In last week’s episode, From Chaos to Calm part 1, I kicked off this series with the idea of doing the deep work of noticing our own internal fractals. Remember, a fractal is a never-ending pattern that is created by repeating a simple process over and over. Last week, we looked at fractals that branch - trees, blood vessels, and rivers as examples, but there is another kind of fractal… a spiral. Spiral fractals can be seen in shells, fiddlehead ferns, hurricanes, spiral galaxies, and the motion...
Dec 16, 2021•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast I look at the calendar. I look at my to-do list. I look at my bank account. I look at my inbox. I repeat. This time of year more than any other, I feel the pull of the outer world rub distinctly against my desire to slow down, stay inside, and savor this dark, cozy season. As I reflect on the familiar feelings of chaos, I realize that what I am seeing is a fractal. A fractal is a never-ending pattern that occurs in nature. While the fractal itself, the pattern, is quite simple, the picture it di...
Dec 13, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast I look at the calendar. I look at my to-do list. I look at my bank account. I look at my inbox. I repeat. This time of year more than any other, I feel the pull of the outer world rub distinctly against my desire to slow down, stay inside, and savor this dark, cozy season. As I reflect on the familiar feelings of chaos, I realize that what I am seeing is a fractal. A fractal is a never-ending pattern that occurs in nature. While the fractal itself, the pattern, is quite simple, the picture it di...
Dec 09, 2021•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, I am so delighted to share a conversation with Day Schildkret - an artist in pursuit of impermanent beauty - about his upcoming book Hello, Goodbye: 75 Rituals for Times of Loss, Celebration and Change, which will be published on January 25, 2022. Day is internationally known for his work Morning Altars in which he creates impermanent art through found objects in nature. In this conversation we dive deep into the importance of ritual, what it is, how we create our own rituals and more. As...
Dec 02, 2021•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s mini meditation is a sneak peek of some new content soon to be released in Shoreline meditation app. This is a 10-minute guided walking meditation that you can do anywhere - your backyard, a sidewalk, a park, a hiking trail.... A mindful walk is a beautiful and valuable practice; it invites us to cultivate the qualities of meditation: presence, non-judgment and compassion, in our everyday, active lives. Not just on the meditation cushion. You’ll begin at the start of the path you have ch...
Nov 29, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Happy Thanksgiving. As we acknowledge this holiday in our own chosen ways this year there is much to celebrate. There is also much to grieve. And, there is much to remember about the truth of our relationship with the indigenious people of this land. As we each work to sort out our understanding, feelings and plans for the holiday, I thought we could practice today with the gift of contentment. Contentment is understanding that the moment is complete. It doesn’t mean the moment is perfect. It do...
Nov 25, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Thinking only of the negative aspect doesn’t help to find solutions and it destroys peace of mind,” he writes. “I love smiles, and my wish is to see more smiles, real smiles. … If we want those smiles, we must create the reasons that make them appear.” - The Dalai Lama In our practice, a bit of humor can be a mechanism for going deeper. Rather than doubt, judge or over-analyze, what happens if we simply smile, shake our heads at the wildness of it all and trust our inner experiences? We tip the...
Nov 22, 2021•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast This meditation series was crafted in response to a simple and mind-blowing statement that ‘humus, human and humor’ all share the same root word. In part 1, we explored the concept that we are earth come to consciousness {humus}. In part 2, we looked at what it means to be human; to be as boundless as the ocean {human}. And now, in part 3 we look at humor in life and our meditation practice. The term humor is actually derived from ‘humoral medicine’ of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the b...
Nov 18, 2021•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast The classic text, the Ashtavakra Gita, is a dialogue on the nature of Self. Within it, we as human beings, are described as a boundless ocean. So much more than a single thought, a single mind, or a single body. Join me for today’s mini meditation as we tap into our true expansive nature. 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. You can learn...
Nov 15, 2021•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast From Humus to Human Being Today’s talk is an exploration of what it is to be human. To be earth come to consciousness. In many languages, cultures and depth practices, there is a word or phrase that means something along the lines of “I am that I am”. In Sanskrit, So Ham means “I am that I am”. In Hebrew, Hineni means “I am here”. These words & phrases point to something vast and boundless. Something bigger than just ‘me’. These words, phrases and ideas are pointing to something that is easi...
Nov 11, 2021•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a recent meditation, the Franciscan priest and author Richard Rohr wrote: “Being human means acknowledging that we're made from the earth and will return to the earth. We are earth that has come to consciousness. In all the ancient teachings, we read that the body is a microcosm of the universe. There is both poetry and science in these statements. When we acknowledge the truth of this connection between earth and body, it is as if we are entering a deep forest. We must have both the courage ...
Nov 08, 2021•Transcript available on Metacast Recently, I listened to an interview with Suzanne Simard, author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. She talks so beautifully about how forests are wired for wisdom and how trees that we previously thought were drowning out young saplings are actually helping them to thrive, much like a grandmother-mother-child relationship. Within this interview, a comment was made that Humus, Human and Humor all share the same root word, and I can’t stop thinking about the truths ...
Nov 04, 2021•Transcript available on Metacast Since 2006, I have been pulling at the threads of meditation. The threads of mindfulness, of Shamatha, of Vipassana, of Tantra, of Sri Vidya... While styles, words, and texts may differ, there are some threads that run through all of these practices. Threads of Truth, I call them. In the creation of my Awakened Heart Meditation Teacher Training, I wove these threads together. The word "Sutra" {as in The Yoga Sutra} means to stitch together, and this training is built upon wha...
Nov 01, 2021•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Two of the most common questions I receive from meditation students: How do I know meditation is actually helping me? Will meditation help with my depression/anxiety/PTSD? Today, I am bringing you a fascinating conversation with one of the world’s experts on what meditation actually does for your brain, Dr. Andrew Newberg, and he is going to help me answer these very questions! Dr. Newberg is the director of research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health and a physician at Jefferson Univ...
Oct 28, 2021•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s mini meditation is from my exclusive content from Shoreline meditation app. This meditation is accompanied by a custom soundscape from Gordon Hempton. Use headphones for the best possible experience. There is a reason so many fairy tales take place in a forest. There is something magical that happens here. It is a little dark, a little scary, a bit light, and a bit life-affirming. The forest holds it all. When we meditate in the forest, we invite in the spectrum of experience and we appr...
Oct 25, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Y’all know I am a voracious reader, right? So much so that I considered calling my donation page a “buy me a book” page. Books inspire me, provoke questions, and uplift me. I am releasing a series of interviews with authors of some new books that I have just read and love deeply! You know the other thing that I love and do daily {aside from meditate}? I journal. Journaling is such an important practice for me that I even included it as an important part of meditation teacher training! And,...
Oct 21, 2021•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast What an important conversation I am sharing with you guys today. I recently had the tremendous honor of having a conversation with Dr. Traci Baxley, the author of Social Justice Parenting: How to raise compassionate, anti-racist, justice-minded kids in an unjust world. Dr. Baxley’s work introduces clear, do-able and specific steps for families to take to engage in the social justice activism that today’s society needs most. She specifically addresses why “raising good kids” and “protecting...
Oct 14, 2021•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a recent meditation, the Franciscan priest and author Richard Rohr wrote: “Being human means acknowledging that we're made from the earth and will return to the earth. We are earth that has come to consciousness. In all the ancient teachings, we read that the body is a microcosm of the universe. There is both poetry and science in these statements. When we acknowledge the truth of this connection between earth and body, it is as if we are entering a deep forest. We must have both the courage ...
Oct 11, 2021•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Recently, I listened to an interview with Suzanne Simard, author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. She talks so beautifully about how forests are wired for wisdom and how trees that we previously thought were drowning out young saplings are actually helping them to thrive, much like a grandmother-mother-child relationship. Within this interview, a comment was made that Humus, Human and Humor all share the same root word, and I can’t stop thinking about the truths ...
Oct 07, 2021•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast As our Living in a Divided World meditation series comes to end, I wanted to wrap up the month with a discussion with one of the amazing creative souls that has provided me with a sense of connection and hope during the pandemic - my cousin! Uli Beutter Cohen is a New York City–based documentarian, artist, and the creator of Subway Book Review. She explores belonging to a time and place through writing and photography. Uli is a sought-after speaker and panelist. Her work has been featured on TV,...
Sep 30, 2021•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this mini meditation, we dig into the four qualities that all beings possess in immeasurable quantities. Lovingkindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy & Equanimity. This guided meditation will walk us through all four qualities, allowing us to foster and grow what we need most for the days that lie ahead. 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 p...
Sep 27, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast This meditation series, Living in a Divided World, is a series about truly acknowledging the level of divisiveness in our society and in ourselves at this particular moment in time. It is a series exploring how we might find a sense of balance or even peace within the fractures. Part 1 invited us to courageously stop and notice that we stand at a crossroad. A crossroad between aversion {all that we disagree with} and attachment {all that we believe to be true and just}. A crossroad where all opp...
Sep 23, 2021•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast As we explore living in a divided world, as we struggle with the myriad of problems that face us in this moment, it can be hard to understand the teaching of The Middle Way. The invitation to rest in the middle of tension, paradox or discord without needing to resolve it, can feel uncomfortable to say the least. As I work through this teaching in my own practice, I often find myself reflecting on the words of Rilke - “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to...
Sep 20, 2021•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast “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 As we talk about facing the divisiveness that plagues our every moment, the never-ending list of crises that need solving, we are exploring a path within meditation known as “The Middle Way...
Sep 16, 2021•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast As we explore the paradox of the deep divides of our world today and the teachings of connectedness that have existed throughout time, we use practices like this meditation to help us land right here in the present moment. Meditation is always inviting us into the reality of the present, where all opposites exist at once. "The still point of the turning world" as T.S. Eliot calls it. We can choose to battle out right/left politics, and all the other ways of division, but the truth is we are the ...
Sep 13, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s episode kicks off a new series for me, and I've been turning this over in my mind for months {maybe years?}... exploring how our meditation practice invites us to engage with a world that feels more divided than ever. This month, on The Mindful Minute we are going to *Deal with Divisiveness* - I struggle as much as the next person with fear, outrage, frustration and exhaustion. And yet, I do believe there is a way forward, and I believe that our meditation practice always shows us the ne...
Sep 09, 2021•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast BIG news, y’all! This month I am celebrating 5 YEARS of podcasting?! 5 years of creating, writing and sharing meditations with you. And, this little podcast has grown to over 40,000 listeners each month! Wow. And, thank you! Thank you for listening and being a part of this community. I’ve got some big goals and some fun giveaways to help celebrate this milestone. Tune into today’s episode to learn more and then to meditate with a beautiful practice from my app: Shoreline. Today’s 10-minute medit...
Sep 06, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast What a fun show I have in store for you today! As I very often do these days, I got an email a few months ago suggesting that I consider artist Kyle Webster as a guest for The Mindful Minute. Now, I get a lot of these emails and 99% of the time, I say ‘no thank you,’ because this show is not primarily about interviews, but occasionally one feels like a really good fit. And this one??? Well, it was suggested we talk about meditation {my favorite subject}, creativity {my second favorite subject}, ...
Sep 02, 2021•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast This class originally aired in July 2020: According to the Yoga Sutra, meditation connects us to our inner luminosity & sorrowless joy. In modern day terms, when we talk about meditation as a tool for emotional resiliency, we are really talking about tapping into this inner luminosity. We won't avoid hardship and pain in our lives just because we meditate, but we will be able to maintain connection to that inner luminosity and sorrowless joy to help us move through with more grace. Join ...
Aug 30, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast This class originally aired in July 2020 and is just as fitting today as it was then: This month, my meditation series has been focused on building emotional resilience. We are learning how to use the tools of meditation to help us not only survive tough times but more so to thrive in our daily lives. Today’s episode, the final installment of this series, is my personal favorite because I think it is the game-changing practice. It is the practice of cultivating compassion to take back power. Yep...
Aug 26, 2021•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
