Leaderboard

Hello everyone, I've been participating for a few weeks, but haven't done an introduction. My name is Melissa Loyer, and I'm from southern Ontario, Canada. I'm a 500 hour certified meditation coach, and I am so excited to be participating in this program. I've joined because while meditation coaching is good, and does good, my focus is teaching mindfulness meditation for mental health. Before learning to meditate, I wasn't able to cope with day-to-day life, as there was childhood trauma that ended up leading to anorexia nervosa, alcohol abuse, and a scary amount of self-injury. I remember vividly the moment I was told that the brain secretes thoughts in the same way the mouth secretes saliva, and that I am not my thoughts - I felt hope and bawled like a baby. I joined "The Power of Awareness", led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach and my life hasn't been the same since. I'm loving every moment of this course.

My name is Tasha and I am a bilingual & bicultural therapist. I so excited to embark on this journey of mindfulness with hopes to make it more accessible to BIPOC communities.

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to be here. I'm a physician in California who recently launched my life coaching practice empowering women to look within and quiet their inner critic to confidently live their best life. I have been practicing and sharing/leading mindfulness for over 8 years and want to go deeper so joined this program. Thank you for the opportunity to learn and connect!

I am a first generation Canadian born and raised in Cowtown (Calgary)! I began my spiritual journey over 20 years ago and have been meditating for more than 10 years. I feel so grateful to have come across mindfulness meditation over a year ago when the pandemic began and it has inspired me to want to teach this practice to others. I found this teacher training program recently which has inspired me even more to share mindfulness with others. My passions are nature photography and writing. Here's a pic of one of my favorite parks in Calgary. We have amazing walking trails and rivers where I walk and meditate every week. Give me a shout if you ever want to visit Calgary!

Hi Rosanna! Nice to see another Calgarian in the course! I also look forward to learning with you!

Hi to all of you, Excited to be here and starting this course. I am Gitika from Mumbai, India and a Yoga teacher, health coach and a sound healer. Really looking forward to enhancing my practice and learn from all of you.

Hey Banu, I just joined the community. I'm looking forward to start with the program. I'm also living in Cologne, Germany. Maybe we can catch up some day and have a nice talk about mindfulness. Cheers, Patrick

Hi, my name is Vincenzia My field of interest is on how mindfulness can be used in recovery. There are many approaches to recovery and I have noticed a shift towards more eastern approaches when it comes to support groups but not much with actual recovery programs people can enroll in (in-person or online). There is the 8 steps book and support group and then Refuge Recovery as far as I know. Both being incredibly helpful but barely scraping the surface of what is needed out there. Therefor I have dedicated two years to further learning of addiction and to strengthening my mindfulness practices in order to design a Mindfulness Recovery program that deals with food, social media, technology, nicotine and other form of addictions. I, myself have been in recovery for quite some time now and most likely wouldn't have been had it not been for my introduction to buddhism and mindfulness many years ago. I am a Certified Life Coach, artist and sculptor. I spent many years working with children with special needs and have a very special and personal interest in Autism. I would love to connect with anyone that also has any of these interests in order to share resources, experience and theories. Looking forward

Yes, it was the conversation about belonging. For me it was almost a little startling when Sean stood up and started saying I belong here over and over again. I actually got emotional as it is relevant to something I'm going through right now and I thought it was so powerful. I agree I can't imagine what it would have been like live. I just wanted to hug people! LOL Thanks for sharing the info.

Does anyone gravitate towards nature-based mindfulness practices? I would love to hear about how nature inspires your work or personal practice. Speaking for myself, I think part of what brought me to mindfulness in the beginning was respect for and reverence of the natural world. It has so much to teach us and I find a lot of peace in reflecting upon its various elements and its innate flow.

Sounds Cool, Anthony!! I began a Podcast too that I need to get back to; it is: https://anchor.fm/FinestCoaching-RickBarber >>my Theme: Global Mindful Meditation Education I would welcome any Mindful Guest Appearance! So check it out!!

Hi everyone, I'm Stacy Inness and I love in Las Vegas, Nevada USA. I recently joined Mindfulness Mastermind and I was so excited to see that is has evolved into a Teacher Training Program as well! I have had a couple different careers in my life so far, the most recent being a Pilates studio owner where I also brought in different people to host guided meditation sessions for the studio clients. This is something I have wanted to dive deeper into, and teach others mindfulness and meditations. I went on a 10-day Yoga Retreat trip to Rishikesh, India almost 4 years ago and it changed me. I am so thankful this course is here and I look forward to connecting with others to learn and grow through this journey. I had to close my studio due to COVID-19 a couple of months ago and have been looking at the different things I learned through being a studio owner as well as all the things I am truly passionate about, and what I really desire for my life moving forward. I love music of all kinds, traveling, yoga, Pilates, meditation, healthy eating...I am working on getting certified in those areas so I can present a complete package of knowledge to others and have the ability to personalize my coaching or teaching or guidance (whatever it ends up being) for each individual.

Hi Gillian! Yes I have read this book. The main takeaways I discovered are that we must acknowledge what our window of tolerance is in our day to day life in addition to tracking this during meditation as well as the following: Here are some helpful tips when someone is in a state of disregulated arousal: Muscle tone extremely slack (collapsed, noticeably flat affect) • Muscle tone extremely rigid • Hyperventilation • Exaggerated startle response • Excessive sweating • Noticeable dissociation (person appears highly disconnected from their body) • Noticeably pale skin tone • Emotional volatility (enraged, excessive crying, terror) Also, it’s suggested to “apply the brakes” when any hypoarousal (anxiety, panic, traumatic memories) occurs. For example: Open one’s eyes during meditation practice. • Take structured breaks from mindfulness practice (e.g., walking, stretching, unstructured time). • Take a few slow, deep breaths. • Engage in a soothing form of self-touch (e.g., hand on heart). • Focus on a resourceful, external object in one’s environment. • Engage in shorter practice periods. Unfortunately I have one client that reaches her window of tolerance unexpectedly and these tips only slightly help. For example, she will meditate and feel profoundly quiet inside and relaxed but then seemingly out of nowhere she will experience extreme nausea and experiences a panic attack. I am a mental health therapist so I am also helping this client reprocess old trauma with EMDR and TRE in a safe way but she really enjoys mindfulness meditation too. If anyone has any resources on this it would be so appreciative! So far we have “put on the brakes” when needed and shortened practice sessions. I would love to learn about new tools in situations like this if you have any to offer. Thank you!

For me mindfulness has helped me be more aware of my emotions and how they affect me. I don’t have to get wrapped up in all my emotions anymore. I realize that I am not my emotions. Mindfulness helps me to understand them by taking a step back and asking questions and observing. If I’m having a down day or feeling angry about something I can sit down and ask what is the source. Is the anger necessary and can I let the anger go. If I’m just feeling down mindfulness can help me see if there is some thing that is causing me to have a more blue mood. Maybe I just sit with the mood and be there or maybe I need to go out for a walk. Mindfulness helps me to know what I need to do to take care of myself.

The greatest gift mindfulness has given me is the deeper awareness of my connection to all things. Before mindfulness I was obsessed with finding that one special secret that I could adopt that would miraculously change my life. Whilst the journey has been interesting, in the end it has been regular mindfulness practice that has ultimately changed my world. It is now the foundation of my coaching practice. There is not a day goes by where I don't discover something knew about myself or the world around me - mindfulness has opened that door.

Hi! I am excited to be in this course and to learn and develop. For the past 20+ years, I have been a coach and guide people through all sorts of relationship and work issues. In addition to one-one coaching, I lead a men's group, The Surround: The purpose of The Surround is to activate you to explore your life by connecting with, trusting with, and listening with men so that you experience greater freedom, power, love, and peace in relationship. I am an ordained interfaith minister and arden cyclist. This course will augment my meditation practice and fulfill a calling I have had to teach meditation as part of my coaching practice. I welcome connection with you all and look forward to peer collaboration and support.

My name is Ashlyn, and I'm the founder of Mindfullyash. I'm so excited to become a certified coach, and continue my passion for teaching mindfulness! I'm also excited to connect with everyone!

Hi Everyone, I live on the East Coast and due to my work schedule, am unable to attend the weekly Mentoring/Q&A Sessions on Wednesdays with Sean. I LOVE listening to the recordings; however, this past week was extremely powerful for me and left me wishing that I could not only share what I was feeling with the group, but wishing I could let others know that I was supporting them as well. I'm wondering if anyone else is in the same situation and would be interested in connecting as a group once in awhile to share and/or debrief? To give you a little context about where I am in my journey, I have never taught. I started this course almost two months ago and am loving every minute of it! I did pose the idea to Sean and he was supportive of it. I only say that, as that would be a question I would have, out of respect for him and ALL that he brings to his mentoring sessions. I look forward to hearing from people!

I have flexibility with my schedule for a bit so please send me the info as well.

I am Maria from Sibiu, Romania (...in the middle of Transilvania). I am a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist and The President of the Sibiu Branch of The Alzheimer Romanian Association. My interest in mindfulness started about 7 years ago and my first training in mindfulness was about 4 years ago. Use mindfulness exercises for myself and also in individual psychotherapy. Also the last years I had presentations at National Alzheimer Congresses about ”Mindfulness in preventing Alzheimer Disease” and also ”Mindfulness in Mild Cognitive Impairment”.

I am a physical therapist, and educator, a dreamer, and excited to learn more to be able to share mindfulness with others in a variety of settings.

Aloha Gillian! Thanks so much for the welcome? I believe it was you who sent me an email asking how I was doing. I accidentally sent it to trash before I could read it and haven't been back here since I wrote the introduction. I'm really enjoying the training, have supplemented it with Mindfulness for Dummies, as well as all of the supplemental info you guys are providing. The weekly email from Sean is especially informative. I'm still getting my feet wet and look forward to taking a closer look at the forum. I'm sure I'll find invaluable information and support there as well. Mahalo nui loa ("A very big thank you"), Patrice

I am Tony Bassett, a hypnotherapist from Utah. I am so excited to be a part of this awesome community.

Hi Rachel - Thanks for posting this. I am in a similar position of feeling compelled (after years of avoiding a calling) to finally face my fears and step forward with my spouse to start offering energetic and spiritual guidance for those interested. It is nice to hear when others are doing the same - it inspires me. Best wishes on your journey, Lauren

Hello, everyone! My name is Judy and I am diving head first into this training program. I am 55 years old and previously worked in the corporate world in Human Resources and then opened my own family daycare which I ran for 24 years. I found it very difficult to reopen my daycare after COVID so I am now unemployed and have been meditating and asking the Universe to guide me down a path which will lead me to the place I am meant to be planted and bloom. Although I am very excited for this opportunity, I am also petrified. I do not have the brain of a young person and I am worried I will not be able to comprehend all this information but I am determined and committed to see it through to the end! Sending you all love and light.

My name is Ellen LaRocca, born and raised in New Orleans. I recently retired from over 40 years of Massage Therapy. I integrated several offerings in my practice and wellness center. Meditation, Macrobiotics, Ayurvedic support. Certified with Dr. Deepak Chopra as a Meditation Instructor, and created many 4/day retreats. Studied at the Kushi Institute. Currently, I am leading meditations for cancer patients for a local hospital and meditations for a local insurance company. I was looking to build on my meditation instructions and saw the need for certification to help move me in that direction, as I am retired from my massage practice. I believe that this program is the right fit for me, so here I am to learn and grow into this next chapter of my life. Thank you and I can hardly wait to get started. Love and light, Ellen

Welcome Judy, from a Transplant from Beantown!!:) I am Rick; I grew up in the Jamaica Plain District of Boston. Hope you get what you need from our program; you are amongst Friends! Gillian is a Great resource, & yet, so are we; let us know how we can help you:)

Hello everyone! My name is Kelly Yonston and I am so happy to be a part of this community. Sean, thank you for creating this space. I am a school psychologist, yoga teacher and mindfulness practicioner. I did a year-long Mindful Educator program with Mindful Schools when I was working in the school system and did many trainings for staff as well. I am now living in Panama and I work with students online. I'd love to expand my teachings to adults as well, and stay involved in the mindfulness community, which is why I am here.

Hi All, My name is Cindy McDonough and I am new to this community. I am a health and wellness coach living in Cleveland, Ohio. After several years of coaching, I came to the realization that mindfulness is the key to behavior change and that's why I'm here!

Hello community, Hello community administrators, Hello Sean, My name is Banu. I've been in the program for six days and was a bit overwhelmed at first: So many files, so much material, and so many posts – where do I begin? Too many options and choices can also be quite intimidating ; ) But since yesterday's Q&A time I can see through it better. It was very nice to meet Sean and get to know some community members. Thanks again for the kind welcome. I live with my spouse and our 11-year-old son in Cologne, Germany. I got to know meditation about 12 years ago (before that it was always a mini part in my yoga practice). My father – a blue collar, hard working man – had a CD lying around that he had once received as a gift, entitled "The Healing Power of Mindfulness" by Jon Kabat-Zinn. He couldn't do anything with it, but I could. Since then, meditation or mindfulness (or both) has been accompanying me in various ways: e.g in stressful situations at work, during the birth of our child, when I had a burn-out, and of course now in the pandemic. I did not meditate constantly. It was always in phases. But in recent years I began to "sit" more regularly. Mindfulness has become a faithful friend. And yet, every time – especially since I started this course – I feel like I'm starting from scratch. Well, that's how it is: every moment is new : D Last year I completed my training as a healer. That was an incredibly blissful moment because I realized that I am a soul activist. It sounds super idealistic, but I know that with my healing skills and meditation, I can make the world a little bit better. Starting with myself. I am grateful to have found my way to this course and look forward to the journey with you. Love, Banu

I'm so excited to start this course and incorporate mindfulness into my health/life coaching practice (when it's up and running). Blessings to you all and your journey through this course

I first had an introduction to Mindfulness in UCLA’s spinal rehabilitation center in 2016 while recuperating from my 9th surgery on my spine in eight years. I had HAD it with pain, operations, physical limitations, never-ending Physical Therapy and being asked – yet again – to “dig deep” and find a way to cope with the intrusion of serious chronic health challenges. So when I was sitting across from a doctor who looked fresh as a daisy, hair perfectly mussed, and young (I’m talking his white doctor’s coat looked overly-ironed-and-right-off-the-showroom-floor young), I had all I could do to not roll the eyes right out of my head when he told me that pain was temporary and to accept it. If I had the strength, I probably would have tossed him out of my room right there. Then he began to tell me about Mindfulness. I went along with this. I figured that it was still an hour before lunch, and I was a captive audience in a carefully positioned articulated bed in a rehab unit. He talked about pain being all in my head (REALLY? Because I was sure it was in my spine next to the metal they’d put in there 4 days before), and that if I controlled my perception of the pain it would reduce my suffering. He may have sensed my impatience with the topic and left me with some reading to do and a few links to UCLA’s Ted Talks on the subject. That night, while up at 3am and staring at the ceiling of my rehab room, I started to watch the Ted Talks and read the handouts and articles he’s left me with. Over the next 10 days, I attended daily sessions to create modulation of my pain sensations, and I was really enjoying the calm guided meditations that truly seemed to help with my stress and anxiety levels, and didn't feel like crying all the time. The next year I was in the same rehab unit after my next spinal fusion and redux, this time on my thoracic spine. On day two, in walked Dr. Young-and-New, now more seasoned and a touch less fresh, ready to start in again on Mindfulness therapy. This time, however, I was MUCH more open to the teaching, meditations, affirmations, and mind-framing that really and truly seemed to be lessening my pain and suffering. It worked particularly well on the emotional and traumatic side of the sense of victimhood and PTSD you get when your body turns against you (and in my case, tosses you under a cross-town bus!). This time, after I left rehab, I joined the UCLA Mindfulness Training group and learned far more about what the practice of Mindfulness could do for my suffering and loss, and to ameliorate my (yes, temporary) episodes of pain. I found that with the practice of Mindfulness, the pain happened, but I saw it as a transient state. I had taken away its power over me, and saw myself less and less as the victim of an assault, but rather the Tour Director on the Lido Deck of my own life’s journey who did not let pain take up residence in my life any more. By the time I had my last stint in rehab two years ago, I was excited to see my old friend the once-young doctor. He was someone who had patience and compassion for me at a time when I truly needed it. And he was actually right about Mindfulness after all. Much to his credit, he never said “I told you so,” and was genuinely happy or my journey within. Now I negotiate the landscape of my good and bad days as a Health Coach, empowering women to achieve lifelong, optimized health and wellness, even with chronic health challenges. I have found that mindfulness and self-compassion are invaluable tools to have in my toolbox in my own - and my clients' - journeys to wellness. Thank you for accepting me into your community. I am so excited to be able to partake in this course as a next logical step in my journey within.

My name is Lucia. My motto is "Spark into the Moment". Really it is " Be present". My purpose in life is to be. Mindfulness is a constant practice, constant awareness and being with the amazing world that each of us carries within us. I am here to help myself do that and by extension learn how to share this with others. Thank you for providing this venue.

Hello! My name is Sara. I'm making my way through the class content and I'm learning so much! Currently, I'm a therapist and I'm looking to add mindfulness training/classes/groups to my practice. When I'm not working, I'm hanging out with my family. I live with my husband, son (who is about to graduate High school!). I have 2 daughters too, ages 20 and 22 that live nearby. I love spending time outside, running, doing yoga, learning, cooking and playing with my dogs. I hope to learn, grow and connect at deeper level with myself, others and the world around me. I'm looking forward to participating on this forum more often. Hopefully I'll "see" you around! Sara

Thanks, Lisa! It’s Awesome when you experience it inviting Curiousity!:) Observing visuals in Nature can be cool too!

Hi Everyone, Gillian - thanks so much for reaching out. What does it mean to belong? For me, this is really important to understand and I don't know that I have the answer. I do know how I feel. When I was young, late 60's / early to mid 70's I reflect back on never feeling that I belonged. My mother was white and British and all her family lived in England. My dad was Sikh (not practicing) and was from India (all his family was in India). They moved to Canada just before I was born - I did not belong to the white's and I did not ever see any Indians. So, I over longed to belong - if that makes sense. To attach to communities / groups - but never finding any roots. When I did find it, I often was caught off guard by the 'feeling', and would push it away because the good 'feeling' was unfamiliar for me. With that context - I feel the question has a phenomenal layers and dimensions to it. Ultimately, to belong is to share a sense of mutual connection (energetic, interest, commonality, familiarity, shared pain, etc...) and that mutual connection, works to entwine a thread of one's energy with that of another's or of a group's. Those threads of energy then work to weave a blanket of belonging. Each weave fueled by commonality of purpose within a mutually safe environment, where people are accepted for who they are and where they are made to feel safe to embrace and share their own truth. When we truly belong, we can meet our 3 intrinsic needs (Daniel Pink) - to bring value, to be valued, and to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. What are some of the different 'things' you can belong to? A variety of groups (both formal and informal), organizations, cultures, race, teams, sub-cliques within teams, families, people with the same interests, pets, relationships, etc.... In essence we can belong to anything where we feel loved, accepted for all of who we are in totality (the good, the bad, the ugly), encouraged and safe to be one with our truth, How do you support yourself or others when there is a perception of not belonging? I support others by including them. Where I have been the exclusionary influence (when I was younger) - I reflect back on it, because it does produce guilt moments - I honor the emotion then practice Ho'oponopono (I am sorry, Please for give me, I love you. Thank you. thank you. Thank You! For me - I cancel the thoughts that would allow me to take the moment personally and understand that it is the lenses that the other people are living through and in such they own the energy of the moment. I do not own their emotion, or behavior. I gracefully remove myself from the situation. What inhibits or encourages a sense of belonging? Social connection, overcoming our own demon's - I find (generally speaking) our ego generates fear of non-acceptance and then acts to prevent the pain. Which actually causes and prolongs the pain of that moment - often for years to come. Leaning into the fear to silence the ego opens doors - life is waiting on the other side of the door of our fears - acceptance is often waiting there to eagerly embrace us, all we have to do is clean the filth of fear away from our lenses and be willing to trust that the universe conspires for us all great ways. Lastly - I would say self-forgiveness allows us to lean into the fear. Self-forgiveness of our feeling embarrassed, of subscribing to the limits which have been placed upon by the voices and experiences of our past. thanks for reaching out and including me .....and whenever I correct a spelling mistake - I get turned to red (I am not yelling or angry _ assuming the text posts in the red font that it is now...lol) Love to all, R

Hi Gillian. I love that you are bringing this topic up for further discussion. Although I love so many things about this program, Sean standing up talking about belonging in the session has been the most powerful for me, possibly because I went through something for a long time recently where I felt I didn't belong. The strong reaction I had made me realize that it's something I really want to focus on. I have thought and written about worthiness and unworthiness a lot this past year, as conversations stemmed from a meditation group I was in. I will admit, worthiness and belonging are extremely sensitive areas for me, and although I have a lot I want to learn, I have already learned so much and it is changing my life. Part of the motivation for wanting to teach is so I can hopefully help others learn self-compassion, etc. For me, belonging means that you are accepted as you are. You have got me thinking a little bit about the relationship between unworthiness and belonging. Off the top of my head, I am thinking that you can feel worthy and still not feel like you belong. But I am definitely interested in thinking more about this and would love to hear what you and other people have to say on this topic! Thanks again!

Doing Great after our Deep Freeze, Gillian! Temp is a far cry from the Freezing Temps we had last week in TX.; believe me...I know your Winter feeling! Hope some Folks will be attending our 2PM/CDT Free Live Zoom Meditation today; here is the Link: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/2712027508... Theme is From Compassion to a Loving Kindness-Self-Compassion; hope some come!!:)...

This was soo helpful, thank you! I agree about coaching and counseling seeming similar to many clients. I've made sure to outline what to expect in my sessions on my website, hoping that'll be good place to start making the distinction.

Just an idea, there are a few coaches in my school (the JRNI Coaching Intensive) who call themselves Mindfulness Coaches. The term is not necessarily specific to meditation, but it may be of interest to use. Also of note, there are no jurisdictions or required certifications for someone to call themselves a coach of any kind! Certainly, clients may want to know or check up on your schooling or coaching education, and any kind of coaching certification you may have, but usually certification comes from the agency, organization/ or school you went to for coaching. Sometimes, the certification does in fact come from a coaching-regulatory body such as the ICF (International Coaching Federation) as well as a few others out there. As a previous MSW practicing in psychotherapy, and now attending coaching school, I can say that there are quite the differences between the two, and I hope that the term 'coaching' doesn't get muddled in with the term 'counseling' too much, as there are clear distinctions between the two. Even though WE may know the differences, the general public may or may not understand the differences without some clarity.

This year I intend to start each day with a thought of gratitude and acknowledgement that Today is a new Day and to end each day with a thought of gratitude and acknowledgement of the day without judgement.

That's wonderful Anthony! Is there a link to your blog or website? I am a freelance writer though I haven't been writing too much of my own content lately (aside from in my journal). However, it is interesting you bring this up because I have set an intention to write an article this week to post on my own website or Medium account. I plan to start working that muscle again, just letting things free flow according to whatever is moving through my heart and mind at the moment.

This was beautiful One thought at a time. I read the 7 Spiritual Laws Of Yoga by Deepak Chopra and David Simon about 10 yrs ago. I wrote each law in a notebook and practiced one each day. Some were easy like " give something to everyone you meet today" others were more difficult, like "judge nothing that occurs". To practice non judgement, I started with my commute to work. No radio, just me and my judgements and my continuous dialogue with myself. What an eye opener! I judged all the other drivers, and when not judging, was creating speculative dialogue for the work day! Since then I have cultivated a more quiet mind of gratitude, servitude and awe. I am a Reiki Master now for about 6 years, yep all the woo woo! A few years ago I did A Course in Miracles, which completely transformed my life and my approach to Reiki. I tend to be more of a mystic. I am always honored and humbled when Universe opens doors that allow me to share with, learn from and guide others .

Yes I can see where confabulation could easily occur. I think if the right intention is set for dream interpretation, inner wisdom will speak. I am in the midst of some pretty deep self growth and awareness, which encourages me to take pause and listen. I will have to learn more about Memory Palaces. Thank you... and you never know , that rainy day could be closer than you think

Thank you Gillian and Anthony I am new to the community. I do journal at least 4x/week. I find it very insightful. Sometimes I journal before I meditate and sometimes after. I am interested in the dream analysis. I have recently been recording my dreams. I am finding that even if I remember only a tidbit, once I write it, more follows. I have been categorizing into topics a) the probability if related to something that did happen that day b) what emotions were experienced and c) who the characters were. I will be checking out the links you provided. Peace and Clarity Nancy

David's Presentation was Awesome! I enjoyed his whole approach to Trauma! I actually got to see it twice since he presented at the Embodiement Summit! I took copious notes too! The Key take away for me was "Options" given the PTSD Person options whether with specific choices to open their eyes, leaving the meditation with another person, then coming back; giving them the choice to discern anything with the Meditator after the meeting...all quality choices. His Book sounds awesome too! My Next Read!

When I read this it caused me to pause. I realize that I don’t really have a specific long-term vision at this point in my life. My general vision is to bring people into my life that I truly feel I connect with. I’m in somewhat of a dry spell. I’m looking to be inspired to head down new pads. I enjoy my friends I currently have but feel that they don’t bring out my full personality. My vision for the world is that people would be able to pause to look inside and to be honest about who they are. Sometimes the world feels too busy and when things get busy it seems to deaden our soul. I’m glad I discovered Mindfulness because for me it has helped me to go inside and to be honest with myself. I see how beneficial it is to me and want to see others discover that same richness. I also think some people are afraid to go in and look at themselves. And that’s not crazy because it can be scary. Being scared is OK. Sometimes we find things within our self that we wish weren’t there. The best thing we can do is friend them and understand them. It’s hard to think 10 20 or 30 years From now. With these uncertain times for me I’m just seeing what the next few months spring. My hope is that we can start to resolve the racial injustice in America and have a country that truly cares about all of its citizens. My vision I would also say is that we would look to science and reason and not fall into politics and scare tactics to create the world.

Hello everyone! My name is Gillian and I'm a writer and yoga & meditation teacher based in Stockholm. I'm from Toronto originally and only just moved to Stockholm in May 2019 to live with my Swedish partner. I have two dogs and live a pretty low-key life (especially at the moment given the pandemic we're experiencing). I look forward to connecting with you all!