Chopra Center Staff Spotlight

This month Namasté features Monica Mifflin, whom we call MO (OM backwards). She has graced the Center for a little over two years, serving as a guest services consultant, a program consultant, and now as our program manager. Each week she hosts our Perfect Health guests and is responsible for ensuring guest bliss on every level. She is also a Perfect Health certified instructor. Namasté sat down with MO to find out how she so gracefully shares her light and love.

When did you come to the Chopra Center and what drew you here?
I came to the Center about two years ago, led by my intention & desire. I wanted to work at a wellness center and I was drawn here because the Chopra Center’s philosophy and teachings resonate with me. Events unfolded synchronistically, and I’m very happy that my husband supports my working here. It’s a gift to be loving & supportive towards everyone I come in contact with.

What do you love most about your work here?
What I love most is that every single day is dynamic and exciting! I get to work with people I love and respect, and I’m challenged, mentored, and guided on a daily basis. I am truly in my dharma, and I get to express many different aspects of my personality.

In the time that I’ve been here, I’ve learned about so many facets of the Center. I started in guest services, then served as a program consultant before moving into my current, always evolving, role. I’m also a certified Perfect Health instructor and get to teach every week. My earliest intentions for my life at the Chopra Center have been fulfilled beyond my expectations.

Part of my job is to see that the guest experience is blissful and seamless. This allows me to be available for our guests and spend some real quality time with them. Supporting them is an honor and privilege, which I very much enjoy. Each week I also learn a little more about attention, intention, and caring, which changes me in ways that are difficult to articulate.

Deepak and David have created something of immense value here. The healing arts masters, the instructors, program consultants, and guest services make the Center a nurturing space where our guests can feel loved and safe to transform. I feel deep tenderness for them, and I respect that they trust us at a crucial time in their lives. I also love the fact that we have many guests coming back for Perfect Health. This validates the consistency of the guest experience from week to week.

Each day I have an opportunity to guide the look and feel of the Center. I move things around on a regular basis (expressing my Vata!). My intention is for our space to reflect a sense of the sacred that everyone can feel from the moment they step into the Center. The process of transformation takes a courage that is touched by spirit, and this is reflected in the subtlety of the Center’s décor and environment.

Do you have a favorite Chopra Center program? I love all of the Center’s offerings, and Perfect Health and Soul of Healing are my personal favorites. Both experiences are very intimate, with the emphasis on learning how to balance, heal, and restore – mentally, physically, and emotionally.

What's your dosha?
Physically, I’m a Pitta-Kapha (with a Kapha imbalance).

What's your favorite food?
I enjoy all sorts of foods and go through phases of favorites . . . but loving Indian food remains a constant.

How do you keep your doshas in balance?
I got my Primordial Sound Meditation mantra when I came to the Center, and it immediately changed the quality of my meditation. Hence, I’ve been diligent about practicing twice a day since then. I’m mindful of when I eat and what I eat. I also use Chopra Center dosha-balancing products, especially Pitta-soothing candles and oils. I’m conscious of when I feel like I’m getting out of balance and make adjustments to regain my equilibrium.

What's your favorite quotation?
I don’t have a quotation but I have a little story that has stayed with me: A king challenges two artists to create their best work. Both artists spend all night long working hard on their creations. One comes up with an amazingly beautiful mural, with exemplary craftsmanship, studded with semiprecious stones and intricate designs. The other artist spends the entire night burnishing a wall of gold.

When morning arrives and it’s time to present their work, the first artist displays his gorgeous creation, with its superb detail and design. However, its beauty is enhanced tenfold because the sunlight reflected off the wall of gold shines directly on to the mural, illuminating all its glory.

For every magnificent view, there must be eyes to see it and acknowledgment of everything else that supports it. Each day I get to learn the love and selflessness that goes into supporting someone else to shine.

Also, once when I was complaining to a friend about how far away something was, he said, “It’s only far if we can’t get there." That seemingly small comment shifted my perspective on the way I look at many things.

Do you have any pets?
Yes, I have an intelligent, elegant, gentle, affectionate cat named Sufi.

What was your most transcendent moment?
In the last few years, my most transcendent moment was Journey into Healing in Carlsbad. Listening to Deepak, David, and Drs. Vasant Lad & Jeremy Geffin touched me deeply, opening my life and changing for all time who I am. The experience affected how I want to live my life. It took my love and respect for the Chopra Center to a whole new level.

What are your favorite books?
Until a few years ago, I was a voracious reader of literature, the classics. Now I mainly read about spirituality, life, and religion. And these days I’m living life as opposed to reading about it.

Do you have any favorite movies?
I love film and enjoy a variety of genres. I’d like to be indulgent and make a film someday!

What's your favorite Chopra Center product?
Hmmm . . . that’s a tough one. I’m a top-ten kind of person, but maybe I can tell you a few of my favorite Chopra products and books. I love our dosha-balancing products – the Rupa essential oils, the Abyhanga massage oils, and the Satwa incense.

In terms of books, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success has changed my life. I make an effort to be mindful of the law of the day, which has made a big difference in my life. The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire is another book that really transformed me. I did the exercises that Deepak suggests and I’m looking forward to going to the SynchroDestiny workshop. Finally, I love David’s incredible book, Vital Energy, which is filled with practical information about staying in balance.

What's your favorite city?
I love to travel! I’d have to say my favorite places are Istanbul, Barcelona, New Delhi, Hardawar, and the small towns and cities on the Riviera – especially Nice and Bormes. I also love Tuscany, including Florence, Pistoia, and Siena. And of course, I love my home city of San Diego!

Who would you most like to invite to a dinner party?
Ah, that’s a long list! I’d invite my husband, close friends, and family, as well as Moses, Voltaire, Carlos Casteneda, Leonard Cohen, Bernardo Bertolucci, Hafiz, Plato, Maneka Gandhi, Salvador Dali, Buddha, Gurdjieff, Alberto Moravia, Dorothy Parker, Picasso, Churchill, Pablo Neruda, Nietzsche, Carl Jung, John Malkovich, Federico Fellini, Ingrid Bergman, Terry Pratchett, Leonardo da Vinci, Malik Arjun Mansur . . . to name a few.