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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast I am most decidedly NOT a night owl. I’ve always been early to bed, early to rise - hence teaching 6 a.m. yoga for more than a decade ;-) And yet, over the last year, I found myself taking walks at night. Nothing fancy; just short strolls through my neighborhood - the same route I would walk with my kids during the daytime, and yet, I found it was completely altered at night. As I’ve tracked the cycles of the moon in this most visible, tangible way I’ve noticed how the lunar phases show up in ou...
Jan 06, 2022•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast In today’s mini meditation we explore and honor the Mystery. The unknown forces that cause some moments to feel particularly chaotic or overwhelming and the unknown forces that tip us back into periods of calm. We can look to the Winter Solstice as an example - In ancient times, this was a moment when it appeared that the sun had stopped moving in the sky. The light had disappeared. Our ancestors didn’t know that the earth orbited the sun or that its axis was tilted. They didn’t know why the sun...
Dec 27, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Happy Winter Solstice to my friends in the Northern hemisphere and happy Summer Solstice to those in the south! Today’s episode is the final installment of the Chaos to Calm series as well as my final episode of 2021. In today’s class we explore and honor the Mystery. The unknown forces that cause some moments to feel particularly chaotic or overwhelming and the unknown forces that tip us back into periods of calm. We can look to the Winter Solstice as an example - In ancient times, this was a m...
Dec 23, 2021•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Spiral fractals can be seen in shells, fiddlehead ferns, hurricanes, spiral galaxies, and the motion of fluid. And, isn’t this exactly what we are doing in our practice? We are spiraling inwards, learning to listen to our deepest selves.... but here is what I’ve learned about spiraling inward: It isn’t as clear-cut as it first seems. It seems like we should always feel like we are getting closer to the center, shouldn’t it? As if every practice should feel deeper and quieter? And yet, anyone wit...
Dec 20, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 
