Mindfulness and meditation are activities that can bring people from unrest to calm. A routine of mindfulness and meditation can combat severe issues like anxiety and depression. Tiffany “Tif Boom” Ludsen, has used these activities to break through her issues.
Now she is teaching others to do the same. This year she plans to teach the masses the art of being still and grateful. “Mindfulness and meditation came out of necessity for me. I can see it in other people when it’s necessary. I am a person who struggles and I want to use my struggles to help others,” the poet, author and mindfulness coach said..
Tif Boom delved into mindfulness and meditation in 2019. At first, it was a tool she used to relieve the depression she was battling. When she practiced daily, she felt the difference. This sent Tif Boom on a journey of self-care and understanding.
Tif Boom studied Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the University of Massachusetts Center of Mindfulness. Her techniques involve body stretches, words of affirmation and deep breathing. She implements sounds of the ocean in the background. Tif Boom also uses a sound bowl to guide others through meditation.
When thoughts arrive during her sessions, she lets them go. If the thought stays and keeps her from being present, she addresses the thought when the session is over. “Mindfulness and meditation are the art of being present and embracing each moment. This exercise has helped me through grief, helped me with focus, and it’s helping me reach self-mastery,” said Tif Boom.
Before the exploration and commitment to mindfulness, Tif Boom worked in the music industry doing public relations. She worked on several projects for radio stations in Miami and was a radio personality for a station in Georgia. She earned many wins in that field but realized it wasn’t what she wanted to do forever. “I got so sick of influencing people to unproductivity. Exaggerated headlines about people’s failures would be clickbait because people love negative news. Talking about celebrity gossip was not fulfilling to me,” said Boom.
When mindfulness and meditation became a habit for Tif Boom, she shared this gift with the high school students she mentors. Tif Boom is a mentor of Guitar Over Guns, a nonprofit organization that exposes youth from vulnerable communities to music education and mentorship. She works after school with students from Carol City High school in Miami Gardens, Florida. “We teach kids English, math and other subjects they may not use. I want to teach them a life skill that can follow them into adulthood,” said Tif Boom. More opportunities to teach these skills became available to her. In June 2021, Tif Boom joined College Impact as a mindfulness coach. College Impact is an after-school program that prepares ninth through 12th-grade students for life after high school.
Tif Boom’s decision to join College Impact was good timing as the students needed help to adapt to life during the pandemic. “There is no real playbook to deal with the pandemic. Some of these students lost friends, teachers and parents. They don’t have a mechanism in place to cope,” said Adly Norelus, program director of College Impact. “Since Tiffany (Tif Boom) joined the team, I have seen a lot more confidence and patience in the students. These kids came into the program with a tremendous amount of trauma. With Tiffany’s help, I’ve seen them handle life better,” said Norelus.
What’s next for Tif Boom is reaching more people with mindfulness and meditation. The mindfulness coach already has a strong social media following but plans on casting a larger net. In 2022, Tif Boom is committing to teaching 50,000 people how to meditate. “I wanted it to be something big. Even if I don’t reach it, who I become in pursuit of that goal, there is no way I lose,” Tif Boom said.
Tif Boom is committed to keeping track of the number of people she helps through meditation. As of this writing, Tif Boom has taught 1,117 people. She conducts Zoom sessions and counts the participants. Tif Boom also considers the number of views and shares her content receives on Instagram. At the beginning of the year, Tif Boom organized a seven-day meditation challenge. From that endeavor, she taught 200 people. “Since the seven-day exercise we did with Tif (Boom), my daughter meditates daily now. Before this, she was not doing it,” Participant and Entrepreneur Lyndon Gray said..
Tif Boom wants to bring people into the world of mindfulness and meditation. Fully aware of what this exercise has done for her, she desires for more individuals to experience a life-changing activity. “Mindfulness and mediation is experimental learning. There are several ways to meditate or practice mindfulness. I am just introducing ways for people to do it,” she said.