Moved To Meditate Podcast

Today's podcast episode continues our discussion on Mindfulness Skills, picking up from Part 1 (which was Ep. 83). This topic explores the possibilities for growth and greater freedom that come from pursuing a mindful path. And, with a combination of traditional methods and outside-the-box practices, mindfulness can be more accessible, relevant, and personalized for each of us. I'm using the term...

This episode of the podcast is a conversation with Neil Pearson about how yoga and mindfulness can help you improve pain, understand your body's signals better, and find relief. Neil is a physical therapist, yoga therapist, and author known for his work integrating yoga and pain science. If you are someone who lives with pain, and you're wondering how yoga or mindfulness could help, this interview...

In this podcast episode, I'm addressing the question: What Are "Mindfulness Skills?" We'll be covering a list of learnable abilities and characteristics we are developing through mindfulness practice. What are these skills, and why pay attention to them? A skill is something you deliberately train - it's not just an innate quality, personality trait, or talent that you're born with. We might also...

In this episode, I have the joy of interviewing Dr. Tamara Russell about how to practice and train mindfulness in movement.  Dr. Russell is not only a neuroscientist and mindfulness researcher, but a clinical psychologist, and a martial artist with a black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu. She brings all of these perspectives to her mission of making mindfulness practices more accessible for more people, s...

Today's podcast episode is a quick update and preview of what's to come in 2024! I will be taking a holiday break from the podcast in December, so I can get organized for upcoming episodes in the new year, plus embark on a BIG new project. Listen to this episode for a sneak peek of our upcoming guest interviews and topics you'll hear on the podcast in the New Year. I also talk about some practice...

This week's podcast episode is a 15-Minute Body Scan Meditation. The Body Scan is a classic practice to cultivate mindfulness of the body and develop embodied awareness. For many of us, it's difficult to stay connected with the felt sense of the body. There are a lot of reasons we get pulled away from our embodied awareness - because of busy-ness, speeding through the day, getting lost in our devi...

This podcast episode is a fascinating conversation with Scott Odom, about what happens when we start to see the world through a lens of "basic goodness." Scott is a retired police officer, dedicated Buddhist practitioner, and former nomad who spent four years traveling the country in an airstream. We talk about practice, the process of transformation, and integrating the many roles we play in life...

This week's podcast episode is a guided meditation using compassion phrases. We can always benefit from giving and receiving more compassion - as individuals, and as a collective of interdependent beings co-existing on this planet. So in this meditation, we'll be practicing self-compassion, as well as compassion for others. Compassion is one of the heart cultivation practices within the Buddhist M...

In today's episode of the podcast, we'll be exploring Wise Effort. Practicing Wise Effort means being mindful of how you're using your energies and your attention - and whether that is moving you towards fulfilling your intentions.  This is something we can look at in meditation practice, or in movement practice...and hopefully apply in the rest of our life's activities.  You'll hear about Wise Ef...

In this episode of the podcast, we're talking about the Bio Psycho Social Spiritual model and Mindful Movement. I believe this framework can help us understand the full potential of Mindful Movement and the (sometimes unexpected) benefits we gain from practicing. Listen in, and hear why Mindful Movement deserves to be a priority if you're looking to increase your well-being. The Bio Psycho Social...

This week's podcast episode is an Equanimity practice. Join me for a guided meditation, exploring the potential for steadiness in the heart and mind. Equanimity, or Upekkha (in Pali), is a natural by-product of Mindfulness Meditation. We grow our steadiness a little bit every time we come back to our anchor in the present moment. And, our  steadiness also gets stronger every time we're able to obs...

This week on the podcast, I'm talking about ADHD and Mindfulness Meditation with my guest Ying Deng. Ying is the founder of ADHD Asian Girl, a platform that provides support and resources for people with ADHD, especially Asian women. She is a certified Transformation Life Coach with additional training in positive psychology, and she's currently in Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach's 2-year Mindfulnes...

This episode of the podcast is a guided meditation using Loving Kindness phrases.  Metta (or Loving Kindness) Meditation is one of the heart practices from the Mindfulness tradition, and it's a way of cultivating goodwill and friendliness for ourselves and others. One of the techniques we use in Metta practice is to silently recite phrases to help invoke the intention of loving kindness.  In this...

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a Mindful Movement class and a Yoga class? That question is a little more complicated than it may first appear, and so that's what we're going to explore in this episode of the podcast. While Yoga could certainly be considered a type of Mindful Movement, we're going to break down the similarities and differences between a typical mainstream Yog...

In this episode of the podcast, I have the honor of speaking with Dr. Kate Truitt about the Havening Techniques, which use mindful touch and intentional attention to change how your brain responds to stress.  Dr. Kate Truitt is a licensed clinical psychologist, applied neuroscientist, and an internationally recognized expert in the neuroscience of trauma, stress, and resilience. She is the co-deve...

This week on the podcast, I'd like to talk about "everyday mindfulness," the practice of taking small moments to pause and be aware throughout your day. We'll explore practical ways you can create a supportive mindfulness practice for all the moving parts of your real, beautiful, and (sometimes) messy life. The advantage of everyday mindfulness is that we can incorporate it into what we're already...

In this episode, I'm talking about unmasking the inner critic with my guest Andrew Lang. Andrew is a lifelong educator and a gentle, light-hearted facilitator of meaningful inner work. So, you'll hear about how to recognize your limiting narratives and transform them – in a kind, embodied, and even playful way. Andrew Lang is the author of a book called Unmasking the Inner Critic: Lessons for Livi...

Today's episode of the podcast is a guided meditation on Mindfulness of Sound! In this practice, we will use the sense of hearing to connect to the present moment. During the recording, you will hear a few different meditation bells and singing bowls. This is not really a "sound bath" - rather, it's an experience of how you can use sounds in a Mindfulness Meditation practice, allowing hearing to b...

In today's podcast interview with Heather Gross, we learn about sound healing and gender-affirming voice therapy. This is a fun and empowering conversation that will inspire you to pay more attention to your own vocal self-expression! As Heather states, "you can't separate the mind from the body, and you can't separate the voice from the self." This episode explores the power and potential held in...

The podcast is back this week with another guided meditation! Today, we'll explore the theme of practicing patience. I start with a brief intro about patience, sharing why this wise aspiration is on my mind this week. The meditation follows, starting at about the 6:00 mark. (You can skip ahead if you've heard the intro before, or you just want to go directly to the practice). Most of us will proba...

Today's episode of the podcast is a little different - rather than a talk or an interview, I'm offering a short practice! Find a quiet spot, pop in your headphones, and try this Guided Meditation: Mindfulness of Breathing, 4 Ways. (If you want to skip my brief intro and go right to the meditation, you can fast forward to 1:55.) This guided meditation offers a beginner-friendly introduction to Mind...

In this episode of the podcast, we step back and consider: what is mindful movement? Both the words "mindfulness" and "movement" are used in a wide variety of ways, so it's not always obvious what is meant by either, or in the combination that is "mindful movement." I will talk about the most common or general way of defining mindful movement, and I'll also share some thoughts on how to take that...

Today's episode of the podcast is about mindful resilience, inspired by a Tai Chi balance training that I took last week. The TaiJi Quan Moving for Better Balance training is a program developed by Dr. Fuzhong Li, a scientist at the Oregon Research Institute. It is based on traditional Tai Chi, but with some significant adaptations that tailor this program to balance training and fall prevention....

In this episode of the podcast, I'm going to talk about four of the most interesting benefits of mindful movement...that you probably haven't heard about. Do you find it motivating to know how your practice is benefiting you? Or are you (perhaps) the kind of person that won't decide to do a new activity unless you really understand why it's worth your time and effort?  I can absolutely relate to t...

In this episode, I'm talking about chronic pain and yoga with my guest Mandy Ryle. Mandy is an evidence-based Yin Yoga teacher, and this is an information-packed conversation about how Yin Yoga fits into the pain care equation for her students. We talk about what is (and is not) part of a pain care-informed approach to Yin Yoga, and how it is much more than finding the "3 magic poses" for whatever...