Today, we welcome Yolanda Beckers to the studio. Yolanda is the Director of the Innerlight Meditation center and non-profit Health and Wellness Sactuary in Naples, Florida. She has studied Naturopathy, Ananda Yoga, and Spring Forest Qi Gong. She is a teacher of the Spiritual University of the Brahma Kumaris. Yolanda was taught Healing Sound techniques by Tibetan Monks. She has been teaching courses in holistic conflict resolution at Nova University. Yolanda has been giving seminars in Body, Mind, and Spirit in different parts of the world. Her true love is to share wisdom and “light” with others. We discuss the following topics:

What is “Ananda Yoga”? 

• “Ananda” is the translation from Sanskrit, which means “joy” or “inner bliss”

• “Yoga” means union

• The goal of yoga is to really join the beautiful part in you that is joy or inner bliss

What is “holistic conflict resolution”?

• Yolanda did her thesis on this topic

• Her study looked at the conventional business understanding versus an alternative way to resolve conflict

• Two groups came in for several months and observed what type of conflict resolution was most useful

  • 100% the new alternative method was more beneficial, which includes Qi Gong, meditation, and self-awareness practices

Misconception about meditation: I must completely calm my mind 

• The mind is an active beast

• Beginning phases: rather than stop my mind, use constructive thoughts to help you get into a peaceful state of mind

• Continue to calm nervous system

What is an example of a thought I can focus on to clear my mind? 

• The most essential part is to focus on the breath first

• We want to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which leads to a calmer breath, reduced blood pressure, decreased heart rate, etc.

• Try to breathe to a count of 3 as you inspire, and a count to 5 as you exhale

• Come up with 2 or 3 questions as you breathe to transition your focus inward

We have 5 questions in our practice of meditation:

• Who am I?

  • The answer: I am light, I am a soul

  • We think we are what we do, which is not really true

  • We are a peaceful human being with a soul/spirit (or “third eye”)

    • The part of you that is always there, has never left you, and will continue to exist

• What is my form?

  • The answer: my form is light

• What are my qualities?

  • The answer: my quality is peace, love, kindness

• What is my goal? What are my tasks?

  • Your real task is to know yourself, so you must become the embodiment of all these qualities- of peace, kindness, love, calmness, etc

• Where are you going?

  • This question leads you to that space where you can find your true self

  • You could say: I am going to the land of peace, land of light, the space that has nothing but is just calmness

When we try to meditate, do we have to be in a particular position or a particular atmosphere? 

• Yolanda has a morning routine, which is very specific

  • Creates an atmosphere that is conducive to meditation

• Then at work during the day—where is the mind going during that time

  • We have a practice called “traffic control”

    • Every hour, your phone goes off and it reminds you to come back to yourself and empty your bucket of all your thoughts

    • Take a deep breath in and become very aware of the present moment

If we meditate, how does this help us to be healthy? 

• There are frontal lobe changes observed in people who meditate versus people who do not

• For Yolanda, the first thing that she noticed was her discernment became clear

  • Improved clarity of life

• Physically:

  • Heart beats slower

  • People are less acidic

    • When you meditate, your body becomes more alkaline because there is less stress

    • An alkaline body is a healthy body. As the body becomes more acidic, this is when we see inflammation build up and the development of disease processes

• We all have a mastery about us, we are our inner healers

  • We try too much to go outside of ourselves to heal

  • We are made to heal ourselves, give yourself a chance to become healthy through visualization of your cells

  • We have 7 main energy fields, when they are flowing and in proper alignment, you will not get sick

    • When you meditate, these 7 energy fields align and flow freely

    • These are “chakras”

We should all practice throughout the day being present, but what does this really mean?

• Present moment= happy moment

• Being present means that you are not in your head, being aware of where you are

• Opposite of being present: auto-pilot

• App on phone as a reminder to be present: Bee Zone (free app)

  • Yolanda does 1 minute every hour to re-align herself

If I am learning/practicing meditation, when and how will I feel a difference in my life?

• The difference happens immediately

• Once you acknowledge your soul, a process starts happening inside

• You start living more from your third eye rather than your two eyes

  • Two eyes lead to duality

  • One eye leads to one-ness

Tell me a little bit about people who suffer from anxiety and depression, how can this help?

• Learn that you can tap into the parasympathetic nervous system

  • Importance/emphasis on calming, slow breathing to tap into this system

  • Start by breathing in 3 counts and breathing out 5 counts

• With anxiety and depression, there is self-created reality

  • A forming of repetitive thoughts and thinking/living with anxiety

  • Really need to master your daily thoughts

    • “Check and change”

    • When something comes up that is negative and leads to depressing thoughts in the self, immediately take that and change that thought to an opposite energy

  • We are co-creators of our lives

  • If you are living in anxiety and cortisole is high in your body, it is necessary to constantly work on the “check and change” and mastering your thoughts

• You must create a shift of the way you approach your life

• Occasionally, when people feel a lot of anxiety, they feel like they don’t have control of their thoughts and their body

  • Research shows there are ways to control it by tapping into the parasympathetic nervous system through breathing and conscious changes to your thoughts

For people who are just learning meditation, and they begin to have an anxiety attack, what’s the best way to start to feel like they can control their mind and physicality?

• More emphasis on what occurs before the anxiety attack

• Need a constant practice to prevent the attack from occurring in the first place

“Stress is created by the response we give to life. It’s a learning process.”

• We need to get away from instant gratification

• But if you sit a little every day, you have subtle changes that are occurring

Do I have to be in a certain position or close my eyes to meditate?

• During the day, practice: “I am aware, I am in the present moment”

• When the mind gets full, just come back to this. “Present moment=happy moment”

• Keep eyes open: we are not living with our eyes closed! Use a focal point to reduce distraction from outward to inward toward my soul

  • Sleep is not meditation!

Yolanda guides us through a meditation

If you could give our audience one simple tool today that they can use instantly, what would it be?

• Practice being present and remember that you are a soul. This helps the duality in your life becomes more into one-ness

• “Check and Change” 

How can you access or contact Yolanda?

• Her practice offers a 4-week free meditation course or a 1 year study: Grow Your Wings

• Email: innerlightnaples@gmail.com

• Phone number: 239-269-2221