Meditate This!

Alana Kessler isn't just founder, owner, and director of Sangha Yoga Shala—she's also a member. Yoga, especially Yin Yoga, has provided the perspective she needs to stay healthy and grounded each day. With a master’s in clinical nutrition and a bachelor’s in nutrition and dietetics from NYU, she knows well how essential the relationship is between a happy body and a happy mind.

Hear her chronicle a nearly decade-long struggle with an eating disorder and how she found her way through to the healthy state she now enjoys. When in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, be sure to stop by the studio and say hello or explore her new health and wellness website, The Heart Practice.

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast. This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice. Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless. But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not.

Each episode answers 4 basic questions:

1. How do you meditate?

2. What was is like the very first time you meditated?

3. An example of when you noticed meditation made a difference in your life.

4. What other activities help you stay mindful on a regular basis?

Please visit the How I Meditate page at www.MeditateThisPodcast.com to learn more and submit your own How I Meditate story.

Thanks!

Pete and Jay

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast. This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice. Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless. But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not.

Each episode answers 4 basic questions:

1. How do you meditate?

2. What was is like the very first time you meditated?

3. An example of when you noticed meditation made a difference in your life.

4. What other activities help you stay mindful on a regular basis?

Please visit the How I Meditate page at www.MeditateThisPodcast.com to learn more and submit your own How I Meditate story.

Thanks!

Pete and Jay

A trip to the grocery store. A day spent shopping for new jeans. While we may see these tasks as mundane, even tedious, these are just two things that Toni Bernhard is no longer able to do.

With an illness that keeps her mostly confined to bed, Bernhard, a longtime Buddhist practitioner,shares her story by writing through the pain and exhaustion that each day brings. Her first book, How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers began as a manual for herself, but she soon realized they were words others needed to hear. The work won two Nautilus Book Awards: a gold medal in self-help/psychology and a silver medal in memoir. It was also named one of the "Best Books of 2010" by Spirituality and Practice magazine.

Her second book, How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow, coincides with her increased presence on social media, and a life now spent interacting with sick individuals all over the world. Her blog “Turning Straw Into Gold” is published on Psychology Today's website.

Now her third book, How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide,offers patients and caregivers a new perspective on finding acceptance for what is and finding a path in the search for well-being.

A trip to the grocery store. A day spent shopping for new jeans. While we may see these tasks as mundane, even tedious, these are just two things the Toni Bernhard is no longer able to do.

With an illness that keeps her mostly confined to bed, Bernhard, a longtime Buddhist practitioner,shares her story by writing through the pain and exhaustion that each day brings. Her first book, How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers began as a manual for herself, but she soon realized they were words others needed to hear. The work won two Nautilus Book Awards: a gold medal in self-help/psychology and a silver medal in memoir. It was also named one of the "Best Books of 2010" by Spirituality and Practice magazine.

Her second book, How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow, coincides with her increased presence on social media, and a life now spent interacting with sick individuals all over the world. Her blog “Turning Straw Into Gold” is published on Psychology Today's website.

Now her third book, How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide,offers patients and caregivers a new perspective on finding acceptance for what is and finding a path in the search for well-being.

TIME magazine once called Gene Baur "the conscience of the food movement," and it's easy to see why. A vegan who has been championing animal rights for more than three decades, Baur co-founded the animal rescue organization Farm Sanctuary in 1986. His efforts has earned widespread media coverage—including an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart—and he has penned two books. Take a listen to this passionate and informative episode, and hear Gene describe his vision for a future where man lives in harmony with all the animals of the earth.

Feel it? The holiday magic that courses through your veins and lights your feelings with love and joy? We sincerely hope you do.

But what if you don't? Well, that's okay, too. The holiday season is loaded with all kinds of pressure—but you are entitled to embrace wherever you are. So take a listen and hear Pete and Jay's tips on how to stay your authentic self in the midst of what might be some pretty, pretty intense moments of cheer.

This episode of Voices of Mindfulness features Gina White, the founder of Mindful Junkie. She is an experienced Pilates and Mindfulness practitioner and instructor. She is currently working on her master's degree in Mindfulness at Lesley University. Gina has pink hair, great energy, and is committed to making mindfulness "normal" in addition to servicing people (err...in service to people).

Visit www.MindfulJunkie.com and learn more about Gina. Thanks Gina!!

Today's episode of Voices of Mindfulness features Meico Whitlock, a digital communications consultant from Washington DC. He tells us where he finds meaning in life through connection. Pete tells us why he admires his dog. This episode ends with a great conversation about how social media can become mindful media.

Thanks Meico for sitting down with us! Sorry about butchering your name!!!

This very peppy episode of Voices of Mindfulness features Lisa Nirell, the author of The Mindful Marketer. She is the Chief Energy Officer of EnergizeGrowth LLC and is an expert in strategic growth. Lisa is a sought-after speaker for associations and leaders worldwide.

Thanks Lisa!!!