Balanced Mind with Julie Potiker

In this guided meditation you will focus on peace, love, and compassion. Julie Potiker competes her meditation with the poem, Prayer, by James Crews.

"Prayer", by James CrewsI ask for just the slightest shiftin my thinking, the kindest siftingof my busy mind so only wonderand peace are left behind. So thatas I walk in sleet on this spring morningI can see even these muddy rutsmade by careless trucks on the forest trailas harbors of miracle, knowing they willfill with enough snow melt and rainfor tadpoles to swim in come summer,until that sunlit instant when they feelthe flexing of legs in the water beneath them,and leap out onto the ground, their bodieshaving decided, by instinct alone, to besoft and alive in this world.-Prayer, 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.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Relax into this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Sunflower", by James Crews.

Sunflower, by James Crews

"Joy is not made to be a crumb."Mary Oliver once wrote, but isn't thathow it often shows up at first? One crumbof attention, then another, and anotheruntil you're able to follow the trailleading to the volunteer sunfloweryou hadn't noticed blooming by the garden."Volunteer," we say, meaning no humanhand nestled that seed in the ground,though the same could be said of joy too,which seems to spring up out of nowherewhen you see the face of the flowerthe French call tournesol, meaning"turned toward the sun." And don't weeach carry a small sun in our cheststhat tells us where to turn, where it's warm,where something bright has struggled upout of the earth, and is now calling our name?

-Sunflower, 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.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Using your breathe ease into this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker. She completes the meditation with a reading of the poem, "Awe", by James Crews.

AweIt's a shiver that climbs the trellisof the spine each tingle a brightwhite morning glory bursting into blossombeneath the skin. It can happen anywhere,anytime, even finding a sleeve of iceworn by a branch all morning, now fallenon a bed of snow. You can choose to pause,pick it up, hold that cold thing in your handor not. Few tell us that wonder and aweare decisions we make daily, hourlyminute by minute in the tiny officesof the heart, tilting the head to look upat every tree turned into a chandelierby light striking ice in just the right way.-Awe, 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.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

This guided meditation may be just what you need today. Julie Potiker completes the meditation with the poem, "The Most Important Thing", by Julia Fehrenbacher.

The Most Important Thing, by Julia Fehrenbacher

I am making a home inside myself. A shelterof kindness where everythingis forgiven, everything allowed—a quiet patchof sunlight to stretch out without hurry,where all that has been banishedand buried is welcomed, spoken, listened to—released.​A fiercely friendly place I can claim as my very own.​I am throwing arms opento the whole of myself—especially the fearful,fault-finding, falling apart, unfinished parts, knowingevery seed and weed, every dropof rain, has made the soil richer.​I will light a candle, pour a hot cup of tea, gatheraround the warmth of my own blazing fire. I will howlif I want to, knowing this flame can burn throughany perceived problem, any prescribed perfectionism,any lying limitation, every heavy thing.​I am making a home inside myselfwhere grace blooms in grand and gloriousabundance, a shelter of kindness that growsall the truest things.​I whisper hallelujah to the friendlysky. Watch now as I burst into blossom.

-The Most Important Thing, 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.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Julie Potiker leads you in this classic loving kindness meditation focusing on the words - may you be safe, may you be happy, may you be healthy, and may you live you life with ease. She completes the meditation with her poem, "New"."New", by Julie PotikerBundle swaddled snugglysleeps soundlyeyes half moonsdelicate rose lipsupturned dough of noseMiniature handsslender fingersgossamer nailsI will love you forever escapes my lipscoming from a soft place, ancestral place, dropped in and breathed through my heart.At that moment, I feel the truth of it, the threshold created by my first grandchild that I gratefully glide across-this sacred bond, a link in the chain traveling back in time and forward forever.-New, 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.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

This guided meditation led by Julie Potiker focuses on goodness - as you breathe in and out. She completes the meditation with her poem, "February 11th, 2025".February 11th, 2025, by Julie Potiker.Rain is coming, there’s a damp chill as I zip my down jacket, tuck my slippered feet under me in my favorite listening chair under the eaves.Bewick Wrens, tail up, are chirping and trilling in the green leafy branches of the carob trees. When one drops down onto the bricks, I get a close look of his plump little body. I’d love to hold him in my upturned palm.Orange Crowned Warbler gives me the same maternal pang. I’m watching a small one flick leaves off the branches, hearing the thwack as leaf hits bricks.Song Sparrow and House Finch are close - perhaps in the trees near the empty feeders. I’ve paused their food on the recommendation of experts to minimize the risk of bird flu. The white plastic seed container with the twist on lid sits untouched on the stone counter, surrounded by a dozen Mexican limes that let go from the tree above.Spotted Towhee takes over the airwaves as it begins to drizzle. It’s a sound unmistakably his, a sort of twisted croak/trill.Coffee cold now, I duck inside for a fresh hot brew.-February 11, 2025, 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.comThis 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 a being who brings you joy - and then move into classic loving kindness phrases. She completes her meditation with the poem, "Dream Life", by Billy Collins.

Dream Life, by Billy CollinsWhenever I have a dream about Poetry,which is not very oftenconsidering how much I think about her,she appears as a seamstresswho works in the window of a tailor's shopin a section of a provincial cityladen with a grey and heavy sky.I know the place so wellI could find the dimly lit shopwithout asking anyone for directions,though the streets are mostly empty,except when I saw a solitary manlooking in the window of a butcher's,his hands in the pockets of his raincoat.Poetry works long hoursand rarely speaks to the tailoras she bends to repair the fancy costumesof various allegorical figureswho were told by Thrift how little she charges.Maybe the ermine collar on the robeof Excess has come looseor a rip in the gown of Abandonneeds mending, and no questionswill be asked about how that came to pass.A little bell over the door ringswhenever a customer enters or leaves,but Poetry is too busy thinking about her childrenas she replaces a gold button on the blazer of Pride.Dream Life, by Billy Collins, from his book of poems; The Rain in Portugal.

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.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Focus on giving love to yourself and others as you follow this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Listening", by Julie Barton.Listening, by Julie BartonI rebuilt my ancestral altar. Two nights later, two great-horned owls stood near my front door.I knew they were my grandparents wholingered. They said in the next morning’s meditation, Where we are,masculine and feminine don’t exist. (I heard it like an apology.) We’re all just energy here. (I heard: We had it so wrong.)It’s just love.I replied, That’s what the trees say too.I inhaled with my still warm body, asked for guidance. Let go, they said. Keep going. Write with your eyes closed.

-Listening, by Julie Barton (from, Out With Lanterns, a daily poetry practice).

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.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Find peace and connection through this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Community", by James Crews.Community, by James CrewsScience now tells uswhat we have knownsince the beginning:you and I are made of light.And if atoms can be birthed by long-gone starswhose signatures we stilltrace in every night sky,and if these atoms cancome together to formsomething as complexand compassionateas a human being, thenmaybe we too canjoin hands, make somenew and sacred thingthat will save us all.

-Community, 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.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Goodness - is the focus of this guided meditation. What is it you need to hear to make you feel good? Julie Potiker completes the meditation with a reading of her poem, "Holy Stop".

Holy Stop, by Julie Potiker

A little after 2pmI exit the 5-south freeway at Loma Santa Fe.At the traffic light, two women with bright green vestsCROSSING GUARD in tall black letters.Outstretched armgrasping pole with big red stop signhats with brimssunglasses shielding eyesfrom the California sun.A precious jobA vital taskshepherding school children.Three vest clad women, one vest clad mana Santa Claus beardPerhaps a grandpa.Or merely a good neighbor.A generous offering.A lovely way totake good care of children.These are the things we can do in this messy lifewhere nature wreaks havoc24-hour news cycle shaking you for attention.It might be standing on a street corner,shielding your eyes from the sun,holding a stop sign.Holy, stop, perfect.

-Holy Stop, 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.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.