Vedic Meditation Teacher · Currumbin Valley · Practitioner at Eden Health Retreat

Learning to live
with greater calm.
Teaching what helps.

I've been meditating for nearly 20 years and teaching on the Gold Coast for 8. I'm not a picture of perfect calm — I'm someone who has navigated real struggles and found something that genuinely helps. That's what I share.

500+Clients taught
8Years teaching
~20Yrs practice
Gold CoastIn person only
Honours · Psychological Science Therapeutic Science Certified Breath Science Practitioner Practitioner · Eden Health Retreat
Rich Muir — Vedic Meditation Teacher Gold Coast Rich Muir · Currumbin Valley
“
There are many good meditation teachers. What matters most is finding one you connect with — someone whose experience and approach feels right for you. I hope that's what you find here.
Rich Muir — Vedic Meditation Teacher, Currumbin Valley

Rich's story

Still finding my
way. Still practising.

Rich Muir Currumbin Valley · Gold Coast

I didn't come to meditation from a place of calm. I came from a place of genuine difficulty — physical health challenges, mental health struggles, and a nervous system that had been running on overdrive for years.

In my twenties I was managing a Mercedes-Benz dealership, chasing the version of success I thought I was supposed to want. From the outside it probably looked fine. From the inside I was running on empty — more anxious than I admitted, more tired than I let on.

My thirties brought burnout, chronic fatigue, depression. Real struggles — not the sanitised version. I knew something had to change, but I didn't know what or how. Two businesses, a lot of searching, and then a quiet introduction to Vedic Meditation that didn't fix everything overnight but gradually, undeniably, began to shift something fundamental.

"I'm not someone who has arrived at some perfected state of peace. I'm someone who has experienced real difficulty — and found something that genuinely helps navigate it."

The practice didn't eliminate the hard things. Life kept bringing storms. But something in how I met those storms began to change. Not perfectly — there are days that are still difficult, days I feel the old patterns pull. I don't present myself as having transcended any of that. What I can say is that I'm more stable within it than I used to be, and I'm still working on it.

That experience led me back to study — Honours in Psychological Science, a thesis on stress, the respiratory system, and wellbeing. I wanted to understand, in the language of contemporary research, what was actually happening in the body and mind. The science confirmed what the practice had already shown me from the inside.

I live in Currumbin Valley with my wife, three adult children, a cat, a dog, some chickens and a few horses. I surf, play music, read widely. I meditate most days — not every day without exception, because I'm human and life intervenes. But consistently, because I know what it gives me, and I notice when it's absent.

There are many good teachers. What I can offer is someone who knows this practice from the inside out — not just the beautiful parts, but the difficult ones too. If that resonates, I'd be glad to have a conversation.

Along the way

I've tried a
lot of things.
A lot.

Through my thirties especially, I was on a genuine search. If something promised insight or healing or a better way of being, I was interested. Some of it was profound. Some of it was expensive. All of it taught me something.

"After all of it, I kept coming back to the same realisation — that what I was really trying to learn was how to work with the sensitivities of my own nervous system."

It took a long time and a lot of paths to understand that it wasn't the next book, the next program, the next experience. It was learning — slowly, practically — how to regulate the system I was born into. Breath, meditation, and the natural world turned out to be the most reliable tools for that.

  • 01

    Vipassana — three times

    Ten days of silence. No talking, no reading, no writing, no eye contact. One hundred hours of meditation. A profoundly confronting experience — you sit with whatever the mind brings up, with nowhere to go. I did it three times because each time it showed me something different.

  • 02

    Vision quest — four days alone in the bush

    A four-metre square of land. Water only. No phone, no book, no company. An ancient rite of passage across many traditions — sitting with yourself, in nature, until something clarifies. Four days is a long time to be that alone with your own thoughts.

  • 03

    Plant medicines

    Indigenous and ceremonial plant medicine traditions used for healing and expanded awareness. Experiences that were at times overwhelming, at times illuminating, always humbling.

  • 04

    Walking on fire

    Yes, literally. A well-known practice used to demonstrate what's possible when the mind and body are in the right state. More interesting than it sounds — less about bravery, more about coherence.

  • 05

    Seminar after seminar

    Through my thirties — the next speaker, the next weekend retreat, the next framework. Every one had something worth taking. And slowly the pattern became clear: it was always pointing toward the same underlying territory.

What I eventually understood

It was never about finding the right external answer. It was always about learning to work with the nervous system I actually have — its sensitivities, its patterns, its needs. Breath and meditation turned out to be the most practical, most reliable, most sustainable tools for that. Not because they're the only way. But because they work with the body's own natural capacity to regulate itself, rather than against it.

The timeline

Decade by decade

20s

Running on empty

Managing a Mercedes-Benz dealership. The outer life looked like success. The inner life was anxious, tired, and quietly unsatisfied in ways I didn't yet have the language for.

30s

The harder years

Burnout, chronic fatigue, depression. Real struggles with physical and mental health. Two businesses launched. A lot of searching. And eventually, a quiet introduction to Vedic Meditation that didn't fix everything — but began to change something fundamental.

40s

Finding what helps

Began teaching Vedic Meditation. Returned to university — Honours in Psychological Science, thesis on stress, breathing, and wellbeing. The science was a way of understanding what the practice had already shown me. A decade of deepening both.

50s

Still in it

Over 500 people taught on the Gold Coast across 8 years. More stable than I've ever been — not because life has become easier, but because I've found tools that genuinely help me meet it. Still practising. Still learning. Not striving for perfection — cultivating steadiness within the storms.

What I bring

Ancient wisdom.
Modern understanding.

What I love about this work is being able to hold both worlds — the 5,000-year tradition and the contemporary neuroscience of the nervous system. They're not in tension. They're saying the same thing in different languages.

The academic work wasn't about adding credentials. It was about understanding, as deeply as I could, what was actually happening in the body when people practised — because I'd experienced it myself and I wanted to be able to explain it honestly.

See the course Book a discovery call
Honours, Psychological Science Thesis: the relationship between stress, the respiratory system, and wellbeing. Evidence-informed teaching grounded in contemporary research.
Therapeutic Science Academic grounding in therapeutic approaches — informing how the teaching is tailored to each person's specific situation, history, and nervous system needs.
Certified Breath Science Practitioner Trained in the science of functional breathing and its relationship to the nervous system, stress response, and physiological regulation. Used alongside meditation where relevant.
Resident practitioner — Eden Health Retreat Seeing clients weekly at one of the world's leading health retreats, sharing meditation and breath science with guests navigating stress, burnout, and recovery. Eden sits at the intersection of clinical and holistic care — the standard expected of its practitioners reflects that.
500+ students taught on the Gold Coast Eight years of teaching across all backgrounds — busy professionals, parents, people navigating burnout, health challenges, and major life transitions.
Initiated in the Vedic tradition A 5,000-year lineage of direct transmission. The technique is taught as it has always been — personally, precisely, and without modification.
Trained in functional breathwork Complementary evidence-based tools for nervous system regulation — taught alongside meditation where appropriate to each student's needs.

What I love about this work

Ancient wisdom
meets nervous system science

There are many good meditation teachers. What draws me specifically is the conversation between these two worlds — a 5,000-year tradition and the contemporary science of stress and the nervous system — and how completely they confirm each other.

5,000 years direct transmission personal mantra effortless technique Vedic lineage Ancient Tradition stress breath HRV cortisol wellbeing Modern Science the thesis 5,000 years of Vedic practice Honours · Psychological Science
The ancient wisdom

A tradition that has
endured for good reason

Vedic Meditation has been passed directly from teacher to student for over 5,000 years — unchanged, because what works tends to survive. The technique is elegantly simple: a personal mantra, an effortless method, and the mind settles on its own.

What I find remarkable is that this tradition understood the nervous system long before we had the language to describe it scientifically. The ancients didn't have fMRI machines — but they knew, through direct experience and careful observation, what deep rest does to the body and mind.

  • A 5,000-year lineage of direct teacher-to-student transmission
  • Personal mantra — not generic, chosen individually
  • Effortless by design — the technique asks nothing of you
  • Practised personally for nearly 20 years before teaching
The modern science

The nervous system
in contemporary research

My Honours thesis in Psychological Science looked at the relationship between stress, the respiratory system, and wellbeing. I chose that topic because it was the territory I'd been living in — and I wanted to understand it as rigorously as I could.

What I found confirmed what the practice had already shown me from the inside. When the nervous system gets genuine rest, stress doesn't just feel better — it resolves physiologically. The body stops running the threat response unnecessarily. Things change from the inside out.

  • Honours in Psychological Science — Griffith University
  • Thesis: stress, the respiratory system, and wellbeing
  • The physiology of the stress response and nervous system regulation
  • Why deep rest changes more than relaxation techniques do
"What I love about holding both worlds is that I can meet people wherever they are. Some want the science. Some feel drawn to the tradition. Some just want to know it works. Whatever the entry point — the answer is the same."
Rich Muir — Vedic Meditation Teacher, Currumbin Valley

Beyond the teaching

Life in
Currumbin Valley

I live in the valley with my wife. We have three adult children who, despite being grown, still manage to teach me something new on a regular basis. Our days are shared with a cat, a dog, some chickens, and a few horses who have their own strong opinions about things.

During the week I see clients at Eden Health Retreat — one of the world's leading health retreats — working with guests one-on-one around meditation, breathwork, and nervous system regulation. It's work I find genuinely meaningful: people arrive at Eden at real turning points, and being part of that process is a privilege.

Outside of teaching I surf when the conditions allow, play music, and read broadly — psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, fiction. I'm curious about consciousness and what it actually means to live well, which probably explains how I ended up here.

How I approach this work

Not perfect.
Just genuinely trying.

I want to be clear about something: there are many good meditation teachers, and finding the right one is more about connection than credentials. I'm not the teacher for everyone, and I don't need to be. What I can offer is someone who knows this territory from the inside — the difficulty of it as much as the beauty of it.

I'm not striving for some perfected state of permanent calm. What I'm working toward — and what I try to help others find — is greater stability within the ordinary storms of life. The practice doesn't remove difficulty. It changes the ground you're standing on when it arrives.

How I see it

There are many good teachers

What matters is finding one you genuinely connect with — whose approach, experience, and way of explaining things feels right for where you are. If that's me, I'm glad. If you find someone else first, that's good too.

What draws me to this

The ancient and the modern say the same thing

The Vedic tradition and contemporary neuroscience arrive at the same understanding through completely different methods. That convergence isn't a coincidence — it's what makes this work feel so grounded and so trustworthy to me.

Where I'm at

Cultivating steadiness, not perfection

I've missed days. I've had hard periods. I still do. I'm not presenting myself as someone who has transcended difficulty — I'm someone who has found better tools for meeting it. That's what I share.

★★★★★

"Meditation has become my anchor in moments of difficulty — including when I faced a devastating health diagnosis. Through those months, it gave me the steadiness I needed to keep moving forward."

Justine S. Business owner
★★★★★

"I thought I just wasn't someone who could meditate. Rich changed that in the first session. I haven't felt this calm since I can't remember."

Renee S. Marketing Manager, Gold Coast
★★★★★

"Rich is an amazing teacher. His course significantly changed my mental well-being. I haven't felt this un-anxious in years. Thanks Rich."

Pete Meditating 6 months

If this resonates,
let's have a conversation.

A free 20-minute call — no script, no pressure. Just an honest conversation about where you are, what you're looking for, and whether I'm the right fit. If I'm not, I'll say so.

Book a Free Discovery Call

In-person · Currumbin Valley, Gold Coast

Or read about the course first