
My name is: Manjit Devgun.
My stomping ground is:
New York City, baby!
I’m known for being:
I am a mind coach. I use the integration of meditation, self-hypnosis, breathwork and energy healing to coach people to being the best version of themselves.
I'm talking about:
I’ve put my heart and soul into creating an app which incorporates multiple modalities for self-healing, specifically breathwork, self-hypnosis and meditation. It’s important to integrate practices such as self-love, empathy and unity consciousness when we are invoking discipline to achieve our goals, whilst we also manifest our desires, become more beautiful on the inside and evolve mindfully in our communities.
You can find it at:
Before I started this mindfulness work, I was:
I used to be a singer-songwriter. I grew up singing Kirtan in the Sikh temple and that is my spiritual foundation. I also used to work in sales at Chanel and, in the last years of that job, I taught meditation and the neuroscience of visualization for the boutique staff and the corporate office. I designed an internal employee app with practice sessions for use during the pandemic.
I still sing prayers and Kirtan, and will be chanting Buddhist prayers on pilgrimage with our sangha in Nepal and India.
My parents are the main influence and foundation for my spiritual learning. They told stories of the Sikh gurus at bedtime. They helped run the local temple where my mother was a Punjabi and Kirtan teacher, so we ended up very involved in the community. As a little girl, my dad taught me a protection prayer and the Sikh mantra, and how to repeat it when I was scared. I have used it my whole life as a shield against negativity. That’s where my meditation practice stems from.
My interest was sparked when:
I learned from my clients that many of them were not connected to their body, so I began their practice with breathwork to alleviate anxieties. Guidance in meditation is needed for some, and visualization, which is an easier format to follow (before learning a silent practice). This is especially helpful for those with unprocessed trauma. I began integrating the modalities within each session. I began training in self-hypnosis. I created an app where you select a desired state of being and retrain the brain. Currently, I’m enrolled in a Buddhist psychology course, as well as a master’s level clinical hypnosis certification. I’m obsessed with neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to change itself.
How it works is:
The app user starts by committing to a short three- to four-minute breathing session every morning and then can progress down each album content. The app is divided by category (album) depending on how much time one has to do the particular mindwork session. Each session has healing frequencies, so that even the music has certain keys and binaural beats to help get into deeper states. These help rewire the brain to achieve a more relaxed and optimistic mindset.
In my one-on-one sessions, I do deeper self-hypnosis. I’m also working on a manifestation program.
What makes it different is:
The practices are integrated and so the techniques that focus on visualization help you manifest the state of being that you wish to achieve. Whether reducing stress, achieving goals or healing from heartbreak, we can program the brain to how we want to think. To create the future we want, we work at changing our thoughts.
My favorite lesser-known detail is:
I love to joke, do impressions and be silly. I want to learn some serious hip-hop and Bollywood routines. I love being alone. In my downtime, I read books, take courses, watch documentaries and go deep into spiritual practices to better myself and learn as much as possible to help my clients.
I hope people walk away feeling:
Empowered and given full permission to be themselves. I want people to experience the agency they have over their physical, mental, emotional and sexual health.
Mindfulness is so much more than a trend because:
If we don’t have our mental health, we have nothing. The lineages and texts which have brought mindfulness to the West are the golden keys to life: the Buddhist teaching texts of Lamrim, the treasures of the Bhagavad Gita and the shabads of the Guru Granth Sahib, which speak about orienting the mind towards a life of virtue and meditating for the intention of helping others. We are reminded to focus on community love and healing and using self-inquiry to feel happiness and joy. We should recognize that we have a right to joy, happiness and success every single day.
One moment when mindfulness helped me was:
I went through my tunnel of doom last year. My practices faith, and spending time using all the techniques got me through. When you have a strong mindfulness practice, the decisions made when you’re feeling low harness your thinking to be more positive instead of making you spiral.
The words I live by are:
“Change your thoughts to change your life.” Also, people only remember you for how you made them feel, paraphrasing Maya Angelou.
One truth that is so important, but people always don’t realize is:
You have more agency over your mental, physical and spiritual health than you are led to believe.