Once hurting, Heymans finds joy through meditation

by Dennis Dalman

editor@thenewsleaders.com

For many years, Kateri Heymans’ life was a most unhappy one, plagued constantly by depression, anxiety, worries, fears, lack of self-confidence and even suicidal feelings.

The College of St. Benedict sophomore is now a poised, confident, socially connective young woman who has found an extraordinary inner peace and joy. And Heymans not only has a new lease on life, but she’s determined to share her newfound gift with others. She hopes to start meditation lessons throughout the area, especially in the cities of St. Joseph and Sartell.

What turned Heymans’ life around so dramatically was a meditation method dubbed the ISHA system, a method she studied in Mexico and in Uruguay, South America.

Raised in Roseau, Heymans was only 2 years old when her mother, Jenny (nee Anderson), died at age 34 of breast cancer. Anderson was a CSB graduate with a degree in English. A tree was planted in her honor outside the CSB library.

On campus, Heymans would become unbearably sad when she would walk by that tree. Last February, however, the anniversary of her mother’s death in 1999, Heymans felt a surge of happiness, with an overwhelming desire to want to reach out and give kindness and joy to the ones who had loved her mother. It was yet another example of Heymans’ new life outlook, from despair to hope.

Heymans intended to study psychology at CSB, but after her meditation experiences she changed her major to peace studies.

A few years ago, while in high school, Heymans’ thoughts and feelings had spiraled down to a low she felt was fast approaching a dead end, literally. She suffered from low self-esteem, indecision, severe depression, eating disorders and was contemplating suicide as the “way out.”

“I was desperate,” she recalled in an interview with the Newsleader. “I was so scared. So miserable.”

One day, in the library, she happened to spot a book about meditation. She took it home and began to read it. Within the course of two weeks, her moods and outlook dramatically lifted.

“I was even able to wear my glasses to school, something I could never bring myself to do before,” she said. “My self-esteem increased. It got better and better. It was a slow pace, but I was feeling so much better than how I felt before.”

Still, there were some setbacks when she didn’t follow through on her meditation methods on a regular basis.

Manzanillo

A week before her freshman year at CSB, Heymans decided to sign up for a month-long course at the Center for Peace Meditation in Manzanillo, Mexico.

In just those four weeks, she was constantly astonished at how quickly and how well she had improved in both mental and emotional equilibrium.

“It’s as if I changed completely,” she recalled. “I was confident. I felt a sense of well-being. I’d found happiness.”

Before discovering meditation, Heymans went to a therapist and school counselor in high school, and she reached out to friends and others, seeking relief for the awful inner turmoil she was enduring. But she realized all the talking and reaching out would not help. Something else was missing.

After the book she read, after her course in Manzanillo, Heymans was more convinced than ever she was on the right path. So, toward the last half of her freshman year at CSB, she decided to study meditation again at the other Center for Peace Mediation, the one in Uruguay. This course was much more intense in which Heymans learned not only more about meditation but also how to be a meditation facilitator.

The sessions in Uruguay were not always pleasant. That’s because part of the meditation process is to release repressed emotions, the ones that can get stuck inside of people and make them depressed, fearful and sick.

“Sometimes I cried and cried in Uruguay when releasing those emotions, like the ones that had to do with my mother I never knew dying when I was 2 years old,” she said. “I also had negative feelings about my dad and stepmom. And now, these days, I love to go home and see them.”

After her experiences in Uruguay, Heymans returned to CSB in January and has been working hard to do outreach meditation efforts besides working two part-time jobs – at the Kennedy Community School Kidstop program and at Sal’s Bar and Grill. She is also involved as a class project in the Boys and Girls Club program.

Meditation

There are two requirements to successful ISHA meditation, Heymans noted. One is to learn to become comfortable. The other, once the state of comfort has been achieved, is to let go and not try to control one’s mind.

Certain repeated phrases bring about feelings of gratitude and appreciation for the present moment. With the mind free of barbs and clutter, feelings of unity, joy and unconditional love seep into mind and body. Uglier thoughts and feelings are expelled.

“It’s really a form of cleansing, of cleaning,” she said. “In meditation, you focus, then let the mind wander, then focus and let the mind wander. The phrases you repeat during meditation actually have a way of ‘rewiring’ the brain.”

Applications

Heymans cited many examples of how this particular form of meditation, ISHA, has been used to startling effect in so many venues she experienced in Mexico and in Uruguay: nursing homes, schools, hospices, a center for girls suffering from eating disorders and even prisons.

Heymans was one of the facilitators in many of those on-site teaching seminars. She gave a seminar to a drug-rehab center for teenagers in Uruguay. During a visit to Peru (Heymans had lived there when she was in fourth grade), she presented a seminar to a family related to the sister of Heymans’ stepmother.

In Uruguay, some prisoners can actually get their sentences reduced at some prisons if they agree to take part in ISHA meditation classes. The method has been known to reduce aggression and violence among prisoners.

Heymans is determined to share meditation successes right her in central Minnesota. She spent spring break, at her own expense, putting up posters and flyers in the St. Joseph area. She has contacted schools, clinics, the St. Cloud Hospital, area hospices and the St. Cloud Correctional Facility, among many other places, asking if they would be interested in at least trying the ISHA meditation system.

She is also working hard to start a meditation support group on campus. Heymans is able and willing to give introductory lessons, extended seminars and follow-up support on an ongoing basis.

Recently, Developmental Diagnostics in St. Joseph offered Heymans the use of space in which to give information sessions, seminars and support meetings.

One of her dreams is to bring the benefits of meditation to Native American Reservation areas.

“I went on a mission trip to Standing Rock Reservation when I was in 10th grade and found a neighboring town of just a couple hundred people had experienced 26 suicides in just 20 days. Also, the Pine Ridge Reservation has the almost lowest life expectancy in the Western Hemisphere, second only to Haiti.”

Heymans plans to return to Manzanillo for further study of the ISHA system.

Fundraising

To support her outreach efforts, Heymans has been working and setting up fundraising methods. For instance, on April 4 at Gary’s Pizza in St. Joseph, for any customer who mentions Kateri’s name or her fundraising, the business will give part of the proceeds from that particular sale to Heymans’ meditation funding effort.

Heymans is also seeking used prom dresses she can sell on Craig’s list to raise funds.

In addition, she has a GoFundMe site at www.gofundme.com/the-opportunity-to-continue-growing.

People who want to donate prom dresses, who have questions or who would like to learn more about ISHA meditation can contact Heymans at kateriheymans@gmail.com.