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

Isolation, community, and meditation practice.

How does practicing something like meditation, a solitary practice, improve by practicing with others?

In this final piece of our Nourish Your Practice meditation series, we share the benefits of practicing in a community. We’ve already explored confidence in our own wakefulness {part 1}, the importance of keeping the teachings fresh {part 2}, and now the importance of having a community.

Whether you’ve had a hard day or a fantastic day, by practicing with others you not only have others to hold you accountable but get to share in their energy as well. Each of these tenants re-enforces the others. Practicing in community keeps the teachings fresh & inspires confidence in your own practice. Being confident in your own practice allows you to practice in group. Having a grasp of the teachings enhances your confidence…. It is a self-supporting cycle that naturally uplifts and sustains a meditation practice.

Practicing in a community, no matter how often, is the piece that will keep our practice from falling away and keep us inspired.

Tune into today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as a part of your community practice and tell me, does practicing with us online enhance additional practices for you during the week?

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

How do we continue to practice day after day? How does our meditation practice continue to nourish us long after it has become routine?

Well, the beauty of this practice is that it isn’t our responsibility to make-up the spiritual path. We don’t have to continually hunt for something new, unique or different. This practice, this path, has been around for 2500+ years, and those that came long before us have laid out the teachings fully.

To Nourish our practice, we must stay curious and continue to explore the teachings.

When we are new to a practice, we come to it excited and inquisitive, and over time, we subtly take on the attitude of “I know.”... We lose the open eyes and open mind of a beginner.

To keep the practice fresh, we must continue to study as well as practice. There are texts, books, podcasts, talks… If we can keep the teachings fresh, we keep our practice fresh.

As with everything in life, we must also be mindful of balance. We can practice without studying. We can study without ever practicing. But, only with both will we continue to experience progress and growth.

**In this class as well as a few upcoming classes, you will hear some student-teachers co-teaching with me <3 So proud of these students for deepening their practice and taking this next step. Thank you for allowing them to join our 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

Happy Mother's Day, mamas! This special meditation is just for you. A short 10-minute practice to nourish your heart, mind and soul. It is one of my favorite meditation practices, and I hope you enjoy it.

with love,

Meryl

How does meditation continue to nourish us even as it becomes routine in our lives?

This month’s meditation series is an exploration of keeping our practice fresh and sacred over time, or starting a practice that feels integral to our daily lives.

In today’s episode of The Mindful Minute, we begin, perhaps unsurprisingly, with each of us as individuals. We so desperately want to hand the responsibility of engagement to someone else - a teacher, an app, a group… but, like all hard things, it can only happen within.

Dr. Brene Brown speaks of integrity when she encourages us to

Choose courage over comfort.

Choose what’s right over what is fun, fast and easy.

Practice our values rather than professing them.

These instructions are valuable reminders as we search for ways to stay dedicated to the magical and the mundane within our meditation practice.

The original meditation practitioners had the exact same tools as us and used meditation as a pathway to enlightenment. We, too, must have confidence in our own wakefulness. Trust is built in the most mundane of moments, it is built in the repetition of our practice.

Tune in today as we explore this first pathway towards Nourishing Our 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

Recently, in my readings, I came across this question, “what are you practicing for?” and it stopped me in my tracks.

It made me think back to my very first yoga class. My very first meditation experience. I’ve shared before that it took me quite a bit of exploration to find a meditation practice that actually worked for me. What was it that pushed me to keep exploring?

Then, a few days after coming across this question, my favorite song came on the radio {feel free to take a listen}. It was Sunday morning. Early. Cool, clean air and sunny skies. I was alone {holla, mamas!}. And, as I listened, I cried happy tears over the beauty of the moment.

That is it.

That is why I practice. So that in random everyday moments beauty can move me to tears.

What are you practicing for?

Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we explore the reasons we practice, how to keep it sacred, and then sit together for a 20-minute guided meditation.

 

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

***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!***

#meditatewithmeryl

Recently, I’ve had several students ask about meditating while angry, or anxious, or frustrated… What do we do when we are stuck in a difficult moment? Is it stop, drop and meditate?

Well…. Probably not. Meditation is a tool not a cure. Meaning we can’t expect to sit down in the midst of anger, try to meditate, and suddenly feel better. When we meditate while angry, we are just going to feel the fullness of that anger. Same with anxiety, frustration, fear, or any of the emotions.

The very best thing we can do is to cultivate a regular meditation practice. This daily return to the cushion is a way to build tolerance and resilience for uncomfortable emotions. We do this consistently and gently to build the muscle memory of comfort. Then when the difficult moments arise, as they do for all of us, we have a bit more familiarity, comfort and space around that struggle.

Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we discuss a few tips for dealing with anger in the moment, including finding your own personal mantra. I’d love to know, does meditation help you in tough moments?

Connect with me on Instagram (@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!***

#meditatewithmeryl

This month, our discussion has centered around Reclaiming your Life. We started with reclaiming time; no longer playing victims to our calendar. Next, we reclaimed our bodies; no longer waiting for the magic cure to feel whole, but rather understanding wholeness as the invitation to re-inhabit our bodies.

Today, we are reclaiming joy! I’d like to define joy not as always-feeling-happy but as contentment - a sense of purpose, presence and fulfillment from your life.

Not a victim to your life.

Not trying to control or perfect your life.

Not buried in shoulds…

 

Instead, simply allowing the messy imperfections to be. To live in the realness.

Most importantly, we will explore the paradox of Joy - the more you reach for it, the harder it is to find.

Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute to explore what it might mean to reclaim your joy and to share in a 20-minute guided meditation.

**In this class as well as a few upcoming classes, you will hear some student-teachers co-teaching with me <3 So proud of these students for deepening their practice and taking this next step. Thank you for allowing them to join our practice**

***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!***

#meditatewithmeryl

“Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body…”

This quote, by James Joyce, is something that plays on repeat in my consciousness. The first time I heard it, it resonated so deeply, and I believe many of us have this experience - of living just outside of our bodies, or living from the neck up, with no awareness of what is happening within our inner bodies.

The reasons for this are too many to count. Perhaps it is from the constant stream of perfectly edited images coming at us. Or injury. Or illness. From birth. From Trauma. From the unkind words of others long ago…. I could go on.

And within all of this, I’ve noticed a common thread. Whenever we speak of healing our bodies, it is almost always accompanied by the words, “I should…”

As in, I should lose 20 lbs, try a new combo of holistic herbs, eat vegan, see a therapist, etc. And, yes. Some of these “shoulds” probably would help, AND none of them is the magic panacea. No one thing can erase our lived experiences.

So what can we do? How do we reclaim our bodies? Tune into The Mindful Minute today as we explore the pathway to reclamation and re-inhabiting our bodies.

 

 

#meditatewithmeryl

Some time ago, Congresswoman Maxine Waters was the source of much ruckus and meme-creation with her apparently audacious act of stating she was “reclaiming my time” when the Treasury Secretary tried to evade a direct question…

Reclaiming my time...

Why is this such a hard thing to do? Is it a parent thing? A woman thing? A business owner thing? A human thing? In today’s episode of The Mindful Minute, we are exploring what it takes to reclaim our time. To stop playing victim to our calendar and our commitments. To carve out the clarity, the space and the audaciousness to live the life we want.

Reclaiming my time took some gutsy work -

I had to ask for help and risk inconveniencing someone else

I had to choose to leave something else undone {looking at you emails}

I had to put myself first

I had to do the work - to plan, schedule and cover the costs...

Reclaiming time isn't just a cute phrase or a fun meme. It is a thing. A hard thing that takes bravery, vulnerability and effort. And, it's a thing we must do for own joy & well-being.

Tune in for our exploration of time and a 20-minute guided meditation where you practice reclaiming the time that is rightfully yours!

**In this class as well as a few upcoming classes, you will hear some student-teachers co-teaching with me <3 So proud of these students for deepening their practice and taking this next step. Thank you for allowing them to join our practice**

***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!***

#meditatewithmeryl

Last week I posted a mini-meditation in my Instagram stories {@merylarnett} that I’ve been using to help with postpartum anxiety, and that single post got so many messages, comments and questions that I thought I would follow it up with a whole episode on anxiety.

Anxiety is one of the foremost reasons people explore a meditation practice, but anyone struggling with anxiety will tell you - sitting down to meditate can sometimes make you feel more anxious?! So, the question is DOES meditation help, and, if so, how?

In this week’s episode of The Mindful Minute, I share my personal experience of using meditation as an antidote to anxiety, and I share my favorite mantra for handling the most anxious moments. Take a deep breath and tune in! Also, let me know - have you found meditation helpful for your most anxious moments?

**In this class as well as a few upcoming classes, you will hear some student-teachers co-teaching with me <3 So proud of these students for deepening their practice and taking this next step. Thank you for letting them share a part of this practice with you :-) **

***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!***

#meditatewithmeryl