who am I ?

My name is Chris Walker. I am also known as Dorje – The name “Dorje” is a Tibetan word that means indestructible and was given to me by a Tibetan Lama who I did a 5 year Buddhist study under as a monk from the age of 22 to 27 yrs.

I have been working for the past 10 years combining Meditation, Qi Gong and Counselling / Psychotherapy to support a wide range of people from all ages and backgrounds to find stability, balance and harmony with regards to their inner and outer life.

Some of the reasons people come to see me –

Illness – Treatment of stress in relation to chronic or serious illness such as Cancer, MS, CFS, IBS, ADHA, Depression, Anxiety,
Drug rehabilitation, Insomnia and support in the process of facing death due to chronic illness and support of family members who lose a loved one.

Stress Related Issues – Business or working life is too busy or failing and no time or ability to rest and stay balanced. Unemployment and difficulty in finding work prospects. Looking to change professions and want to understand self more to make correct choices.

Emotional Turmoil and discomfort – Relationship breakdown, life feels unfulfilling and empty, No felt purpose in life, acute existentialist crisis leading to deep fear and struggle in ones life.

Generally I work individually 1:1 and in groups from 10 people to 5000 and to a wide range of people. I also speak to companies, groups and at events about meditation, stress management, Yoga, Developing relationships with co workers and with customers and how companies can approach commerce constructively and ethically.

Some Companies I have worked with Chanel, Estee Lauder, Citizen Watches, Telstra, L’Oreal, McCann Erickson, HP, Origins, Bikram Yoga Australia to list a few.

My Passion is working with individuals and groups, guiding them to be connected, wise and compassionate. Empowering them to create a world they can see a future in for themselves and the generations who follow. I am open to work with anyone who can see merit in what I have dedicated my life to.

Some Background –

The way I got into doing this work is a bit of a story and some people love stories, so if your interested I below is an account of my past to give you a basic outline of my past.
When I was a teenager I grew up dyslexic and ADHD so school was a real struggle, I was bullied from time to time and suffered from anxiety and depression from time to time. I had my first panic attack at 10 years old, Just getting through my childhood was a struggle. Then when I was just leaving high school I got quite ill with CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) This was one of those strange illnesses at the time that was not really understood. My family GP told me that there was nothing he could do but if I ever needed a Doctors Certificate (sick note) then he was always ready to help. I was not content with some mystery illness that basically left me semi bed ridden for months at a time so I started to search for an answer or cure. I found my way to a woman called Gloria Hertz. She could see straight away that I was fatigued and offered some sound advice. I was guided by her to a naturopath, to a Qi Gong Master and on a spiritual journey of physical, emotional and mental healing. Gloria is still in my life today and actually is the one who came up with the name Center Awareness. After 3 years of study under Gloria and Wolf (My Qi Gong master) I went with Gloria to India to find a monastery to become a monk so that I may learn to deepen my understanding of meditation and of the mind.

As things go I spent some time in India and met some great teachers but none were my teacher I felt. I ended up in the UK of all places retracing my childhood and to make connection to my mother I had not seen from the age of 7, I was now 22. I found a Tibetan Lama who had established a Buddhist centre up in the north of England and felt that I had a strong connection with him. I met the Lama and he was very supportive of my wish to learn so that I may share with others what may be of some benefit to them. I stayed a the Buddhist center for 5 years. I was a monk for a couple of years and given the name Dorje. After these years I decided I didn’t want to be a monk and was really interested in the integration of meditation and daily life. The great opportunity to be in the company of my Lama, this great man who had dedicated his life to meditation from the age of 7 was one of the greatest blessings of my life. I had time to just deepen my experience of meditation over the years was in that environment.

As I stopped being a monk half way through this time since I started to use my lay name Chris again, but one day the Lama heard someone call me Chris and remarked “who is Chris? What is Chris? I said that’s my name Geshe-la and the Lama said your name is Dorje and give me Lay vows and the Lay name Dorje again. So the name stuck, I still get called Dorje a fair bit like a nick name, Chris is more conventional here in the west so I don’t mind either name really. As my name Chris Walker is as they say popular, I tend to put Dorje in the middle like a middle name for clarity so people can identify my work when I write and so forth.

Anyway as far as the time I spent in the Buddhist Centre I guess one of the highlights was a 7 month retreat where I lived in virtual solitude for about 21 hours a day, I was given 2 or 3 hours in the late afternoon to walk and get fresh air but apart from that I was in my room doing formal meditation practice. I was instructed to just do this retreat by my Lama and so I did.

It was in the later part of this retreat that I read a very special book called “ A path with Heart” By Jack Kornfield. This book was a turning point in my life. I had learnt some Psychology from Gloria as she is a Psychologist amongst other things and seeing the blend of Psychotherapy and Buddhist meditation in Jacks book really inspired me to look deeper into how to be an integrated practitioner of meditation and wellbeing in the crazy busy world we live in today, this interest led me eventually to studying psychotherapy here in sydney at the Somatic School of Psychotherapy. Back to the story, so eventually I left the Buddhist center and went back home via London.

In London I worked for 10 months as an electrician in central London. I had done an apprenticeship when I left school and it finally came in handy, it was while I was in London that I realized how crazy the western work ethic really is. And how so many people were so stressed there life was an almost living hell. Yes they had money and a nice house but there were slaves to there consumer lives.

I returned to Australia to the Gold Coast after deciding that I wanted to keep learning about the body and the mind. So I studied Massage for a year, initially at a school formally and then I was mentored by a great Body therapist called Allan Morad. Allan is an incredible mechanic of the body and a dear friend, I am grateful for his guidance at that time as it helped me understand the body mind paradigm more deeply.

It was in this year that I started to work doing Massage at the Golden Door Health Retreat located half way between the Gold Coast and Brisbane. When I was there I started to teach Relaxation and Meditation to the guests, who were mostly stressed out people from Sydney and Melbourne. I was starting to apply what I had learnt in a way that people could take on board and use relatively quickly and easily.

It was through this working that an understanding grew within me as how to integrate what I had learnt into the needs of others. Responding to individuals seeking to live a basically ‘normal’ existence here in the west but with more wisdom and in greater health. I understand that not many people want to give up their life in the pursuit of a path but rather prefer to make their life their path to health and wisdom by integrating these understandings and techniques.

I call the work a process because it is just a way or a method to develop oneself. The end result being that finally one can let go of it consciously or let it become more of a background process as they organically shift and remain balanced with the essence of life, just to be, awake, clear and at peace. Eventually this is possible just naturally with out effort, Like the Taoist masters of China, living their lives in harmony and balance naturally.

The world we live in is so busy and I see so many people getting over whelmed with anxiety, stress and eventually fatigue. This ultimately can lead to illness and other related problems. Emotionally people are so overwhelmed and have a great deal of internal pressure. We need a way, a method to self regulate on a basic physical, emotional and mental level to survive in this intense modern world.

The challenge for me initially was to use my background in Meditation and Qi Gong to create a strategy or way that people can use to get back to their center. How to be calm and in your center, that is what I essentially work on with people.

I work with a wide range of people for many different reasons. Health, stress, emotional issues, relationship breakdowns and often simply because people think far too much – caught by thought.
I also work with a lot of people in their late teens and 20’s as well as mature adults. I find it inspiring to work with younger crew as when I was 19 I was searching for guidance and support also. It is something that sits close to my heart.

I hold a wed night group 7 pm that is run by donation at my Meditation Studio where I live in Bondi, for me this is the initial start of the SOLA School of Life Australia, a not for profit organization that educates and inspires by integrating eastern wisdom with the dynamic creative young culture we have here in the west. My intention is to bring people like myself in our 30’s together with younger ones in their later teens and 20’s to create a foundation of creativity, support and guidance. I have plans to open a residential centre in Sydney and a retreat centre on the south coast of NSW. We are looking into starting businesses that create employment for young people who what to work for an organization that supports them and values their input and hard work. In time there will be more information on www.sola.org.au

So all pretty basic stuff really and now since I came home some 10 years ago I have worked with literally Thousands of people experiencing a vast range of difficulties people face in their lives, I have been working on a book to explain the process I have been developing in this time. Not sure what I will call it or how long it will take to finish. I am always writing as a part of my work in communicating the message of integration to others.
Thank you for reading these words. I hope they are of some benefit.