Pause to be Present turns 5 years old

BY GRACE FAIRCHILD

Om run  Stephanie Falk, cofounder and chief engagement officer, and Cheryl Vigder Brause, co-founder and chief mindfulness officer of Pause to Be Present.

Amidst the 2024 General Election, self-care reminders were everywhere, encouraging stressed-out voters to take walks and stay in touch with friends. Pause to be Present, a Scarsdale meditation and mindfulness studio celebrating its five-year anniversary this month, designed programming to directly address any election stress their clients may be facing right now. The Mindful Monday Sangha—the word means “bringing together”—was set to begin a discussion of feelings about the election, followed by a 15-minute guided meditation, and finally rest and relaxation. On Election Day itself, the group hosted a mindful outdoor walk in Hartsdale.

Much of the world has changed since 2019 when Pause to be Present first came into existence, but the practice has successfully evolved along with it. Five years ago, it opened the doors to its first studio space in Mamaroneck, ready to host open classes and corporate clients in meditative sessions. Stephanie Falk, cofounder and chief engagement Officer, hoped that the Westchester community would be open-minded towards mindfulness.

A skeptic becomes a leader

Falk admits she was skeptical of meditation before becoming a student of Cheryl Vigder Brause, cofounder and chief mindfulness officer of Pause to be Present. At the time, she worked in corporate marketing, public relations, and nonprofit outreach while raising three kids in Edgemont, which was stressful. “I didn’t want to rush through my life. I just felt like it was just so hard to take it all in… until I sat and became a student of Cheryl’s.”

When Falk approached Vigder Brause about starting a business centered on bringing mindfulness to the Westchester community, Vigder Brause agreed on the spot. The team wanted to make meditation a part of everyday life for people in Westchester. “It was more like, this is how you can do this in your existing life of driving carpools and working and making dinner… you can integrate mindfulness…I said, if I can do this, then more people can do this,” said Falk.

Meditation any time and place
In November 2019, Pause to be Present opened with the Soul Cycle business model in mind: live, specialized classes and programming available to members as part of a paid package or an individual class. In March 2020, Falk says their business shifted to the Peloton model, offering synchronous and asynchronous virtual classes for their members who were craving community and structure during the pandemic.

The inner circle  In-person meditation classes build a sense of community, Stephanie Falk says.

These days, Pause to be Present takes a hybrid approach, offering both virtual and in-person meditation sessions. Virtual sessions take place through their app of the same name, and in-person classes take place at Community of Play at 1495 Weaver Street in Scarsdale. To avoid the one-size-fits-all approach, many classes incorporate yoga practices, sound baths, or walking in addition to simple guided meditations.

”We are different from apps like Headspace and Calm, which also offer guided meditation, since Pause to be Present offers local live connections and community that these apps cannot,” Falk says. Staffers live in the Westchester area, so clients may take a meditation class and then see the meditation teacher in the supermarket later that day. “They’ll be like, ‘You don’t know me, but I listen and I watch [your sessions]’ we have a strong membership like that,” Falk said.

Look for the signs  Pause to be Present’s logo.

The 2022 National Health Interview Survey, which provides national estimates on a people’s health status and health habits, found that more than 17% of adults practiced meditation, more than double the number in 2002. Meditation is considered a complementary health approach by the National Institute of Health, meaning it is not a solution for any specific medical or psychological problem, but may be helpful when used to supplement conventional medical treatments. In Scarsdale, it seems that Falk, Vigder Brause, and their clients find value in the holistic benefits that meditation can offer.

Going to the mat  A meditation session at Pause to Be Present’s studio.

According to Falk, Pause to be Present’s mission does not end with its members. The organization also hopes to strengthen the Scarsdale community with tools to handle stress, relax, and deal with uncertainty. “If we can teach the parents the tools to be calm… it trickles down to their children, their spouses, their colleagues at work. Calm is contagious. And we can teach people how to do that better.”

To celebrate the business’s fifth anniversary or learn more, visit Pause to be Present’s website or call (914) 874-4800.

Author Grace Fairchild

Grace Fairchild is passionate about independent local news as the cornerstone of a strong community. She completed undergrad at Cornell University and spent two years as news director for an independent radio station in Ithaca, WVBR 93.5. When she’s not writing, she loves watching baseball, playing trivia with friends, and listening to every podcast or radio show on air.