She Thrives | meaningful conversations on women's health

In this episode you will learn about and practice the tool which has been proven to boost creativity: capacity to generate ideas or focus on the idea at hand.  This tool is accessible in your daily life, so once you understand it – you can do it anywhere and anytime. 

This episode follows the steps of practice called RAIN, which is incredibly useful when we try to 'digest' or simply understand our emotional states. It requires us to pause and to face towards what is here, learning to see deeper and even stay with whats is uncomfortable in a kind and compassionate way. 

As we practice mindfulness we cultivate awareness of the body, thoughts and emotions.  Awareness of thoughts is a powerful skill which allows you to be familiar with your mental landscape and adjust it if necessary.  The more you practice, the more familiar you become with annoying and useless thoughts which can prevent you from being content, attentive or simply at ease in the moment, here and no...

 "Who is your enemy?" said the Buddha. "Mind is your enemy. No one can harm you more than a mind untrained. Who is your friend? Mind is your friend. No one can assist you and care for you better than your mind well-trained. Not even the most loving mother or father."

We spend too much time in our head – a mental control tower, obsessing over things we usually can't control.  This practice is a tool to train our capacity to re-center yourself. Re-enter a state of being calm, focused and alert.  Our body is always present. Our mind is a time traveller. 

Some of us are training for marathons and triathlons.  We are committed to our training in order to achieve the results that we want. Yet, some of the best coaches will confirm that training of the mind is as important as training of the body.  And mindfulness can be very handy. In this meditation practice we will tap into training attention by paying attention to the breath.   “It’s only in the p...

Frank Zappa said: "A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open".  The most important skill we are training in mindfulness meditation is our ability to be present for our own life with an open, curious mind. 

We continue to explore feelings and emotions – language of the body and heart. The number one step we learn is to simply notice what is here. What needs our attention. It can be a sense of feelings anxious, frustrated, sad, lonely or joyful, in love, excited! Then we allow whatever arises be present.  We investigate, explore, watch what thoughts and body sensations assist the emotional state. We a...

We don't always have control over how we feel. But we can hold ourselves accountable for how we deal with how we feel. Usually we are good at thinking about how we feel. In our mindfulness practice – we learn to experience emotion in our bodies. How does it FEEL when you are angry, anxious, sad, in love, excited? It takes mindfulness to notice, allow and learn from it.  Welcome to the class!

As we explore mindfulness of thoughts, we are getting better at recognising that some thoughts are useless, others are repetitive. We learn to not associate ourselves with them. Thoughts are just thoughts – they come and go, and they don't have to effect us. We protect ourselves from negative and anxious thoughts, we are more likely to choose be present with what we are focusing on in the giv...

One of the teachers told me: "if you want to understand your mind – sit down, and observe it." I find this a good summary of what we do in our mindfulness training. This week we will be exploring mindfulness of thoughts. We will literary be trying to observe our mind with its thoughts.  Intention of our training at this point is not to stop thinking. Thoughts are not a problem. The probl...

We continue practicing and train our capacity to be aware of our bodies. Listening and feeling, without trying to change anything.  I also share three pillars of mindfulness practice. These are – attention, intention and attitude. All three are important in turning your training into a longer term routine.

We continue to train out attention.  We also learn to be more aware of our body and breath. Trust me – this is the foundation. The body is always sending us some type of information. Yet we are so busy and lost in thoughts, that we miss the signs that our body is trying to tell us.  What kind of signs? Well, it can tell us that it is uncomfortable, tense, stressed, hot, cold or even thirsty.  Late...

This is your daily pause.  Your workout for the the mind. Like in every body workout – we start with the main muscle.  In mind training – we start with out attention. Attention is the most important muscle that we need to strengthen.  It may not be easy at the beginning. Your mind will be distracted. You attention will be jumping around. This is absolutely natural. The key is to keep training it. ...

It's been a while since I recorded anything. And this time I am uploading a simple gratitude practice. It is so simple to be thankful, that most of us can't do it. And yet, it's a habit. A habit to look at the world though the prism of goodness and things that we already have.   Gratitude practice has proven to increase a sense of well-being, and joy.   See if it works for you. Name...

"One day teacher held up a beautiful Chinese cup and said "To me this cup is already broken. Because I know its fate, I can enjoy it fully here and now. And when it's gone, it's gone." When we understand the truth of uncertainty and relax – we may become free. We may lose our best piece of pottery in the fire, our start up business may go under, our children may develop pr...

Sometimes we reject our desires and call it discipline, will of power.  Sometimes we act on all of the desires blindly, and call it addictions.  In my opinion a more sustainable way of being is understanding your desires, learning to feel them come and go, learning to act on them only when we choose to. I call this wise wanting.   It is not an easy task. The first step is to notice small wants and...

We can read all the books, and study with the best teachers, and yet our practice can be dull and shallow. The invitation is to read books and talk to teachers in order to create more energy and interest, but use your own investigation and consistent practice to cultivate wisdom and personal insight.  Someone said – knowledge comes from studying. Wisdom come from living.