Oh hi! I’m Carol Farnum, and some of you might know me as an artist. Some of you know me as an meditation practitioner and teacher. For everyone that doesn’t know me at all, I am all of those things and also an energy healer, reader, and Minister of Metaphysics. I am also the founder and owner of RootDown Meditations in downtown Champaign IL.

I began my own search for mindfulness, being still, and looking for answers related to higher consciousness as a teenager, more than 30 years ago. I have studied comparative religion for as many years, and am currently doing a PhD program in Metaphysics to be finished in 2027. As a totally unrelated aside, I did my undergrad at UIUC in Evolutionary Ecology.

My history with meditation is long and started with Tibetan Buddhism after leaving the Catholic Church, and while I’m no longer practicing any particular organized religion, this was formative in my meditation practice. I have taken Tai Chi for many semesters in college and I was fortunate to be able to meditate at Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, NY with monks trained by HH14 Dalai Lama in the 1990s. I really learned that just “to sit with it” was always the answer, no matter the question.

When I was a teenager I thought a lot about becoming a Catholic nun in order to devote my life to spiritual evolution and higher consciousness. When I left Catholicism and practiced Tibetan Buddhism for 20ish years, I then considered becoming a Buddhist nun for same reasons. I didn’t become a nun but my quest for divinity and all things spiritual and esoteric continues. In my comparative religious studies, I have found there are golden strands of same ideology woven through all religions throughout history. Different names, same ideas. I prefer no dogma.

My goal in this studio is to curate a supportive, balancing, foundational space for everyone to learn and practice meditation with no pressure, no religious underpinnings, no preconceived ideas about what you “should be doing”. I want you to feel safe, supported, and encouraged to try new modalities and follow your curiosity and intuition. I want you to walk out of here feeling balanced, and in turn, take peace and mindfulness into your daily lives, being able to center yourself quickly in any situation. I want you to know you are supported and celebrated in this studio.

Stay RootDown, friends. Balance begins on the cushion.

Love,

C.