Q&A with participants from our Mindful Living Webinar Series
Featuring Sanjay Norbert, Global Dignity (Kuwait) and Yuko Tan, Life Coach at ELAvate Global
***
SIP: How has the webinar series helped you during the covid-19 crisis?
Sanjay: It gave me a sense of contemplation, a bit of distractions and doing those exercises helped me relax and ease some anxiety.
Yuko: Needless to say, very beneficial in helping to get myself together. Where the crisis is a situation beyond our control, the webinar series reminds me of things I could still retain stability in: myself. My emotions. My thoughts.
SIP: What are some insights and realisations you obtained from your mindfulness meditation practice?
Sanjay: I think the most prominent realization was that I don’t give enough time to myself to unwind and truly relax and my physical discomfort is a direct result of excessive stress.
Yuko: One thing I’ve realised for sure… I am not very mindful at all! Being mindful takes a great deal of intentional self-awareness in order to be present and remain happily stagnant (not stuck) in one spot. Breathing helps. Listening helps. Thinking less helps more. As a hyperactive individual, you could imagine me like a hamster sitting dormant in a wheel. Tough!
SIP: What are the changes in your perceptions towards yourself, others and various situations after this webinar series?
Sanjay: After this webinar series I believe I will dedicate more time to mindfulness, some sort of meditation and focus on relaxing more.
SIP: Do you think mindfulness can help manage stress? How has the experience been after the mindfulness meditation practice?
Sanjay: It helped me relax a bit and I am still getting the hang of things. It does help to manage stress but along with it I believe compartmentalizing and organizing things better will reduce stress much further.
SIP: What are the changes in your perceptions towards yourself, others and various situations after this webinar series?
Yuko: Maintaining my composure for simply 45 mins each session from the hectic rush of the working world has helped in reshaping my warped perceptions of those around me. Judgments have certainly decreased, with a heightened level of patience. I see others…”more in the light now“, I would say.
SIP: Do you think mindfulness can help manage stress? How has the experience been after the mindfulness meditation practice?
Yuko: Greatly. Possibly to an extent beyond expectations. Learning to be highly aware and mindful of the speaker’s voice and speech (especially in the virtual training) for mindfulness has been very beneficial to my attainment of higher “zen” ability. Not just enjoyable, but very impactful a takeaway indeed.
***
If you’d like to learn more about SIP Academy’s mindfulness-based courses, drop us a note at academy@socialinnovationpark.org