Living The Present Moment

"The children need to know their stories!" Louise Bennett, also known as "Miss Lou," is a National Treasure of Jamaica. Listen to the podcast audio and read more about "Miss Lou" on my prior blog post. “People of passion and purpose, doing interesting things, living their present moment.” LivingthePresentMoment.com/podcastshow      

Interview Series by Dr. Joel Ying. “People of passion and purpose, doing interesting things, living their present moment.” LivingthePresentMoment.com/podcastshow Laura Elliott is an artist currently living in Asheville, North Carolina. She has a passion for sharing Expressive Art as a therapeutic modality. Discover her transformation from the world of advertising and marketing into life as an artist. From artist to healer, she now brings art to others through Expressive Art sessions and workshops. She is also a Healing Touch practitioner. Through these different modalities, she brings healing to body, mind, and spirit. In this podcast … Learn about Expressive Art as a healing modality. Visit Laura Elliott online at lauraelliott.com. Recorded: Wed Mar 2, 2018, at 12:30pm ET on LivingthePresentMoment.com/studygroup Sponsor: This podcast episode brought to you by Chery Owens and Mountain Valley Retreat. Dedicated to women’s empowerment through retreats, bodywork, and yoga. Discover the oasis nestled in t

Interview Series by Dr. Joel Ying. “People of passion and purpose, doing interesting things, living their present moment.” LivingthePresentMoment.com/podcastshow Jennifer Samuel-Chance is a storytelling coach. As a storyteller and speaker herself, she coaches others to find their storytelling voice and harness its power in the speeches, presentations, and workshops. She shares her own story of transformation with us — from the corporate world to storytelling alter-ego Ms. JenJen to speaker and storytelling coach. This interview will inspire and teach you valuable information on the why and how of storytelling for business and storytelling for performance. "Stories tell and stories sell." In this podcast … Find inspiration in Jennifer's story of personal transformation. Discover why facts and logic are best delivered with stories to create emotion. Learn practical tips and advice on crafting your own stories. Find out how a storytelling coach can help you. Contact Jennifer Samuel-Chance online at je

Interview Series by Dr. Joel Ying. “People of passion and purpose, doing interesting things, living their present moment.” LivingthePresentMoment.com/podcastshow Imagine a place where people talk about what they are passionate about, where everyone wants to improve, where people support and encourage each other. That place is a Toastmasters Club Meeting. Toastmasters is a non-profit international organization that teaches public speaking and leadership. That's where I met Christopher Pritchard in 2008. I joined Toastmasters to become a better public speaker, and found much more. Through this organization, I have come out of a soft-spoken shell of fear that trapped my voice, and I have blossomed into a storytelling performer over the years. Christopher Pritchard is one of the inspiring people that went through the program with me, and continues to be active in leadership roles. He is part funny guy, always fast-talking, with a New York can-do attitude. When he invests in something, he goes all in. He dresse

Interview Series by Dr. Joel Ying. “People of passion and purpose, doing interesting things, living their present moment.” LivingthePresentMoment.com/podcastshow Laurie Lyons is a co-founder of Open Mind Zen Naples, a center devoted to the practice of mindfulness meditation and yoga in Naples, Florida. She is a lay monk in the Open Mind Zen School and a long-time practitioner of Ashtanga yoga. This interview took place just after hurricane Irma in September  2017, and I am grateful that we were able to meet as scheduled. The original teachings of Buddhism are from India. When the teachings came to Japan and took root in the Japanese culture, the lineage became known as Zen Buddhism. At the heart of Zen Buddhism is the practice of meditation. In this conversation, we explore the experience and wisdom of this practice. In this podcast … Learn about the mindfulness meditation of Zen Buddhism. Discover the path of a lay monk. Explore how meditation and yoga change the mind and body. Visit Laurie Lyons

In the 1960's, a group of college students prepared for the Civil Rights campaign. There had already been violence against them. They knew that some of them might not return. They had called their families. This group had decided to stay. In their darkest hour, they united by singing an invocation, a Spiritual from the Gullah people. The powerful invocation "Come by here" translates to "Kum-ba-ya". Many have incorrectly adopted the song for a “feel good” moment. Today, people often laugh and sneer at these "feel good" gatherings of people coming together, setting aside their differences, only to sing a nonsense word and get nothing done. The song has been taken out of its cultural and spiritual context, meaning has been lost, and the power has been taken out of the song. However, at its origin, this song is an invocation: "Come by Here, Lord." Kumbaya was not sung in good times, but in dark times, in desperate times, in times of need. The Gullah are the descendants of the African slaves living on the coasta

Interview Series by Dr. Joel Ying. “People of passion and purpose, doing interesting things, living their present moment.” LivingthePresentMoment.com/podcastshow When people come together as a group and sing, there is something about it that makes people stop to listen. Dr. Joel Ying interviews Ysaye Barnwell, exploring how she builds vocal community in her workshops, seminars, and group sings. She teaches song in the "oral tradition." In her workshop, Building a Vocal Community, she teaches the history and the songs of African chants, Spirituals, Gospel, and songs of the Civil Rights movement. I have personally experienced and witnessed her magical gift of creating community through song. The group divides itself into the parts of a choir: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. With her range, she sings all the parts. Each part of our new choir sings just their part alone back to her. She repeats until the voices come together. Then, she weaves us together in four-part harmony. As a non-singer, I found ease in sin

Interview Series by Dr. Joel Ying. “People of passion and purpose, doing interesting things, living their present moment.” LivingthePresentMoment.com/podcastshow "The shortest distance between two hearts is a story." ~ Geraldine Buckley Dr. Joel Ying interviews Geraldine Buckley on her personal journey into the world of storytelling, from England to America, through prison (as a chaplain), from England to America. She has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival and joins us to share the wisdom of storytelling. Visit her online at GeraldineBuckley.com. In this podcast ... Discover how stories connect hearts and have the power to bring us together. (We gain compassion by listening to each others stories.) Learn about the oral tradition of storytelling as a performance art. (Read more in my prior blog post.) Collect stories in your own circle of family and friends by using prompts to stimulate connection and conversation. (For ideas on prompts, we recommend the book, Telling Your Own Stories

Interview Series by Dr. Joel Ying. "People of passion and purpose, doing interesting things, living their present moment." LivingthePresentMoment.com/podcastshow ... Guest: John Kralovec gives a insightful interview on the Shamanic teachings of the Ancient Maya of South America. "We have forgotten who we are. We have forgotten why we're here. We have forgotten how to live a life of balance and harmony." — Maya Elder John describes his own spiritual journey and shares his insights along the way. Read his blog on pathwaystothedivine.org and download his free e-book, Seven Steps to Experience the Divine. Check out his new book, Pathways to the Divine: One Man's Journey Through the Shamanic Realm of the Ancient Maya. Recorded: Fri Feb 9, 2018, at 12:30pm ET on LivingthePresentMoment.com/studygroup

Interview Series by Dr. Joel Ying. "People of passion and purpose, doing interesting things, living their present moment." LivingthePresentMoment.com/podcastshow ... Guest: Molly Larkin is a spiritual teacher, author, and workshop facilitator. Find her online at mollylarkin.com. On this interview, she shares with us her experiences with Bear Heart, a Native American Shaman, that saved her life and became one of her teachers. Check out the autobiography, The Wind is My Mother: The Life and Teachings of Bear Heart. Recorded: Fri Feb 2, 2018, at 12:30pm ET on LivingthePresentMoment.com/studygroup

Welcome to “Living the Present Moment” - The Podcast. My name is Dr. Joel Ying, and I'm a Physician, Educator, and Storyteller. This podcast is part of my blog at LivingthePresentMoment.com. I host an online study group with live interviews and conversations with people of passion and purpose, doing interesting things, and living their present moment. What does it mean to live in the present moment? Listen to the podcast to learn more about my journey with living the present moment. I have been exploring this topic of presence, grounding, centering, balance in many different ways over the years. I might even say this is a topic of life experience. Interview Series In this interview series, I look for the quality of “aliveness” that makes me think “I want more of that.” As a storyteller, I am captivated by the power of story to connect and transmit experience in a way that reason and logic cannot. I ask my guests to share their stories because I want to learn from their practical wisdom. I share my own thought