For Sarah Dickie, a mindset and wellbeing coach based in Bannockburn, Central Otago, her best seat is often found in the hills that surround her.

Sitting on a tussock or a rock, overlooking wide, dry landscapes, is where Sarah Dickie feels most at home and her most creative. ‘It is where I am most connected to myself and my work.’

‘It’s where the noise drops away,’ she says. ‘I can hear both my mind and my soul speak. Being up higher shifts my perspective, and clarity inevitably follows.’ But she’s quick to add that it’s not the hills alone that create that clarity. ‘It’s the pause.’

Pausing didn’t always come easily. For a long time, Sarah was skilled at pushing through – being capable, meeting expectations, and holding everything together at a high level. From the outside, life looked full and functional; internally she was deeply disconnected from herself.

Her lived experience with an eating disorder in her late teens and early twenties became a turning point, ‘It showed me, first hand, how hard it is for people to change behaviour without understanding what’s driving it.

‘That experience showed me that people don’t change through willpower or self-criticism. They change through awareness, safety and reconnection.’

That insight now underpins her work. Over the past three years, Sarah Dickie Coaching has grown rapidly, supporting clients across New Zealand and Australia. With a Bachelor of Physical Education, formal coaching certification and recent specialist study supporting individuals experiencing eating disorders, Sarah brings a rare combination of professional expertise, lived experience and deep empathy to her practice.

At the core of her philosophy is one simple belief: self-awareness changes everything. ‘I see clients across all walks of life, with many different goals or challenges. I always start with getting to know their inner narrative because what we think drives how we act.

‘Self-awareness begins in small, intentional pauses,’ she explains. ‘When we stop long enough to check in, we start to understand what we need. Rather than what we’ve been pushing through or away. Those moments can change how we respond to our day, our relationships and ourselves.’

This belief also shapes her unique MindHike offering. A coaching experience set on the trails around Bannockburn, where movement, nature and conversation create powerful conditions for insight, perspective and meaningful change.

Sarah’s message is clear: your best seat doesn’t have to look like hers, but it matters that you find one. A seat to pause in; one that allows you to step out of momentum and listen. ‘What matters is whether you ever stop long enough to question what’s driving you.’