Erin Lee Jia Ning, Founder, Mindful Moments
As a Mindfulness Coach, Erin works with organizations to design and introduce mindfulness-based initiatives and interventions as a preventative approach to mental health, as well as encourage a culture of wellness at the workplace.
Podcast
Overview
In this world full of stress, peace of mind is something we all long for, but we do not know how to get it. Our guest for today, Erin Lee Jia-Ning, follows and preaches mindfulness. She has also founded an organization called Mindful Moments. She coaches and trains there. She defines mindfulness as knowing what is happening inside and outside of us in each moment.
Discussion:
About Mindful Moments
Erin started preaching mindfulness after she started meditating and got trained in the field in 2013. She wanted to help people by introducing them to mindfulness. She founded Mindful Moments so that she could add value to people’s lives and make them more mindful and self aware.
What does it mean to be alive?
Erin recalls that she used to live life in a very different manner until she was 30. She then realized with the help of meditation that she has been living with an autopilot mode. She was allowing habitual patterns to drive her everyday life and she was never awake. Mindfulness has helped her to wake up. She says by being alive she does not mean enjoying life but to be aware of oneself.
How Erin helps people get mindful
Erin tells us that she would first understand how one is doing in their day to day life and what one would like to work on. She then spends time with the coachee in the weekly sessions and guides them through practices. She helps them design their way of life and cultivates a healthier lifestyle into their daily lives.
Mindfulness as a tool to get better mental health
Erin tells us that when we practice mindfulness, we are actually developing skills to face challenges or difficulties by learning to observe ourselves and getting insights of our mind process. So one can balance himself in case of difficulty and deal better with struggles and challenges .
Mental health and effects of the pandemic on mental health and mindfulness as a rescue
Mindfulness helps us to get in touch with the nature of the mind and body. It tells us how we are reacting to stress and difficulties that life is giving us. She takes an example of the pandemic situation going on. She says the pandemic has worsened the mental health of people. They are getting more stressed due to many reasons, they feel isolated and lonely. In this situation people are getting overwhelmed by a certain emotion and are indulging in unhealthy behaviours. Mindfulness can help people to calibrate and regulate themselves
Role of yoga in mindfulness
We are informed that incorporating Yoga poses in the mindfulness practice helps the people pay attention to their bodies. By this, people can listen to what their bodies are telling them and this can definitely positively impact their well being.
How to understand if mindfulness is working for someone or not?
On being asked how to understand if mindfulness is working for someone or not, Erin replies that if you observe any positive changes in your day to day lives, your relationship with stress, your decision making and behaviour, it is working for you.
“Take a Pause” and “Big sit”
‘Take a Pause’ is an online mindfulness class. Anyone willing to take a session can log on to the app and join the live practice session. ‘Big Sit’ is an offline event. Erin organises this event where people who do not know each other are willing to come together to support the cause of well-being.
What does success mean to Erin?
Erin says she has never understood what success really is. Now she believes that if she is able to bring value and well-being to people’s lives and if someone says that mindfulness is working for them, she considers herself to be successful.
Profile
As a Mindfulness Coach, Erin works with organizations to design and introduce mindfulness-based initiatives and interventions as a preventative approach to mental health, as well as encourage a culture of wellness at the workplace. She is dedicated to supporting individuals and communities in improving their mental health and wellbeing, and developing skills of mindful awareness and self-regulation for better resilience, mental flexibility and emotional balance, through the integration of attentional skills in both personal and professional lives. Erin founded Take A Pause, a regular online mindfulness practice community, as well as co-initiated The Big Sit, a global community that inspires the use of urban spaces for the collective practice of mindfulness and the fostering of good mental health.
