Mind, body, and soul

The new President of Bayswater Village Resident’s Committee, Jennifer Glausiuss, lives a bustling lifestyle and, at 81, shows no signs of slowing down.

She credits her energy and achievements with her lifelong focus on caring for her mind, body and soul in equal measure. She’s also happy to share her secrets, if it helps others.

So where did it all begin? With a young family of four, Jennifer decided a perfect job was to run the local preschool. She then trained to become a primary school teacher and relished the opportunity to spark children’s creative instincts.

“I read books to the children and taught them poetry. I took them to camps where they learned all about the environment. I’m a bit of an environmentalist and taught them about global warming in the 1980s when the hole in the ozone layer first opened over the Antarctic.”

That green streak resulted in Jennifer instigating a successful petition in 2015 that saved a green belt bordering Takitimu Drive, previously earmarked for housing.

So that’s a flavour of her passion for life. Now to her three magic ingredients: mind, body and soul.

To nourish her mind, Jennifer reads widely. She’s reading about the World Economic Forum but also loves fiction, her favourite novel being ‘Prince of Tides’. She is interested in politics and is a past president of the National Party in Tauranga. Her work as Treasurer for a local non-profit organisation challenges her mind. “We were taught to do long multiplication and division without a calculator. I think there’s too much reliance on computers these days.”

To keep her body moving Jennifer exercises for up to an hour a day. From beach walks and reaching a daily target of 10,000 steps to village cardio classes, riding her e-bike and e-scooter, playing pool, snooker, table tennis and teaching a weekly yoga class. Her true love, though, is dance. When she was aged 60, she performed in a dance troupe on the stage. When she moved to Bayswater, she joined a belly dancing class, just to try something completely new.

To feed her soul, Jennifer practices Christian faith. She also meditates and enjoys yoga. She’s a trained hatha yoga teacher and ran a very successful yoga school for seven years until moving to Tauranga.

Jennifer’s wealth of life experiences has kept her in demand at Bayswater. She is on the Entertainment Committee and has judged the village’s Melbourne Cup ‘Fashion in the Field’. Most recently she was asked to be the Village Residents Committee President. You might think she’d take that role in her stride, but she says this new role and responsibility is a little daunting, and she has much to learn. “However, I love establishing relationships and working with diverse people, so I’m sure I will enjoy this new challenge.” So, that’s one more magic ingredient into the mix: mind, body, soul, and a challenge!