Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
HEALING WITH SOUL
Meditation expert shows newcomers, regulars how to achieve inner calm
They call themselves the Sand Tribe.
Regular folk trying to find inner calm in a chaotic world, they meet on Sunday mornings for a free guided meditation led by the zenminded Shelly Sitton Tygielski.
But this mindfulness coach, a married mom and former finance whiz from Lighthouse Point, does not want to be your guru. She wants you to be your own guru — and she will show you the way.
On Sunday, more than 200 people, both regulars and newcomers, gathered on the sand just east of Hollywood North Beach Park near Sheridan Street and A1A in search of their inner chill zone.
This week’s theme: Letting go.
Before beginning the class, Tygielski walked around with a giant white bucket filled with multi-colored slips of paper, each with a simple one-word message such as energy or optimism or forgiveness.
Tygielski, 41, likes to say the word picks you instead of the other way around.
“We do not heal the past by dwelling there, but by living fully in the present,” she said to her flock of meditation disciples. “Everything is energy [including] our thoughts and feelings. That means whatever we focus on grows.”
When she started leading the meditation three years ago, Tygielski had only a dozen students. Now anywhere from 200 to 500 show up on any given Sunday for an hour-long meditation that begins at 8:40 a.m.
Bu her own estimates, she has led more than 15,000 people in the practice of meditation in the past three years.
What keeps them coming back?
Hollywood resident Althea Brown, a business coordinator for a local television station, was hooked after coming to her first class three years ago.
“She taught me to ease the everyday chaos, to take 10 minutes and get calm and meditate,” Brown said.
Overwhelmed caring for her parents, Dania Beach flight attendant Sandy Goldberg discovered Tygielski’s class more than two years ago.
“I was looking for answers,” she said. “Shelly did one meditation where she took us 10 years into the future and asked us what we’d tell ourselves. I told myself, ‘Everything is going to be OK.’ And that stuck with me.”
Goldberg says she has found lifelong friends in the group. One took her late father to his chemo treatment when she was out of town for work. She took another out for coffee after the woman burst into tears during one of the meditation sessions.
“I don’t want to call it hippie love,” Goldberg said. “But we’re all here for the same reason.”
Sunday’s meditation class ended with Tygielski reminding her students that they can always come back to that place of inner calm, no matter what is happening around them.
“And remember, you are not alone,” she said with a sure tone.
That message resonated with Carrie Barriere, a firsttimer from Cooper City who plans to come back.
“I loved it,” she said. “I loved the sound of the waves. And her voice is so soothing. It’s just nice to take a moment to breathe.”