. Student (U.S.)
- Master of Arts (U.S.)
- Bachelor of Arts (H.K.)
- National Level II Corporate Trainer, China
- Internationally Certified Corporate Coach
- Happiness Coach, Happiness Studies Academy
- Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner

She is also:
- Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT), U.S.
- Taiwan's first certified instructor in Japanese Botanical Painting
- Laughter Yoga Leader, India
- International Hado Instructor, Japan
- Level II Reiki Therapist

...and quite a few other things along the way.

She has spent years learning, doing and experimenting, gradually bringing together different approaches with more than two decades of experience—and slowly finding a path of her own.


Along the Way... she has,
- travelled to nearly 40 countries;
- practiced meditation in India, Tibet and Nepal;
- climbed Mt. Kinabalu, the Alps and the Himalayas;
- been roasted under the desert sun at Burning Man in the United States;
- lain beside animals while caring for them in Africa;
- completed a dark retreat without food or water;
- hidden away in a Japanese laboratory searching for answers in water;
- given birth to two children in water in Taiwan.
And plenty more.

She continues to keep her arms open,
ready for whatever interesting and playful experiences life brings next.