April Williams of Mindful Together

*Finding her way back to herself and helping others make room for rest along the way.*

I first met April Williams years ago, when she was a regular customer at Gifted Boutique and Wrappery, the little gift shop I used to own.
One of my favorite things about having a shop was getting to know the people who came through the door.
Over time, familiar faces became friends, and even the briefest conversations could become a lovely part of the day.

April was one of those familiar faces.

Eventually, I moved on from Gifted, and life carried us in different directions. Then, when I launched Lantern & Lore, our paths crossed again.

April is the founder of Mindful Together, offering Reiki, meditation coaching, and Yoga Nidra classes here in the Triangle.

I recently attended one of her Yoga Nidra sessions. It was peaceful, thoughtfully organized, and clearly created with care.

I've always enjoyed the way people can wander in and out of our lives, sometimes returning with entirely new chapters to share.

And April's story has chapters worth telling.

When Life Asks for Something Different

For nearly 22 years, April has worked in pharmacy.

Her career has taken her through retail, oncology, and specialty pharmacy, giving her a substantial understanding of conventional healthcare. Today, she continues to work part-time in a compounding pharmacy.

But several years ago, the demands of her specialty pharmacy position were taking a serious toll.

April lives with Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory condition that has brought significant health challenges into her life, including surgeries to remove portions of her digestive tract.

She understood how deeply stress could affect her health. As burnout settled in, she found herself struggling physically and emotionally.

Her husband encouraged her to leave the job and give herself time to recover.

So she did.

It was a significant decision after years of building a career, but it gave April an opportunity to pay closer attention to her own well-being.

During this period, a friend encouraged her to attend a Reiki Level 1 class.

The experience helped April understand something about herself differently. She had always been intuitive and sensitive to other people's emotions, qualities she had sometimes struggled to make sense of.

Through Reiki, she began to appreciate those qualities as strengths she could develop.

April has always loved learning, particularly when a subject captures her imagination. She affectionately attributes her wide-ranging interests to being a Gemini.

That enthusiasm eventually led her to pursue a meditation certification course.

And that's where another important discovery was waiting.

Finding Her Way Into Meditation

For much of her life, April believed meditation was something she couldn't do.

The idea of quieting a busy mind felt difficult, and she had assumptions about what a successful meditation practice should look like.

But through her training, she discovered that meditation could take many forms.

And she actually COULD do it.

That realization changed her relationship with the practice and sparked a desire to share it with others.

April began offering individual Reiki sessions and women's circles, gradually building opportunities for people to experience some of the practices that had become meaningful in her own life.

Her interest in meditation continued to grow alongside her understanding of the nervous system and the ways our bodies respond to stress.

"Living in fight or flight is one of the hardest patterns to break," she says.

Having experienced the physical consequences of prolonged stress herself, April understands how difficult it can be to change those patterns.

She enjoys helping people learn more about their own responses to stress and discover practices they can incorporate into everyday life.

And she especially loves the moment someone realizes meditation is something they can actually do.

She remembers that feeling.

A Place in the Quiet

Ask April about the moment she knew she was doing the work she was meant to do, and she'll tell you about her first Yoga Nidra class.
Yoga Nidra is a guided relaxation practice that invites participants into a state of deep rest while remaining aware.
April loved the relaxing atmosphere of sound baths and wanted to create a similar experience using guided meditation rather than instruments.
She developed her own approach and invited people to join her.

When the class ended, the atmosphere in the room and the responses from participants stayed with her.

She felt she'd found her place.

I had the opportunity to attend one of April's classes recently, and I appreciated the thought she'd put into the experience. Everything was prepared, the guidance was gentle, and the session had an easy flow that made it comfortable to settle in.

There was something especially nice about having a spot on the calendar devoted entirely to resting.

April has a way of making that experience feel approachable, which is meaningful when you consider how much of her own journey began with learning to slow down.

Professional Permission Giver

Somewhere along the way, April gave herself a rather wonderful unofficial title.

Professional Permission Giver.

It came from recognizing how often people need reassurance that they're allowed to take care of themselves.

April sees how easily rest becomes something people postpone until their responsibilities are handled and everyone else's needs have been met.

Her own experiences have taught her something she hopes others will embrace.

"Rest does not have to be earned."

It's an idea at the heart of Mindful Together.

April wants people to feel more comfortable making rest part of their ordinary routines. Sometimes that begins with understanding how their nervous system responds to stress. Other times, it's finding a meditation practice that feels manageable or enjoying an hour of guided relaxation.

She's also open about the fact that she continues to learn and practice these things herself.

She's a wife, a mother to a teenage daughter, and someone with a busy mind and plenty of interests. Her days come with the same responsibilities and distractions that fill so many of our calendars.

Her work is shaped by what she's experienced, and she brings that understanding into the way she supports others.

Where Creativity Meets Calm

April's appreciation for art, music, and the more imaginative side of life has found its way into Mindful Together.

One of her recent projects is the Women's Voices Yoga Nidra series, a collection of classes inspired by female singer-songwriters.

Each session draws on the stories and emotions expressed through an artist's music, bringing another dimension to the guided rest experience.

April is also developing private Yoga Nidra gatherings, giving friends an opportunity to spend time together while slowing down and reconnecting.

I really love the idea of gathering a few favorite people for an afternoon devoted to rest.

She also handcrafts intention-based products, including candles, sprays, and bath salts, bringing mindfulness into small daily rituals.

Alongside these offerings, April provides individual Reiki sessions, meditation coaching, and guided meditation experiences for corporate groups.

Her training includes meditation coaching certifications through Loka Yoga School and the Whole Health Project, and she maintains memberships with the Meditation Coaching Alliance and Reiki Healing Society.

It's quite a collection of experiences for someone who once believed meditation was beyond her reach.

And April is happy to keep learning.

A Little More Room to Be Human

When April talks about the impact she hopes to have on our community, she comes back to something wonderfully ordinary.

She wants people to feel comfortable taking care of themselves.

Her hope is that rest and mindfulness can become more natural parts of everyday life, and that people who have hesitated to try meditation might discover how accessible it can be.

Even five peaceful minutes in the middle of a difficult day would be meaningful to her.

April's work has grown from her own experiences with stress, chronic illness, and the need to make changes in her life. Along the way, she's found practices that have helped her and discovered how much she enjoys sharing them.

And she's still learning, following new interests and seeing where they might lead.

I love that our paths have crossed again.

Years ago, I knew April as someone who enjoyed visiting my little shop. Today, I know more about the experiences that have shaped her and the work she's doing in our community.

It's one of my favorite things about Lantern & Lore.

There are so many interesting stories tucked into the lives of people we encounter every day. Sometimes we get lucky enough to hear a little more of them.

And sometimes, years later, we find ourselves together again, this time in a quiet room, enjoying an hour or two of well-deserved rest.

I suspect April would be very pleased with that.

Finding her way back to herself and helping others make room for rest along the way.