Catching Z's: The Millennials Guide to Mindfulness

In a time where there is so much uncertainty and many reasons to be pessimistic about the future, Asha brings us a breath of fresh air and provides us insight that brings hope.  As a Black Woman, those things don't come easy but Asha puts in the internal work to be able to show up in a meaningful way for herself and for those around her. 

Asha Tarry is an author, an award-winning community mental health advocate, psychotherapist, and certified life coach. As a treating provider, Asha has 20 years of experience providing evaluations, diagnoses, treatment, and life-enhancing skills to children, adults, families, and couples.

We talk about: 

• A book by Arrianna huffington that got her into meditation
• How to know what to say no to
• How mindfulness can help with trauma
• Allowing awareness to be held in a safe place internally
• Asha’s experience of the current racial climate
• Power of doing the work yourself first
• How she has a positive outlook on life during COVID and the social injustice
• Why cynicism doesnt serve her
• Her book: Adulting as a Millennial and the guidance it provides
• What goes into the difficulties of millennials coming into adulthood
• Finding your purpose innately

Asha's website

Ada Velonis is the Founder of Marmalade + Kindness. Born and raised in Melbourne, she has always had a passion for baking and cooking. Being of Greek descent, food has always played a prominent role in practicing her culture and shaping her identity. Her fondest food memories are those she spent learning traditional holiday recipes under the wing of her beloved grandmother.

Inspired by her own experience, she decided to create Marmalade + Kindness as a way to share her food journey with loved ones in Australia, and to encourage others worldwide to practice ‘mindful cooking’. 

We talk about:

• How her love of cooking came about
• What mindful cooking is all about and why everyone can do it
• Why cooking is therapeutic for her and can be for others
• How Marmalade + Kindness came to be
• Her mantra of "practice makes progress"
• Her mother allowing Ada to be herself which has helped her in adulthood
• The inward and outward experience of cooking
• Why cooking in the kitchen doesn't always have to be Zen!
• Her favorite meal 
• A wonderful guided meditation at the end with a beautiful poem

Marmalade and Kindness

"Thursday" poem

Andre is in tune with life in a very fascinating way.  He reached the milestone of 24,000 minutes meditated so I had to have him on the show to talk about his journey.  We chat about:

• Imitating Pop cultures version of meditation when he started
• How meditation has had a domino effect on his life
• "Metacognition of your own life's soundtrack"
• Recognizing the Unity of Humanity
• “Would a meditator do this?”
• How meditation influenced his decision making skills
• Meditation and it's utility during COVID-19 and the racial climate
• Much more!

Andre's Youtube channel

Twitter

Instagram

Janelle Christa is a Hollywood coach, actress, producer, and screenwriter, and creator of “conscious entertainment”. Having come from a history of affairs, divorce, and family dysfunction as well as a bi-polar diagnosis, she strongly believes that happiness is a choice. Janelle’s level of expertise sees her coaching celebrity clients and people from all walks of life seeking to bring fulfillment into their lives. Janelle is also a founder of conscious production company Le Murian Dreams. Her and I talked about: 

• The power of visualizations that got her into meditation
• How her adverse experiences caused her to dig deep into herself and turn her life around
• The power of tapping into your state of being
• How influential hope was in helping her turn her life around
• Why we should share our vulnerabilities
• Creating Conscious Media and movies 
• What being a member of the #zerofucksclub means to her
• Much more!

https://www.janellechrista.com/

Alex and I met through a couple of friends just over 2 months ago now.  I immediately felt his understanding of the world and the way that he articulated it was something special, so I had to have him on the podcast.  I know that you'll feel the same way after listening to our conversation.   We talk about: 

• His introduction to meditation
• How he got into Tai Chi
• How Tai Chi enhanced his meditation practice
• The power of letting go 
• An explanation of Tai Chi and the Water method
• Experiencing our physical body
• An elegant explanation of our existence on this planet
• How Tai Chi has helped him during Covid and the climate of racial injustice. 
• Much more!

Devon and Craig Hase are such genuine people and speak about the deep topics of Buddhist Dharma in a very accessible way.  They spread joy through their words and lighthearted nature and have recently published a book, "How Not To Be a Hot Mess" that captures so much of what makes them great to talk to, and offers a practical guide to living in today's world.  

• Devon's experience of unhappiness in college along with a Pema Chodron book that led her to meditation
• Craig's chaotic teen years that led him to meditation
• The difficulty of beginning a meditation practice for Craig
• Devon going to Spirit Rock in college and having a powerful experience there that made her want to continue diving in
• How Devon + Craig met 
• Being married to someone who also practices meditation
• Their current experience with an "urban" retreat
• How being on a retreat during the global pandemic is
• What they love about Dharma practice
• How their book "How Not To Be a Hot Mess" came to be
• How the chapters of their books are based on the Buddhist precepts but with a more modern approach
• Why some people (myself as an example) turn to drugs and alcohol in our teen and early 20's
• Finding clarity in your life
• How they find the lighthearted moments of life
• Tips on applying How Not To Be a Hot Mess to the current global pandemic

http://devonandcraighase.com/

Stefanie was a joy to talk to.  She started meditating about 5 years ago and didn't maintain that consistently.  Recent events within her life have caused her to reconnect with her meditation practice and that just so happened to be in the middle of the current global pandemic.  We talked about: 

• Burnout in her first job caused her to turn to Meditation 5 years ago
• What drew her to meditation during times of personal hardship
• How being the child of an immigrant helped with her resilience
• Getting back into meditation 3 months ago
• Her self awareness and how she’s cultivated this
• How meditation has helped take ownership of her mind
• Meditation during the current pandemic
• Tips for beginning your meditation practice
• Creating a community around MYND
• Why it’s so important to have mental health resources accessible

Stefanie's Twitter

Mynd website

Email Stefanie!

Miles has been on a couple of year long retreats and has found each of his experiences only further fuels his curiosity and wonder about his mind and the minds of others.  He speaks very deeply about the precious inner workings of life backed by close to 10 years of devotion to these practices.  We talk about: 

• Doing a 10 day vipassana reatreat prior to college
• Traveling to thailand to be ordained as a monk and how this was a profound milestone in his life
• Diving into a 2 month retreat with Alan Wallace after coming back from Thailand with the desire to keep his practice going
• What is Goenka? 
• How his practice continues to develop
• How true curiosity has helped his practice
• Ajahn Sucitto and how he taught Miles to pay attention to his intentions during meditation
• The feeling of just scratching the surface that continues each day
• Understanding everyone as individuals
• Monasteries of the future and how those will look
• Co-founding Dharma Gates 
• Feelings about the current global pandemic

https://www.milesbukiet.com/

https://dharma-gates.org/

Miles' Masters Capstone project

Sierre is a very interesting person to chat with.  She combines a depth of knowledge with a thoughtful approach to looking at life.  She's only been meditating for a little over a year and already speaks about life in delicate and amazing ways! We chatted about: 

• How reading Andy Puddicombe’s book got her into meditation
• Mom’s present of Transcendental Meditation 
• How she relates to her mind 
• Experiencing silence of her mind 
• How meditation influences her physically
• Presence and Decision Making 
• Meditation and Appreciating K-Pop with her sister
• Timing around adopting a meditation practice 
• How Design and meditation align 
• Creating novel ideas through Meditation
• Liberating structures of design thinking and meditation
• What she’s excited about with her practice
• The hardship that comes with life

I left this interview feeling more connected to the world and felt like I had traveled around the world as well.  Mag is a magnificent storyteller and has made traveling a center piece to her life and marrying those two things is wonderful to experience.  We chat about: 

• How she got the travel bug at 11 years old when she lived in Italy for 3 years 
• Why she started journaling as an outlet from her difficult upbringing
• Feeling at home in many places abroad
• What travel allowed her to find out about herself 
• How connection is important for what she feels makes a place feel like home
• Innate traits that we all possess as humans that she discovered in travel 
• The importance of journaling in her adventures 
• Common themes that arose in her journaling showing what she values in experiences
• The impact that her grandmother had on her instilling compassion in her
• Translating her journals to the book that she wrote, “Bowing to Elephants” 
• How a moving experience with Elephants led to the title of her book 
• Getting into meditation later in life after a masseuse advised her to 
• How to forgive deeply and how she forgave her mother
• Her favorite food and country around the world
• Loving Kindness meditation to conclude! 

magdimond.com