Chill's 1st 100% digital Teacher Training program kicked off last week. We welcomed students from Seattle to Chicago. Kenya, a current Chill student, offered to share ongoing stories about her journey. Her 1st entry follows.

Lately I’ve been asking myself the question, “Who am I?” The answer to this question is ever evolving for me. I am an African-American woman living in the southside of Chicago. In addition, I am also a school social worker, yoga teacher, therapist, reiki master, birth and postpartum doula. Those titles are things that I do, but it doesn’t say who I am.

The journey to dive deep into this question began many years ago when I decided to do a yoga teacher training in 2009. This training began my journey into meditation. I’ve been meditating off and on for over 11 years. I am able to acknowledge the fact that when my meditation practice is consistent I am overall a much calmer and happier person. There are times where my anxiety can get the best of me and meditation is able to keep me balanced.

In 2018 I gave birth to my daughter and was super excited to be a mom. News flash: being a mom can be exhausting and leaves you with very little time for yourself. Thankfully, 6 weeks after I gave birth, I saw an email from Chill inviting me to participate in a 4-week mindful immersion course. It’s like they knew I needed to purposely set aside time for myself as a new mother with a newborn. Taking that course not only gave me 4 hours out of the week just to myself, but it also allowed me to go inward and nurture a part of my spirit.

Fast forward to almost 2 years later when I received another email that again, I swear, was written to me personally. Chill was offering their Meditation Teacher Training course virtually - how perfect for someone with a small child at home. Because of the incredible experience I had during the mindful immersion course, signing up for the virtual teacher training was a no-brainer for me. It’s like the universe knew it was my time.

I’ve just finished my first week of teacher training and I can say that I am so glad I took advantage of this opportunity. During the second session this week, we discussed the power of labeling. The questions to ask ourselves are listed below:

Is this thought true? Are you sure it is true?
What emotions arise from this thought? How do you feel?
Tell yourself a different story (take a different perspective, look at it upside down, explore the opposite).
Notice what shift occurred to your emotions.

Immediately after our training session I had to put this into action. It seemed as if my partner was upset with me. I began to go down my regular way of processing, “what did I do? I don’t understand why he has an attitude.” I even began to develop an attitude myself for no apparent reason other than the narrative I was playing in my head. This was a moment where I recognized that this is something I do every single time - except this time I told myself a different story. Instead of going down this rabbit hole, I asked the first question “Is this thought true? Are you sure that it is true?” I’m glad I was able to utilize this way of labeling my thoughts, it kept me calm and didn’t create any unnecessary drama in my life. It’s only week 1 and I already feel empowered.

Teacher Training Week 1: The Power of Labeling

Teacher Training Week 2: Sitting for 30 Minutes a Day

Teacher Training Week 3: The Power of Connection

Teacher Training Week 4 + 5: The 7 Attitudes of Mindfulness

Teacher Training Week 6: My “why” for Taking Chill’s Meditation Teacher Training

Post Teacher Training: For My Friends That Want To Know More About Meditation

CLICK HERE if you are interested in signing up or learning more about our Fall 2020 Virtual Meditation Teacher Training.