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

This class was recorded on MLK Day 2020. I always feel a profound sense of gratitude and deeply humbled to try and share teachings on this day. As it happened, this day was also the day I planned to talk about the component of ‘non-judgment’ as part of a mindfulness practice.

As you might remember from last week’s class, mindfulness can be defined as being present without judgment and with compassion. That non-judgment component is often the most mis-understood part of this practice because it can easily be misconstrued to mean that nothing phases you; that there are no big emotions present; and it’s all “it is what it is…” attitude.

Not. True.

Tune into today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we explore the nuances of non-judgment, and the ways in which this teaching stands in deep support of social justice, activism and being an agent of change. I can’t begin to offer answers, but I can share this practice, which, for me, has offered deep and clear insight into how I want to be in this world. I hope you find the same!

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***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 ***

#meditatewithmeryl

I created this podcast as a way to share mindfulness meditation as a support of our everyday joy. I have been practicing and teaching mindfulness meditation for 10 years as an everyday practitioner. What I mean by “everyday” is that I’m a mom-of-two. I’m a partner and activity community member. I’m a business owner. I have real life responsibilities and commitments. I’m not a monk and I don’t think you need to be one either in order to find daily joy and happiness.

When I started my meditation journey, it took me years to figure out what I was doing, why I was doing it and how to do it most effectively. And, in the course of that time, I also began to experience little moments of life that felt more awake, more alive, more enjoyable. Those little moments kept propelling me along the path until I ended up with this deeply committed and enlivened meditation practice that I have today. 

This podcast is a recording of my live Monday night mindfulness meditation class that takes place at my studio in Atlanta, GA. Every Thursday, I release a new episode that includes a 10 - 15 minute talk that explores the teachings of a mindfulness practice followed by a 20-minute guided meditation practice. 

You can start with any episode, at any time. Just dive in. There is no time like the present to begin!

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***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 ***

#meditatewithmeryl

This month, here at The Mindful Minute, we are all about building a strong, consistent meditation practice, and that begins by training the brain to come back to presence. Today’s mini meditation is inspired by Viktor Frankl who said, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

We find that space in the present moment, and today’s meditation is focused on bringing us into and keeping us in this present moment, spacious 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.

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***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 ***

#meditatewithmeryl

This 3-part series is designed to help you start and maintain a daily meditation practice. It's designed to help those who "can't" meditate, those who tried once and quit, and those who are curious but don't know what the heck to "do"...⁠

In today’s episode of The Mindful Minute, we are going to break down what exactly mindfulness is; we will remove the many, many myths out there about what you should be doing and what you should be feeling; and, we will talk about the most important step you can take to building a consistent, supportive meditation habit {hint: it might not be what you think!}.

Tune in today for our short discussion and 20-minute guided meditation as the pathway to building a meditation habit with staying power.

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***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 ***

#meditatewithmeryl

This mini meditation is a practice you can do right before bed each night. Walking back through your day to extend awareness and gratitude for all those {seen and unseen} that impact our day. Try it today and let me know how it impacts you!

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.

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***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 ***

#meditatewithmeryl

Well, y’all… I’m practicing what I preach today! If you’ve listened for awhile, you know that this podcast is usually a recording of my live Monday night meditation class, and, this Monday, I was supposed to kick-off the New Year with the start of my “Begin Again” meditation series…

But, Monday night I was home with a sick baby recovering from croup, and I had to miss teaching. So, this week’s podcast episode is a recording of my Wednesday night class which is a compassion-based meditation practice. I hope this serves you as much as it served me this week!!

When our plans fall apart, when the list of “not-done” far outweighs the “done” it can be easy to fall into a small, tight mind. A mind that is silently and never-endingly repeating “not enough” “not enough” “not enough” and a spiral of thoughts about what else will fall apart because things didn’t get done….

And, the truth is, we can’t change the moment. Sometimes it is just going to be a moment of suffering… AND, we can meet these moments with a practiced compassion to perhaps ease our suffering somewhat.

In today’s episode, I’m sharing the two mini-practices I’ve added to start and end my day for 2020. Both of these practices are centered on mindful self-compassion and the ways we can expand this out to all those we come into contact with throughout our days and our lives. 

May we all start the year as a compassionate mess rather than a hot mess!!

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***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 ***

#meditatewithmeryl

In many traditions, the greatest teachers are called Sages. Originally, sage was a verb - “to sage” and it meant to taste or to experience. Overtime, we’ve learned to place all our stock on one who has tasted when really the true work is to taste/experience for ourselves.

Join me for today’s short meditation practice as a way to see for yourself what a meditation practice can offer you.

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.

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***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 ***

#meditatewithmeryl

"In naming things we often come to mistake the names for the things themselves..." 

~Maria Popova⁠

As part of the New Year traditions, many of us are anxious to reflect, to set intentions and goals, to pick a "word" of the year, to name what it is we most want...⁠

There is great value in these reflections and goals, and yet, each of the things we name {even a goal of starting a meditation habit} is standing in for a feeling we are chasing. So, what's that feeling? And, what's beneath that one?⁠

There are so many places in our lives when we substitute studying/reading/planning as a stand-in for the actual exploration itself. It can be SO tempting to let someone else tell us the way, to tell us what we should want, or to tell us what we should do. 

Our meditation practice is an invitation to come back to exploring through a new way of listening. In meditation, we watch the beauty of the unfolding pathway of thought as a way of knowing beyond "names".⁠

Join me for today’s New-Year-inspired episode of The Mindful Minute as we explore, listen, and taste our way to a clear start to the year and the decade. Be sure to grab a notebook or journal and spend a few minutes free writing after your practice so you remember all that unfolds during your 20-minute meditation.

Happy New Year!

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***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 ***

#meditatewithmeryl

This week’s mini practice is a drop into spaciousness and then the prompt to journal immediately afterwards. For 5 - 10 minutes after your meditation practice, write everything you can think to write. Write about how your practice felt, what you thought about, how you feel right now, etc. Just keep going until the well is dry or the timer dings. 

Journaling is the marginalia of our meditation practice. It is our chance to highlight, asterisk, and underline important messages, patterns and insights that arise in our practice so we don’t forget them. 

Try it out today and see for yourself… maybe this will be part of your new habit for 2020.

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.

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***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 ***

#meditatewithmeryl

This past weekend's Winter Solstice felt particularly potent for me. Some years I reflect and teach on the dark. Some years I reflect and teach on the coming light. This year, I felt drawn to savor the pause in-between. ⁠

There is a space in meditation when "nothing" is happening, there is no loud thoughts, there are no clear insights, there is just a sense of nothingness.⁠

It can be easy to forget that much of our meditation practice rests in our liminal spaces. Especially in times of being overly-busy, our meditation practice can feel like it is spent fighting with the mind, efforting, noting all the thoughts, etc. ⁠

In today’s episode of The Mindful Minute  we explore how to drop a little more easily into a spacious pause and savor these moments of silence & stillness amidst the noise of the season.⁠

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***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 ***

#meditatewithmeryl