The Calming Ground Podcast

What are you taking in these days - food, conversations, commitments - and does it replenish or deplete you? In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun honors an often-overlooked season: Late Summer, the fifth season in Chinese medicine. Elizabeth explains how this season in ancient Chinese medicine is associated with the Earth element, and that it is a time of ripening, grounding, and nourishment - b...

Your story holds incredible power. The story you tell about your past can shape your future - and your brain. What if you could rewrite it in a way that brings peace, strength, and freedom? In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores how telling and reframing your personal narrative can help you process difficult experiences, release shame, and create a more peaceful future. She dives into how...

Let’s be honest - manifesting is one of those words that stirs up a lot. For some, it feels empowering, magical, and full of possibility. For others, it’s become a buzzword, co-opted by hustle culture or watered down by oversimplified self-help advice. In today’s episode, host Elizabeth Mintun takes a deep dive into exploring what manifesting means beneath the buzzwords. She looks at the deeper, a...

What if the richest, most meaningful moments of your life are already here, hidden in the ordinary? In this episode of The Calming Ground, host Elizabeth Mintun explores “the sacred and the mundane.” Not necessarily religious or spiritual (though it can be), sacredness is that deep feeling of aliveness, wonder, or tenderness that makes you pause and think, this matters. But most of life is ordinar...

Does January feel like it was forever ago ? If so, you’re not alone.  Mid-year is the perfect time to pause, reflect, and gently re-align with what truly matters for the rest of 2025 - and that’s exactly what host Elizabeth Mintun does in this episode. Elizabeth guides you through a calming mid-year reflection, celebrating what’s worked, gently acknowledging what feels heavy and ready to be r...

Whether you're feeling tired, invisible, or simply longing for more meaning in the everyday, this episode is a poetic call to return to what soothes you, delights you, and reminds you of who you truly are. Key Takeaways Beauty has the capacity to stabilize our nervous system by calling us back to the present moment.  Aging can be seen as a season of ripening. Just like summer, your radiance c...

Have you ever woken up at 3 a.m. worrying about money - your chest tight, your mind racing, even if you’ve done everything 'right'?  In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores why financial stress activates your fight-or-flight system, how to shift to an abundance mindset, 5 grounded strategies to work with money as energy (not just numbers), and how to gently soothe shame, comparison, or cat...

Do you ever find yourself endlessly scrolling through bad news, feeling more and more stressed, anxious, or hopeless? You’re not alone.  In today’s episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores the impact of doomscrolling - that compulsive pull to stay plugged into a constant stream of alarming stories - and why our brains are wired to do it. She talks about what doomscrolling is and why it feels s...

So many of us enter midlife feeling like we’re fighting against our bodies - battling fatigue, physical changes, mood swings, and stress that seems to settle into our bones. But what if the answer isn’t to fight harder… but to listen more closely?  In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun is joined by Wendy Kleinke, a fitness and menopause coach. Wendy shares how tuning into your body’s changin...

What if going to the doctor feels just as scary as the diagnosis? If you’ve ever left an appointment feeling dismissed, anxious, or shaken…this episode is for you. In this episode, Elizabeth is joined by a fellow therapist and EMDR practitioner Hannah Ciampini, who shares both professional insight and personal experience with chronic health challenges and the emotional toll of feeling dismissed or...

When the days get longer and the invitations stack up, it’s easy to overextend yourself and forget that “no” can be one of the most generous, self-honoring things you can say. In this final episode of our summer mini-series, Elizabeth talks about boundaries - especially how to hold them in a heart-centered, grounded way during the expansive, often overwhelming season of summer. Elizabeth also offe...

Summer says “lighten up,” but your heart feels heavy. What if you don’t need to match the season to belong in it? In this heartfelt episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores the experience of emotional dissonance - the feeling that your inner world doesn't match the bright, cheerful energy summer often demands. This is the second episode in a special 3-part summer series, Staying Centered in Summer Busyn...

Summer is often painted as a season of ease, sunshine, and relaxation. But for many of us - especially those with caregiving roles, flexible work schedules, or families - it can feel like anything but chill.  In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun shares a candid reflection sparked by a conversation with her husband about their very different experiences of summer. She unpacks the hidden pressures...

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun is joined by Carley Weissert, a self-love and body image coach for women, who helps her clients create peace with their bodies, find freedom with food, and dismantle the rules and beliefs that keep them stuck in cycles of shame, perfectionism, and restriction. Carley shares her own transformational journey, from years of disordered eating and self-criticism to hit...

Is luck something that simply happens to us, or can we actually influence how lucky we are? In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun draws on insights from psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman’s decade-long study on the nature of luck. She explores how lucky people think, act, and respond to life differently - and how you might do the same. Elizabeth also shares a personal story from her winding career path...

Have you ever found yourself thinking, “I’ve done the work... So why do I still feel stuck?”   In this heartfelt and grounding episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores what it means to be in the “in-between” - that quiet, uncertain space where transformation is happening under the surface, even if it doesn’t look like it on the outside. Elizabeth shares personal reflections and nourishing insights...

Books can nourish us just like friendships do, can’t they?   In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun shares 10 stories and reflections that have nourished her spirit over the years. They are ones that have comforted her in hard times, expanded her perspective, supported her professional growth, and reminded her of what truly matters. The books aren't ranked in any particular order; each one ho...

Feeling stuck, foggy, or a little off this season?  In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine and how the spring season’s wood element can help us reconnect with energy, flexibility, and clarity. If you’ve been feeling a shift in your energy, a desire to clear out clutter, or perhaps even some inner tension or stuckness, you’re not alone - and this epis...

What if you could shed the barriers that get in your way and truly allow your inner essence to shine through?  In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun talks with business and life coach Renee Vogel about her perspective on how to return to and live from the inner beauty within. Renee shared about her own essence and how she helps others break through the layers that keep themselves from living more...

What if menopause could be experienced and celebrated as a new beginning, an invitation to look within, to realign one’s health, beliefs and connection to one’s truest self? That’s just what perimenopause doula Bean Bindloss suggests in this conversation with Elizabeth Mintun. Bean talks about the value in supporting women in perimenopause and menopause with nutritional therapy, integrative hypnos...

What if you had a roadmap to understand yourself and others on a deeper level? The Enneagram isn’t just a personality test—it’s a powerful tool for self-discovery, personal growth, and improving relationships. In this episode, Elizabeth talks with Certified Enneagram coach Alyssa Nicole about how the Enneagram can be used as a powerful tool for personal development, relationships, and workplace dy...

When life feels overwhelming and your mind won’t stop racing, the instinct for many of us is to retreat and figure things out alone. What if resilience isn’t always found in solitude, but in community? In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores how overthinking often thrives in isolation and how connection can be a powerful antidote. Through personal stories, insights from years of facilitating gr...

Stress is a part of life, but it doesn’t have to knock you down.  In today’s episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores the difference between stress management and stress resilience. She shares a personal story of getting stuck in people-pleasing and discusses the benefits of both stress management techniques and stress resilience. In addition, Elizabeth unpacks why building resilience is the key to...

What helps us stay connected to ourselves and our identities even when we’re patients in a healthcare setting? This is the second episode in a 2-part series inspired by listener Debbie Margulies' powerful question about maintaining control in medical settings and managing unhelpful pity from others based on your medical condition. Elizabeth interviews oncology social worker Samantha Hulett about h...

How do we navigate the medical system in a way that feels empowering and maintains our sense of dignity? This episode was inspired by listener Debbie Margulies' powerful question about maintaining control in medical settings and managing unhelpful pity from others based on your medical condition. Elizabeth explores the difficult experience of needing expert care while feeling stripped of your auto...