The Fully Mindful with Melissa Chureau

Send us Fan Mail From corporate America to self-development innovator, Marianne Demello-Smith is creator of the Message in the Middle Podcast & BookClub, a place to explore life’s difficult lessons through interviews, self-development, book clubs, self-empowerment and discovery. As our guest, Marianne has observed, life is messy. It darts this way, and that. And we don’t have a lot of quiet ti...

Send us Fan Mail During the pandemic, we got really used to being separated, and maybe even alone. But even before--and certainly after--I know I can feel like I have to figure things out all on my own. I forget I've got people on my team. So this is a little practice, developed from both Tara Brach and Kristen Neff's work, in reconnecting with our team and ourselves. By the way, did you...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s guest, Joe Longo, is a sort of renaissance man. From football player to photographer to IT professional, to oracle card pulling coach and yoga teacher,  although he might not admit it, Joe’s wisdom about life has been there since childhood. At the age of 5, when he was really scared, as only we get as children, he heard the words, “Joe, you don't have anything to be a...

Send us Fan Mail We all know the story of the Turtle and the Rabbit. And we know exactly who wins. But in life we aren't here to win. We are here to be, to love, to do good. But the same principles apply. Slowing down, being present and intentional is not only going to get us a lot further down the road, we're going to be a lot happier too--and so are the people around us. Settle in for...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever wanted to meditate but thought you could not quiet your mind or just can’t find the time, or maybe you have tried and it just hasn’t “worked?” You’ve been frustrated because  you understand that science has proven the physical and emotional benefits of mindfulness, but you just can’t get over this hump or plateau. Today’s guest, Dr. Michael Amster, has the solution–a...

Send us Fan Mail We get used to the everyday, the ordinary. And we sometimes (maybe often!) forget to notice what we see, hear, touch, feel every day. The other week, in the 3rd episode of The Last of Us, where 2 souls met and began to share a life in the post-apocalyptic world, where even basic goods, much less water, was available, there was this incredible moment: Frank shows Bill to a hidden g...

Send us Fan Mail Usually, we don't think of love or self-compassion when we think of the actions needed to have a healthy body. If you're anything like me, you think of pulling yourself up by the boot-straps, or hunkering down, or really "following the rules." Turns out, that's part of our culture too. And this toxic sort of thinking has seeped  into how our teens see them...

Send us Fan Mail Kitt O’Malley, author of Balancing Act – Writing Through a Bipolar Life, and NAMI Central Oregon Board Member, offers hope to those living with mental illness and their loved ones. As a therapist who left her career due to mental illness, she’s a powerful advocate for mental health and tirelessly fights the stigma against those living with mental illness. She is both down to earth...

Send us Fan Mail Anyone else "shoulding" all over themselves now that we are closing in on the end of January? Maybe even regret or self-flagellation, or is that just me?  That's why we practice--to remember who we are, what is happening right now, and that we are humans just like everyone else. So, join me on this short practice that allows us to be in the here and now, present for...

Send us Fan Mail What is it like to live Alcohol Free?  Whether someone has a problem with alcohol, or just wants to see how their life might change by being alcohol free--or if you're just "sober curious" and you see that more and more people are starting to live alcohol free, this conversation is for you. Heck, even in Portland, Oregon, where I am--beer haven USA / IPA capital of...

Send us Fan Mail Who am I if I’m not a lawyer, a CEO, a doctor, in finance, a chef, a restauranteur? That’s the question that so many of us have asked ourselves—and are terrified of the answer. But how can I go on, day after day, with so much stress, so much pressure—and not just pressure the job puts on me, but the pressure I put on myself to succeed? In so many cultures—including western culture...

Send us Fan Mail At the age of 15, Marlita Hill heard the words---very clearly--"Go Watch." Go watch a dance performance. While she did not know where there words came from, she knew she had to go. And there started her journey into her passion--dance and choreography. Despite the many odds stacked against her--and having to train for a dance audition next to six and seven year olds at t...

Send us Fan Mail It’s December and, wow, is there a lot going on. If you’re anything like me (and I wager, a lot of other people). You pile one thing on the next, zoom from one activity to the next, and you just go go go until capoot. No more. Here’s a short mindfulness practice to find peace and calm in the busy-ness of life. Here, we fill our cup—anytime we want.  Join the Fully Mindful Communit...

Send us Fan Mail What could be more humbling than losing one’s memories? Not knowing who you are, really, and what you’ve done? Not recognizing faces? That could reasonably strike terror into most people—quite understandably. And yet, for Dane McCormack, a Tasmanian-born and raised man living on mainland Australia, it never occurred to him. Instead, despite having lost most of his short and long t...

Send us Fan Mail For me, there is nothing quite like a deep conversation with a fellow mindfulness practitioner and teacher. And that is exactly how I felt—and I think you will feel—in this conversation with Sarah Ariaudo, author, speaker, mindset coach, and creator of the Mindful Based Healing program to address the mental and emotional well being of cancer fighters and their family. After ignori...

Send us Fan Mail I know. I know. Just what you wanted right before the holidays! That's exactly why I chose to publish this podcast about eating well post-Halloween, and pre-Thanksgiving here in the US.  It's because I needed to be reminded of eating well, for health and well-being--and where eating unconsciously, or to "eat my feelings" backfires.  Welcome to this honest and p...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever felt like your mind was spinning out of control and you just thought that if things could just slow down, maybe, just maybe, you’d get a handle on things? Or ever felt so disconnected from your body that you honestly felt like a head walking around on a stick? Well, I sure have. And it turns out I’m not alone. And more importantly, there’s a way out of this morass th...

Send us Fan Mail Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Humanity. To boldly go where no one has gone before! Seriously, creating space in the mind (and body, of which the mind is part) is the practice. How often have you felt like your thoughts were impenetrable—or like you had your own back against the wall? Practicing creating space can help in those moments. The more w...

Send us Fan Mail As a lawyer myself, I honestly can't think of anything funnier than being a lawyer. It can actually be pretty ridiculous. The stories. The contortions we put ourselves in. Yeah. But perhaps even funnier than being a lawyer is being a parent. How many stories do you have--or have your heard--about crazy kid stuff? Enter Heather Weigler, a successful government lawyer (yes, gov...

Send us Fan Mail It's kind of fascinating how much we don't really know, isn't it? Sometimes, though, when we look back, we can't believe what we didn't see or appreciate. Imagine the surprise at being whisked away in your early 20s by your parents in an effort to save you from yourself and try to get you on the path sobriety, only to find yourself at a retreat with the gr...

Send us Fan Mail “Yes there are 2 paths you can go on, but in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.” —led zeppelin.  Haven't we all wondered what life would be like if we had made other choices? Haven't we all felt, at times, a little like Dr. Jekyl, Mr. Hide? S Amanda Marshall (Amie), former US Attorney for the District of Oregon turned lawyer for those of us wh...

Send us Fan Mail Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio famously observed, "We are not thinking machines. We are feeling machines that think." And yet we spend most of our days in the space between our ears and don't pay a whole lot of attention to the rest of our body, and what it might be telling us. And yet, the body is smart. It's where we first comprehend feeling--whether joy, fea...

Send us Fan Mail It's kind of crazy that we ever think we can do this thing called life alone. And yet we operate in this fantasy on the daily--with all sorts of negative consequences. We isolate. We fear. Or the opposite: We think we know it all, and well, we all know how that goes. One of the negative consequences of this "pull yourself up by the bootstraps---all on your own" ment...

Send us Fan Mail We're all going to die someday. It's this lesson of impermanence that none of us will escape. But imagine dying more than once....in one summer. And imagine that the medical experts you're relying on don't really seem to know what is happening with you, and you're not even sure they're actually listening. In comes Fred Rutman, a regular hockey-loving...

Send us Fan Mail Being fully mindful doesn’t mean we aspire to have no thoughts or feelings. Those are goals of dead people! The point is to be fully aware, not push away, but to practice giving space between ourselves and our thoughts and feelings and experiences. Join me in this short practice to become fully mindful.  Join the Fully Mindful Community: ✨ Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed t...