In this two-part Coopers’ Code conversation, Miles Cooper sits down with Jessica Samples, a San Francisco-based mindfulness teacher, coach, group facilitator, and founder of CoCreate Calm.
Jessica helps individuals, groups, and teams navigate demanding lives with greater steadiness, self-awareness, and intention. She is a certified mindfulness teacher at the professional level, and her work is grounded in a simple but powerful conviction: that we were never meant to carry life’s challenges alone.
In Part 1, Miles and Jessica discuss the differences between mindfulness and meditation and examine how these tools can help busy professionals expand their windows of tolerance. Another way of putting this, in Miles’s words, is moving beyond lizard brain reactivity to cognitive response.
As someone who both respects meditation as a tool and has had challenges embracing it, Miles puts Jessica through many of the objections that busy lawyers, parents, professionals, and high achievers may recognize in themselves: What if my mind is too busy? What if I cannot sit still? What if quieting the hard-driving voice means losing my edge?
The conversation also includes a short guided practice, where Jessica walks Miles through a simple body-awareness exercise focused on the jaw, shoulders, belly, breath, and feet. Miles’ reaction becomes one of the most revealing moments of the episode.
Watch Part 2 next, where Miles and Jessica move into practical mindfulness tools, resistance, Internal Family Systems, cold plunges, silent retreats, and how to start building a practice that fits into real life.
So please welcome Jessica and enjoy the conversation.
More on Jessica:
- Bio: https://cocreatecalm.com/about
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-samples-698a4713a/
Referenced in the show:
- 45-second meditation practice: 00:17:25
- Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.’s The Developing Mind, discussing the window of tolerance
- Koru / Mindfulness Institute for Emerging Adults: https://miea.com/
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You can also watch the episodes on our Youtube channel!
Hosted by Miles Cooper
Produced by Mauro Serra | Kenji Productions
Recorded & Co-produced by Zach Morvant | www.zmorvant.com
Music by The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble
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