Introducing Janine Pilmer, spreading kindness through Meditation, Breathwork & Yoga
What services are you offering in your community?
I offer breathwork, meditation and yoga group classes as weIl as private one-on-one coaching sessions, both online and in person out of my home on the Sunshine Coast of BC, Canada. With the current worldwide situation of coronavirus, I've transitioned all my offerings exclusively online and most classes free of charge to allow anyone that might be needing a space of calm, support or relief to be able to join me without any financial impediment.
I offer free weekly yoga and guided meditation classes both in English and in Spanish, as well as a weekly SKY Breathing session (in English only) for those who have taken the Art of Living Program. I also teach The Art of Living Program every month, which is now online.This is a transformational 3-session workshop where participants experience and learn the powerful SKY Breathing technique.
My yoga classes are an integration of meditative Hatha with vigorous vinyasa flows, pranayama, yoga nidra and practical wisdom. My meditation classes integrate some light movement, breathing techniques, guided mindfulness practices and meditations, as well as some food for thought around universal life principles and practical wisdom.
Every class has a theme, and I aim to make them light, fun and also profound. I want to give people something that they can continue doing on their own at home, and also provide a support base that they can connect to every week. I’m keeping the classes private through Zoom as I’m interested in sharing the space of the class with people who really want to participate, not just joining because they are mindlessly scrolling on social media.
What inspired you to offer your services?
The same way an invisible virus can spread all around the world, goodness and healing has enormous power to spread and multiply too. I feel we’re being given that opportunity right now. To uplift ourselves, co-elevate each other, and raise our global vibrations, through kindness, love, compassion and self-introspection.
The current coronavirus situation has given me the opportunity to take my offerings a step further, by now offering all my sessions online, which allows me to service the global community.
In Argentina, where I grew up, they are in a strict lockdown right now. For 3 weeks, people haven't been able to leave their homes. They can only go a couple of blocks to the supermarket and back or they can get fined. People in South America have been hit really hard economically. And so I have been deeply called to extend my services all the way from Canada to my dear Latin people for free and in Spanish.
I feel extremely grateful and committed to share the tools and wisdom I’ve received. In this special time, creating a container for people to come together, build community, go within and tap into their power feels very needed. For anyone who’s been thinking about doing something new or different from their daily habitual routine, now is the time. Now is the time to take action and move into the direction of our heart’s calling. We need more people connected to their source, their power and true potential on our planet.
How do you believe this particular service can help people? What are the benefits?
I’ve designed the classes to allow participants to experience the benefits of yoga, breathwork and meditation in an effortless way, with step-by-step guidance for both beginners and experienced practitioners. They are an opportunity to make time for oneself and experience deep practices on a weekly basis. Just as we attend weekly fitness classes to keep our bodies fit and healthy, these weekly sessions aim to keep our mind, heart and spirit in alignment so that we can have a healthy, uplifted, and strong body and state of mind. You know what they say, a strong mind can carry a weak body, but a weak mind cannot even carry a strong body.
I think we’re all currently witnessing an unprecedented planetary wake up call. I want to accompany people on their journeys of self-exploration, awakening and seeing life from a broader, unlimited perspective, where they can become the co-creators of their own life and reality. With everyone now being at home, it’s such a great opportunity to let go of old patterns, excessive distractions, press pause, and connect within.
The value of coming together and meditating creates such powerful ripples of goodness for ourselves and the planet. We have an intrinsic human need for connection. We may have taken the ability to connect for granted before now. In these sessions right now, we may be physically isolated but we still get to be completely connected. It’s a space for connection with oneself and with one another.
What got you into this activity? Why are you passionate about it?
I started practicing Yoga when I was twelve in my high school in Argentina. It felt so natural. I wondered why I hadn’t done it before, and at the same time felt like I’d done it before! I completely loved it! I kept practicing at home. I would create an ambiance with candles and music in my room and lead my little sister through a class.
I’ve always been naturally very spiritually inclined. I lost my father in a tragic accident when I was two. Growing up without a dad made me so curious and connected with what’s beyond what we can touch and see. It made me ponder the big questions in life. Who am I? What am I here for? What is the purpose of this life? Where do we go next? What’s the meaning of it all?
From an early age, I struggled with intense fears every night before going to bed. Fear about life, fear about death, or that something ‘bad’ would happen to someone I loved. I suffered from these profound fears until I was 21 years old, and took my first Art of Living course. The first night I practiced the SKY Breathing technique at the course, was the first time I was able to sleep with a sense of profound calm and peace. It was like a revelation to me! I couldn’t fully understand how this breathwork technique worked so well for me but thought to myself: “I don’t know how this works, but it’s working, so I’ll just keep doing it!”
It’s been 10 years now and I’ve been practicing my SKY Breathing every single day. What started out transforming a particular struggle I faced, ended up transforming every area of my life. I have always been a seeker, looking for something more, and when I did the Art of Living course, I felt I’d found my way home like never before. I rediscovered my life from a whole new perspective, and as I changed within, everything around me started to have a different flavour and depth.
When I graduated from my Architecture studies, I took a trip to India and spent 6 months at the Art of Living Ashram there. I was part of the first batch of international women learning the ancient Sandhyavandanam practice. It was sublime! Spending every day doing my practices, service, celebrating life and uplifting each other has really shaped how I’ve continued to live my life. I’ve been very active volunteering for the Art of Living since. When I went back to Argentina, I did meditation classes for kids in the slums, and started a meditation project for women empowerment. Later, I did my Yoga teacher training in India. Four years ago I moved to Vancouver and opened an Art of Living chapter on the North Shore where I was living because there was none there. I couldn’t wait to become a teacher as I felt it was so needed. In 2017, I became an Art of Living teacher and started teaching the Foundation’s programs.
This year, I’ve added my own signature programs with my personal touch that incorporates other complementary practices and tools that have worked really well for me. These include components of coaching, personal development and working with our limiting beliefs.
Why does kindness count?
The other day I heard someone say that our entire lives are a recollection of the acts of kindness we’ve received from others. Every act of kindness that we have received has shaped us profoundly. Kindness is just an expression of the divine energy within us. The more we’re able to nurture kindness and spread kindness, the more we’re able to live in alignment with our divine energy and bring that out into the world around us.
When we are babies, we are full of kindness. To embody or share kindness brings us to a place of fulfilling our most innate human nature, coming back home to our essence. One aspect is to experience it within ourselves, but whenever we share it, there is a multiplying factor that gets added into the equation. Sharing kindness is doing justice to our innate nature. As we grow up, sharing kindness can get overshadowed by how we are shaped by our outer world experiences, but an act of kindness is to really come back to our essence, to who we are.
Is kindness contagious?
We never know what impact an act of kindness we’re putting out into the world can have. Just like an invisible virus can originate in a remote part of the world and spread so quickly, the same goes for kindness. The ripple effect that goodness has is way more potent than the virus or other “bad” things. Whenever we share kindness, we’re multiplying it for ourselves and others, it continues to grow within and around us.
The opposites are intensified right now. There’s a lot of disconnection and need for connection. Every time you come face to face with kindness, you can’t help but be drawn to it. It shines on its own. Like turning on a candle in a dark cave, sharing kindness is like shining light into the world. Because it’s part of our nature, whenever we see kindness, it speaks to a very deep place within us that remains untouched. Everyone has a beautiful natural capability to be kind, but not everyone has been given the chance to nurture that. It’s definitely contagious and a drug that everyone needs!
How can people get involved with what you’re doing? They can follow me on Instagram @janinepilmer, where I share my lifestyle,daily stories and reflections. People can also email me at info@janinepilmer.com to be added to my newsletter where they’ll get all the information on my current offerings.
Kommentare