Our Mindful Nature: Meditation Inspired by Nature to Soothe the Overwhelmed Mind and Ease Anxiety

Hello dear ones.  Today, we step into a new series that stems from some of my recent reading. Every spring, I re-read "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and I also just read a new book from the Foxfire organization titled "The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women". While these books are about different peoples, different times, and different landscapes, I see so many threads of similarity...

Are you a Sage? A Huntress? A Lover? A Queen? The answer is yes to all of the above, and author Mara Branscombe joins us in today’s episode to explain why with her new book: Sage, Huntress, Lover, Queen. Mara Branscombe is a mother, writer, yogi, artist, teacher, mindfulness leader, ceremonialist and spiritual coach. Mara is passionate about weaving the art of mindfulness, self-care, creativity, m...

This meditation class was recorded in the aftermath of a mass shooting in my hometown of Atlanta, GA and after a day of supporting a friend through a mental health crisis. I like to think of meditation as a lifestyle; when we treat this practice as a rich and full aspect of daily lives it quickly begins to offer the benefits that are so lauded when one reads about the practice of meditation. Howev...

Let me tell you a little secret… I dislike the word manifestation so much. It isn’t because I don’t believe that manifestation is possible, but it is because I find far too often it is over simplified and used as an easy excuse to side-step doing deep work.  So, when I met Sara Rae Hoaglund and heard her talk about the contradictions, the work and the mindfulness that is required for manifestation...

Whew y’all. Are you ready to go deep today? Like really deep? Because today, we are jumping into the deep end with Buddhist meditation teacher Andrew Holecek.  Andrew is a teacher and author on meditation, lucid dreaming, non-dualism, and preparing to die from a buddhist perspective. And today we are talking about his new book, Reverse Meditation, how to use your pain and most difficult emotions a...

I have wanted to bring this conversation to The Mindful Minute podcast for a long time now, and today I am delighted to share a conversation with Lillian Charles about our clothes, our bodies, and our mindfulness practice. Lillian created STYLE THERAPY in 2011 as a way to help women remove mental, emotional and physical barriers to living fully expressed lives. She combines traditional Personal St...

Combining meditation and the work you do with a therapist can significantly improve your mental health. Today, I am sharing a conversation with one of my meditation teacher training graduates, Robyn Minefee, who combines meditation teaching and her work as a licensed counselor. Robyn Minefee is a licensed professional counselor and yoga instructor in the state of Georgia. In her virtual private pr...

I have been leading meditation teacher trainings since 2017, and as I launch my 2023 training, I thought it would be fun to share a few conversations with graduates about their experiences in MTT. Today, I am delighted to share a behind the scenes chat with a former student,  Johanna Olivas.  Johanna is a registered yoga teacher, Reiki master, sound healing practitioner, and since 2022, a certifie...

I have something a bit different for you today! I was recently interviewed by Sara Rae Hoaglund for her podcast, Spiritually Inspired.  I thought you guys might enjoy hearing a bit about my early experiences with meditation, how I defined meditation, and how to deepen your meditation practice when you are ready for more than just 10-minutes a day!  This conversation was such a blast. Be sure to ch...

“I have been meditating for nearly thirty years and practicing asana, the physical practice, for over twenty and I can say without a doubt that the most advanced yoga I have ever done is raising children.” - Sarah Ezrin When I read this quote from author, yoga teacher, and mama Sarah Ezrin, I knew we would be fast friends because this has absolutely been the truth of my experience as well! In toda...

This meditation is both an expression of greeting and of gratitude, and it is a beautiful way to start your day.  As we share this practice, remember that the universe outside also exists inside. In so many wisdom traditions, we find writings and teachings that connect the natural world inside of us. When we greet and celebrate the components of the cosmos, we greet and celebrate the components of...

Here in Georgia, we are stepping into the summer season. The kids will be out of school shortly, and I’m struck with the oh-so-familiar feeling (for me at least) of partial excitement - Yay! It’s summer. No schedule. Going to the pool! Going camping! Fun And -  Ohhhhhh it’s summer. No schedule. No routine or rhythm to anchor our days. Yikes. I thrive on routine and while I appreciate short breaks,...

“We are all continually asked to learn how to ask for what we need, only to practice accepting what we’re given.” - Mark Nepo Oh, surrender, what a complex equation you are. So many of us understand surrender to be a passive state or an act of giving up. After all, the very definition of surrender is “to stop resisting”. Yet, with each of these teachings that we have explored in the Mindful Living...

Recently, my four-year-old daughter asked me, “who were you before you were a mom?” After a little conversation, I realized she was asking me - ‘what was your job before you were a mom’... At four, she already identifies a job as who you are.  This week’s mindful living tenet is Self-Study, and this teaching also asks us “who are you?” Who are you without a job? Without a plan? Without a diagnosis...

Today’s Mindful Living tenet is self-discipline, or more literally, the fire of transformation. This teaching reminds us that meditation and mindful living is not meant to be synonymous with sunshine and rainbows or with joy 100% of the time.  Mindfulness grows from burning away non-supportive habits in order to actualize who we really are.  Self-discipline is the teaching that focuses attention s...

“Of course we can always imagine more perfect conditions, how it should be ideally, how everyone else should behave. But it’s not our task to create an ideal. It’s our task to see how it is, and to learn from the world as it is. For the awakening of the heart, conditions are always good enough.” ~Ajahn Sumedo “One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put of...

In the last five episodes, I’ve shared the ethical teachings of meditation. Traditionally, after learning these ethical teachings, often taught as ‘restraints’, we would then learn five more teachings known as ‘observances’.  These next five teachings, known in Sanskrit as Niyamas, are principles that we observe within ourselves to develop a mindful way of moving through the world. These are in es...

When someone says to me, “would you like to have a conversation about nature, culture and the sacred?” - the answer is always YES, which is how this interview came to be.  Today, I get to share a conversation with the dynamic author, leader and organizer, Nina Simons. Nina is the Co-founder and Chief Relationship Officer at Bioneers . Throughout her career spanning the nonprofit, social entreprene...

“Behind violence, dishonesty, stealing & indulgence lies one clear objective: gaining greater control over the objects of our desire and eliminating those with the potential to stand in our way. This phenomenon can be described in one word: possessiveness. We want to have enough to fulfill our desires and our desire knows no limit.” - Pandit Rajmani Tigunait The final teaching in our ethics se...

This is a big one, y’all. Non-excess is likely the ethical tenet that I teach most often {even if I don’t specifically say ‘non-excess’}...  Often this teaching gets translated as abstinence or celibacy, and in certain monastic orders, it is indeed practiced in this way. Yet, when we look at the original teachings of this tenet, we discover non-excess is about establishing vitality and balancing t...

The ethical tenet of non-stealing goes so much further than simply avoiding the physical act of theft. It prompts us to move fully into living a life of integrity and reciprocity.  In this episode of The Mindful Minute, we delve into the myriad of ways we have absorbed the habit of stealing. We will reflect on how we steal from  Others The Earth The Future Ourselves The primary invitation of non-s...

Carl Jung once wrote -  “A lie would make no sense unless the truth was felt to be dangerous.” Within the traditions of meditation, there are five ethical teachings taught to all initiates as they begin their contemplative path. The first teaching {see the previous episode} is the tenet of non-violence, and we learned that violence is always accompanied by fear. The second tenet is truthfulness, a...

With this episode, we begin a new journey together. We will spend the next 5 weeks exploring the Ethics of Meditation. I find it profoundly poignant that the ethical foundation of meditation is always taught first in Eastern practices and yet is so often saved for 'later' in Western teachings. I confess that I usually assume the ethical teachings are inherent within the practice and have not expli...

Over the last several years, Chanti Tacoronte Perez has taught me so much about exploring and relating to my dreams, and today, I get to share a conversation with Chanti all about dreams, the dark and the wisdom waiting for us there. Chanti is a Cuban-American creatrix, ritualist, and author; and she believes that images speak a profound language. Her life’s work is as a translator of the unseen a...

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light. To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight, and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,  and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.  ~Wendell Berry I have a question for you -  Do you equate peace with effort? Does it feel as though you must work to attain peacefulness?  I think for many of us, it does feel this way - as though we are tryi...