STIL Muse Q&A – Julia Gundermann
Meditation is often seen as a luxury of time, an airy-fairy way of spending a precious 20 minutes in a frantic day. I urge you to turn that thinking around if you fall under that category of doubt.
If you literally want to re-wire your brain, improve success, inner-peace and happiness, increase creativity, enhance relationships, let go of fears, decrease anxiety, and realise your true Potential…then meditation is the way forward.
I am intrigued and inspired by people that make their careers by helping others get some of this mind space and effulgence into their own lives. So it gives me great pleasure to introduce the latest spiritual muse here on STIL…Julia Gundermann. x st
Tell us a little bit about how you came to be where/who you are today…I started Naamasté in 2013 to bring peace, clarity, meaning and health to the lives of my clients through Naam Yoga Therapies, Naam Meditation and Harmonyum Healing.
As a child, I dreamt of running and owning my own luxury boutique hotels. After gaining a Bachelor in International Hospitality Management and working in 5 Star hotels, I joined a company that invested in exclusive hotels and marketed luxurious products. This included setting up the New Zealand office and hosting VIP events during the 2011 Rugby World Cup, while also being the Chairman’s Personal Assistant. Life was busy!
Working this high-pressure job across different time zones eventually took its toll, and I completely burned out (at the ripe old age of 22). Realising that money and prestige don’t equal happiness, I quit, refocused completely, and embarked on a journey to discover my life purpose. I knew I still wanted to do something that made people feel very welcome, cared for and special.
Realising my purpose to help people achieve harmony and balance in their everyday lives,through Naamasté, I work with corporate clients, groups and individuals, to help them prevent burnout, manage stress, and enhance their wellbeing. I teach people of all ages, body types and abilities, and help them recapture the distinctly 21st Century luxury of time spent caring for oneself.
Why do you feel it’s important for us to meditate? Meditation is a wonderful tool to create space in our mind, find inner peace and lasting happiness. It allows us to rewire our brain in order to think, feel and act positive and stay in calm control within this hyperconnected world we live in. Meditation allows us to focus on our ‘inner world’ so that we may let go of the misery that comes from comparing ourselves to others.
From my own experience, I know that if I practiced meditation while working in my busy corporate job, I could have prevented burnout and managed the stress levels much better.
“Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart.” (unknown)
What would you say to people that think they don’t have time to meditate? If you have time to take a shower and brush your teeth in the morning, you have time to meditate. Modern medicine still hasn’t found a way to clear the mind. That’s what meditation does. Simply think of it as part of a daily routine to detox the mind and stay fresh.
Gabrielle Bernstein’s comment is very accurate; she tells people who say they don’t have time to meditate: “Do you have time to feel like shit?” – It’s the truth!
Meditation is preventive medicine, and like homeopathy, needs to be practiced consistently and regularly in order to witness its magical effects on your mental, emotional and physical health & wellbeing. My mantra is: achieve more by slowing down. Make time to do something really good for yourself, and you’ll be grateful in the long term. Don’t trust me; try it for yourself!
How can meditation improve our quality of life? Apart from the many health benefits that studies and scientific research are promoting lately (read this fantastic article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/14/meditation-mind-body-spirit_n_5291361.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false), it is time to let our hearts lead the way, not our minds. We can only find our own truth and purpose in our lives when we are centred in our hearts. Meditation is about the journey of connecting to something greater than yourself and following your intuition.
According to Deepak Chopra, the average person thinks about 50,000 thoughts per day. Wouldn’t it be nice to organise this chaos in our mind and experience total clarity?
Are there any other wellness practices you include in your day? Yes! In addition to my daily meditation practice (morning and evening), I also do Naam Yoga and go for brisk walks in the morning. I love mudras (healing hand postures) for their simplicity and effectiveness. It’s great to be able to sit back for a moment, come back to the breath and hold a mudra. Within minutes you feel better and you can do it anywhere! Above all, the key to wellbeing is to know and respect your body.
For the skeptics, how can we change the view of meditation to one of daisy chain hippy, to busy, modern, everyday person? There are many articles, books and research published at the moment that really demystifies this ancient practice. Doctors increasingly recommend meditation as complementary therapy. Corporations like Google for instance offer meditation as part of staff wellbeing, which in turn increases productivity.
I have a dream that one day everyone embraces the benefits of meditation, board meetings begin with a short meditation exercise and every household knows of these techniques to help themselves and their community.
Do you encourage meditation for kids? If so, how do you get them started? Absolutely! Kids love Naam Meditation because singing the mantras and working with sound makes it noisy fun. Chanting meditations would be the easiest way to get kids started, they don’t need to sit quietly crossed-legged on the floor, they can move with the music and just chant along. Mantra simply means “mind projection” and are sounds chosen for their specific rhythms and vibrational patterns that automatically slow the breath, calm the mind and stimulate reflex points. Meditation for kids could be helpful to induce a restful sleep, or used in schools to get children to settle for class.
I remember that one of my friends at my Naam Yoga Therapies teacher training in Mexico last year used to chant a (relatively complicated) mantra during pregnancy. When her son was born, that mantra would be the solution to get him to sleep and even before he learned to talk he would request that mantra and chant along, because he intuitively knew he needed it.
Your fave meditation space? The beauty of meditation is that it can be practiced anywhere, at any time. I like to practice in my studio, which is flooded with natural sunlight during the day and has a beautiful, clear healing energy. It’s very minimalist and pure and decorated with inspirational quotes and books, candles, a Buddha and fresh flowers.
I also like to meditate at the beach, it’s very peaceful and the smell and sounds of the sea add the extra Zen factor to the practice.
Your fave meditation mantra? I have many! But my absolute favourite is “Ra Ma Da Sa Sa Say So Hung”. It’s a universal healing mantra that has been chanted by yogis for thousands of years and it’s the reason I became a Naam Yoga Therapies teacher. This mantra works on depression, anxiety, worry and fear and burns the seed of dis-ease. I like the adagio version on “The Healing Beat of Naam” CD on Rootlight (http://rootlight.com/music.php)
There are several forms of meditation, which style do you prefer to practice? I practice and teach Naam Meditation, which uses easy to learn, rhythmic chanting (with music), even the busiest minds can reach a relaxed, meditative state.
Naam means word, sound or vibration, which is a positive affirmation that infuses every cell with energy. Sound allows us to change at a cellular level, rewiring our thoughts and patterns. It’s is truly the quickest and easiest way I know to clear your mind and change your thought patterns, because chanting mantra (which I admit in the beginning may seem weird) creates a calm focus that takes you out of your mind and into your heart. Using the voice further stimulates the throat chakra (energy centre), which supports authentic communication.
Most people find it easier than to meditate in silence, because when we try to think of nothing, we usually start thinking about everything! Therefore, focusing on the word does not allow any opportunity to think of anything else and being in the ‘now’ is easily achieved.
How can we create our own special meditation space at home or work? Choose a nice, quiet place in your home where you cannot be easily distracted and decorate it with things that make you happy. You might like to decorate it with beautiful photographs or artwork, inspirational quotes and candles, crystals (if you’re into it), flowers… A meditation space is very personal so you have to create your own and see and feel what works for you!
At work you may just like to take a picture that immediately gives you a sense of calm, peace and wellbeing. For example a picture of your last holiday or flowing water. Then use that image while you connect with your breath, maybe hold a mudra (i.e. Gyan mudra is always a favourite: bring thumb and index fingertips to touch, resting comfortably on your knees with the palms facing up. This mudra reduces stress, is good for the nerves and works on your brain and memory).
Fave quote… “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift… and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift” – Albert Einstein
https://www.facebook.com/naamastestudio
STIL 
2 Responses to “STIL Muse Q&A – Julia Gundermann”
[…] STIL Muse Q&A – Julia Gundermann […]
[…] STIL Muse Q&A – Julia Gundermann […]