Balanced Mind with Julie Potiker

Slow down and connect to yourself and the beauty that surrounds around you through this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Watson", by Julia Fehrenbacher.

"Watson", by Julia Fehrenbacher.
I'm pretty sure our new kitten thingsour middle-aged dog is his mama.At first, he hissed and made himself bigwhenever he saw her, but nowhe nestles into the warm curveof her belly and purrs. He evencloses his eyes while shelicks him clean.The other day, he helped himselfinto the pantry, and, I swear, triedto open the doggy jerkyfor his new mama. After dinnerthey chase balls and each otheraround the house untilone of them has to lie down.Two entirely different speciesshowing us what love looks like,teaching us how to hissless, how to purr more.

-"Watson", by Julia Fehrenbacher.

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com
This podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Compassion is the focus of this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker. Breath in compassion for yourself - and out for others. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Komorebi," by James Crews.

Komorebi, by James Crews

For what must have been a full minutein the spacious eternity of an eveningat the ragged end of summer, I stoodin the kitchen as the sun dropped downbehind the trees at the exact right placefor it to dance, shadow and light, acrossthe swirled grain of the maple counter.The Japanese call it komorebi, this playof sunshine breaking through the gapsin leaves, now dappling my hand as Ireach for my mug of tea. One of thosecountless small miracles we seldom thingto name in English, a simple rewardfor laying down the knife and leavinga carrot half-chopped on the cutting board,to be heard for at least this one out ofthe 1440 minutes I was granted today.

-Komorebi, by James Crews.

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com
This podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

The focus of this guided meditation is healing - through breathing. Julie Potiker completes the meditation with the poem," We Were Made for This," by Julia Fehrenbacher.

We Were Made for This, by Julia Fehrenbacher
I want to fill this spacewith words that will erase the distancebetween your certainty and mine
make room under the big, empty skyfor grace to sit, move closeruntil skin touches skin, eyes see eyes.
Maybe we can take a good, deepbreath, clear body and mind of allthat’s come before. Promiseto pay attention, to stay—especially when it hurts.
Maybe this time we will seethat it has nothingto do with who we’ve beenor who we think we are
and everythingto do with being fiercely here—like breath is for life. Yes,like that.
Maybe—perhaps, we can beginand begin again with—I don’t know. Seethat it takes just one step towardto erase the distancethat was only ever a thought.
Dinner is on the stove, will you join me?

©Julia Fehrenbacherwww.juliafehrenbacher.com

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com
This podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Join Julie Potiker as she leads you through this guided meditation where you will use your breath to relax - and focus on what it is you need right now. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Rose-Breasted", by Kai Coggin, from the book, "Mother of Other Kingdoms, poems by Kai Coggin".

"Rose-Breasted", by Kai Coggin(for Pheucticus Iudovicianus)
To be rose-breastedmpas in the grosbeak that gracedthe feeder today on my lunch breath,me, in my teaching clothes, bright red beret,black shirt buttoned to my neck covered in roses,somehow a reflection before this auspicious landing.I sit on the bed with my shoes on because I have to leave again soon--my wife has been sneezing and coughing, so I brought her a pharmacy runof cough drops allergy meds Kleenex, and from bed she's been watchingthe spring migration landing outside our bedroom window.I bring both our binoculars to bed and for a moment here we are,lunch-break lovebirds peering close and hopeful, and there!A sudden flash of black white and roses - he lands!A rare vibrant specimen, gorgeous Rose-breasted Grosbeak,his feathersred like summer tomatoesred like fire-engine crya red blazing sunrise cutting through the skyand I've been teaching simile and metaphor all morningto fourth-graders at the school down the road,so all I see are figurative languages in the way he perches there--a rose blooming in mid air,the roses on my shirt,the roses in my heart rising,rose-breasted chest bested onlyby this flying mirrored birdsongquiet flutterfeeding on seeds during my lunch-breakour binoculars glinting in the noonday sun.

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com
This podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

In this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker you will focus on breathing goodness in - and out. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Holding the Light", by Stuart Kestenbaum 

Holding the Light, by Stuart Kestenbaum.

Gather up whatever is glittering in the gutter,whatever has tumbled in the waves or fallen in flames out of the sky,for it’s not only ourhearts that are broken, but the heartof the world as well.Stitch it back together. Make a place wherethe day speaks to the nightand the earth speaks to the sky.Whether we created Godor God created usit all comes down to this:In our imperfect worldwe are meant to repairand stitch together what beauty there is, stitch it with compassion and wire. See how everything we have made gathers the light inside itselfand overflows?A blessing.

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com
This podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

In this episode of Balanced Mind - Julie Potiker leads you through a quiet compassion meditation. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Awakening", by Vera Haldy-Regier.
Awakening, by Vera Haldy-RegierOh, lilacs,once again, your splendordelights my senses and speaksof the many past spring times of youththat promised lo ve, lifted my heartand then dashed it into the heat of summerwith all its sensual excessolder and furrowed now,I apologize for the gratitudenot then spokenwagering you would return unbiddenas though you were unexceptionalwiser now, I embrace your exceptional fragranceand dare not pluck your blossomsfrom the wood that streams its lifeinstead, I plant my humble basiland know the scent it will bestow on my evening mealand the delight it will impart towanderers who know basil-worthin its singular deep green time.
-Awakening, by Vera Haldy-Regier

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com
This podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Find connection - and healing through this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker. She completes the meditation with her poem, "I Am Noticing".
I Am Noticing, by Julie Potiker.
I am noticing everything all at once, all the time, so much so that some things lay down on top of others.
Last night, sitting in the courtyard after dinner, listening to what my husband was saying, hearing his words and the tone and timber of his voice, I was struck by the tempo of the crickets – 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4, doing 4-4 time quite deliberately and consistently as a metronome.
Meanwhile, the two big dogs lay on the faded, terra-cotta tiles and slept with breath in 1-4 time, big breath in, then beat beat beat, big breath out.
Madeline on her side, her big belly shaved at the vet that morning, rising and falling like a bellows. Eloise, 4 feet away, snout on the ground, snoring in 1-4 time.
When I mentioned it, my husband said, he never would have noticed it, but now that he did, the crickets remind him of his childhood in the Midwest outside of Detroit. Yes, I said, Cleveland, too, but in those places, we would have fireflies. I wish we had fireflies too.

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com
This podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Join Julie Potiker as she leads you through this loving kindness meditation. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Mountain Forest: Early Summer", by Joan Koerper.
Mountain Forest: Early Summer
Raven cawsLadybug lands on my fingertwo California Quail mosey byBand-Tailed Pigeons coobreeze tickles leaves and pollinated blossomsof the hundred-year-old Apple treesas Buddha, seashells in folded hands, offers thanks.Sap from Jeffrey Pines glistensMistletoe grows lustily, greedy to overcomeall other plants nearby.Wild Miner's Lettuce thrives to nourish.Robin lands in the Flowering PlumFinches, Steller's Jay, Black-Capped Chickadeesjoin travelers visiting feeders on shepherd's hooksand sip water in planter drainage saucers.Perfume from late-blooming Lilacsdrifts over my shoulderas Periwinkles on the vine claim a garden.
Squirrel arrives for her peanuts.Lizard says hello, then scurries for boulder.Raven makes a line drivefor the Band-Tailed Pigeonswho burst upward in flight escapingto the north side of the mountain valley.
Saraswati, standing four-feet tall,buried under seven feet of snowonly ten weeks ago, is once againdancing her eternal circle of protectionby the front door.
Strawberry Full Moonsteadily travels her courseto illuminatethe multitudinous miracles of startdustThe Forest of Cloudless Night.
-Joan/MJ Koerper

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com
This podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

As you wake up, slip into this morning meditation led by Julie Potiker. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Gathering Nectar", by Julia Fehrenbacher.

"Do you know that sometimes,when gathering nectar,bees fall asleep in flowers?" Andrea Gibson
Gathering Nectar
When I am flitting ahead to the nextvery important thing, I do not land long enoughto notice steam rise from the mug of mint tea, do notbreathe in the sweet scent of fresh honey the beesworked so long and hard to make, do not noticethe moment on this Monday morning when sun smiles through the layers and layers of sorrow. When my head is bentto the brutal, mind buzzing no no no, I do not noticewhen my old dog looks up for a pet. Later,I will notice the trees still alive with so muchvibrant color—as if God was up all nightwith her paintbrush. Later, I will land long enoughto taste the sweetness. Or, perhaps, I might rememberthat sweetness can not find me when I am not here. Maybethe only very important thing is to stop, stop now—to fill myself with nectar like the bees do, work with othersto make honey, and then offer spoonful after spoonfulto those who have forgotten that no matterhow bitter the bitter, still and always—we can gather nectar, still and always, we canfall asleep, and wake, in the flowers.

(©Julia Fehrenbacher, www.juliafehrenbacher.com/Pinterest)Image found on Pinterest. SIgned copies of her book, "Staying in Love," are available at www.juliafeh.etsy.com).

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com
This podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Quiet your mind as you listen to this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker. She completes the meditation with her poem, "Garden Dreams".
"Garden Dreams", by Julie Potiker
Jasmine, roses - lavender flowers dot the rosemary hedge.I’m in a clapboard house, sleeping over with other women, some sort of retreat.Roni is there too.Grasping at imagesFragments of feelingsSnippets of conversationsTrying to hold onto the story-lineas it disappears in a wisp of vapor as I open my eyes,3 minutes before my alarm bell.I think it was a good dream.I think so … yes, a good dream, as I uncurl my body under the comforter,still hugging the warm soft fabric up over my shoulders.I was researching little pansy flowers called Johnny Jump Upbefore falling back to sleep in the early morning light.That flower is the star of a poem by Jill Hallthat I plan to share with my meditation groupI got so into researching them that I imagined planting them in lush beds under some of my old growth trees - bright lemon yellow and violet facessmiling in the partial sun.Maybe I should always read about flowers before closing my eyesand slipping into sleep, it makes for garden dreams!
"Garden Dreams", by Julie Potiker

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com
This podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.