The Summit of Her Ambition

Marie Byles was a pioneer in many fields: feminism, environmentalism, and introducing mindfulness meditation to the West. The first female lawyer of New South Wales, Marie worked on behalf of women's rights in law and also devoted her legal services to the environmental movement helping reserve national parks. She travelled the world on mountaineering adventures and during WWII became a follower of Gandhi and pacifism. She travelled throughout India and Burma and trained in mindfulness meditation, writing books that inspired a generation in the 1960s.