Jacqui Lewis | Transformation and Change During COVID-19

“I'm not all hippy mung beans, and hand hold-y kumbaya”, Jacqui Lewis tells Georgie Abay in today’s episode. Jacqui is co-founder of The Broad Place, a global school teaching meditation and ‘higher grade living’. But as they say themselves, they’re into meditation for modern living. That means making meditation accessible – online, rather than a remote monk’s cave – as well as approachable, useful, and yes, scientific. So it makes perfect sense when Jacqui tells us the two biggest misconceptions about meditation. Firstly, that you need to stop thinking while you meditate, and secondly, that you need to change your whole lifestyle in order to meditate. Instead, Jacqui believes that the key to ‘getting’ meditation is in finding a technique that aligns with and supports your every day life. And in founding The Broad Place, that’s exactly what she’s done. Jacqui is a mother, the author of Mother’s Mind Cleanse, and a highly-sought after speaker. She’s been featured in Vogue, BRW, Harpers Bazaar, and more, and hosts The Broad Place retreats around the world. In our enlightening, but down-to-earth chat, Jacqui tells us: Why meditation was actually not meant to be done like we do it today – which is why we need to do it differently How much of traditional meditation has been lost in translation to Western culture How meditation helps you recover “remarkably quickly” from stress and anxiety Why she and her partner moved their entire lives, business, and ‘unwilling’ 12 year old from Sydney to London, and what the shift was like How a recent anxiety attack taught her a great lesson The grieving process of her daughter moving into her teenage years The culture shock they experienced in London How yoga has helped her during lockdown How meditation helped her be less “sharp and spiky” as a parent Why she doesn’t believe that you can ‘turn down the volume’ on anger, frustration, resentment, and rage, but that you can turn up happiness, love, and gratitude. How consciousness is like a pane of glass Why she describes multitasking as “mashing” The power of language in how we speak to both ourselves and our children, and why she stopped calling her daughter (lovingly) a ‘little rat’ Connect with Jacqui via The Broad Place or on InstagramSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.