Centered Citizen: Caylin

Meet Caylin

How do you practice staying centered in your city?

I have a morning meditation and journaling practice that helps me start each day off on the right foot! Exercise and connecting with friends are also two major sources of staying centered for me. 

What is your favorite Centered in the City event or workshop you have been too? Why?

I LOVED the 7 Levels of Energy Workshop because it gave me a great framework to reflect both in the moment and at the end of the day about how I reacted to the days ups and downs. Thinking about the 7 Levels of Energy when I'm feeling way stressed gives me a sense of calm that I can choose to react another way and that there is something beyond this moment. 

What keeps you engaged in the Centered in the City community?

Centered in the City provides so many opportunities for me to re-connect with caring for myself. I've met amazing, inspiring people who have great experiences and I always leave an event feeling uplifted and positive. 

What’s your favorite song to sing to while in the car or walking down the street?

Recently, it's been El Perdon by Enrique Iglesias and Nicky Jam. It's kind of silly but I love listening to it walking down the street and imagining I'm dancing on the streets in Cuba (especially helpful on a rainy Seattle day!)

What’s your favorite centered space in Seattle?

I feel so blessed to live in a city with so much nature! Volunteer park and Myrtle Edwards park are my go to's and when I'm feeling like being inside, a glass of wine at Oddfellows makes me feel like I'm really treating myself.

Centered Citizen: Buddhadev

Centered in the City is all about authentic spaces--and that's why our blog features the voices of our "Citizens." Enjoy this "real talk" interview series with the people of Centered in the City and how they stay centered.

Meet Buddhadev

Buddhadev at Centered in the City's one year birthday party October, 2015



I really wish I could say something like "My half-hour daily meditation followed by my hill sprint intervals and kale+avocado smoothie!" Sadly, a lot of practices I "should" do still evade me. The only one that I'm semi-consistent with is journaling.

If I can count this as a "practice," I've cultivated high capacities for gratitude, appreciation, and admiration. It's amazing what it does for one's resilience.

I also make time with my closest friends: I've been blessed with extraordinarily wise, insightful, and caring friends who are also gifted conversationalists. I owe them a lot for any resilience and "centeredness" I can claim.

Oh, and if "laughter is the best medicine," then my three-year-old nephew is the best doctor!

What is your favorite Centered in the City event or workshop you have been to? Why?

Tough one: all of them are good! If I had to choose between "WTF is Meditation?" and "Empower Hour," I'd give the edge to a couple of the Empower Hours where the conversation has hit perfect sweet spots between validation and insight. Recent years have taught me just how immersively fascinating it is to experience other people when they're being their authentic selves; People do that so readily at Empower Hour.


This one is also tough (too many good choices!): On beautiful days like we've been having, I could go for finding a cozy spot in Volunteer Park to read something not related to work, having a glass of wine at the Volunteer Park Café, and falling into a conversation with a stranger out walking their dogs nearby. But if I think about it again some other time, I might have a different answer.


Hearing me sing isn't pleasant, so imagining me sing can't be much better, but I'll be a good sport and answer: "Dancing in the Dark" (Springsteen); Its lyrics hit home as I made a lot of changes in 2015.


Everything about it! You've struck the right balance between fresh and familiar in activities and topics. You also attract some of the smartest, most positive, and most emotionally mature people one could hope to be around.

Months ago, a Centered in the City friend sent me a social media connection invite. I gave her a friendly warning that my page is non-stop saturation in my political ideology. This was her exact reply: "Just do you. Honestly, I like people who are their authentic selves - on FB, in life, etc. and willing to stand for something." That, to me, symbolized what's so right about this community.