Laura Carling: The Courageous Voice of Mindfulness, Resilience, and Hope
Laura Carling, now widely known as Laura Ashurst, is recognised for her work as a mindfulness meditation teacher, wellbeing facilitator, aromatherapist, public speaker, and breast cancer campaigner. Over the years, she has built a strong and respected identity through her contribution to health, wellbeing, and cancer awareness, inspiring many people through both her professional work and personal resilience.
Based in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, Her public work is closely linked to her personal experience of living with secondary breast cancer. Her work blends professional knowledge with lived experience, which gives her voice unusual depth and authenticity. Whether she is leading mindfulness sessions, speaking about cancer care, or helping people manage emotional overwhelm, she brings empathy and credibility in equal measure. Her story is not built on publicity but on perseverance, and that is what makes it so powerful.
Laura Carling’s Early Professional Path
Before becoming widely known for advocacy and wellbeing work, Laura had already built a substantial career in the health and education sector. She has spoken openly about having around 30 years of experience in health and wellbeing, including 15 years in Further Education. During that period, she worked as a lecturer and later as a senior lecturer, combining academic structure with practical care-based knowledge.
One of her major professional achievements came in 2004, when she co-wrote the first Foundation Degree in Complementary Therapy (Aromatherapy) delivered in the North-East of England. The programme was validated by Teesside University, and this accomplishment reflected both her expertise and her commitment to developing meaningful wellbeing education. Her specialism in aromatherapy sits alongside a wider understanding of complementary therapy, mindfulness, and emotional support, giving her work a broad and compassionate foundation.
Laura Carling as a Mindfulness and Wellbeing Practitioner
Today, her professional identity is strongly linked to mindfulness. She is a Breathworks-trained mindfulness meditation teacher, and her approach is centred on helping people cope with anxiety, overwhelm, emotional pain, and the pressures of daily life. Through her platform, Living With Hope, she offers mindfulness meditation sessions, workplace wellbeing support, breathwork, day retreats, and public speaking.
Her work combines mindfulness teaching with practical wellbeing support. She does not treat mindfulness as a fashionable trend or a rigid technique. Instead, she presents it as a practical, compassionate way of living. Her programmes are shaped around self-kindness and self-compassion, two values that repeatedly define her message. Rather than pushing perfection, she encourages gentleness, awareness, and emotional honesty.
Poetry, Breathwork, and a Personal Style
Another special feature of her work is the inclusion of poetry. She often brings poetry into her sessions, sometimes through her own words and sometimes through the words of others. This creative dimension gives her teaching a softer and more reflective quality. It also shows that her work is not only clinical or instructional, but deeply human.
Breathwork is another central part of her practice. Her language around breathing, present-moment awareness, and mindful attention reflects a calm but powerful philosophy. She helps people reconnect with the present rather than becoming trapped in cycles of fear and rumination. That message carries particular weight because it comes from someone who has had to live it every day.
Laura Carling and Her Breast Cancer Journey
A major part of Laura Carling’s public story is her experience with breast cancer. She is a three-time breast cancer survivor and has lived with secondary breast cancer since December 2007. Her journey began with a first primary breast cancer diagnosis in September 2001, followed by a second primary diagnosis in September 2004. Later, in December 2007, she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer affecting her lungs and pleural lining.
She has described the shock of that diagnosis with great honesty. At the time, she was told that without chemotherapy she might have only a few months to live, and with treatment perhaps around two years. That kind of prognosis would be emotionally devastating for anyone, especially for a wife and mother with young children. Yet her life did not follow the limits of that prediction. Instead, she became what many would call an extraordinary long-term survivor.
Treatment, Trauma, and Endurance
Her treatment journey was intense. After her earlier diagnoses, she underwent a lumpectomy, radiotherapy, a mastectomy, and reconstructive surgery. Following the metastatic diagnosis, she received chemotherapy and radiotherapy to shut down ovarian function, which caused immediate menopause and added another layer of physical and emotional strain. She has also spoken about the serious decline in mental health that followed this period, showing how cancer affects the whole person, not just the body.
A particularly important part of her story is the role of Letrozole, the aromatase inhibitor that she has said helped control the growth of her metastatic disease for many years. She has also received Zometa bone infusions to strengthen bones affected by long-term treatment. Her reflections on this period reveal gratitude, fear, resilience, and uncertainty all at once. She does not present survival in simplistic terms. She shows it as something lived one day at a time.
Laura Carling’s Family Life
Behind the public advocacy is also a family woman whose personal life has shaped her strength. Laura has said that she is married to Paul, and that they have been together for almost 30 years. She has also spoken lovingly about their two children, Megan and Jack, and about the deep importance of being able to watch them grow up.
That part of her story is especially moving because she has openly acknowledged that many people with the same diagnosis did not get the same time. Her gratitude is deeply connected to family milestones, ordinary days, and the ability to remain present for the people she loves. This perspective gives emotional depth to everything she does in her professional and campaigning work.
Laura Carling and Her Twin Sister Connection
Laura is also known as the non-identical twin sister of actress Elizabeth Carling, often known as Liz Carling. Their connection has drawn public interest, but Laura’s identity stands firmly on her own achievements. Even so, the sisters’ bond is clearly significant, especially through difficult health experiences and family milestones. Their shared birthday and close relationship add another personal dimension to Laura’s story.
Laura Carling’s Advocacy and Campaigning Work
Campaigning is one of the most important parts of her public life. Over the years, she has become a prominent voice for people living with secondary breast cancer. She has worked as a Cancer Campaigns Ambassador for Cancer Research UK, has served as Chair of METUPUK, and has also been involved with the Building Resilience in Breast Cancer Centre. In addition, she is Patron of The Trinity Holistic Centre at The James Cook University Hospital.
Her activism is focused on real issues that affect patients directly. She has spoken about the urgent need for better standards of care, faster access to medicines, stronger awareness of secondary breast cancer, and far better recognition of the condition’s impact on mental health. This work is not abstract or symbolic. It comes from her own experience of fear, uncertainty, treatment, and the feeling of being insufficiently informed at the time of diagnosis.
Recognition for Laura Carling’s Public Impact
Her efforts have not gone unnoticed. In November 2022, she received the Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award in recognition of her campaigning to improve care for people living with secondary breast cancer in the UK. It was a fitting honour for someone who has spent years using her own difficult journey to improve life for others.
This recognition also underlines the scale of her contribution. She is not simply sharing a personal story online. She has helped influence awareness, support, and public discussion around an illness that remains deeply challenging for thousands of families. Her voice has become important because it is both informed and compassionate.
Why Laura Carling’s Story Matters
Laura Carling represents a rare combination of professional experience, emotional intelligence, and lived courage. She has worked in education, complementary therapy, mindfulness, and public health advocacy, while also managing a life-limiting illness for many years. That combination gives her unusual authority. People listen because she speaks from knowledge, but also from truth.
Her life shows that hope is not denial and resilience is not pretending everything is easy. Instead, her example suggests that strength can be gentle, reflective, and deeply compassionate. Through mindfulness, campaigning, teaching, and honest storytelling, she has created a legacy that reaches well beyond her own circumstances. Laura Carling is, in every meaningful sense, a woman of substance, purpose, and lasting inspiration.
FAQs
1. Who is Laura Carling?
Laura Carling, now widely known as Laura Ashurst, is a British mindfulness meditation teacher, wellbeing facilitator, aromatherapist, public speaker, and breast cancer campaigner. She is also known as the twin sister of actress Elizabeth Carling.
2. How old is Laura Carling?
Laura Carling is 58 years old. She was born on 20 October 1967, the same date as her twin sister Elizabeth Carling.
3. Is Laura Carling married?
Yes, Laura Carling is married to Paul. She has said they have been married for almost 30 years, and they have two children together.
4. Who is Laura Carling’s sister?
Laura Carling’s sister is Elizabeth Carling, also known as Liz Carling, the British actress known for roles in Casualty, Goodnight Sweetheart, Boon, and Barbara.
