Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelly Tygielski.
Shelly, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started meditating as a graduate student in late 90’s while living in New York City. At the time, the only place to learn to meditate was a Buddhist centers across the city – the notion of “mindfulness” was not well known and the research was not widely available.
Meditation has helped me tremendously throughout my life – through grief and loss, my divorce and even in dealing with and managing a chronic illness.
After grad school, I went into the corporate world, working for a Big 5 firm, then a private equity fund and finally running mid-sized companies in executive capacities. In every company that I worked at, I saw the extent of the stress that existed and the toll it took on my employees and co-workers. I recognized that work-life balance was really not attainable if it was not supported and encouraged by the employer. So, I began to offer free meditation sessions in the conference rooms during lunchtime once a week and slowly but surely my classes grew from a handful of students to dozens of employees on a weekly basis. I recognized then that there was a need and a willingness, but I never did anything formally about it.
In November of 2015, I gathered a group of 12 friends on Hollywood Beach on a Sunday morning. They were all individuals who were in crisis and reached out to me for help. After our first session, we decided we would meet again the following Sunday. This time, each one of them brought a friend or two and the following week, their friends brought friends and, so on.
Within 4 months, we had over 100 people at each beach gathering and by May of 2016, we had over 500 people at each session. I realized that this was more than a gathering – it was a community and a movement.
Since then, over 15,000 people have meditated with us on the beach and our community still meets weekly with hundreds of people at each session.
In July of 2016, I decided to quit my job and follow my passion to bring mindfulness and meditation to all – to make it accessible and practical.
Since then, I produced the largest mass meditation ever held in South Florida – called “Broward Meditates” – and we managed to sell out the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. I then, produced an event at the American Airlines Arena along with the Miami HEAT called “HEAT Nation Meditation” which was the first-ever mass meditation done at a professional sporting event in the US.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road is never smooth. When we are connected to a heart monitor machine, you can see the ebb and flow, the waves of our heart beat on the screen. This flow represents our lives – the ups and the downs. If the road is smooth and the line if flat – well, then we are not living!
There will always be struggles along the way and certainly there were struggles in the past but what I learned for sure was that, the struggle is not real. The way we respond to the struggle is what matters. I have come a long way on how I respond to the valleys and the peaks. I recognize that I need them both in order to be successful.
YURU Mindfulness + Meditation – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
YURU Mindfulness + Meditation does a number of things. We work with mid to large sized corporations on “Mindful Strategy” and incorporate mindfulness into the lifeblood of the organization, helping them identify the gaps that exist in the organizational efficiencies and assisting their executive teams in making mindful decisions to help with continued growth and progress – and sometimes experience a culture shift. We also help companies design wellness programs that are sustainable and assist with the overall health of the organization.
I work with schools, community organizations and companies by conducting workshops on meditation, MBSR certification courses and life tools.
I still teach (almost) weekly at our beach sessions in Hollywood, which is always FREE and open to anyone that wishes to attend.
Finally, I consult to large events – like music festivals – on incorporating wellness into their programming.
I try to be as practical and real as possible with folks in my approach as I recognize that mindfulness can be intimidating and also has a stigma attached to it. I am trying to break down those barriers each day.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success doesn’t mean lack of failure. Success for me at this stage in my life is being able to have the freedom and independence to follow my passion and bliss and feel like the work I am doing is changing lives every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.seeyouonthesand.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @mindfulskatergirl
- Facebook: facebook.com/shellymeditation
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