Transformative television

by Stacie Charbonneau Hess

I have never been much of a TV person. I watched Breaking Bad, like the rest of the world, and Downton Abbey. I have never seen Game of Thrones or Keeping up with the Kardashians. In general I am a restless person, so if I am going to spend time sitting and consuming, it better be on something super-engaging or educational in some way. I’m looking for a show that transports me or enlightens me. Think Ken Burns documentaries or French cinema… to some of you that may sound like torture, but to each her own, right?

This year, having oodles more downtime with my schedule stripped of commuting and shuffling my family around, I have found some amazing and uplifting educational television. I can travel without leaving my house with Rick Steves and HGTV. I can cry as “football” coach Jason Sudeikis and his cast produce touching, funny 30 minute episodes on Ted Lasso. I have found social justice documentaries that I can work into my syllabus at BCC. Since I miss traveling, I like to find shows that give me a glimpse of a new culture.

My 12-year-old introduced me to Gordon Ramsay’s Uncharted series, by National Geographic. We’ve been watching it together, a reward after our daily work is done. We sit enraptured as the intrepid chef scuba dives for scallops in wintery Norway, rides a bull across a giant mud puddle, and treks to a remote hut to learn about medicinal plants. Ramsay is sarcastically entertaining, and the show is replete with “beeps” to censor his swearing, but his visits are enthralling and culturally sensitive. The premise of the program is that Ramsay shows up in far-flung places on the globe, spends one week, befriends citizens with local knowledge and prestige – an indigenous leader or a governor of a small country – and goes head to head with a local chef to prepare a dinner at the week’s end, judged by the dinner guests.

The meal preparation – on a makeshift stove on a mountain-top, for example – is always creative, exciting, and fun to watch. It’s Ramsay’s bold enthusiasm, however, that hooks Charlotte and me. Well, that, coupled with the aerial shots of Peru, Hawaii, Scandinavia, Indonesia – places we really want to learn about.

I love to dream about retiring in a sunny location, and this show helps me believe my dreams are possible.

Other times, if I am feeling really restless and winter-laden, I go to my Apple TV and select the show House Hunters International. Here, American citizens, and not always of extraordinary means, hunt for homes in places like Australia, France, even Japan. I especially love the island edition of this show, where northeastern expats look for an escape in the Carribean or Hawaii. This show, like Ramsey’s, has a comforting routine as well: a local realtor shows the buyers three houses and before the show is over they choose the one they like best, or the one that fits their budget best. I love to dream about retiring in a sunny location, and this show helps me believe my dreams are possible. Cayman Islands here I come!

Catching my breath

Another thing I could not do without my television screen (well, actually my laptop) is Zoom. Without Zoom, I would have missed out on a transformative opportunity I found in 2020: guided Breath practice. I found that this meditative practice is very good at curbing my restless mind, allowing me to travel “inside” instead of grasping outside of myself for distraction.

As a self-care gift, I signed up for a 90 day Pranayama certification course last fall. An old yogi friend of mine, Tom Gillette, has been teaching for thirty years and practicing yoga forever. Tom is the real deal: he is involved in studies with doctors at both Butler Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital to “quantify and validate” just how and why breathing practices affect our health and well-being.

When I am practicing pranayama regularly, I am more creative and less reactive, away from the “10,000 things”

Tom has created the course based on his own yogic education in the ashrams and as a resident of Kripalu back in the day. It’s called This Next Breath. When I met Tom in the early 2000s, he was running a hardcore vinyasa studio in downtown Providence. The room was a sanctuary, with full classes and a heated room where we could get a good stretch and sweat away toxins. I always left his classes feeling utterly transformed. What kept me coming back, however, was not the physical yoga-asana (poses) stuff but his extensive knowledge of anatomy and physiology. His breath course works much in the same way: data driven, science-focused, requiring a commitment to consistency.

As he’s now in his sixties and has suffered his share of injuries, Tom’s style has morphed into a more inward-focused practice. His teaching style is accessible to all ages. In November of 2018, I brought my husband, who has always had sinus issues, to one of his breath workshops. Mark took what he learned in that workshop and continues to apply the simple breathing practices regularly. He has not had a single sinus infection since. We knew we were on to something, so I wanted to dig a little deeper. I signed up for the certification, which cost less than $500 for a lifetime’s worth of practice material.

To supplement my certification, each morning I can muster myself out of bed on time, I participate in Tom’s free “Thought for the day” at six o’clock. It’s open to anyone at all with an interest in a breath practice, or anyone who wants to start the day on a positive note. In these mini-classes, Tom leads a 15-20 minute pranayama practice and finishes each session with inspiring quotes from spiritual leaders, from Rumi to Jack Kornfield. He has taught every day since Covid hit – over 300 days in a row now.

Focusing on the breath day after day, for small moments or more sustained ones, eases my anxiety. I became less restless. Some mornings, in meditation, it felt like going on a journey: away from my pets who say “feed me,” away from my job, and other identifiers and labels that I have given myself over the past 48 years.

Each time you focus on the breath, says Eckhart Tolle, you are meditating. When I am practicing pranayama regularly, I am more creative and less reactive, away from the “10,000 things”. It’s more spacious in that place, when the breath slows and the senses are attuned to the more eternal nature of our being. It is, I am convinced, a way to travel in our everyday life, because it adds a sense of wonder, excitement, and enthusiasm to our days.

While I am still a believer that encounters in real life will never be replaced by television, I no longer believe that it’s a waste of time. There are artful, educational, informative, and moving experiences out there, and sometimes it feels so good to turn up the heat, grab a blanket, cuddle close with the ones I love, and allow myself to indulge in a little escape… whether on my yoga mat or sofa!

Stacie Charbonneau Hess is a mother, a graduate student, and a freelance writer based in New Bedford, Massachsuetts, where she lives with her husband, three children, and too many pets to mention!