In Focus | Miriam Desjardins of Miriam Desjardins, Mindfulness and Meditation

In Focus is our gift to the community. A way for us to help show our recognition for the people, businesses, and organizations that help make our city great. The team at KelownaNow.com is passionate about this community and the people that make it amazing. We want to show our friends, neighbours, family and colleagues that we notice them and the fabulous things that they do.

What is your name?
Miriam Desjardins.

Where are you from and how long have you lived in Kelowna?
I grew up in a small town in northeastern Ontario, lots of snow, lots of 30 below weather! I lived in Toronto for a decade, before making the move to Kelowna eight years ago with my husband, our 3-year-old daughter and two week old son. It didn’t take long for this to become home for us. I think of it as ‘the sweet spot of Canada’. We are actively recruiting friends and family!

Who is your favourite person to spend time with and why?
Do I have to pick only one?! My husband, Ryan, and our kids. It’s always real with them. Although if I’m honest, I love my alone time with me. I used to consider this a luxury but now I view it as an absolute priority if I want to show up in any meaningful way for anyone else.

If you could go anywhere in the world right at this moment where would you go and why?
Our home-away-from-home at Big White. There is something very magical about being at the mountain over the holidays. We have spent the last five Christmases there. Easily my ‘happy place’.

What is your favourite local store in Kelowna and why?
The Curious Cafe, hands down. It pulls off a cool vibe while still being family-friendly, it turns out those two things are not mutually exclusive! I love the pizza and beer, but it also has a great breakfast. It's my favourite meal to eat out.

What is your favourite activity?
Finding a trail to hike, bike or ski. Give me a daily dose of mindful time in nature and I’m at my best! Living in the Okanagan makes this such an easy task.

If you had to choose: pizza, tacos, or burgers?
Pizza, woodfired, anytime, anywhere.

What is a hidden gem you enjoy in the Okanagan?
My backyard! We moved to southeast Kelowna this past fall, and are loving the forest we see out our window. There's minimal 'light pollution' so that the stars absolutely rock, and we have the luxury of privacy while still being so close to the hub of the city.

What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you?
Picture a winter morning, a younger version of myself running through deep snow for public transit, a kind bus driver waiting patiently, a bus full of less-than-patient commuters watching out the windows, a sudden slip and fall, a skirt up above the head and a most humbled me taking my seat amongst snickers and applause. This happened to me again recently outside of a Tim Horton’s, only this time, thankfully, I was wearing pants!

What is the most inspiring thing that has happened to you?
I’m not the first mom to name giving birth as my most inspiring experience. Specifically, my son who, at 11½ pounds, convinced me that I am so much more capable, ready and worthy than my mind may sometimes have me believe!

Tell us your favourite childhood memory.
My siblings and I spent many of our summer days on my grandparents’ farm. We played, we imagined and we spent hours outside with very minimal adult oversight. When I think back on it, I can feel viscerally that sense of freedom and anticipation of adventure. It’s one of the best touchstones I have.

Where do you volunteer or give back to in the community?
Friday mornings, for the past three months, I have been hosting a free, drop-in guided meditation. Every one of us has stress in our lives that can accumulate in the body and mind. It isn’t always easy to prioritize the time for self-care. Meeting with a group of others seeking some moments of stillness can be helpful. We have been creating community together in this way and those that attend have been invited to leave a donation to help support our extended community. The proceeds have been gifted to the Kelowna Veterans’ Affairs Office that just recently re-opened its doors.

If you could change one thing in the world what would it be?
‘Tis the season to be reflecting on peace. We can get so distracted living our busy, individuated lives that sometimes we forget how connected we all are. And by carrying around this sense of separation, we can lose our peace. It doesn’t have to take a lot to reconnect to that. Do something kind for someone else, check that out. Peace is like a ripple that begins with a choice and extends way beyond where it began.

What is your favourite activity in Kelowna?
These days I’m all about early morning hikes with my puppy. Sometimes it is Knox Mountain and sometimes the Crawford Trails at Myra Bellevue Provincial Park.

Where would you sneak away to in Kelowna to spend some time alone?
This past summer I snuck away to the beach a handful of times on my own. Sometimes with my paddleboard, and sometimes with a blanket and a book. The lake is such a perfect place to go to feel refreshed.

Where would you like to see positive change in Kelowna and why?
I have a small window into the lives of some of the healthcare workers and first responders in Kelowna. They manage an incredible amount of stress, and are so skilled at taking care of others at the expense of their own well-being. I would love for them to have more readily available access to resources that can provide them with more heartspace and headspace, so to speak.

If you were granted one wish for work or in life, what would it be?
To FEEL GOOD! For me that means feeling connected to others, feeling in the flow of life as well as feeling free and unbounded.

Tell us something that not everyone may know about you.
I love music. I grew up in a home where music featured prominently. It was normal for us all to be gathered around the piano and singing while my mom played. I still have a mixed tape my parents made me when I was four with all of my favourites: Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Buddy Holly. Such a child of the 70s. I love now that my home is still about the tunes, although my kids are keeping it a little more current!

What is the name of your business/organization?
Miriam Desjardins, Mindfulness and Meditation.

What does your business do?
My business, I hope, is helping to spread peace. I offer meditation and mindfulness mentoring and coaching, as well as teaching private and semi-private yoga from my home studio.

How do people connect with you through social media?
You can connect with me on Facebook as well as on Instagram.

Where can people find your business online?
I’m at miriamdesjardins.com

Why did you get into/start this business?
Shortly after we moved to Kelowna, I attended my first meditation retreat. At this point I had been meditating for six or seven years but I remember coming away from that retreat feeling like I no longer wanted this practice, this aspect of my life that was integral to me living meaningfully, to be taking a back seat to my other pursuits. Meditation had changed my life, it made me feel as though I had 'come home' to who I really am, and I wanted so much to share this.

What is the goal of your business?
To offer people a comfortable and safe space where they can meet up with some stillness, where they can get familiar with silence, where they can begin to glimpse some of their own deeper potential for well-being.

What has been your biggest struggle either in work or life?
One of my big ‘learnings’ has been to release the need to control and perfect all of the details of my life. My motto at work, as in life, is 'begin where you are'. I’ve been practicing stepping up and showing up, even when the perfectionist in me isn’t feeling 100% ready. There is a tremendous amount of freedom in this. It’s about faith really: facing fear, relaxing resistance and choosing to believe that each moment is showing up for me in its perfection so that I can show up for it as I am, right here and now.

If you could start all over again would you do things the same or would things be different?
I know now that every experience readies me for the next. This has been the story of my life. I can see how different choices would have gotten me places more easily or faster, and yet I am who I am because I didn’t make those choices, and I’m good with this.

Why do you think it is important to shop local?
'You can take the girl outta the small town but you can’t take the small town outta the girl', or something like that, right? One of the things I love about Kelowna is that although it continues to grow as a city, it retains that small-town, community feel. Connection is really important to me. I love feeling part of a community and I know that by shopping locally I am not only economically supporting the community, but I am making connections and this just feels good!

Give someone that you think deserves it a shout out and explain why!
For the past six years my family and I have been part of the community at Ecole Glenmore Elementary. If it takes a community to raise a child, these kids are off to an amazing start. There is one teacher, in particular, who deserves a shout out: the music director, Rhonda Draper. Aside from being a gifted and inspired teacher, I believe she, in many ways, sets the tone for the culture of this school. The arts feature in a big way. This year Rhonda is working overtime to honour Canada’s 150th birthday through a collaboration between the school and the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra. They will be performing Rhonda’s award-winning show 'How Canada Came to Be' together at various venues in the Okanagan. Very cool, and she does this all with so much grace and humility. Rhonda really is a gift to our community.

My nomination for the In Focus spotlight is:
Rhonda Draper.

Other information you would like to share:
If you would like to stay connected with me, I email out a newsletter once a month featuring my upcoming events and always offering some food for mind, body and spirit. You can connect with me by clicking here.

We encourage you to leave your comments and words of support below and submit your own nomination by clicking HERE. You are also welcome to submit a form of your own by clicking HERE. Thank you, Kelowna.