
If It's Possible For Me - It's Possible For Anyone.

Hi, I'm Ted, and I've come a long way.
You know, it's not like I grew up meditating :)!
Full Disclosure: I didn't know what meditation was about until I was there learning it for myself at 26 years old! I was just open to seeing what might work for me at the time that I needed something, and finally stumbled into finding good people I could learn from who showed me it was possible to learn this type of living for myself - that is, how to be present.
I was a yoga teacher for a few years starting in 2016. Simultaneously I was doing this 4-year healing/meditation training program that is rooted in some cool stuff like Buddhism and Yoga and all that, even some old Kabbalistic teachings. Again - I wasn't one bit familiar with any of this, nor do I believe it is necessary for anyone else to be.
I had only gone to this program because I knew I still needed something. All I knew was that I really wasn't liking the experience in my own shoes. My own mind was the worst enemy of them all. I couldn't figure out how to get into a better space for myself - mentally, emotionally, you name it.
The mind is a tough one - for me, at least, but I've seen the same for many others. I'm only recently starting to wake up to the really cool insight that my mind is also one of my own best friends. I love myself today - that does not mean that I am without nerves, anxiety, stress, overwhelm, fatigue, trauma, regretful actions - I've still got all that! But becoming much more aware of what's going on inside myself as it is happening in the moment has been the key difference maker for me in actually living a full life that includes my own peace of mind.
So I got here with a lot of help, and a lot of encouragement along the way from a pretty large community of people who loved me and supported me. But there is also a whole lot of my own effort to show. I showed up again and again, along with my fears in the mind, and my own past that I had not yet come to terms with. Again, I want to remind the reader: I had a lot of help and really could not have done it all on my own.
I've been through some extensive trials and errors in an effort to learn how to be present in my own life. Consequently I've gotten a fair share of formal training in the matter to see what worked for myself and for others. I saw that I was mostly not alone in a lot of my fears, pains, and anxieties.
And that leads us to Practicing Your Presence. Along the way, I thought something like this; "I wonder if I can condense all these years of training and takeaways into some sort of practice that I could teach to others if they also are experiencing these challenges?"
I didn't start this project to change anyone; I've come to see that Change happens on its own. In other words; the world is already turning, changing all the time. Our cells are constantly changing over; change is always happening. The question then is this; "Are we taking part in that change? Are we engaged with the process that is ourselves?"
“It's funny how day to day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different.” -C.S. Lewis
So Practicing Your Presence is about taking part in this continual process of change within us, and within our shared world. From the feedback I have received, it seems I've got some helpful practicing material for those who need it today. It is my intention to work with people as the individuals that they are, knowing that we all have different experiences, different backgrounds, and knowing no two people are ever the same… But also acknowledging there to be a lot of shared human ground between us. When we become still enough in our minds and open enough in our hearts, we begin to notice we are standing on solid rock together.
My hope is that you become the best you can be in each moment of your life - that is the very same hope I hold for myself.
I’ll see you in practice.
Namaste,
Teddy
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Formal background

4 Year Meditation and Healing School, Graduated 2020
- The School for Nondual Healing & Awakening, NYC
- Kudos to my teachers Jeff Ellias-Frankel, Eileen Marder-Mirman, Shelah Stein, and Tom Schneider! Love and Respect to my Class of 26 who I learned alongside!

200 Hour Yoga Certification, 2017
- CorePower Yoga, North Whales
- 4 Years Teaching in Corporate Offices and Private Studios
- Kudos to my teacher Matt Weston and my Yoga Satsang!

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Graduated 2013
- Widener University, Chester PA
- From 2017 to 2021 I worked in the field of Psychiatric Healthcare as someone who worked closely with clinical practitioners. I have seen, also, the power of what modern approaches to mental and behavioral health can bring to individuals. Learning from these practitioners was my favorite part of the job.
Formal background

4 Year Meditation and Healing School, Graduated 2020
- The School for Nondual Healing & Awakening, NYC
- Kudos to my teachers Jeff Ellias-Frankel, Eileen Marder-Mirman, Shelah Stein, and Tom Schneider! Love and Respect to my Class of 26 who I learned alongside!

200 Hour Yoga Certification, 2017
- CorePower Yoga, North Whales
- 4 Years Teaching in Corporate Offices and Private Studios
- Kudos to my teacher Matt Weston and my Yoga Satsang!

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Graduated 2013
- Widener University, Chester PA
- From 2017 to 2021 I worked in the field of Psychiatric Healthcare as someone who worked closely with clinical practitioners. I have seen, also, the power of what modern approaches to mental and behavioral health can bring to individuals. Learning from these practitioners was my favorite part of the job.
Additional Acknowledgements
This section serves to acknowledge the "teachers" of mine who I have mostly not met, but whom I still accredit much of my learning. These are books written by legendary authors and speakers in their field.
Practicing Your Presence receives commissions for purchases made through links to these books, and we thank you for your support in this way.
Meditational Reading
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Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, B.K.S. Iyengar
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The Path Is the Goal: A Basic Handbook of Buddhist Meditation, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
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Be Here Now, and Polishing the Mirror: How to Live from Your Spiritual Heart, Ram Dass
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Kabbalistic Healing: A Path to an Awakened Soul, Jason Shulman
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Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, and Divine Dance, Friar Richard Rohr
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Inner Space: Introduction to Kabbalah, Meditation and Prophecy, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan
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When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, Pema Chödrön
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Passionate Presence: Seven Qualities of Awakened Awareness, Catherine Ingram
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Journey Into Power, Baron Baptiste
Philosophy, Nonfiction
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12 Rules For Life: An Antidote To Chaos, and Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, Jordan B. Peterson
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Man's Search For Meaning, Victor E. Frankl
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Journey Of The Universe, Brian Thomas Swimme, Mary Evelyn Tucker
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As A Man Thinketh, James Allen
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Why Dinosaurs Matter, Kenneth Lacovara
Philosophy, Fiction
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Island, and Eyeless in Gaza, and Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
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Mother Night, and Galapagos: A Novel, Kurt Vonnegut
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Red Book, Carl Jung
Historical Wartime Reading Related to Individual Worth
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The Gulag Archipelago Volume 1: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, and Volume 2, and Volume 3, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Yes, reading all of them is the way to go!)
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The Rape of Nanking, Iris Chang
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Prompt and Utter Destruction::Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan, J. Samuel Walker
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Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, Christopher R. Browning
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Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific, Eric M. Bergerud