Thobi Zulu
On a journey of healing, self-awareness and purpose, Thobi stumbled upon Mindfulness in 2015 and has never looked back. Through her mindfulness practice she has come to live in the present more often than not, cultivated a practice of responding to her life and circumstances (good or bad) rather than reacting to them, allowing her the space in time to Be Here Now, moment to moment.
Motivated by the experiential benefits of the practice she wanted to bring Mindfulness to others, just like her who were looking for a self-regulatory mechanism that leads to a more peaceful and rewarding life, she received her certificate in Mindfulness Based Interventions through Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in 2018.
Her interests and passions include introducing and teaching mindfulness and meditation practices to her immediate community, particularly women thereby providing access to this life changing practice that has made an indelible mark in her own life.
She currently facilitates meditation and mindfulness classes from her studio in Boksburg and Vosloorus on the weekends at her father’s jazz club, with a intention to formalise a meditation centre in the township.
She is also working on a series of recorded meditations that are inclusive of English and isiZulu.
Her invitation to all who arrive here is to cultivate presence, to Be Here Now.
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”
doesn’t make any sense.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.”
Rumi, A Great Wagon.
What Is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR) is an eight week programme developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979. His definition of mindfulness is “the awareness that arises from the practice of paying attention on purpose, in the present moment non-judgmentally in the service of self-understanding and wisdom”.
In the eight weeks, participants are taught how to cultivate the practice of paying attention through various meditative techniques, group inquiry and movement. There is a misconception that meditation is the practice of stopping your mind from thinking, rest assured this is far from the truth, mindfulness helps us to see our thoughts more clearly.
When you are able to see your thoughts as they come and go it opens up an avenue for you to be able to understand the natural, everyday waves of mental, emotional, physical states and how they come to be. In this way, you are in a better position to respond rather than react to your experiences. Mindfulness meditation helps to quieten the mind, in order for the heart to open. An open heart provides a space for us to experience this life with deeper understanding and compassion, compassion for self, others and the world.
Mindfulness has been scientifically proven to have immense benefits in different areas such as pain relief, stress reduction, relationship improvement, self-awareness, understanding, wisdom and compassion. Mindfulness is applied in almost every industry imaginable from education, sports, and business. Mindfulness simply and beautifully invites you to be present in your life, to experience your life as it truly is.
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