Leading Jamaican yoga and meditation teacher, Sharon Feanny, has devoted her life to championing healthy living. Having opened the island’s first dedicated yoga studio in 2000, Shakti Mind Body Fitness, she’s one of the pioneers of yoga in Jamaica. During the height of the pandemic, Feanny realized the need for an online yoga and healthy living platform, for both beginners and veterans to come together for regular practice. In 2020, Shakti at Home online was born.
Feanny’s cookbook, Life Fit Kitchen, is an international bestseller. Available for purchase on Amazon, the cookbook covers easy-to-make, high-vitality recipes for any occasion, promising to transform your life by cleaning up your diet with delicious food.
This month, Feanny will be leading an online detox program designed to rejuvenate the mind, body, and soul through healthy eating, yoga, meditation, journaling, exercise and gathering in community with like-minded people from around the world.
Feanny’s mission is simple. “It’s to help people live fit, live life, and live love,” she explains. The slogan is woven into every offering she creates, and the way she lives her life.
If there were three simple tools Feanny would tell the world to start doing every day this year for a healthy and happy life, they would be daily practices of meditation, movement, and mindfulness, she notes.
Meditation
Getting your year on track starts with getting your day on track, she says. Feanny emphasizes the importance of taking time within the first hour of the day to set the right tone. Meditation helps you to stay present, she explains. Our minds can be self-saboteurs. They either dwell in the past, lingering on regrets or look too far into the future, paralyzed by anxiety and fear of the unknown. “Meditation centers us within the present, allowing us a chance to reset and focus on the day to come.”
Movement
Building a habit of regular movement and exercise can do wonders for your day-to-day health and quality of life long term. This exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous, but Feanny advises that folks over forty should consider implementing resistance training into their routine through either external weight or body weight. “Exercise releases feel-good hormones, which can help you start the day on the right foot and curb restless sleep when it’s time to tuck in,” Feanny explains.
Mindfulness
She also describes mindfulness as living and taking action with purpose. It’s existing in the present and making deliberate actions that benefit you in the now and in the future. One of the pillars of mindfulness is mindful eating. The cookbook author urges us to take regular inventory of our pantries, clearing out overly processed foods. She also suggests practicing meal prep to reduce the friction to eating well. Feanny notes that mindful preparation looks different for everyone and can be adjusted to fit your lifestyle regardless of dietary preferences.
