Stress Therapy with Cheri Flake: Meditation & Stress Relief for Real Life

Perfectionism is impossible to live up to because we keep changing the rules no matter how well we do or try. Perfectionism leads to chronic disappointment and a loud inner critic. The anxiety around perfectionism is real but meditation can help! The perfect problem can also leave you frozen and contributing to the procrastination problem (we will cover that next week!) One thing to remember is th...

Meditation is the new IT thing…Less stress sounds good, your doctor recommends it and the end of a yoga class always feels so close so good! But what exactly are you supposed to be doing? Clearing your head?? Yeah, right! And how are you supposed to find time to do it every damn day?? My name is Cheri Augustine Flake and I'm The Stress Therapist. I've been working in the Metro Atlanta mental healt...

Today's guest is psychotherapist, Keith Wilson author of Constructive Conflict: Building Something Good Out of All Those Arguments and The Road to Reconciliation: A Comprehensive Guide to Peace When Relationships Go Bad. As a therapist, I can tell you this guy knows what's up, he is funny, real, super smart and kind....just the psychotherapist you need to make your relationships better. Meditators...

There is no doubt about it, meditation changes you. Affirmations are a great way to make changes in your life, but have you ever considered when is the best time for affirmations? Because you are meditating on the reg, your brain is undergoing all of these lovely changes and this is having a profound effect on YOU. So, while you're noticing that you have the upper hand on what you think, how you r...

Meditation strengthens your willpower by actually changing your brain. Today, I am going to give you some homework to strengthen your powers even more! Then, we will meditate using a mantra that my daughter (at three years old!) will chant for you so we can all call on Lord Ganesha to remove our obstacles along the way. This is episode 4 of my Season 3: Let's Meditate Anyway! Motivational Insights...

Sadly, many people who need meditation in their lives in order to help with inattention and concentration problems, will never find their way to the practice because they find meditation, the actual cure for these problems, so very difficult. It seems like a Catch - 22, but I can show you why it's not. Help! I need to be able to concentrate, clear my head, stay focused (insert other attention comp...

COVID BLOWS! But, let's meditate anyway! This is me putting my money where my mouth is… today, in the interest of full disclosure, I feel horrible. Yesterday I tested positive for Covid. Today, I am grateful that although I took all morning to get it together, I am well enough to show up for you! Maybe not perfectly, maybe for not as long as usual and certainly, this isn't me at my best, but it's...

I am traveling this week so we will not have a lesson together but we will certainly, meditate anyway! Today we meditate for peace. Peace for ourselves, our families, our communities, our nation, and certainly, we meditate for global peace. Nothing feels better the meditating on and for peace. It's Season 3! Meditate Anyway!: Motivational Insights and Meditations with A Season Therapist Who Medita...

There are LOADS of reasons not to meditate. Just like with any new, healthy habit, you can come up with thousands of reasons each day to avoid it, blow it off or just forget about it. You might "Need a break" or" deserve some time off," you can color it anyway you want because at the end of the day there are thousands of reasons to NOT do something. But, have you considered this? What is your reas...

davidji, named last week in USA Today as 1 of the top 5 Meditation teachers to follow in 2022 is our guest today! davidji is a world renowned teacher, recording artist, meditation master and award winning author. Today, he will share his wisdom both professional and personal on how and why to meditate and also how to make meditation a consistent daily habit. davidji is famous for his simple and pr...

The route to a successful, daily meditation practice is all in your head! This is my shortest podcast yet because the biggest excuse to not meditate is TIME…Your brain knows that you value it more than any other thing and so your ego uses it to talk you out of so many things…Valid excuses to not meditate: There are none. Both procrastination and excuse making are not about your thoughts so much as...

The "What the Hell Effect" is a very real psychological phenomena that can help you with meditation or any new healthy habit that you are trying to make a part of your every day living. Understanding where stops and starts, successes and failures, and everything in between come from can help you stay on track! This is week 10 of my 12 Week Series~Making Meditation Habitual: How to Build a Daily Me...

James Clear in his book, Atomic Habits gives us great insight into making meditation a habit that lasts. Wanting meditation to be habitual and actually creating a daily meditation habit are two entirely different things. Today, we look at the practical approaches to creating any new healthy habit ~ including meditation. Nobody meditates because it's easy, but you can do hard things! There are some...

Thoughts seem to be branded the bad guy in meditation but we can learn how to use thoughts to our advantage when we are creating any new habit, including a daily meditation practice. Thinking about how you think about meditation is definitely going to effect your meditation practice. But also, examining how you think and talk to yourself is relevant as well. Just noticing what's going on in your h...

Like any new habit, Learning how to meditate comes with its own obstacles. For the beginner, loving meditation, may seem tough! Although, years ago on retreat, I learned from a Buddhist monk these three ways that our egos pull us out of meditation time and time again. It’s time to learn how to get past them and meditate anyway! These hindrances have been the most helpful way to explain to my clien...

Probably the most common complaint that I get about meditation is, “I Just Can’t Meditate.” It’s true that some people have great success with meditation right off the bat, but in my experience, this is really rare. Especially when we are talking about keeping it up! Most people get wrapped up in thoughts and emotions and the next thing they know they are checking their email, unwrapping a piece o...

Props like crystals, incense, cushions, candles & mala beads can help make meditation a habit that lasts. What's up with all of these esoteric, crunchy things and how can they help your meditate daily? Today we will use these items (along a few tricks of my own!) and a little bit of our ego to get us to keep coming back to the practice day after day. This is week 5 of my 12-week series ~ Making Me...

Everything you need to know to become a motivated BOSS meditating every single day! Feeling GOOD, inspired and motivated is the key to meditation habit that lasts...we'll recap these points. The last step and big secret to creating motivation all on your own is a whole lot simpler than you think… This is week 4 of my 12-week series ~ Making Meditation Habitual: how to build a daily practice that l...

Knowing the difference between inspiration and motivation is key to learning how to create motivation all on your own and sustain it for the long haul. Other motivational truths like, “The Little By Little Mentality” will not only get you motivated to meditate, but keep you motivated for the long haul. When I teach these simple motivation creation tricks to my clients, I find that they are largely...

If you want to make a meditation a new, healthy habit that lasts, you're going to have to feel really GOOD about it. But HOW? Introducing your new mantra, "It's EASY and LIKE it!" The bottom line? If meditation brings up all the good feels, you are more likely to do it. Period. So, how can we feel good about meditation when we may have tried it before and failed to keep up? It's time to learn how...

New Year's Resolutions get a bad rap for a good reason~they are counterintuitive to how our brains actually work when trying to establish a new, heathy habit that lasts. Today, we learn what mistakes the typical New Year's Resolutionist makes and how to make New Year's Resolutions that actually work and have you feeling great rather than defeated and stuck. How to create a meditation practice that...

Wayne Dyer said, “There is no way to happiness, Happiness IS the way.” A bit of Meditation, Yoga Nidra, Hypnotherapy & Guided Imagery will get us on the right track for a very happy year ahead! Everybody just wants to be happy...but can we create happiness? YES. Let's meditate on a joyous new year! Together we'll learn how to create our own joy and happiness so we can make 2022 ~and beyond! ~ the...

It's Christmas time! Let's do a guided meditation on creating love. Whether you celebrate this holiday or not, love is in the air & it's the perfect time to meditate spending time in the unified field soaking up all the lovely love and spreading it all around...to everyone...including yourself! It's Week 8 in my 8 Week Series ~ Stress Less, Meditate More! The Holiday Edition

Peace may not seem like a choice, especially this time of year but it IS a choice! Today we will meditate and learn just how to choose peace instead of the chaos and bring some calm to the hustle and bustle that surrounds us this time of year. This is Week 7 in my 8 Week Series ~ Stress Less, Meditate More: The Holiday Edition

A Meditation on Faith and Trust...does the universe actually work FOR us? How can we guide our brains in a physiological way to bring us what we want and how can we possibly count on this?? This is week 6 of my 8 Week Series ~ Stress Less, Meditate More: The Holiday Edition