There’s no shortage of advice in the wellness world. What’s rarer is finding teachers whose practice is lived—not performed. People who embody the work they share.
Today, we’re back with the Sovereign Teacher Series, a recurring collection of conversations and guided practices with meditation teachers, therapists, movement practitioners, coaches, and sound healers whose perspectives have shaped our own relationship to presence.
Each week we’ll share a new teacher, a guided meditation from their practice, and reflections on what it means to live with greater awareness in a world that constantly pulls us away from ourselves.
This week we’re in conversation with Ireland Adgate, a writer and creative based between NYC and the woods. As a self proclaimed “spiritual math girl”, she’s a pragmatic meditation teacher in the lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and runs the account @refuge.head. After a childhood in nature and in the arts, Ireland studied economics & design thinking, inspiring an empathy based entrepreneurial mindset, and works in creative functions across direction, design, film, writing, and digital.
Okay so we know you teach meditation but what else do you do. Who are you!?
Ireland: I grew up in the woods and my relationship with nature will perhaps always be the most intimate one I have. I’ve had a creative practice since I was young, always making things. My interests are a bit all over the place but they all make sense as a part of one thing, to me at least. I’ve always got a lot of ideas circling around in my head…
How did you find your way to meditation?
Ireland: My explicit path to meditation was through persistent health issues that doctors couldn’t diagnose or solve. This is a common story—I tried everything but it was finally meditation that actually made a difference. I started a practice and all of my symptoms went away quite swiftly.
In another sense the wisdom that underpins the path of meditation has been with me my entire life. When I heard eastern philosophy it felt less like learning something and more like putting words to great truths that I had understood since I was very young. It was as if something that had always been deep inside finally found light in my material and day to day life.
What tradition or approach shaped you most, and why does it resonate?
Ireland: I study Tibetan Buddhism. On my own accord I grew up quite passionately agnostic or at least proudly non religious so it’s funny to even come close to a religious label but my path to Tibetan Buddhism has been completely through logic—I’m a math girl at heart. Logic is an amazing way to build a foundation for faith, and these practices have led me to beauty beyond what I ever imagined.
What does “presence over performance” mean to you in your own life?
Ireland: Oof this hits close to home and has honestly been my main assignment for the past year or so. I have a really strong ambition and when the circumstances aren’t conducive for performance it can be very confronting. So much to say here but I’ll leave it with where I’m at today: you have permission to not stress, not worry, and to take care of yourself. All of the cheesy bathroom inspirational quotes are real and if you aren’t seeing them as wonderful you might not be letting the message in. Be here now :)
What is the practice or moment that consistently brings you back to presence?
Ireland: For me it’s noticing the beauty in the small things around me. I think that’s a skill of mine anyway and to anyone reading I’d say lean into a skill of yours that brings you joy, if it’s movement, checking in on others, cooking, focusing on the breath, etc. Take a strength you already possess and lean on it in moments when you’re struggling to stay present.
And what has your practice given you that you didn’t expect?
Ireland: So many things. The most amazing community. My perspective on reality has completely shifted and a result of that is seeing messages everywhere around me where I used to just see things or people. Little messages everywhere helping me on my path.
Who do you teach, and what transformation do you witness most often?
Ireland: Right now I teach meditation online. I’ve done a lot of work with creatives, tying their creative and meditation practices. There’s such a strong relationship between the two and they can each bolster the other. It’s my hope that in my classes people feel permission and inspiration to set the bar higher for themselves, in whatever way that presents itself. We are a lot bigger than we think—so much genius in each person.
What is your hope for presence culture in the world right now?
Ireland: Slowing down isn’t going to save us but I do wish we could all slow down a bit. The hustle and the chasing will never bring satisfaction or peace, that stuff comes from somewhere else. It’s difficult though when everyone else is seemingly going a million miles an hour. The gravity is super intense. That’s why finding people who are walking the walk is so important, having a community that is practicing creates a gravity as well. In my experience when you lean into that rather than avoid, real transformation in your world is possible.
SS: It always seems to come back to the community... Thanks Ireland <3
Practice Future Refuge meditation, a goals practice, at the link below.