March 19, 2024

Osceola on the path to enlightenment

Erica Miller, owner of inSpirit Healing Arts in Tiffin, hosted a Thanksgiving meditation Thursday, Nov. 25, at Wild Poppy Salon & Day Spa & School of Massage.

Free-will offerings for the event were donated to the Osceola Senior Center.

For those who aren’t familiar with meditation, some confuse it with prayer. While there are similarities, the meditation practiced and taught by Miller isn’t religious in nature.

“I’ve definitely had some very profound moments in my meditation, places that I’ve been in my meditation where it has created real change within my life,” Miller said.

Most of the focus during meditation is inward. Concentrating on your body, breathing, emotions and overall wellness is key. Depending on the type of meditation you’re practicing, you might expand those thoughts to others as well.

“It can create a foundation of emotional stability, of open-heartedness, of open-mindedness, of experiencing life at its fullest,” Miller said. “Meditation is life changing.”

She’s not the only one saying it. Some doctors – including Nobel Prize-winner Elizabeth Blackburn – are seeking to prove real health benefits to meditation. According to Blackburn’s recently published study, it fights early aging. Harvard researchers are currently conducting a five-year study on the impact medication has on depression, stress and chronic anxiety. How much meditation is needed to see a change?

“A lot can happen in a small amount of time,” Miller said.

Her online meditation class, “Off the Cushion,” provides students with a five-minute, 10-minute and 25-minute guided session each week. Miller said meditation is flexible enough to work with any schedule.

“It’s better to give yourself that five minutes – even if it’s a quick five minutes,” Miller said.

The Thanksgiving session at Wild Poppy Salon lasted nearly an hour and centered on a practice called Metta Bhavana. Translated, the name means, “loving kindness,” and as the session progresses, practitioners are called to thank themselves, and then move those positive feelings out toward loved ones, strangers and even those they might consider enemies, before returning again to oneself.

While Miller’s practice is located in Tiffin, housed in the same building as the LifePoint Christian Faith Center, she has local ties.

“I come back every few months to see my grandfather, Bill Oehlert,” Miller said.

She graduated from Clarke High School in 1996, alongside the Wild Poppy Salon owner, Monika Davis. Thanksgiving seemed the perfect time for the friends to collaborate. They’ve planned more events for the future.

Davis opened her salon just over a year ago and the list of available services continues to grow.

“Our day-to-day is facials, nails, massage and hair,” Davis said. “I also teach massage therapy courses and continuing education for other massage therapists.”

In the coming months, expanded nail services, yoga classes and other specialty offerings will provide clients with a full selection of salon and personal-care services.

“Business is wonderful,” Davis said. “The community has been so supportive.”

For more information on Miller’s upcoming meditation sessions, call 641-414-6892.