Good day and apologies for the delay in uploading this practice! I have had some technical trouble with my laptop. You will also notice in this practice if you watch on Youtube that I have some technical trouble with shedding akita; Kuma has lost her entire coat of winter fur within a couple weeks and it is blowing around my partner's home like poplar pollen in June!

*If you'd like to join this zoom practice live, please email [email protected], and please visit CalgaryMindfulness.ca to keep apprised of current events and offerings.

In today's practice, we explore Tara Brach's RAIN method. Dr. Brach is a teacher whom I have followed for a couple decades. She has many excellent books and a podcast with both meditations and lectures; I highly recommend both! The RAIN acronym stands for Recognize - Accept - Investigate and Nuture and we unpack and take it for a test drive during today's practice!

As always, your questions and comments guide our work, so please continue to email me or direct message me on social media. Thanks and kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator of Calgary Mindfulness

To watch this meditation video, please visit https://youtu.be/9R8keSSOos8

Greetings meditators, welcome to our weekly practice. In today's practice, we continue the series we've been working with for the last four classes, and that is how can we as meditators--that means we are committed to making change inside out rather than the other way around--manage increasing levels of stress as society seems to destabilize.

In our previous sits, we sat with the emotions, thoughts, and also created positive self-talk to reinforce our ability to recognize our true strength and resilience. Today, we try a new approach, one that is not often found in this class, since mostly we sit with beginners, who struggle with the focus required for meditation.

Today, we move beyond simple focusing exercises and look for that stillness that arises when we get deep enough to "be" rather than to "do". Check it out!

For more info, please email [email protected] and visit http://www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca. Thanks, Rosanna

Good morning and welcome to our weekly Sunday meditation! To join our practice live, and to submit questions to guide our sessions, please email [email protected]. For more information about workshops and classes, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca. To watch this session live, please visit https://youtu.be/1dYe1TJ0jDE

In today's practice, we continue with the important topic we started a few weeks ago, and that is developing resilience in hard times, to help us manage our stress. We have explored where we feel stress in the body, and releasing that via a body scan anchor meditation, and also mindfulness of thoughts. In today's session, we explore mindfulness of emotions, and these are what underpin thoughts so are harder to identify and sit with, since they can be very scary to face.

Our human condition, especially in today's technical age, easily allows us to avoid facing our painful emotions. We can self-medicate in any number of ways, with susbstances, media and so on. As we allow painful emotions to arise, and usually these are fear and shame, we sit with each, breathing deeply in and out.

The breathing through the painful emotions is how we develop the tolerance to understand that sitting with and exploring our deepest fears is not going to kill us, and in face will help us understand our true resilience.

The breath and the body support the mind in this quest to understand the true nature of our inner strength.

Many thanks and wishing you an excellent day! Rosanna D'Agnillo, founder and lead facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Greetings meditators! In today's practice, we continue our exploration of how to handle ourselves in meditation when under stress.

Two weeks ago we explored mindfulness of where stress piles up in the body, and last week we reviewed mindfulness of our thoughts.

Today's practice focuses on a breath mantra that reminds and connects us to our true nature of ease, joy, resilience, wisdom and peacefulness.

To join our practice live, please email [email protected], and please visit our website at www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca.

Thanks! Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder & Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Greetings! In today's video, we employ the mindfulness anchor of thoughts as a tool for stress management. Many of my viewer and listener emails focus on how to manage stress in these difficult times, and in our next few episodes we will explore some other options.

To join our class live, please write Calgary Mindfulness @ Gmail.com . We meet on Sundays 8am on Zoom (except for holidays) and will meet again outdoors in the summer months at many awesome YYC parks.

Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder & Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Greetings meditators! This week's practice is in response to some listener questions about feeling very worried regarding the inauguration of Donald Trump tomorrow. For us Canadians, if tariffs are illegally imposed as suggested, this could lead to great economic hardship for many Canadians and increases in prices at a time when inflation makes daily expenses like food, utilities, and rent hard for many.

It's primal stress, fear for survival, worry that we cannot any longer care for our loved ones. Due to this worry, some people have been letting me know that they are not sleeping well, they are short tempered, and aches, pains and usual sicknesses we collect at this time of year seem worse.

One first step as meditators is to be mindful of the way worry and stress manifest in our bodies. Perhaps we are more stiff, perhaps we are stuck in a state of chronic tension, unable to breathe deeply, unable to relax the shoulders and face. In today's practice, we review the body, and give ourselves the freedom and time to care for ourselves by deliberately relaxing those areas that may be feeling the impact of chronic tension.

To watch this podcast live on youtube, and Kuma being a silly giant Akita, please go to https://youtu.be/_fhZZDoE3Ug.

To join our practice live, please write Rosanna D'Agnillo at [email protected]. My apologies for no practice last week; I was winter camping and unable to record and broadcast in the mountains. Wishing you an excellent week!

Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca

Happy New Year! May 2025 be a year of health and happiness for you and your families and other loved ones. In today's practice, we explore setting intentions for the new year, stepping away from the traditional idea of "resolutions".

Our aim is to identify the heartful and holistic center of the goal and aim for that with mindful thought, word and action. For example, instead of wishing to lose 10 pounds, we can intend to pay more attention to our mental and physical health with key thoughts and actions. Instead of creating a wish list of what "we want or need to be happy", we can filter for lifelong mentally, physically and spiritually healthy paths that help us to align with giving our highest and best to ourselves and others, for the upliftment of our whole world.

To join our weekly practice real-time, please email [email protected] and I will send the online meeting access. You can also stream this as a podcast from your favorite audio podcasting software.

Please send in your intentions and questions as they always guide our practice.

Many thanks !

Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Lead Founder and Facilitator of Calgary Mindfulness

Welcome to our final broadcast and podcast of 2024! Today we are preparing for the new year by reviewing the physical mindfulness anchors of body, breath, body scan, sound, sight, as well as thoughts an emotions. Why? To further develop the discipline of being in the present moment, appreciating, conscious, aware, intending, rather than being wagged by the tail of the dog. It's not about manifesting better stuff, better success; it's about appreciating right here and now.

To join our meditation practice, please write [email protected] for submitting your intentions to guide our practice. To watch today's practice, please visit https://youtu.be/tDpL5ar-Y8s.

Thank you for having joined me on this journey so far! We are now half way through our SEVENTH season of broadcasting and podcasting! Wishing you and your loved ones and excellent year of health, happiness, ease and clarity.

Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca

In this final advent meditation, where we focus on opening our hearts to nurture and grow the spiritual qualities we want to manifest in ourselves and offer to others, we remind ourselves of our true strength and resilience, and release thoughts of lack and limitation that no longer serve this higher purpose.

To join our practice live, please email Calgary [email protected], and we invite you to send in your thoughts and intentions to guide our practice.

To watch this medtation, please visit https://youtu.be/blulKy9M3F0.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukkah, Happy Kwanza, Solstice, Yule, Holidays! May the nesting and resting and light that this season brings open our hearts.

Thanks! Rosanna D'Agnillo

We continue our journey through the advent season about opening the heart to spiritual growth and strength; in meditation we can practice honoring and amplifying the highest and best in ourselves - wisdom, ease, clarity, patience, self-respect, kindness, compassion, and so on--so that by default we can share our highest and best with others. This is a great alternative to feeling like a victim and feeling powerless.

In this practice we continue to use a breath mantra, inhaling to remind ourselves of our resilience and strength, and exhaling what doesn't serve.

To join our weekly Sunday practice live, please email [email protected], and please feel free to send in your intentions to guide our practice!

You can watch this meditation here: https://youtu.be/L8BZSq9x6bI