Kathleen Hall
Kathleen Hall (born 12 August 1951) is an expert practitioner in mindful living and mindfulness. She started her career as a finance manager working at the World Trade Center in New York. After working over a decade on Wall Street, she made a decision to leave power, wealth and corporate stress behind her. Today, she is known as the stress expert -- Martha Stewart actually dubbed her the Stress Queen -- who specializes in stress management and guiding others in creating and achieving work life balance.
She established Oak Haven, a 300-acres farm in Clarkesville, Ga. in 1988, and converted the woodland, rolling hillside to house a meditation/learning center called The Hermitage, a horse farm and a retreat for wildlife and abandoned/shelter dogs and cats. In A Life in Balance: Nourishing the Four Roots of True Happiness, she wrote AbOUT her journey from working on Wall Street to establishing a sustainable and spiritual focus at the farm. This book won the 2007 Nautilus Book Award.
Education & Training
Hall received her Masters of Divinity from Emory University and a Doctorate in Spirituality from Columbia Theological Seminary. She also has a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Jacksonville State University. Hall studied under medical pioneers such as Herbert Benson at the Harvard Mind/Body Institute, Dean Ornish of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Stress Reduction Center. She received tutelage in spirituality from Nobel Peace Prize recipients including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu and President Jimmy Carter. Throughout this journey, she worked with high-risk inner city children and at the Atlanta Day Shelter for battered women and children; counseled and comforted the sick and dying as an ordained Methodist minister; and continued to explore the concept of science meeting soul. John St. Augustine included a chapter about her in his book on 21 extraordinary people.
In 1997, she founded Wellness Solutions, now called the Stress Institute. Teaching people The Effects of stress on health became a lifelong passion. Many corporations, including Microsoft and Electronic Arts, Inc., recognized her as an authority in her field and asked her to be a corporate spokesperson on stress management. Hall's ability to entertain, educate, and enlighten people across the world (from Los Angeles to London) placed her in the spotlight as a stress expert. Her media appearances include being on CNN, Fox News, Dr. Oz, Martha Stewart's Body and Soul, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, WebMD, and many more. She penned her second book, Alter Your life, a candid view on living and achieving an intentional life that requires no doctrines or trekking off to distant holy lands. Her spiritual development and uncommon premonitions are featured in a book chapter by Larry Dossey. In the midst of this journey, Hall had a near death experience in 2009, when a car operated by a distracted driver struck her as she was crossing a street in Beverly Hills.
After being away from the limelight, Hall emerged with her third book entitled Uncommon H.O.P.E., which is a prescription on how to enjoy a rich life of mindful living. The book was largely finished before her accident but was published a year later—awaiting for her final edits.
Current Projects
In 2010, her newest project became the Mindful Living Network. The mission is to gather people into a global community to share information, experiences and to support each other in all aspects of sustainability and Mindful Living. The seed of this vision was embodied in Mindful Living TV and original programming she created called Alter Your Life about everyday people learning how to de-stress and live with mindfulness after a weekend at the Hermitage at Oak Haven. Her other original shows included The Meditation Room, Mindful Living Everyday, and The Way I see it. Mindful Living TV launched on August 8, 2008. After Dr. Hall's accident, the TV network was put on hold and later evolved to an online outlet and digital platform. The website, Mindful Living Network, launched late spring 2011.