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Meditation Is My Medication

I’ve had the privilege to cross paths with some amazing women in my life, and Kathi Donnelly is one of those women. As a result of some health issues that surfaced in adulthood, Kathi was introduced to yoga and later studied at the Chopra Center. This, coupled with the fact that she’s a mompreneur, makes her a perfect contributor for this issue, focused on Mind, Body, and Spirit.

After Kathi and her husband married, they had two children. She had been teaching eight to ten dance classes a day, reaching approximately 100 kids a week, and decided to quit working to stay home with the children. Things were going fine, until they weren’t. She began having miscarriages to start. She also started to experience major anxiety—waking up in the middle of the night, having heart palpitations, not being able to sleep, and so on. She was very happy with her life, overall, but her health was an issue. The doctors said she was fine, but in her heart, she knew she wasn’t. The doctors eventually wanted to put her on medications to support the anxiety, but Kathi was looking for something that would support the root cause of the problem. She discovered and read a cognitive therapy book and started doing yoga. Serendipitously, her yoga teacher focused largely on prana—known as the life force, or breath.

Kathi shared about her experience with yoga, “Yoga brought the movement back into my life that I was missing, which helped to settle my mind along with the breath work,” Kathi continued, “I then read Deepak Chopra’s “7 Spiritual Laws of Success,” and it changed my life. I began to journal everything I did, from the medications I was taking to the types of symptoms I was having, and so on. I called it “emotional detox,” releasing what no longer served me and opening up room for gratitude and healing in my life. I was now able to be present for my kids and life in general, and people, including my children, noticed. All of these tools together were so powerful that I wanted to share what I had learned with others.”

Using the tools and techniques she learned from the Chopra Center coupled with her drive to help others learn ways to feel better, Kathi opened GroovYoga Dharma Center – a yoga center with a mission to help people get connected with themselves and their potential. Though she originally said she wasn’t going to teach kids, she was encouraged to do so. Dharma Girls, an all-inclusive program guiding girls to get connected with their dharma, or purpose in life, celebrate their unique gifts and recognize and honor others, was born and quickly exploded. The unique program is offered at summer camps, schools, Girl Scout troupes, and dance and yoga studios. Kathi has also co-created a Dharma program with Synergy Behavioral Health Group out of Delaware. The program has been approved by the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners to provide continuing education credits for social workers and clinicians to utilize in their practice.

When asked why she studied at the Chopra Center, Kathi shared, “I chose the Chopra Center because it wasn’t just about the poses, it was about how the whole mind, body, and spirit connect. Breathing, meditation, food, and everything needed for a healthy lifestyle was taught.”

Kathi, as you can probably tell, is full of words of wisdom. A couple of my favorites that are perfect for this issue’s topic are:

“Practice makes present. If you practice a healthy lifestyle and a positive lifestyle, that’s what will be present in your life,” and “Meditation is my medication.”

We will be sharing more from Kathi about dharma and purpose in a Q&A next month. For this issue, she was gracious enough to share The Ocean Breath, one of her breathing techniques, to help us heal the body, clear the mind, and connect with Spirit (and SO much more).

THE OCEAN BREATH by Kathi Donnelly

Have you ever been to the beach? What goes on? Kids are playing, waves crashing, birds soaring, whistles blowing, the aroma of sunblock—there is a lot of life going on at the beach! This “going on” represents the activities of daily life. 🙂

Where can you feel most grounded to silence all of the noise and activity of the beach day?

Under the water? Beneath the waves? The deeper you go, the more silent and grounded you become.

Regardless of what is going on around you, you will find stillness within as you bring your attention inward with an exercise I call The Ocean Breath.

Notice how relaxed and grounded you feel. As you go through your day, you can use this exercise to return to the ocean breath and the calm, peaceful space within yourself.

Namaste,

Kathi

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Kathi Donnelly is the Co-founder of DharmaGirls.ORG and Founder of GroovYoga dharma centerLLC