Coming to your Senses

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This article was published 27/09/2018 (2548 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The smell of sage fills the air, as the calm tones of a singing bowl ring out.

“Gently close your eyes. Check in with yourself, noticing the breath. Not changing anything about the breathing, not judging,” said Jenn Shields of Open Hearts Wellness.

A group of six women have gathered for an outdoor mindfulness session, with a goal of pressing the pause button on life and fully experiencing the present moment.

Participants are encouraged to focus on the smells and sounds around them, and take slow inhales and exhales.

“Thinking about drawing that breath past the ribcage all the way down into the belly,” Shields said. “Noticing the air as it moves into areas, filling the side body and the tiny spaces between the ribs.”

As a mom of three young boys with a busy real estate career, Shields said life can be overwhelming with scheduling and commitments. She has been incorporating mindfulness and meditation in her life for many years.

“A big part for me was when we had three kids in three years, and it was busy and it was loud, and it was crazy…and that was life,” she said. “I found that I can be a better mom for them. There’s a lot of things about the crazy I can’t change but the one thing I can change is my own mindset and my own headspace, so I’ve started integrating that more into my life.”

She realized that others were likely feeling the same way, and put out the feelers for a mindfulness class called “Finding Space Amongst the Chaos.”

“The response was crazy. People were looking for it, they were wanting it,” Shields said. “I think for a lot of people it’s almost like permission to get started. Either they didn’t know how to start and were reading about meditation or mindfulness… or just were feeling overwhelmed and knowing they were needing to do something.”

Shields is planning on opening a space called Open Hearts Studio in downtown Brandon in November. It will be located on the fourth floor of the historic Bass Building, 29 10th St.

Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present in the moment, which is often developed through meditation. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, meditation can ease symptoms of anxiety, depression and insomnia. Studies have also shown that it may have positive impacts on the physical body, from reducing blood pressure, as well as symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis and other ailments.

Katrina Sigurdson, owner of Party Professionals in Brandon and a mother of two young boys, said incorporating mindfulness into her life within the past year has made a world of difference. The local decorating and rental company is especially busy during the summer season as they make dream weddings come to reality. 

“It’s very hectic. We’re working seven days a week, go go go all the time,” she said. “So between running a business and just doing all sorts of normal mom things …it’s a constant busy.”

A friend encouraged her to try some mindfulness apps and that’s when she started dabbling in Open Hearts Wellness classes. Sigurdson said she was looking for a way to clear her mind and decompress. She now tries to do some form of mindfulness practice every day or two.

“It’s almost like a restart and just feeling like you can breathe again. Clearing your mind. It takes away that overwhelming feeling for me, which is huge,” she said. 

She uses a combination of the Headspace app on her phone and attending classes.

“As you do it more and more, you start to realize how your brain can finally begin to shut off a little bit. It’s pretty amazing actually,” she said. “I didn’t really believe a lot of it before until I started doing it, and I would be a big advocate now.”

Tiffany Green dove into mindfulness practice following a devastating injury she suffered abroad. In 2017, Green went to Bali for yoga teacher training.

When she was days away from returning home, she was in a biking accident where she suffered serious injuries, including a spinal fracture and broken scapula.

Recovery has been a long and trying time, and it was mindfulness practice through meditation that helped her through the difficult moments.

“It was so hard for me after coming off of a month of continual movement and feeling good to just being stuck sitting,” she said. “I couldn’t do yoga, and I needed something.”

She signed up for a six-week online meditation course which helped her immensely.

“I found that was really, really beneficial to me after having this traumatic experience, and all this negative emotion that was sitting in me, to be able to sort of turn inward,” she said. 

Green now teaches a meditation class at The Zen Zone on Sundays.

“We’re all going through different things, but everybody’s got something,” she said. “And I think everybody can benefit from some form of meditation or another, and I just wanted to bring that into other people’s lives.”

In addition to classes and apps, there are many ways to incorporate mindfulness into day-to-day life. Green suggests turning off the TV when eating, and focusing on the taste. Going for a walk or hike and appreciating nature is another great way to live in the present moment. 

“Enjoy the beauty around you, whether its the trees or the green, or water or sun… just incorporating these little ways of enjoying the present moment can really help us to live a more mindful life,” she said. 

For others, finding a creative outlet like painting, knitting or playing an instrument has meditative benefits. Using a simple mantra that is positive and in the present tense can help people stay focused, such as “I am calm.”

Enjoy the beauty around you, whether its the trees or the green, or water or sun…

For some, having a visual representation of the chakras is helpful to stay focused. At Kristin Jette’s mindfulness meditation class at Inspire You Studio, she offers a light bar to represent the seven wheels of energy throughout the body. The seven chakras include the root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye and crown. 

“Sometimes it’s hard to envision that white light, so I’ll turn on a white light to help people see it,” she said.

After years of practicing mindfulness in her own life, Jette decided to launch a class to help others.

“I had a lot of medical issues when I was younger, which led me to where I am today,” she said. “Dealing with those medical issues was very stressful, and a lot of people feel a sense of anxiety or depression, and I can definitely relate… and I needed something that helped bring clarity to my existence, and meditation did that for me.” 

Jette said meditation is like a workout for your brain.

“We know we have to take care of our bodies or they will deplete… but we never think neck up,” she said. “I like to think this is my favourite work out. I get to sit and I’m not sweating.”Jette will be teaching a four-week mindfulness meditation course through Assiniboine Community College’s Continuing Studies. It begins Oct. 18 and runs Thursday evenings.

It’s all about being in the present moment, she said and benefits can be experienced in a simple five or ten minute practice every day.

“It is very difficult to stop thinking about our past …and it’s really difficult to stop worrying about the future…but we’re missing so much when we do that,” Jette said. “So it’s just about letting go…and allowing yourself just to be.”