Who/What is Meditation Momma

Meditation Momma is the affectionately humorous name Caren’s students gave her in 2010. It’s meant to convey the nurturing, caring, and affection, Caren’s students feel from her, and that Caren feels for her students.

Over the years, Meditation Momma LLC, has evolved into an umbrella organization that’s provides a home for Hamsa Meditation Center, and the CandleTime Tradition. Meditation Momma also hosts a podcast that offers inspiration and support to those seeking to integrate meditation into their lives. It is our joy to help others experience the transformational benefits meditation brings.

 

THE TRUE STORY OF HOW MEDITATION MOMMA CAME TO BE...

I never wanted to be a meditation teacher. The process unfolded with me blissfully unaware of what was happening. For starters, the only reason I even took a Meditation Teacher Training course was because people told me the 9 month immersion course from the Temple of Kriya Yoga in Chicago was the best thing they’d ever done—it had changed them in profound ways.

I wanted that.  Profound transformation.

Being it was a Teacher Training Program, one of the requirements of the course was you had to teach. I was willing to do anything to keep the transformation coming, so despite feeling nervous and inadequate, I offered a six week Beginning Meditation class at the wellness center where I took yoga in West Linn, Oregon. Sixteen people signed up…wtf?!

When it was over, they wanted more, so I agreed to offer another series. How could I not? I had come to care about these people and I loved sharing what I was learning. I didn’t think of myself as a meditation teacher. I was just showing up for people who wanted to meditate. One thing led to another and next thing I knew I was teaching more than several classes a week to different age groups and interests.

Now, I needed a way to communicate with everyone! Starting a newsletter seemed an obvious solution. But, and this is a major BUT, the last thing I wanted was to have my name on it. The thought of my name out there connected with meditation was so foreign and horrifying that I shut down and abandoned the plan several times. Eventually, the need to communicate was greater than my need to hide and that’s when it occurred to me to take the easy way out—ask the people coming to my classes to help me come up with a name for the newsletter! After all, it was for them.

They were having a good time throwing out suggestions but everything they were coming up with was so trite, or lofty or serious, we all agreed it didn’t reflect how much we laughed, how much we cared about each other, and how often the F bomb spiced up my teachings.To shift their focus to something lighter I told them how everyone at the school where my daughter taught in LA called me, Momma Prentice.

Someone instantly shouted, “Meditation Momma!” We doubled over, rolling on the floor with tears streaming down our face and raucous laughter filling the room—nothing more needed to be said.

Meditation Momma it was!

Except for the small detail that I was now Meditation Momma… My name wasn’t up front and center but I had just officially been named, a meditation teacher. wtf?! 🤣