awareness is not unconscious
Once you become aware of a feeling or belief or something else that guides you without your knowledge --something under your conscious attention-- you can change it. Not always easily or on your own, but awareness can be (and might need to be) one of the first steps. This week's practice is all about honing self awareness (perhaps to nudge out the unconscious patterns you don't need or want.)
You can also ignore all that and just practice in the way that suits you best! Enjoy!
Listen to "Self Awareness Meditation - Recast Ep 196"
As always, I encourage you to make yourself at home in this practice: substitute, modify, do as you need to feel safe and present, including taking breaks!
Integration suggestion
After listening to the episode, perhaps check in: did you notice something that you want to carry with you? If yes, maybe jot it down in a notebook or record a voice memo to help you remember!
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit alex middleton, found on unsplash
thoughts what we don't know we have
Even five years ago, unconscious bias wasn't something most of us had heard about. With research and campaigns to make us aware of this often destructive force, we have greater awareness these days --largely awareness of what we don't know and are not entirely aware. Or I hope we're making strides in that direction. More on meditation and unconscious bias in the episode, pulled from the archives. Enjoy!
Listen to "Compassion Meditation and Unconscious Bias - Recast Ep 195"
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit sergey lapunin, found on unsplash
practicing compassion
Compassion is both second nature to us and something we need to practice because it doesn't always arise in moments when it can be the most healing or helpful. I hope you'll try out this version of Sat Yam meditation with a thought to nurturing compassion either towards your self or towards others (or both! we need both 🙂 - whichever you choose today.
You can also ignore all that and just practice in the way that suits you best! Enjoy!
Listen to "Sat Yam Meditation for Compassion - Recast Ep 189"
As always, I encourage you to make yourself at home in this practice: substitute, modify, do as you need to feel safe and present, including taking breaks!
Integration suggestion
After listening to the episode, perhaps check in: did you notice something that you want to carry with you? If yes, maybe jot it down in a notebook or record a voice memo to help you remember!
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit aaron katz, found on unsplash
where do you find compassion?
I'm bringing back an episode from the archives in which I share some thoughts on what compassion is, particularly through the lens of compassion meditation practices. Tune in next week for a follow-up practice!
Listen to "What is Compassion - Recast Ep 188"
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit sergey lapunin, found on unsplash
Moving along your own way
The pathway of the figure 8 breath is the heart of the practice this week. Moving your attention along it --using the body as the frame for the figure 8 (I describe what that means in the episode!). I like the idea of finding our way to focus or stillness or centeredness by tuning into movement. And perhaps not just any movement, but a movement that flows along a pathway or a rhythm that you can feel or connect with. If that idea resonates for you, are there any places outside of meditation where that might apply?
You can also ignore all that and just practice in the way that suits you best! Enjoy!
Listen to "Movement Pathway for Attention and Figure 8 Breath"
What’s in this episode of Everyday Meditation?
- Welcome + getting situated, with a few thoughts on using a movement pathway as your focus in meditation
- A little lead-in movement: Seated fold
- Breathing practice: Long exhale
- Meditation technique (awareness kriya): Figure 8 breath
- A little re-grounding movement: Seated camel
As always, I encourage you to make yourself at home in this practice: substitute, modify, do as you need to feel safe and present, including taking breaks!
Integration suggestion
After listening to the episode, perhaps check in: did you notice something that you want to carry with you? If yes, maybe jot it down in a notebook or record a voice memo to help you remember!
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit remi muller, found on unsplash
finding your focus
This week's meditation episode is a follow up to last week's on attention. It's a practice that might help you pay attention. If you'd like, you can reflect on whether it does or doesn't, and perhaps where you choose to put your focus throughout the day!
You can also ignore all that and just practice in the way that suits you best! Enjoy!
Listen to "Hum Sa Kriya Meditation - Recast Ep 182"
As always, I encourage you to make yourself at home in this practice: substitute, modify, do as you need to feel safe and present, including taking breaks!
Integration suggestion
After listening to the episode, perhaps check in: did you notice something that you want to carry with you? If yes, maybe jot it down in a notebook or record a voice memo to help you remember!
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit srinivas jd, found on unsplash
finding space for attention
This week, I'm rebroadcasting an episode from the archives --inviting you into some findings about how meditation can affect (improve?) one's capacity to focus or pay attention to something.
Whether that's a goal of yours or you'd prefer maybe to reflect on where you put your attention in life, I hope it's interesting!
Next week, I'll share a practice that you can use to test out how meditation might help you focus where you want to! Enjoy!
Listen to "The Science of Attention and Meditation - Recast Ep 181"
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit zdenek machacek, found on unsplash
It's hard to connect
As I said last week, connection is essential to us. And yet, it can be terrifically difficult to build or seek out when something (a fear, a past experience, a struggle, whatever) gets in the way. Before this week's practice of Sat Yam (inviting us to "let go" of thoughts we don't need anymore), I talk a bit about the challenge of connecting. You might ask yourself before or after practicing: "Where do I find it difficult to connect with others? Do I know what's in my way?"
You can also ignore all that and just practice in the way that suits you best! Enjoy!
Listen to "What keeps you from connecting? + Sat Yam "Let Go" Meditation"
What’s in this episode of Everyday Meditation?
- Welcome + getting situated, with a few thoughts on what keeps us from connecting with others.
- A little lead-in movement: Cat / childs
- Breathing practice: Alternate nostril breathing
- Meditation technique (awareness kriya): Sat Yam "Let Go"
- A little re-grounding movement: Seated forward fold
As always, I encourage you to make yourself at home in this practice: substitute, modify, do as you need to feel safe and present, including taking breaks!
Integration suggestion
After listening to the episode, perhaps check in: did you notice something that you want to carry with you? If yes, maybe jot it down in a notebook or record a voice memo to help you remember!
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit mitchell luo, found on unsplash
Connection is human
We are social creatures, humans. We need relationship and connection with other humans. We can also find connection with other creatures and lifeforms. We're wired with this need and this capacity. I think that's beautiful and scary, and all the more reason to practice recognizing and cultivating it. This week, I share how I find a feeling of connection and healing in the Sat Yam Bubble meditation practice. I hope it's useful!
Listen to "Connection + Healing in the Bubble of Sat Yam Meditation"
What’s in this episode of Everyday Meditation?
- Welcome + getting situated, with a few thoughts on connection and healing.
- A little lead-in movement: Cat / childs
- Breathing practice: Padadirsasana (breath balancing)
- Meditation technique (awareness kriya): Sat Yam (bubble)
- A little re-grounding movement: Cat / cow
As always, I encourage you to make yourself at home in this practice: substitute, modify, do as you need to feel safe and present, including taking breaks!
Integration suggestion
After listening to the episode, perhaps check in: did you notice something that you want to carry with you? If yes, maybe jot it down in a notebook or record a voice memo to help you remember!
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit mahdis mousavi, found on unsplash
You can find your sound
If you have one! In my practice of this week's meditation (humming bija mantras) along with other mantras I've learned over the years, I've noticed (and been encouraged to observe) that some just feel better than others. I prefer to repeat some sounds and skip over others. And there is one that I come back to again and again as a means to quiet my mind during my day (not just in meditation practice). I speak to that in the episode and hope you'll find your own sound --whether or not it's one I offer.
You can also ignore all that and just practice in the way that suits you best! Enjoy!
Listen to "Sounds that Resonate with You + Humming Meditation"
What’s in this episode of Everyday Meditation?
- Welcome + getting situated, with a few thoughts on finding and returning to sounds that resonate with you.
- A little lead-in movement: Cat/cow
- Breathing practice: 4-part breathing
- Meditation technique (awareness kriya): Humming kriya (bija mantra)
- A little re-grounding movement: Child's
As always, I encourage you to make yourself at home in this practice: substitute, modify, do as you need to feel safe and present, including taking breaks!
Integration suggestion
After listening to the episode, perhaps check in: did you notice something that you want to carry with you? If yes, maybe jot it down in a notebook or record a voice memo to help you remember!
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit rebecca lawrence, found on unsplash
Seeing differently
We each have our own perspective, our own way of seeing things. Of making sense of things outside of us, and of visualizing things inside our minds. Even in meditation! In this episode, I talked a bit about the variation of experience in visualizing and how awareness of your own visualizing can shape the way you approach a practice like the colors meditation in the episode. Enjoy!
Listen to "Visualizing in Your Own Way + Colors Meditation"
What’s in this episode of Everyday Meditation?
- Welcome + getting situated, with a few thoughts on the ways we all visualize differently.
- A little lead-in movement: Seated cat/cow
- Breathing practice: Alternate Nostril Breathing (nadi shodhana)
- Meditation technique (awareness kriya): Colors kriya
- A little re-grounding movement: Seated camel
As always, I encourage you to make yourself at home in this practice: substitute, modify, do as you need to feel safe and present, including taking breaks!
Integration suggestion
After listening to the episode, perhaps check in: did you notice something that you want to carry with you? If yes, maybe jot it down in a notebook or record a voice memo to help you remember!
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit patrick midot, found on unsplash
Taking care of you
Self-care is a bit of a buzz word -- something we all need and probably need to learn how to do, and also something many of us eschew, perhaps because it isn't as easy as taking a bubble bath (unless that's your thing!). Before diving into the meditation practice in this episode, I talk about taking care of yourself (and others) by drawing on some lessons from the yamas and niyamas of yoga. Feel free to tune in or you can also ignore all that and just practice in the way that suits you best! Enjoy!
Listen to "Taking Care of Self through the Yamas and Niyamas + Swaying Meditation"
What’s in this episode of Everyday Meditation?
- Welcome + getting situated, with a few thoughts on taking care of yourself through the lens of the yamas and niyamas
- A little lead-in movement: Seated fold (cross-leg)
- Breathing practice: Extended exhales
- Meditation technique (awareness kriya): Swaying to center
- A little re-grounding movement: Seated fold (straight leg)
As always, I encourage you to make yourself at home in this practice: substitute, modify, do as you need to feel safe and present, including taking breaks!
Integration suggestion
After listening to the episode, perhaps check in: did you notice something that you want to carry with you? If yes, maybe jot it down in a notebook or record a voice memo to help you remember!
Be moving, be true, be you
photo credit peter wormstetter, found on unsplash