Human Being or Human Doing? – Reclaiming the Art of Presence In A World Obsessed with Productivity
- Brainz Magazine
- Jun 5, 2025
- 6 min read
Oxana is the founder of Sea2Sky Wellness Club, an award-winning entrepreneur, retreat leader, and certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapist. She blends ancient wisdom with modern science to guide others toward holistic healing and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Psychedelic and Consciousness Studies.
Have you ever been so busy doing that you forgot how to feel? So caught in the grind that you stopped noticing your breath, your body, your own inner world? Maybe you’ve come home at the end of a long day, only to be asked, “What did you get done today?” as if your worth lives in checkboxes and accomplishments. We live in a society that celebrates doing, achieving, and performing, but rarely pauses to ask how we are being. Rarely do we ask: How do you feel? Are you connected? Are you aligned? Somewhere along the way, we’ve confused motion with meaning.
To reclaim that wholeness, we must first understand what it even means to be a human being. The word human comes from the Latin humanus, which shares its root with humus, meaning earth, ground, soil. It reminds us that to be human is to be connected to nature, to humility, to something grounded and alive. And the word being is rooted in the Latin verb esse, meaning to be. From esse, we get essence, the true nature of something. So when we say human being, we’re not just referring to a species or a label. We’re speaking of a grounded essence. A soul rooted in the earth. A living presence.
Reclaiming the art of presence
But reclaiming that presence, returning to the essence of being, is no small task. In fact, it’s one of the most difficult conditions to break. The world doesn’t reward stillness. It doesn’t praise presence. It doesn’t hand out trophies for inner peace. For most of us, this shift means unlearning decades of cultural programming that equates doing with value, and busyness with success.
I know this because I was one of them. I’ve lived that life. As a single mother, an entrepreneur, and the leader of multiple wellness businesses, I’ve worn all the hats. I’ve filled my calendar to the brim, thinking that productivity equaled progress. I chased goals, held space for others, managed teams, nurtured my children, and tried to hold everything together. Until a few years ago, when I hit a truth I could no longer ignore: my external world was only reflecting the chaos of my internal world. And until I shifted within, nothing outside me would truly change.
1. From to-do list to to-be list
I still write things down. I still have goals. But before I list my tasks, I ask: Who do I want to be today? Present? Grounded? Open-hearted? Aligned? Because what I do matters far less than the energy I do it with. I start my mornings with meditation or breathwork, placing one hand on my heart and the other on my belly, breathing into the version of myself I want to meet the world with. Some days, it means showing up soft and receptive. Other days, it means anchoring into my boundaries with clarity. This shift changes everything because when my being leads, the doing becomes infused with purpose.
2. Shifting from outcome to frequency
We’ve been taught to chase results. Hustle. Perform. Achieve. But being is about tuning into the frequency we want to embody. I began asking: What’s the energy I want to hold, regardless of the outcome? Joy? Trust? Devotion? This subtle shift taught me to attract not through effort alone, but through alignment and intention. When I walk into a yoga class, I’m not there to “get better” at poses; I’m there to harmonize my energy. When I teach or lead, I do it from a space of wholeness. I don’t need everything to work out perfectly. I just need to stay connected to my true frequency and from there, life responds.
3. Making stillness a practice, not a luxury
Stillness used to feel like a guilty pleasure. A reward after doing. Now, it’s non-negotiable. Whether it’s five minutes of silence before the sun rises, walking barefoot on the earth without my phone, or simply lying on the floor after a long day, breathing deeply into my belly, these small pauses have become my sanctuary. I no longer seek stillness to escape life, but to return to it. My time at Vipassana retreats reminded me that inner silence is not a voi,d it’s a doorway back to self. It’s where my truth, my clarity, and my next steps live.
4. Turning inward before reacting outward
The moment something triggers me to stress, fear, or overthink, I’ve learned to pause and go within. What part of me is speaking right now? Is it my wounded self craving validation? Or is it my grounded essence whispering truth? This pause is presence. And presence gives me power. Instead of reacting, I breathe. Sometimes I sit in child’s pose. Sometimes I take a long exhale while standing in the shower. These rituals help me respond from my center, not my conditioning. The more I do this, the less I feel controlled by life, and the more I feel like a conscious co-creator of it.
5. Redefining success from the inside out
Success used to mean crossing the finish line, achieving the next milestone, and adding another feather to my cap. Now, success looks like feeling peace in my body. Alignment in my choices. Integrity in how I show up when no one is watching. It’s the glow I feel after teaching a class that cracked open someone’s heart. It’s the ease that washes over me after a long exhale in savasana. When I live from this place of inner fulfillment, the external seems to fall into place effortlessly. Because I am no longer chasing something outside of me. I am already living it.
6. Prioritizing the inner world to transform the outer
There was a time when I tried to shift my reality by changing everything outside the people, the circumstances, and the business strategy. But over time, I realized that true transformation starts within. When I focus on regulating my nervous system, when I come back to my breath, when I sit in stillness and listen, I shift the lens through which I see the world. And when my inner world changes, my outer world follows. Whether it’s through deep meditative journeys, conscious movement, or the sacred pause in a hot yoga room, I return to myself. And from that inner alignment, I create a new reality. One rooted in truth, softness, and power.
The more I slow down, the more I realize that our greatest transformations don’t come from doing more. They come from being more. Being present. Being honest. Being still enough to hear our own truth beneath the noise. This is not about abandoning ambition. I still dream boldly. I still take action. But the foundation has shifted. Now, everything I build rests on alignment, not urgency. Intuition, not performance. Peace, not pressure.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned through breathwork, movement, silent retreats, and the sacred rituals of daily life, it’s this: the inner world creates the outer one. When we tend to our frequency, our energy, and our state of being, the world around us begins to mirror that wholeness. So today, ask not just what you want to do, but who you want to be while doing it. Because how you show up matters. Not just for what you create, but for the life you actually get to live.
If you’re ready to reconnect with your essence, release the noise, and cultivate inner stillness, I invite you to join me. Book a session or explore our upcoming retreats here. Let’s shift from doing to being, together.
Read more from Oxana Kirsanova
Oxana Kirsanova, Psychedelic Assisted Therapist
Oxana is the founder of Sea2Sky Wellness Club, an award-winning entrepreneur, retreat facilitator, and certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapist. With a background in law and decades of experience in the wellness industry, she combines ancient wisdom and modern science to support mental health, trauma healing, and addiction recovery. Oxana has led transformative retreats worldwide, creating safe spaces for deep emotional and spiritual work. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Psychedelic and Consciousness Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her mission is to guide others toward lasting inner transformation and holistic wellbeing.
