In our meditation practice, we are invited into the present moment. But the cool thing is that the present moment isn’t a static place. In fact, the present moment is more like a precipice, an edge… The present moment is a continually expanding experience of what is NOW. I think of it as a verison of the universe itself. Scientists know that the universe is continually expanding - and it feels like the present moment is a microcosm of the universe as a whole. A multitude of experiences are conta...
Apr 25, 2022•15 min
April 2022 is a powerful month this year. For the first time in 31 years, the sacred holidays of Passover, Easter & Ramadan all overlap in the same month. These holidays respectively celebrate themes of liberation and expansion, rebirth and renewal, and forgiveness and self-restraint. Unrelated, I went on a foraging hike this weekend in the North Georgia mountains. I learned about some of the medicinal plants that are in abundance right now like violets, dead nettle, and yellow root. So many...
Apr 21, 2022•33 min
In the last episode, Rhizomatic Meditation, I created and shared this term - ‘Rhizomatic Meditation’ which is really just another way to describe the process of becoming a meditator, in my opinion. A rhizome is “a continuously growing horizontal underground stem which puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots at intervals” like ginger or iris plants. I think this is an interesting lens to view our meditation practice through as well. Rather than a clear end goal that we are systematically w...
Apr 18, 2022•17 min
I recently attended a forum titled ‘Democracy Under Siege: Authoritarianism and the Psyche’. It was fascinating; just in case you were wondering exactly how nerdy I am… During the panel discussion a comment was made that democracy asks us to embrace rhizomatic thinking or rhizomatic imagination. This phrase immediately jumped out at me because I had just taught the last ‘Way of Roots’ meditation class and I knew this was tied to that topic, but how? A rhizome is “a continuously growing horizonta...
Apr 14, 2022•26 min
In physics, entanglement refers to particles that “have correlated attributes such that they act not as individual particles but as an inseparable whole.” Within our meditation practice, I think we see entanglement on two levels: First, our practice becomes entangled with our lived experience. Initially perhaps, our practice feels like this thing we do on our meditation cushion and then we go live our lives the other 23 hours and 50 minutes of the day. But slowly, slowly this practice tangles wi...
Apr 11, 2022•15 min
Within this meditation series, we have discussed how rootedness is innate to us {part 1}, and how paths carved by our rootedness lead us to a rewilding of the spirit {part 2}, and now in the last part of the Roots meditation series we discuss entanglement. In physics, entanglement refers to particles that “have correlated attributes such that they act not as individual particles but as an inseparable whole.” In forests, tree roots entangled with the mycorrhizae of the soil create an inseparable ...
Apr 07, 2022•32 min
If we look at ancient meditation teachings as roots, they allow us to understand the path that has been carved by practitioners of the past. And then crucially, the teachings always invite us to explore for ourselves. To question. To advance. We don’t have to accept without experiencing for ourselves. We use wisdom teachings - through books, through teachers or classes or podcasts - to help guide us. To give us the lay of the land and the sense of what’s possible. And then we return to our pract...
Apr 04, 2022•15 min
This meditation series, The Way of Roots, began with an exploration of our own rootedness - our own ability to be present and awake to the moment as it is. Now, we add a bit to our understanding of Roots. Roots travel in search of nutrients, water, and community with other trees. One of the first things I think about is the big oak on the side of my house, near the road. It has been there a long time, and its roots have traveled past the boundary of the yard, under the paved road where they have...
Mar 31, 2022•33 min
Roots, in botany, are the part of a vascular plant normally underground. Its primary functions are To anchor of the plant To aid in the absorption of water and minerals To store a reserve of food. Our practice serves much the same purpose. It anchors us to the present moment, it allows us to absorb the benefits of being present, non-judgmental and compassionate, and it prepares us to face difficult times with equanimity. And, here is the vital element - we can access this wisdom just as we are. ...
Mar 28, 2022•14 min
Often, when we talk about simplifying, getting back to basics or our foundation, we say “getting back to our roots”... and my offering this month is exactly that - It is an invitation to get back to our roots in the most literal way possible. To explore our rootedness and how this relates to our meditation practice. When I think about the roots of a plant, I see this as something innate, something forged, and something woven. Over the next 3 classes, we will look at each of these ideas in turn. ...
Mar 24, 2022•35 min
Today’s mini meditation is offered with the reminder that community is a valuable part of any meditation practice. It is what helps us to explore meditation off the cushion and to put our practice into everyday use. Join me! These mini meditations are meant to support a daily home practice. Tune in every Monday to find your practice for the week! Full episodes are released every Thursday for a longer, deeper practice. Join my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/ Spe...
Mar 21, 2022•14 min
One of my intentions for 2022 is to truly pay attention to and foster community both in my work and my personal life. This is a value I hold so dear, and I’ve felt the impact of the last 2.5 years as it has asked us all to reimagine community connection. I’ve recently introduced a monthly community discussion class in my live Monday night meditation class as one way to foster this sense of connection, and I thought, even though you won’t get to hear the actual community chatter in this episode {...
Mar 17, 2022•30 min
Mini Meditation: Elemental Awakening to Fire In today’s mini meditation, I’m sharing another elemental practice with you in celebration of my upcoming program Elemental Awakening! We have explored two different wind-based practices recently and now we will revisit an old favorite - fire. Today’s meditation is one of my original offerings in Roots - my nature-based meditation app. In this practice, you hear the embers of a campfire crackling as it burns in Little Yosemite Valley. This soundscape ...
Mar 14, 2022•15 min
Show Notes: Astronomical Mindfulness with Sarah Scoles “Back when humans lived in communal caves and tribal encampments, we told stories about the stars. When we started sailing, we used these same pinpricks of light to estimate our own location. When we began planting, we relied on the constellations and the Sun to plant and sustain crops. Yet today, most modern humans have lost this deep connection to the cosmos that was once central to our daily lives.” The new book, ASTRONOMICAL MINDFULNESS,...
Mar 10, 2022•37 min
Mini Meditation: Delight, Sorrow and What Lies Between When we reflect on opposing forces such as good & evil or joy & sorrow, it is easy to see them as existing on a scale with one force on each side - thesis and antithesis. But, what happens when we introduce a third force? Thesis. Antithesis. Synthesis. Fire. Water. Air. Rabbi Jill Hammer writes, “ when we come to presence, we are able to hold multiple truths without straining.” Join me for today’s mini meditation as we practice holdi...
Mar 07, 2022•21 min
You’ll remember that this month’s meditation series is a series about the ever-changing wind and the play of opposite forces in our daily lives. Good & evil, praise & blame, joy & sorrow, etc. Last week {part 2} we looked through the lens of Buddhist teachings on the 8 Worldly Winds, and that we never know when the wind will change directions. We were offered a solution of learning how to live in the ‘middle’ or with equanimity. Now, I love learning how these same ideas permeate time...
Mar 03, 2022•34 min
Mini Meditation: Elemental Awakening to Wind My newest program, Elemental Awakening, is an exploration of the elements and their corresponding sacred practices. It runs from the Spring Equinox to the Fall Equinox, and it is a chance for 12 of you to study in-depth with me over the course of the next 7 months. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be releasing a few mini meditations that correspond with each element as a way to explore Elemental Awakening for yourself. Today’s mini meditation invites you...
Feb 28, 2022•18 min
This is a series about wind, about good and bad, about our struggles with the state of the world; but mostly, this is a series about wind. I love wind. Sometimes, I resonate with the sensation of being blown around. Chaotic, uncontrolled. Other times, I resonate with the sensation of my feet on the ground. My body, a steady anchor as the wind whips around me. It is a both/and situation, and it asks us to acknowledge paradox. It teaches us equanimity. In Buddhist teachings, there is a teaching kn...
Feb 24, 2022•38 min
You guys. I have something BIG to share with you today! I have just released my newest offering into the world. This is something that has been incubating in my meditations, my dreams and my daily walks for a full year, and I am so delighted to finally share this with you! Elemental Awakening is an exploration of the elements and 6 corresponding sacred practices. This program will run from the Spring Equinox to the Fall Equinox, and it is a chance for 12 of you to study in-depth with me over t...
Feb 21, 2022•14 min
I spend a lot of time reflecting on the teachings of meditation and their intersection with the specific moment we are living in. For most of us, I believe this feels like a scary time, as if there are two sides battling out for domination with no chance of reason or clarity being heard. As I dance with the anxiety of mid-term elections this year, and continued reports of rising extremism, I remind myself that we have been here before. Some of the details might be new to this moment, but the vas...
Feb 17, 2022•38 min
Why do we love Encanto so much? Why has “We don’t talk about Bruno” taken over the charts in such an unexpected way? Perhaps it is that the music and the lyrics remind us we are not alone in what we feel, what we struggle with… and I think it is so important to make this connection alongside our meditation practice. It is far too easy to mistakenly believe that meditation is an isolating practice. We often practice alone. We close the door; we tell others to be quiet and not interrupt us. We fin...
Feb 14, 2022•15 min
I am obsessed with Encanto. Are you? We have watched the movie several times, and basically listen to the soundtrack on repeat these days… The song “We don’t talk about Bruno” has taken over the charts beating out the previously unbeatable “Let it Go”... The spin class I recently took that was themed to the Encanto soundtrack had three times more people in it than any other class at that moment in time. Why do we love this story and this music so much? This is a story among so many things of mag...
Feb 10, 2022•38 min
My friends, if you read only one book this year, let it be Pause, Rest, Be: Stillness Practices for Courage in Time of Change My dear friend, Octavia Raheem has released her second book into the world and it is the balm we have all been waiting for. In her introduction, Octavia writes, “I created Pause, Rest, Be to meet you in the places that shape, redefine, and sometimes undo us: endings, liminal space, and beginnings. The places of falling aparts and mergings. Of letting go and coming togethe...
Feb 03, 2022•39 min
As the light of the moon diminishes, and our meditation practice nears the end, we are reminded one last time to return to presence. If we have drifted off this is the moment to catch that last thought, daydream, or feeling, and to remember the wisdom of our practice before moving on with our day. Join me for today’s mini meditation in honor of the waning moon. Special thanks to today’s sponsor: Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instr...
Jan 31, 2022•13 min
She wanes. The moon gradually continues her cycle with diminishing light night after night until we return to the dark moon and start over again. This phase of waning light reminds us that we set an intention to turn our attention inward. The premise of this series has walked us through the cycles of the moon and their representations in our meditation practice. The new moon, waxing moon, full moon & now waning. As the light diminishes, we are reminded in the last moments of our meditation p...
Jan 27, 2022•35 min
This week is the week of the January full moon. Many indigenious groups have specific names for each of the 13 full moons of the year. January’s moon, by northern and eastern tribes, was often called the wolf moon. So called because this is a time, deep in winter, when the wolves are hungry and howling frequently. Interestingly, the full moon is also the time when we are believed to be the most magnetic, articulate, receptive and collaborative. The light of the moon and ourselves is bright and r...
Jan 24, 2022•12 min
This week is the week of the January full moon. Many indigenous groups have specific names for each of the 13 full moons of the year. January’s moon, by northern and eastern tribes, was often called the wolf moon. So called because this is a time, deep in winter, when the wolves are hungry and howling frequently. For us too, January has evolved to be a hungry month. For many people throughout the world, this is a literal hunger, and for those of us who are fortunate enough to have enough to eat ...
Jan 20, 2022•34 min
We add light and awareness to our meditation practice, when we relinquish all judgment. What happens when we stop telling ourselves we are wrong? That we are something to fix? What happens when we are curious instead? When we stop saying no; when we soften the armour around what we can’t feel or won’t feel, is it possible that there is wisdom waiting for us? Join me for today’s mini-meditation as we relish the added light of non-judgment. Special thanks to today’s sponsor: Baronfig - Baronfig’s ...
Jan 17, 2022•12 min
This week, the moon is waxing. She is adding a sliver of light every night. We also see this experience mirrored in our meditation practice. We begin by simply settling into the present moment, and then, we add more light and deeper awareness by incorporating non-judgment into our practice. In our daily lives, the waxing moon is typically an ideal time to brainstorm, to plant seeds of creation, and to initiate new projects. Without doubt, one of the most vital elements of the creation process is...
Jan 13, 2022•36 min
The new moon happens each lunar cycle; it is the time when the moon is completely dark. The new moon reminds us that the moon itself doesn’t possess any light. The light we so love and celebrate is a reflection, an illumination from a perpetually radiant source of light- the sun. This is quite true of our meditation practice as well. It isn’t “meditation” - the type, style, name or duration - that is the magic. Rather, the practice simply reflects or illuminates our innermost, perpetually radian...
Jan 10, 2022•14 min
