Oh friends, I am sure, like mine, your heart is broken over the horrors we are witnessing between Israel and Palestine, as well as the hate crimes we are seeing in response to this crisis. In a moment of pure serendipity, I had an interview that was scheduled months ago with poet James Crews to chat about his new book, The Wonder of Small Things; Poems of Peace & Renewal. I originally planned to air this conversation as a Winter Solstice offering, but his book feels like the perfect balm for...
Oct 24, 2023•50 min
*While this series was recorded several months ago, it continues to feel incredibly timely as we bear witness to the horrors unfolding in Israel and Palestine, as well as the hate crimes happening in response to this crisis. May we stay steady, may we stay awake, may we soothe our hearts so that we can continue to engage. A Lifeboat in Turbulent Times: When emotion overwhelms our system, it is called 'flooding', and in today’s episode, we are going to learn to build our lifeboat. We will explore...
Oct 19, 2023•40 min
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with emotion and empathy expert, Karla McLaren, about her new book, The Language of Emotions. In it, she shares a powerful definition of emotion from sociologist Dr. Arlie Hochschild “Emotion, I suggest, is a biologically given sense, and our most important one. Like other senses - hearing, touch, and smell - it is a means by which we know our relation to the world, and is therefore crucial to the survival of human beings in group life. Emotion is unique a...
Oct 12, 2023•34 min
I have noticed the prevalence of two difficult emotions both in my own life as well as in my conversations with others - grief & anxiety. Difficult emotions to be sure. Over the next four episodes, I want to explore working with difficult emotions in our meditation practice. It can appear, at least on the surface, that there is no place for big emotion within our meditation practice - as if, somehow, meditation precludes us from experiencing heartbreak, fear or anger. This couldn’t be furthe...
Oct 05, 2023•32 min
"What if your discomfort was a portal to a rebirth, a remembering, an attunement to your true Self?" - Tracee Stanley Tracee Stanley is the founder of Empowered Life Circle, a sacred community and portal of practices, rituals, and Tantric teachings inspired by more than 20 years of study in Sri Vidya Tantra and the teachings of the Himalayan Masters. As a post-lineage teacher, Tracee is devoted to sharing the wisdom of yoga nidra, rest, meditation, self-inquiry, nature as a teacher, and ancestor...
Sep 28, 2023•50 min
In this series, I named three things that regularly inspire awe for me - Birds Books Meditation All 3 regularly stop me in my tracks, and they make my jaw drop. They make me smile, wonder, and listen. They weave their way into my conversations and my dreams. In short, they inspire awe within me. “Awe experiences are what psychologists call self-transcendent: they shift our attention away from ourselves, make us feel like we are part of something greater than ourselves, change our perception of t...
Sep 21, 2023•35 min
I adore a good book, and I’ve noticed that often I feel a sense of energy or connection between what I’m reading and my meditation practice. Sometimes it inspires a question, a curiosity or even just a feeling. It isn’t something that can easily be named or explained, which is exactly what this series is about… The unknown, the mystery, the awe of an experience. In meditation, often we want to discuss what happens. We try to explain. But so often it feels incomplete, doesn’t it? You can’t captur...
Sep 14, 2023•36 min
This year, I have fallen in love with birds. I know, I know - it's an odd entry to a meditation class, but stay with me - We added a few bird feeders and a bird bath to our backyard garden at the start of the year, and the bird population has absolutely exploded. And, since I sit outside to meditate everyday, I have a front row seat to the show. At first, I found the constant birdsong a distraction to my practice, but I QUICKLY found that it became a soundtrack of upliftment and positive feeling...
Sep 07, 2023•36 min
What if emotions weren't a problem? What if you didn’t need to fix or change your emotions? What if they were actually not only helpful but vital to our survival? Today, I am delighted to share a conversation with author and researcher Karla McLaren. M.Ed. Karla is an emotions and empathy expert, and she's recently revised and updated one of her books, The Language of Emotions. In this conversation, Karla and I talk about Emotions as a sense rather than a problem Anxiety, panic and how to work w...
Aug 31, 2023•51 min
It is an unbelievably beautiful gift to be alive and awake. The world will break our hearts both through its cruelty and its beauty. Our job is not to fix that paradox, but to learn how to live within it with resiliency and reciprocity. We grieve, we give thanks, and we act in some personal way in response to the gift of being alive. This last class in the Resilience & Reciprocity series will ask us to shift from an independent to an intra-dependent point of view of ourselves, others, and th...
Aug 24, 2023•36 min
Do you know the refrain in Amazing Grace? Amazing grace how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now I'm found Was blind but now I see This refrain has been running through my head as I created this month’s meditation series - “but now I see.” Last week, we talked about really ‘seeing’ the earth, and today, we will talk about really ‘seeing’ others, people that are different from ourselves in some way. One of the premises in this series is that comfort equals loneline...
Aug 17, 2023•39 min
In this mindfulness series, we are exploring resilience & reciprocity as skills we build when we bring mindfulness to our relationships with the earth, with others, and with ourselves. In today’s class, we bring the lens of mindfulness to our fractured relationship with nature. Diagnosis like plant blindness and nature deficit disorder, not to mention climate crisis, highlight how removed we are from nature. At the same time, there are writers, poets, artists, and scientists all screaming fo...
Aug 10, 2023•41 min
Hello dear ones. Today, we step into a new series that stems from some of my recent reading. Every spring, I re-read "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and I also just read a new book from the Foxfire organization titled "The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women". While these books are about different peoples, different times, and different landscapes, I see so many threads of similarity carried between the narratives - Threads of hardship, hard work & happiness. Threads of lack and ...
Aug 03, 2023•45 min
Are you a Sage? A Huntress? A Lover? A Queen? The answer is yes to all of the above, and author Mara Branscombe joins us in today’s episode to explain why with her new book: Sage, Huntress, Lover, Queen. Mara Branscombe is a mother, writer, yogi, artist, teacher, mindfulness leader, ceremonialist and spiritual coach. Mara is passionate about weaving the art of mindfulness, self-care, creativity, mind–body practices, and earth-based rituals into her life and work, and she has been leading communi...
Jul 27, 2023•43 min
This meditation class was recorded in the aftermath of a mass shooting in my hometown of Atlanta, GA and after a day of supporting a friend through a mental health crisis. I like to think of meditation as a lifestyle; when we treat this practice as a rich and full aspect of daily lives it quickly begins to offer the benefits that are so lauded when one reads about the practice of meditation. However, there are also times when meditation can serve as a band-aid. It can be an SOS practice that imm...
Jul 20, 2023•32 min
Let me tell you a little secret… I dislike the word manifestation so much. It isn’t because I don’t believe that manifestation is possible, but it is because I find far too often it is over simplified and used as an easy excuse to side-step doing deep work. So, when I met Sara Rae Hoaglund and heard her talk about the contradictions, the work and the mindfulness that is required for manifestation, I knew she was the person to bring this discussion to The Mindful Minute. In this episode, Sara Rae...
Jul 13, 2023•43 min
Whew y’all. Are you ready to go deep today? Like really deep? Because today, we are jumping into the deep end with Buddhist meditation teacher Andrew Holecek. Andrew is a teacher and author on meditation, lucid dreaming, non-dualism, and preparing to die from a buddhist perspective. And today we are talking about his new book, Reverse Meditation, how to use your pain and most difficult emotions as the doorway to inner freedom. This is a rich conversation, particularly for those of you wanting to...
Jul 06, 2023•54 min
I have wanted to bring this conversation to The Mindful Minute podcast for a long time now, and today I am delighted to share a conversation with Lillian Charles about our clothes, our bodies, and our mindfulness practice. Lillian created STYLE THERAPY in 2011 as a way to help women remove mental, emotional and physical barriers to living fully expressed lives. She combines traditional Personal Styling with Energy Healing, Intuitive Consulting and scientifically backed Life Coaching methods such...
Jun 29, 2023•32 min
Combining meditation and the work you do with a therapist can significantly improve your mental health. Today, I am sharing a conversation with one of my meditation teacher training graduates, Robyn Minefee, who combines meditation teaching and her work as a licensed counselor. Robyn Minefee is a licensed professional counselor and yoga instructor in the state of Georgia. In her virtual private practice she considers herself a holistic practitioner meaning she utilizes movement as a big part of ...
Jun 22, 2023•28 min
I have been leading meditation teacher trainings since 2017, and as I launch my 2023 training, I thought it would be fun to share a few conversations with graduates about their experiences in MTT. Today, I am delighted to share a behind the scenes chat with a former student, Johanna Olivas. Johanna is a registered yoga teacher, Reiki master, sound healing practitioner, and since 2022, a certified meditation teacher. In this episode, we talk about: Confidence and connection: teaching that first m...
Jun 15, 2023•18 min
I have something a bit different for you today! I was recently interviewed by Sara Rae Hoaglund for her podcast, Spiritually Inspired. I thought you guys might enjoy hearing a bit about my early experiences with meditation, how I defined meditation, and how to deepen your meditation practice when you are ready for more than just 10-minutes a day! This conversation was such a blast. Be sure to check out Sara Rae’s other interviews on Spiritually Inspired and be on the lookout for her interview on...
Jun 08, 2023•29 min
“I have been meditating for nearly thirty years and practicing asana, the physical practice, for over twenty and I can say without a doubt that the most advanced yoga I have ever done is raising children.” - Sarah Ezrin When I read this quote from author, yoga teacher, and mama Sarah Ezrin, I knew we would be fast friends because this has absolutely been the truth of my experience as well! In today’s episode of The Mindful Minute, we wrap up our ‘Stress Free Summer’ series with an interview with...
Jun 01, 2023•52 min
This meditation is both an expression of greeting and of gratitude, and it is a beautiful way to start your day. As we share this practice, remember that the universe outside also exists inside. In so many wisdom traditions, we find writings and teachings that connect the natural world inside of us. When we greet and celebrate the components of the cosmos, we greet and celebrate the components of ourselves. Take a seat outside or near a window if you can. Have one headphone in your ear to hear t...
May 25, 2023•13 min
Here in Georgia, we are stepping into the summer season. The kids will be out of school shortly, and I’m struck with the oh-so-familiar feeling (for me at least) of partial excitement - Yay! It’s summer. No schedule. Going to the pool! Going camping! Fun And - Ohhhhhh it’s summer. No schedule. No routine or rhythm to anchor our days. Yikes. I thrive on routine and while I appreciate short breaks, I am also well aware that all too quickly that freedom turns into a source of stress for me. And so,...
May 18, 2023•19 min
“We are all continually asked to learn how to ask for what we need, only to practice accepting what we’re given.” - Mark Nepo Oh, surrender, what a complex equation you are. So many of us understand surrender to be a passive state or an act of giving up. After all, the very definition of surrender is “to stop resisting”. Yet, with each of these teachings that we have explored in the Mindful Living series comes a deep paradox that we are asked to embrace. Surrender is both strength and softness. ...
May 11, 2023•45 min
Recently, my four-year-old daughter asked me, “who were you before you were a mom?” After a little conversation, I realized she was asking me - ‘what was your job before you were a mom’... At four, she already identifies a job as who you are. This week’s mindful living tenet is Self-Study, and this teaching also asks us “who are you?” Who are you without a job? Without a plan? Without a diagnosis? Without a gender? Without any of your conditioning? In this week’s episode of The Mindful Minute po...
May 04, 2023•40 min
Today’s Mindful Living tenet is self-discipline, or more literally, the fire of transformation. This teaching reminds us that meditation and mindful living is not meant to be synonymous with sunshine and rainbows or with joy 100% of the time. Mindfulness grows from burning away non-supportive habits in order to actualize who we really are. Self-discipline is the teaching that focuses attention so that attention becomes intention. We can see a direct example of self-discipline in cultivating a da...
Apr 27, 2023•38 min
“Of course we can always imagine more perfect conditions, how it should be ideally, how everyone else should behave. But it’s not our task to create an ideal. It’s our task to see how it is, and to learn from the world as it is. For the awakening of the heart, conditions are always good enough.” ~Ajahn Sumedo “One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming about some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying th...
Apr 20, 2023•43 min
In the last five episodes, I’ve shared the ethical teachings of meditation. Traditionally, after learning these ethical teachings, often taught as ‘restraints’, we would then learn five more teachings known as ‘observances’. These next five teachings, known in Sanskrit as Niyamas, are principles that we observe within ourselves to develop a mindful way of moving through the world. These are in essence the guidance to Mindful Living. We start with one that feels very tricky to me… it is most ofte...
Apr 13, 2023•38 min
When someone says to me, “would you like to have a conversation about nature, culture and the sacred?” - the answer is always YES, which is how this interview came to be. Today, I get to share a conversation with the dynamic author, leader and organizer, Nina Simons. Nina is the Co-founder and Chief Relationship Officer at Bioneers . Throughout her career spanning the nonprofit, social entrepreneurship, corporate, and philanthropic sectors, Nina has worked with nearly a thousand diverse women le...
Apr 06, 2023•44 min
