Hello and good morning, friends.

We’re here together on a Monday again and for today’s meditation, we’re finding a little bit of openness.

On Mondays in particular, it seems easy to just jump into things and not find time to breathe. This is your invitation to take a couple of moments, explore the breath, and maybe find a little bit of openness to what’s here before moving into (or back into) your day.

Thank you for being here. 💗 Take care.

--

This meditation is from the archive. It was originally shared on 03.25.24.

--

✨ Times are available this week for reiki, mindfulness, and support sessions. I hope to see you! https://makespacemeditation.as.me/

It means so much to me that you're here. I hope you'll consider supporting your practice and these meditations by becoming a paid subscriber (which includes benefits like daily meditations) and/or sharing this with a friend. ✨ If that's not your thing, but you'd like to offer a show of support, you can do so here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit makespacemeditation.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, friends. How is your day?

We’ve spent the week looking at connection and today we’re focused on one that can be a bit tricky: other people.

I went searching this morning for a quote or bit of wisdom to offer you to go along with our meditation. I landed on a simple classic from Father Greg Boyle. You may have heard me talk about Father Greg before or know of him yourself. He’s a Jesuit priest who founded Homeboy Industries, the largest gang rehabilitation program in the world. He talks a lot about our connections to each other. To me, listening to Father Greg just opens my heart up and helps me to find that space (if you’d like to listen to him also, this is one of my favorites). One thing he says often is simply, "we belong to each other.” And he means it: no one is left out.

So today’s meditation is an exploration of belonging and connection, not just to the people you know or people you like, but to each and every one of us. The barista who makes your coffee, the person at the grocery checkout, the driver who cuts you off, the unhoused person you pass every day, and so on. We’re all here and we belong to each other. What does it feel like to sense into and recognize our connections, both here in this meditation and throughout the day?

This connection in particular is not always an easy one to hold, so I hope you will be easy on yourself, stay connected with the breath, and just be open to what’s here.

Of note: our meditation is a bit longer and bit more “talky” today. So if you’re looking for something on the quieter side right now, perhaps this one is for you.

Thank you so much for being here. 💗 Take care.

Interested in going deeper these connection explorations? I invite you to find a little time for a session or class that feels supportive.

It means so much to me that you're here. I hope you'll consider supporting your practice and these meditations by becoming a paid subscriber (which includes benefits like daily meditations) and/or sharing this with a friend. ✨ If that's not your thing, but you'd like to offer a show of support, you can do so here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit makespacemeditation.substack.com/subscribe

Hello hello. How are you?

We’re continuing our theme of connection today, focusing on the mind.

I am thinking of a podcast from Michael Stone that I listened to recently where he shares that it’s a “fascinating thing to watch when you’re sitting… how the breath really responds to the state of the mind.” He goes on to say “if you try to work with your mind to relax your mind, you tend to just create more mind loops…” but if you move to working with your breath and “you really start to settle your breathing, your mind also will start to settle.”

We’re exploring the body and mind connection today, expanding on yesterday’s meditation. At the same time, I also want to recognize that the mind informs so much of our lives an interactions with the world. The state of the mind impacts how we interact with other connections around us. What is here when we get curious about how our mind impacts not just our breathing, but how we speak to someone else or ourselves, for instance? So much to explore here. I hope this meditation is just the beginning.

I also hope that you’ll join me for the rest of this week’s exploration of connection too by considering becoming a daily meditation subscriber. (As with all my offerings, if this is outside your current means, please feel free to reach out. No one is turned away.)

Thank you for being here. 💗 Take care.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit makespacemeditation.substack.com/subscribe

Hello friends. How are you?

We’re working with connection in all the places that it shows up today. I’m going to let this meditation speak for itself as there’s a little bit more talking up front, but I want to be clear that maybe connection isn’t what resonates with you today. Maybe there is something adjacent or maybe just finding the openness to see if something is here you didn’t expect.

Some of meditation’s most impactful benefits sort of sneak up on us sometimes, I think. We find them at the grocery store when we’re waiting in line and we’re feeling more patient. We see it in the way we’re more present for friends and conversations. Meditation’s impact on all these little connections can be subtle or all at once and no way is better than any other.

Let’s explore what’s here.

Thank you for being here today. 💗 Take care.

✨ This weekend holds both individual session possibilities and classes find all the things: https://makespacemeditation.as.me/

✨ It means so much to me that you're here. I hope you'll consider supporting your practice and these meditations by becoming a paid subscriber (which includes benefits like daily meditations) and/or sharing this with a friend. ✨ If that's not your thing, but you'd like to offer a show of support, you can do so here: https://donate.stripe.com/4gweYe2DN99jaPe7ss

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit makespacemeditation.substack.com/subscribe

Hello and good morning, friends. Happy Monday.

Today’s meditation is an invitation of sorts. I know many people drop away from meditation or feel intimidated in starting.

Our meditation today holds quiet and this invitation to begin or begin again. It’s a time to lay judgment and commentary aside and just be with the breath, knowing that we can return as many times as we need. It feels sometimes like there’s a lot of barriers to meditation in terms of expectations, so we lay those aside too as much as we’re able. What we’re left with is just us, the breath, and this flow of our mind’s wandering off and returning. And that’s just it: it’s a flow. If your mind was a river, you wouldn’t get mad at the waves for their direction, but you’d find the way to navigate them. So we do together today with a little quiet.

I hope this meditation is just the one you need today.

Thank you for being here, friends. 💗 Take care.

✨ Don’t forget to sign up for class this weekend or schedule a session to support your week. https://makespacemeditation.as.me/

It means so much to me that you're here. I hope you'll consider supporting your practice and these meditations by becoming a paid subscriber (which includes benefits like daily meditations) and/or sharing this with a friend. ✨ If that's not your thing, but you'd like to offer a show of support, you can do so here: https://donate.stripe.com/4gweYe2DN99jaPe7ss

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit makespacemeditation.substack.com/subscribe

Hello and good morning, friends.

As the week comes to an end, maybe the idea of that there is a great wide world of possibility is not the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe what’s needed is the quiet of the breath or the stillness of just sitting. These things are all here for you in today’s meditation.

If you’re struggling with current events or things in your life that are difficult, I hope you’ll consider the story of the stars I share today. We have a lot of encouragement to ignore possibility for things to shift, to take a more negative stance, but what if we did stay open to it? What if we did remember that the stars are always here, even if they’re hidden.

Thank you for being here, friends. 💗 Take care.

This meditation is from the archive. It was originally shared 08.16.24.

✨ Walking meditations and Sunday Sits begin again this weekend. There are also open times for individual sessions. I hope to see you! Learn more + sign up: https://makespacemeditation.as.me/

It means so much to me that you're here. I hope you'll consider supporting your practice and these meditations by becoming a paid subscriber (which includes benefits like daily meditations) and/or sharing this with a friend. ✨ If that's not your thing, but you'd like to offer a show of support, you can do so here: https://donate.stripe.com/4gweYe2DN99jaPe7ss

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit makespacemeditation.substack.com/subscribe

Hello and good morning, friends.

We’ve made it back to the start of a new week. Today’s meditation greets the day with quiet and curiosity. Even in our times of quiet, allowing that curiosity to greet each distraction as we move our attention back to the breath.

I hope this little bit of quiet is just what the day needs.

Thank you for being here. 💗 Take care.

✨ Walking meditations and Sunday evening sits (online and in person) are back in April! Find a time to join a class or schedule a session here.

✨ It means so much to me that you're here. I hope you'll consider supporting your practice and these meditations by becoming a paid subscriber (which includes benefits like daily meditations) and/or sharing this with a friend. ✨ If that's not your thing, but you'd like to offer a show of support, you can do so here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit makespacemeditation.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, friends. How are you?

I’m finding myself a little speechless this morning. I’ve had a weird week. How’s your week been? Busy? Maybe also weird?

Today, we’re finding the possibility of stillness and quiet in the middle of all that’s happening around us. I like this sense of a still point because I think it allows us to take in more of what’s going on. It can also help leave space to check in with ourselves. There’s so much to take in and to do, what is it to stop moving for a few moments and just be here with what is?

Whatever your week has held, I hope this meditation helps you to find a point of quiet, maybe even a little rest for your body and mind in this practice of being still.

Thank you for being here. 💗 Take care.

✨ Walking meditations and Sunday evening sits are back in April. My schedule is also back open as of today. Find a time to join a class or schedule a session here.

It means so much to me that you're here. I hope you'll consider supporting your practice and these meditations by becoming a paid subscriber (which includes benefits like daily meditations) and/or sharing this with a friend. ✨ If that's not your thing, but you'd like to offer a show of support, you can do so here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit makespacemeditation.substack.com/subscribe

Hello and good morning, friends. How are you?

We’re spending some time in the quiet this morning, allowing ourselves to settle in maybe before the busyness of the day or week sets in.

I know especially in the morning, our minds can be flooded with all the things about things that are happening, things to do, things things things. But I really invite you to find a little bit of space here to breathe and be quiet, letting all the things rest for just a few minutes. You can pick them back up again after if you need.

Thank you for being here. 💗 Take care.

This meditation is from the archive and was originally shared 07.08.24.

It means so much to me that you're here. I hope you'll consider supporting your practice and these meditations by becoming a paid subscriber (which includes benefits like daily meditations) and/or sharing this with a friend. ✨ If that's not your thing, but you'd like to offer a show of support, you can do so here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit makespacemeditation.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Friday. I hope that whatever today holds for you, it is only good things.

We’re spending time with the exhale today, feeling into the sense of letting go. What is there to let go of? Maybe it’s something like perfectionism (which we talk about here) or maybe there’s something else, something that needs the shift an exhale can bring.

When I hear people talk about meditation, sometimes I hear the drive for perfect in their questions or thoughts. There’s so much “I’m bad at meditation” sentiment when really the showing up is what matters, just like the return to the breath is what matters in this meditation regardless of how many times we wander away from it.

Maybe that feels like a lot to think about today, so you’re also welcome to just be and let the exhale guide you.

Thank you for being here, friends. 💗 Take care.

__

It means so much to me that you're here. I hope you'll consider supporting your practice and these meditations by becoming a paid subscriber (which includes benefits like daily meditations) and/or sharing this with a friend. ✨ If that's not your thing, but you'd like to offer a show of support, you can do so here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit makespacemeditation.substack.com/subscribe