She never intended to teach, but now gives free online meditation classes

Tan's desire to help others benefit from the mindfulness meditation she practices led her to give free online classes during the pandemic. — Photos: JANNICE TAN

One positive outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic is that Malaysians have rallied together to help out those in need in different ways.

While the vast majority are donating food to ensure that no one starves, businesswoman Jannice Tan, 51, has been offering free meditating “coaching” online to help adults and teenagers tackle their negative emotions brought on by the pandemic.

“I’m not a meditation teacher!” she interjects, laughing.

“I’m a practitioner who is still learning and am sharing the little bit that I know.”

Everything happened by chance, she shares.

Tan used to be an aggressive, goal-oriented health supplements distributor who was always on the go, looking out for opportunities to grow her business.

“I’m one person who can never work for others as I believe in freedom and having the time to do whatever I want to do.

“I achieved that to a certain degree, but when I turned 30, I realised that I didn’t have inner freedom, peace and happiness – something was missing.

“I then became more spiritual and was attracted to the idea of being liberated from inner suffering.

“Slowly, I began to understand that we cannot avoid ageing and sickness, no matter how much we take care of ourselves,” says the qualified nutritionist and yoga teacher.

When a personal crisis happened a few years back, she was distressed and in emotional turmoil as negative thoughts constantly swirled in her head.

She needed an outlet to release her pain.

That’s when she stumbled upon mindfulness meditation by Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who has been quoted by numerous US presidents and hailed by Oprah Winfrey as “one of the most influential spiritual leaders of our times”.

Mindfulness meditation is a mental training practice that teaches one to slow down racing thoughts, let go of negativity, and calm both the mind and body.

After some research, she signed up for a retreat at one of his centres in Thailand in 2017.

Intrigued with the basics, Tan decided to spend two months at Thich’s headquarters in Plum Village Monastery in southwest France.

“There was so much to learn and the short span just wasn’t enough.

“So, with my husband’s blessings, I went back and spent a year at the monastery in France to really understand what mindfulness was all about,” she shares.

Negativity all around

An active person, Tan felt as if she was trapped physically and emotionally during the early days of the pandemic.

Armed with meditation knowledge, Tan returned home at the end of 2019, just before the pandemic struck and the lockdowns began.

She started practising at home, but found it difficult as the environment was different and she had to be disciplined.

“In France, I signed up as a volunteer to stay longer.

“There were always people around, so it was easier to meditate in a group setting.

“At home, I had my business to deal with, while my husband was having his own issues and I would pick up his vibes.

“Eventually, I taught him what I learnt and he became more calm,” Tan says.

Her friends urged her to start teaching meditation, but she turned them down a few times.

She reveals, “Initially, I kept telling them I’m just a practitioner and didn’t go to France to become a teacher!

“Before, I didn’t know how to deal with my negative emotions, e.g. anger, sadness, etc.

“I would divert my attention elsewhere or suppress the emotions; I was my harshest critic and would judge myself.

”But in France, I was asked to recognise these emotions and embrace them with loving kindness.

“When you are able to do it, it transforms the emotion into something positive.

“So I started practising this, and now, I no longer run away or try to fight my emotions.”

With the extended lockdowns, Tan noticed from her WhatsApp messages that a lot of her friends were experiencing all kinds of stress and negative emotions.

“As an active person, I also started feeling trapped emotionally and physically.

“There was this restlessness as I was so used to running everywhere for work, and now I was stuck, although I continued my business online.

“I somehow had this gut feeling that the virus was going to be here for a long time,” says Tan.

Helping others release stress

Troubled, she suddenly had this strong desire to help people release their stress through meditation.

Tan is also a qualified yoga teacher, although she practises for her own well-being and doesn't teach.

That was in July 2020.

She adds: “We all need a tool to take care of these negative emotions to achieve inner peace and calmness, despite what is going on externally, which is beyond our control.

“I didn’t know who was going to benefit, and because I’m not IT-savvy, (I) didn’t even know what Zoom was when a friend recommended it!”

Nevertheless, she explored the virtual platform and fumbled along, familiarising herself with its workings.

Then she asked the friends who had initially wanted her to teach if they were still keen on learning meditation.

The response was positive.

From a handful of students in the first class, word got around and the group grew to 40 adults, even with some participants from overseas.

For those in different time zones, Tan graciously sends them recorded sessions.

The more knowledge she imparted, the more she learnt from her students.

Eventually, parents starting asking her to teach their anxious teens.

“I’m married, but have no kids by choice, so I don’t know how to deal with children,” shares Tan.

“But I said okay, let me try, and started a class for teenagers in April this year (2021).

“Funnily, their parents don’t want to join the class, even though they could benefit from it. Meditation is just not in our culture.”

The students have been with her for almost a year, so obviously, they must have seen personal improvement.

Tan says, “Anyone is welcome to join and I hope more people can see the value of meditation.

“It’s not something religious; it’s basically coming to know yourself and making peace with yourself and not getting lost in the sensations you are feeling.

“People tell me they feel calmer and are no longer so judgmental about themselves.

“It’s not a big group, but I’m happy to have contributed something to help others.”

Tan conducts the meditation classes twice a week and each session is roughly an hour – she speaks for 30 minutes and the meditation component takes up another 30 minutes.

We are more than emotions

Through word of mouth, Tan's online classes are getting a wider reach, even having some overseas participants.

She has two simple tips for readers.

Firstly, she advises, “Be aware of your breath; use it as your anchor to ground yourself despite whatever emotions you’re experiencing.

“You can set a timer or do it any time.

“When you are overwhelmed with negative emotions, breathe in (say you’re aware of the emotion) and out (say you embrace the emotion) a few times.

“Think of a tree (representing our body).

"When you anchor the root (representing our mind) strongly, the tree will remain solid, despite all the weather changes that cause the leaves to dry or drop, and the branches to sway.

“Then maybe you won’t reach for chocolates (for comfort) or indulge in something harmful.”

Secondly, Tan says to practise stopping.

“We cannot be constantly pursuing and doing things all the time, and this is an excellent time to stop and ask yourself, ‘What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Is this urgent?’

“Stop doing what you’re doing, breathe, calm yourself down and look deeply into the real issue.

“Once you recognise what it is – and this takes time – you will have the awareness, and perhaps, transform very gradually to have better control of your negative emotions.”

She adds, “The opposite of mindfulness is forgetfulness and we tend to forget about being mindful about what we’re doing.”

Tan is clearly disturbed with the statistics showing an average of four suicides daily this year (2021).

She says: “We all have a river of feelings in us, but we need to know what to do with them and have the right tool or method to manage them.

“Don’t let emotions control you; they’re just one part of us – we’re much bigger than that.”