Our Mindful Nature: Meditation Inspired by Nature to Soothe the Overwhelmed Mind and Ease Anxiety

By Meryl Arnett, Meditation Teacher & TrainerScience Health & Fitness Mental Health Education Self-Improvement Nature

Our Mindful Nature: Meditation Inspired by Nature to Soothe the Overwhelmed Mind and Ease Anxiety episodes

October 19, 2020 Mini Meditation: To Place The Heart Upon
Today’s mini meditation is an invitation to give our hearts over to our meditation practice.
Not to hold back or to judge, but to say yes to each and every inner experience.
YES to the daydream
YES to the repetitive thoughts
YES to falling asleep
YES to the blah and YES to majesty.
As we trust what unfolds, the unfolding becomes more meaningful.
Join me for today’s mini episode of The Mindful Minute. Within this meditation, you will hear a few beautiful phrases inviting our bodies, minds and hearts deeper into the practice. These phrases were originally written by meditation teacher Sally Kempton and are discussed in more detail in the 10/15/20 episode of The Mindful Minute “Giving It Up to Grace {part 2}”. Enjoy!
These mini meditations are meant to support a daily home practice. Tune in every Monday to find your practice for the week! Full episodes are released every Thursday for a longer, deeper practice.
You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett
**Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!**
Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to [email protected] to get your first live class with me FOR FREE!
***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***
Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/
#meditatewithmeryl
16 min
October 19, 2020 Mini Meditation: To Place The Heart Upon
Today’s mini meditation is an invitation to give our hearts over to our meditation practice.
Not to hold back or to judge, but to say yes to each and every inner experience.
YES to the daydream
YES to the repetitive thoughts
YES to falling asleep
YES to the blah and YES to majesty.
As we trust what unfolds, the unfolding becomes more meaningful.
Join me for today’s mini episode of The Mindful Minute. Within this meditation, you will hear a few beautiful phrases inviting our bodies, minds and hearts deeper into the practice. These phrases were originally written by meditation teacher Sally Kempton and are discussed in more detail in the 10/15/20 episode of The Mindful Minute “Giving It Up to Grace {part 2}”. Enjoy!
These mini meditations are meant to support a daily home practice. Tune in every Monday to find your practice for the week! Full episodes are released every Thursday for a longer, deeper practice.
You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett
**Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!**
Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to [email protected] to get your first live class with me FOR FREE!
***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***
Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/
#meditatewithmeryl
16 min
October 15, 2020 Giving It Up to Grace {part 2 of 3}
This month’s meditation series, Giving It Up to Grace, is an exploration of 4 types of grace that can serve as tools for deepening our experiences both on the meditation cushion and in our daily lives.
We started the series last week {part 1} by tapping into the mystical, cosmic forces of the universe, and using the beauty of a sunset or the majesty of a mountain as a way into something deeper within ourselves.
Alternatively, many of us will find a deepening of practice and an awakening of heart through the direct grace of self. The very essence of grace is trusting ourselves as capable of discovering our own deepest truths.
Grace is not something we either have or don’t have, as Sharon Salzberg describes in her book Faith, “it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experiences.”
In Pali, the original language of these teachings, the word often used for faith/trust/grace is “saddha” and it more directly translates as
“To place the heart upon”
This is an invitation to give our hearts over to our practice.
Not to hold back or to judge, but to say yes to each and every inner experience.
YES to the daydream
YES to the repetitive thoughts
YES to falling asleep
YES to the blah and YES to majesty.
As we trust what unfolds, the unfolding becomes more meaningful.
Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute. We will have a brief discussion followed by a 20-minute guided meditation.
You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett
**Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!**
Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to [email protected] to get your first live class with me FOR FREE!
***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***
Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/
#meditatewithmeryl
35 min
October 12, 2020 Mini Meditation: A Universe of Grace
The more I pay attention, the more I realize how much energy I spend trying to control every second of my life. I want things to look, feel, and behave a certain way at all times, and when it doesn’t {which is often}, it creates stress and struggle. You do too?
Today’s mini meditation is a practice in releasing the control we so falsely believe we hold over every waking moment. Invoking a spirit of grace within our meditation practice is what allows meditation to feel like an “effortless effort” rather than a battle of will with your mind.
Give it a try for yourself in today’s mini meditation practice and let’s see what happens…
These mini meditations are meant to support a daily home practice. Tune in every Monday to find your practice for the week! Full episodes are released every Thursday for a longer, deeper practice.
You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett
**Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!**
Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to [email protected] to get your first live class with me FOR FREE!
***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***
Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/
#meditatewithmeryl
15 min
October 08, 2020 Giving It Up to Grace {part 1 of 3}
The more I pay attention, the more I realize how much energy I spend trying to control every second of my life. I want things to look, feel, and behave a certain way at all times, and when it doesn’t {which is often}, it creates stress and struggle. You do too?
October’s meditation series, Giving It Up to Grace, is a lesson in releasing the control we so falsely believe we hold over every waking moment. Invoking a spirit of grace within our meditation practice is what allows meditation to feel like an “effortless effort” rather than a battle of will with your mind.
In this month’s series, we will explore 4 different kinds of grace {allowing for all beliefs and non-beliefs to engage in this exploration}, and we will learn why invoking this quality within our meditation practice impacts the depth of our meditations as well as the ways we move through our daily lives.
Today’s episode of The Mindful Minute explores the cosmic force of grace within the universe itself. Often, we tap into this energy in experiences with nature. For me, listening to the sound of someone witnessing a total eclipse, and the first time I stepped foot in the desert are two memorable moments when the grace of the universe was palpable.
We can invite this same energy into our meditation practice and into our ordinary lives. I believe we need this now more than ever. With the pain and struggle of 2020, it often feels like too much for the logical mind. Too much for reasoning or for explanation. In order to make it though with a sense of hope, with engagement and with wakefulness, I believe we must invoke a spirit of grace to help us make it through.
Give it a try for yourself in today’s meditation practice and let’s see what happens…
You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett
**Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!**
Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to [email protected] to get your first live class with me FOR FREE!
***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***
Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/
#meditatewithmeryl
34 min
October 05, 2020 Mini Meditation: Heartfulness
It is SO easy to intellectualize the practice of meditation. To study, to read and to learn without taking time to explore these concepts through the lens of the heart. And yet, this practice of ‘mindfulness’ is often translated to something closer to “heartfulness”.
This is meant to be a tender and embodied practice. Not em-brained. Embodied.
We let ourselves soften into a practice that feels warm and kind and generous of spirit rather than stern or overly-disciplined.
Join me for today’s mini-meditation as we practice softening into a heartfelt meditation practice.
These mini meditations are meant to support a daily home practice. Tune in every Monday to find your practice for the week! Full episodes are released every Thursday for a longer, deeper practice.
You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett
**Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!**
Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to [email protected] to get your first live class with me FOR FREE!
17 min
October 01, 2020 Letting Go With Compassion
With every potent and powerful transition, it can be SO tempting to turn back. To pretend we didn’t see or don’t know better because it can feel easier to be miserable than to push for the breakthrough to joy.
But we are born for joy. The practice isn’t teaching us to be joyful; the practice is helping us access our joy.
Some days this can be hard to believe. Here in the States, we just lost a Supreme Court Justice, and both political parties will continue to spew hatred and lies and try to manipulate in their own ways. And, it will continue to break our hearts.
In this moment, I believe the only thing we can do is carry on with the most on-fire compassion practice of all time. NOW IS THE TIME.
It is SO easy to intellectualize the practice of meditation. To study, to read and to learn without taking time to explore these concepts through the lens of the heart. And yet, this practice of ‘mindfulness’ is often translated to something closer to “heartfulness”.
This is meant to be a tender and embodied practice. Not em-brained. Embodied.
We let ourselves soften into a practice that feels warm and kind and generous of spirit rather than stern or overly-disciplined.
Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we discuss letting go into compassion and share in a 20-minute guided meditation practice.
You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett
**Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!**
Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to [email protected] to get your first live class with me FOR FREE!
Many thanks to our sponsor, Go Zafu - the portable meditation cushion designed for outdoor use. The Go Zafu combination meditation pad & cushion removes the logistical and comfort barriers that stand between you and peaceful meditation in nature.
Use code: Mindful10 to save 10% on https://gozafu.com/
***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***
Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/
#meditatewithmeryl
33 min
September 28, 2020 Mini Meditation: Expansion
This week’s practice is a subtle one. The last level of letting go is to let go of the thoughts, and, deeper still, to let go of identifying as the thinker. You see, we are both the one who thinks AND the one who knows that it is thinking.
When we are able to let go in this way, our view, in fact our very being, becomes more expansive. Join me for today’s mini meditation as we explore what it looks like to let go of identifying yourself as the thinker and how that impacts your ability to expand.
These mini meditations are meant to support a daily home practice. Tune in every Monday to find your practice for the week! Full episodes are released every Thursday for a longer, deeper practice.
You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett
**Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!**
Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to [email protected] to get your first live class with me FOR FREE!
Many thanks to our sponsor, Go Zafu - the portable meditation cushion designed for outdoor use. The Go Zafu combination meditation pad & cushion removes the logistical and comfort barriers that stand between you and peaceful meditation in nature.
**Use code: Mindful10 to save 10% on https://gozafu.com/**
***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***
Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/
#meditatewithmeryl
16 min
September 24, 2020 Learning to Let Go {part 3 of 3}
This week’s practice is a subtle one. The last level of letting go is to let go of the thoughts, and, deeper still, to let go of identifying as the thinker. You see, we are both the one who thinks AND the one who knows that it is thinking.
My favorite metaphor for this is to think of the road outside your house or office. Cars drive by, sometimes many, sometimes a few… and never, do you jump up mid-sentence, run outside and get into one of these random cars to go for a ride.
Our meditation practice helps us to see our thoughts as these cars. Sometimes many, sometimes a few, but almost always we let our thoughts take us for a spin. We get in, we check out the upholstery, notice the transmission, and then see a shiny thought up ahead so we jump out and get into that thought instead…
Let’s go a little further -
When you are in a car, how many other cars can you see? The one in front of you for sure; maybe if you are paying attention you are aware of the cars to either side or behind you, so maybe four cars total?
But what if you get out of the car and sit on the side of the road? How many cars do you see now? You can see them all. Your view, in fact your very being, becomes more expansive.
Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we explore what it looks like to let go of identifying yourself as the thinker and how that impacts your ability to expand.
You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett
**Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!**
Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to [email protected] to get your first live class with me FOR FREE!
Many thanks to our sponsor, Go Zafu - the portable meditation cushion designed for outdoor use. The Go Zafu combination meditation pad & cushion removes the logistical and comfort barriers that stand between you and peaceful meditation in nature.
Use code: Mindful10 to save 10% on https://gozafu.com/
***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***
Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/
#meditatewithmeryl
35 min
September 21, 2020 Mini Meditation: Desire Within Meditation
Sometimes within our meditation practice, we simply desire a story. We follow a thought that arises because it is interesting -
We dissect that dream from last night.
We rehearse the argument we will have with our partner later.
We think through a problem at work.
We write the next chapter of our novels…
And, sometimes it can be SO good. The idea that arises is brillant! The problem is solved! I SHOULD reflect on this yummy philosophical exploration…. However, even though we might still be seated on the cushion, we have stopped meditating at this point. We have lost our concentration and our detachment; instead of meditating, we are thinking.
Today’s mini meditation is a chance to practice letting go of those desires, no matter how good the thoughts, and return to a deeper meditative experience. Join me!
These mini meditations are meant to support a daily home practice. Tune in every Monday to find your practice for the week! Full episodes are released every Thursday for a longer, deeper practice.
Register for Monday Sept 21 International Day of Peace class as well as the giveaway of the Dalai Lama’s new album Inner World:
https://www.union.fit/events/meryl-arnett-a-practice-for-peace
Many thanks to our sponsor, Go Zafu - the portable meditation cushion designed for outdoor use. The Go Zafu combination meditation pad & cushion removes the logistical and comfort barriers that stand between you and peaceful meditation in nature.
**Use code: Mindful10 to save 10% on https://gozafu.com/**
***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***
Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/
#meditatewithmeryl
19 min