Thanks for spending some time in My Meditation Garden. I created this site to present information about meditation in an easy to understand manner for busy professionals, business owners, parents and college students.  My intention is to form a community wherein you can learn and share your experiences about meditation, the impact and benefits you have experienced and seen in your life, and any questions you may have.  I look forward to hearing from you and am always eager to receive suggestions, questions, and comments!

Sonia Gallagher

My name is Sonia Gallagher. I am a Certified Life Coach, lawyer, editor, and entrepreneur, now devoting my time to coaching professionals who want to live more fulfilled, balanced, and successful lives, sharing information about meditation through this site, and my family. This website is my way of telling a story. It is the story of how meditation and the internet helped me find a new path in life, when it seemed like everything was falling apart.

I moved to the US from Puerto Rico when I was 8 to escape an abusive father, with my mother, brother and sister. I found a sense of peace and security, by burying myself in books. As a result, I received scholarships all the way through undergraduate school, law school, and legal studies abroad.

After I graduated from the University of Miami, I studied law at the University of Florida College of Law, the Universite de Droite de Montpellier (France), and the Universiteit Leiden (The Netherlands). I’ve worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the International Court of the Hague (Netherlands), and the National Institute of Health. I also worked with the National Association of Women Judges in co-editing a bench book for the U.S. Supreme Court Justices on the application of International law on domestic hearings. I worked for a Chief Appellate Judge in South Florida and ran my own successful law practice for a few years. During these years, I wrote weekly articles in print media outlets nationwide and appeared on a small local television station.  To see pictures visit my photo gallery.

The stressful daily routine of being a lawyer resulted in me having back pains and migraines on a regular basis. I began to get massage therapy every month and became good friends with my massage therapist. She introduced me to Reiki and meditation. Since that point, I was hooked. I became attuned for Reiki and have been doing Reiki and meditating regularly ever since.

Although this helped somewhat, the demands of my career still weighed heavily on me. People don’t tell you about the things that really go on in their field, because on some level they assume people will think less of them. Believe me when I tell you this is true about law. There were days when I cried on Sunday because I knew I would have to go back to the office on Monday. The browbeating that a young associate can endure is a matter of mythical proportions in legal circles.

The main stress was that practicing law was not fulfilling me in the way that I thought that it would.  Through Reiki, meditation, and introspection exercises, I slowly realized that practicing law was not my life purpose. My life purpose is coaching, inspiring, and empowering others to find real success in life by achieving balance in their lives and overcoming behavior and thought pattern obstacles in their path.

Here is an interesting tidbit.  According to Michael Cohen, Executive Director of Florida Lawyers Assistance:

• 15-18% of attorneys will have substance abuse problem vs. 10% of general population.
• Over 1/3 of attorneys say they are dissatisfied and would choose another profession if they could.
• Attorneys have the highest rates of depression and suicide of any profession.

Our wedding day!

After I got married, I realized that the amount of stress that I faced on a daily basis was affecting my husband and my life as a married woman… and that I could just not accept! I was not even enjoying the happiness of being a newlywed and in love! I walked (actually ran) away from the practice of law happily and have dedicated my time now to learning and teaching others about meditation, all of its benefits, and all of the wonderful things it can do for you.

Aside from my intense interest in International and human rights law, I have always had a passion for psychology, self-growth, neuro linguistic programming, and the power and complexities of the mind.

I have a Bachelors in Psychology and had dream to become a doctor in psychology (which changed when I received a full ride to law school). Ironically enough, practicing law led me right back to my original passion… psychology, self-growth, NLP,  and the power of the mind.

I am an analytical and sometimes skeptical person by nature (I practiced law for some years after all…) which is why I developed this site to be an informative, instructive, and educational site that pushes you to think, to really think, not just read and browse through the posts. As painful as the Socratic method was during law school, I can tell you it definitely pushes you to think outside the box, question everything, and come up with ideas, results, and solutions that you never thought could exist.

While half of me is analytical and skeptical, (I could never do this site without meditating regularly myself), the other half is extremely spiritual and intuitive.

Note about me: I come from a very interesting family—my grandfather is an extremely skeptical man who loves the word “no” (God bless him)… yet trained to be a hypnotist and truly believes that anyone can do whatever they set their mind to do! My beloved grandmother was clairvoyant and extremely Catholic (not sure that combination was easy) and attended and held spiritual sessions.

I created this site to develop a venue in which all my visitors (YOU, professionals, non-professionals, students, Joe from next door, etc) can learn about meditation, can share their own stories of their experience or views of meditation, can ask questions to other visitors, our authors, and myself, and have a community of internet friends that share a common interest.

I have gained so much in my life in terms of peace of mind, quality of life, and just plain tranquility since I started meditating that I want to share this with you.

I have practiced in one of the most stressful professions in the US if not Internationally for the past five years and can tell you from first- hand experience that the effects of stress can be absolutely horrible to your physical, emotional, and mental health, your social relationships, and most importantly your relationship with yourself.

This is exactly why I created this site and hope you will join and participate in our community. You do not have to be Buddhist to participate in this site. In fact, what I want most is to have participation from people of all religions and beliefs so we can have a variety of views and ideas about meditation.

I can’t wait to meet you and hear your story!

More about me: I am recently married to the love of my life whom I met on the internet (www.match.com) and knew I would marry within the first 30 seconds of meeting. I kid you not, I knew I was home when I approached him in the parking lot of the restaurant where we met for our first date. He looks nothing like what I used to date and I look nothing like what he used to date. Good to see he came to his senses when he met me! He, he.

We live in South Florida with our beautiful girls: Destiny, our angelic dog, and Bella, our devilish cat.

Destiny as a puppy

Bella- My little troublemaker

I absolutely love traveling and one of my missions in life is to travel to as many places as possible. I am also passionate about books, wisdom, food, wine, and people. To see more pictures visit my photo gallery.

Remember, if you want to keep updated on information, videos, and mp3s we post on this site, make sure to subscribe to our blog.

Did I mention I absolutely love cats? Here are a few pictures of cats I’ve met in some of my travels…

Cat at the Pitti Palace-Florence

Cat in Rio Maggiore-Cinque Terre, Italy

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Thanks for visiting! Make sure to check out our recommended Spiritual Resources Page and get a free binaural beats sample! Meditation has had an incredible impact on my emotional, professional, and spiritual growth. It has benefited me so much that I created this site to share information about meditation with other busy, stressed out parents, professionals, college students, and business owners in a straightforward way. Meditation led me to my life path as an Integrated Executive Life Coach. If you'd like to work with me as a coach, schedule a free 15 minute coaching session today! Make sure to let me know you came from My Meditation Garden!