There’s a reason your shoulders may drop when you step outside… A reason your breath may deepens near water… A reason something in you may relax a little when you pause beneath a tree.

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores what’s actually happening in your body and nervous system when you spend time in nature, and why something so simple can feel so profoundly restorative. Blending personal story, science, and soulful reflection, she shares a moment from my forest bathing training that changed how she understands presence, support, and what it means to be in relationship with the natural world. In addition, she dives into some of the research behind nature’s impact on stress, attention, and emotional regulation and, more importantly, what the natural world can teach us about rhythm, rest, and reclaiming a more human pace of living.

This is an invitation to step out of constant doing… And remember how to simply be.

Key Takeaways

• Nature regulates your nervous system. Even brief time outdoors can lower cortisol, reduce anxiety, and shift your body into a state of rest and repair.
• Attention matters. Nature restores your mental energy by engaging effortless attention and curiosity, allowing your overworked brain to replenish.
• You belong to the natural world. Reconnecting with nature is, in many ways, remembering who you already are.

Resources 

Previous episodes on forest bathing and nature to check out: 

#9 - Forest Bathing for Replenished Energy

#36 - Living Your Wild Soul Story: A Journey with Mary Reynolds Thompson

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here 

Contact Elizabeth: [email protected]

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

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When was the last time you did absolutely nothing? Not scrolling. Not multitasking. Not “resting” while mentally running through your to-do list…. If that question makes you feel a little uneasy, you’re not alone.

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores why slowing down can feel uncomfortable, restless, or even threatening. Beneath the surface, this isn’t about discipline or willpower; it’s about your nervous system doing its job to keep you safe. Elizabeth unpacks the deeper reasons rest can feel so hard, what it’s actually costing you to stay in constant motion, and how to begin gently retraining your system to experience stillness as safe and full of ease again.

Key Takeaways

• Your drive to stay busy is a deeply wired survival response shaped by evolution and reinforced by modern culture.
• Busyness often acts as a buffer against uncomfortable emotions like grief, uncertainty, or loneliness.
• Slowing down is a skill that can be practiced in small, accessible ways. It’s not an all-or-nothing lifestyle change.
• Even brief pauses (2–5 minutes) can begin to retrain your nervous system over time.
• Gentle, rhythmic movement (like walking or qigong) can be a powerful bridge into stillness for those who struggle to stop completely.

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here 

Contact Elizabeth: [email protected]

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

Most of us have been taught that growth means pushing through, figuring it out, or getting it “right.” What if real growth comes from learning how to stay present at your edge?

In this powerful conversation, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with Jaye Marolla to explore a very different approach to leadership, growth, and self-awareness. Drawing from over a decade as a bodywork practitioner, Jaye shares how working with the body can expand our capacity to hold uncertainty, navigate conflict, and move through life with greater presence and resilience. 

Together, they unpack the concept of yin-led leadership, challenge common cultural narratives around power and safety, and introduce the idea of edge mapping, a practice of meeting ourselves at the boundary between the known and the unknown.

Key Takeaways

• Growth happens at the edge, through presence. Real transformation comes from staying with discomfort, curiosity, and the unknown rather than bypassing it.m
• Yin leadership is deeply attuned and responsive. True leadership arises from listening, receiving, and being in relationship with what’s happening, rather than controlling it.
• Edge mapping expands your capacity. By gently exploring your edges (instead of pushing past them), you can build resilience, awareness, and flexibility.
• Yin and yang are not opposites - they are interdependent. True power comes from their integration: grounded, rooted yin giving rise to clear, intentional yang.
• Fulfillment is a natural part of life cycles. Knowing when something is complete (and having the awareness to release it) is essential for growth and new emergence.

I’d love to hear what stood out to you in this conversation.

What edge are you noticing in your own life right now?

You can email me at [email protected] - I always love hearing what’s resonating.

Resources 

Jaye's website: https://www.thebodyinnate.com/

Jaye’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/thebodyinnate/

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here 

Contact Elizabeth: [email protected]

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

If you’re a woman in your 40s or 50s feeling exhausted, anxious, disconnected, or “not like yourself”… this episode might impact how you understand what’s happening. For example, what if it’s not just stress… or even your mindset?

In this powerful conversation, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with Daniela Hess, the co-founder, spiritual director, and lead educator of the organization Great Energy. Together, they explore the missing link in so many personal growth and spiritual conversations: your physical body. Daniela dives into why a regulated, relaxed body is essential for deeper healing and awareness, the concept of burnout and adrenal fatigue, and how metabolic and hormonal imbalances affect mood, nervous system regulation, energy levels, and relationships. 

Key Takeaways

• Practice diaphragmatic (belly) breathing throughout the day
• Incorporate gentle movement like Qigong or walking
• Many "emotional issues” are actually physical imbalances. Hormones, nutrients, and metabolism play a significant role. 

Resources 

Daniella’s website: https://www.greatenergy.org/

• Check out her free monthly offerings:
• Community Sunday (Qigong practice)
• Sacred Sunday (guided meditation + reflection)

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here 

Contact Elizabeth: [email protected]

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

What if the restlessness, irritation, or quiet longing you’ve been feeling… isn’t random?

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores the deeper meaning of spring through the lens of ancient Chinese medicine - not just as a season, but as an internal shift happening within your body, emotions, and energy. She unpacks the Wood element; the energy of growth, movement, vision, and new beginnings, and gently guides you to understand how spring lives within you, perhaps influencing everything from your mood and motivation to your creativity and sense of direction.

If you’ve been feeling frustrated, uninspired, or unsure of your next step, this episode offers a compassionate and empowering lens to understand why…and practical exercises to begin shifting.

Key Takeaways

• You are not separate from nature - you move with its seasons
• Spring can be a time of activation, growth, and forward momentum, both internally and externally
• Small, intentional shifts can help restore flow, creativity, and direction

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: [email protected]

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

“This book is an invitation: an invitation for you to find and adorn your own inner temple. To return to it again and again. To create rituals that speak your language, carry your symbols, and guide you through chaos and into clarity.”

— Jean Culbertson Sutton, Ritual Well

What if the small things you already do - lighting a candle, holding a meaningful object, pausing with a cup of tea - are actually powerful rituals?

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun welcomes back ritual practitioner and author Jean Culbertson Sutton to explore the power of ritual and how it can reconnect us with ourselves, each other, and the sacred within everyday life. Jean shares how rituals can emerge organically from our lives and become anchors during times of transition, grief, uncertainty, and growth.

If you've ever felt drawn to meaningful practices but weren’t sure where to start, this conversation offers a beautiful doorway in.

Key Takeaways

• Ritual helps externalize inner experiences. By interacting with physical objects, emotions like anxiety or grief can feel more tangible and workable.
• Ritual creates pauses in our lives. These moments of intentional stillness can reconnect us with our bodies, our values, and our sense of meaning.
• Community rituals deepen belonging. Even simple shared gestures can foster connection and respect among groups.
• You may already have rituals in your life. Becoming aware of them often deepens their impact.

Resources 

Jean’s book: Ritual Well

Jean’s website: https://jeancsutton.weebly.com/

Find earlier Interview with Jean (episode #5) here

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here 

Contact Elizabeth: [email protected]

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

What happens when we slow down enough to truly feel our bodies?

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with assisted stretch practitioner Lisa to explore the transformative potential of assisted stretching and body awareness. Drawing from nearly two decades of experience in massage therapy and training in Thai yoga massage, Lisa shares how slow, supported stretching can help people reconnect with their bodies, regulate the nervous system, and release long-held tension.

We talk about the difference between performing movement versus receiving movement, why many of us are disconnected from our bodies, and how intentional stretching can create space for both physical and emotional release.

This conversation offers a thoughtful look at how practices that reconnect us to the body can shift not only how we move, but also how we live.

Key Takeaways

• Assisted stretching can support nervous system regulation. Slow, guided stretching helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system - the part of the body responsible for rest and relaxation - allowing muscles to release tension and the body to settle.
• Fascia plays a major role in flexibility and tension. Fascia, the connective tissue that surrounds muscles and organs, can become tight and restricted over time due to stress, repetitive movement, or inactivity. Gentle stretching can help improve fascial mobility and overall movement.
• Reconnecting with the body can support emotional well-being. Many people store stress and emotional tension physically. Bodywork practices like assisted stretching can create space for relaxation, emotional release, and a deeper sense of grounding.

Resources 

Connect with Lisa: 

- Instagram: Prostretchflex1 

- Facebook: Pro Stretch & Flex

-TikTok: @pro.stretch.and.f

- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lisa-binkley-21862b352

- Website: prostretchflex.com

- Email: [email protected]

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: [email protected]

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

If you’re living with chronic pain or pelvic pain - but medical tests keep coming back “normal” - this episode is for you.

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun is joined by Sarah Highland, pelvic floor therapist and AASECT-certified sex counselor, to explore how chronic pain is created by the brain and nervous system, especially pain that doesn’t show up on scans. This conversation addressed the nervous system, central sensitization, shame, trauma, and why pain is always real - even when doctors can’t find a clear cause.

If you’ve ever been told “nothing’s wrong” but your body says otherwise, this conversation will offer validation, clarity, and hope.

Key Takeaways

• Pain is always real, even when tests show “nothing wrong.” Pain isn’t “in your head” - your nervous system interprets signals and creates the experience of pain, even without visible tissue damage.
• Healing often involves both mind and body. Trauma, stress, sleep, fear of movement, and medical experiences all influence chronic pain. Addressing these alongside physical care can be transformative.
• Hope exists even when pain feels hopeless. If you’ve tried medications or specialists without relief, exploring a biopsychosocial, nervous-system-informed approach can offer new pathways for healing.

Resources 

Sarah Highland’s website: https://www.pelvicfloorandmore.com/

Sarah’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/pelvicfloorandmore/

Resources Sarah mentioned in this episode:

Noigroup Clinical Discussions - YouTube

Home - Pelvic Global Directory

Rachel Zoffness Pain Science Author

An interesting study that speaks to the same topics: Association of Central Sensitization Inventory Scores With Pain Outcomes After Endometriosis Surgery | Obstetrics and Gynecology | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: [email protected]

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

Have you ever promised yourself you’d say no, set a boundary, or speak up… and then said yes anyway?

In this episode, the last of the People-Pleasing Mini-Series, host Elizabeth Mintun explores why self-trust is hard, why guilt and old patterns show up, and how you can begin making changes with compassion and steadiness. Elizabeth addresses why understanding the pattern isn’t enough to shift it, how the nervous system interprets self-prioritization as risk, and the waves of guilt, fear, and identity disorientation that can arise when we are making a healthy change for ourselves. 

Elizabeth also shares her personal journey with people-pleasing as well as a free workshop happening Thursday, February 26th, called From People-Pleasing to Self-Trust. 

Key Takeaways

• Awareness ≠ immediate change. Understanding people-pleasing patterns is important, but your nervous system operates on survival wiring, so behavior change happens gradually.
• Self-trust can feel destabilizing at first. Saying no, setting limits, or interrupting old patterns can trigger guilt, fear of being misunderstood, and identity disorientation. This is normal.
• Micro-shifts and consistent practice matter. Pausing, regulating your nervous system, and practicing boundaries in relationships gradually rewires old pathways.
• Caring without disappearing is possible. You don’t have to harden, withdraw, or stop caring about others. Self-trust is about staying present with yourself in the context of relationships. 

Resources 

Sign up for the free workshop From People-Pleasing to Self-Trust: Reclaim Yourself Without Burning Bridges here:

https://go.thecalmingground.com/people-pleasing-to-self-trust

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: [email protected]

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

What if the opposite of people-pleasing isn’t selfishness… but self-trust?

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores people-pleasing through a compassionate nervous system lens, understanding how it often begins as an adaptive survival strategy rooted in relational intelligence, emotional attunement, and a deep value for harmony and connection. She looks at how immediate relief, identity reinforcement, fear of relational rupture, and external approval can quietly keep the pattern in place, and why saying no can feel physically unsafe. 

Most importantly, Elizabeth reframes the work: the opposite of people-pleasing isn’t selfishness at all, but self-trust. It’s about growing the ability to notice your internal signals, pause, and respond in ways that honor both yourself and your relationships.

Key Takeaways

• People-pleasers are highly attuned emotional readers and that relational intelligence is a strength.
• People-pleasing often feels like kindness, not “pleasing.”
• A quick “yes” brings immediate nervous system relief (and reinforces the habituated response).
• Healing requires expanding capacity to tolerate discomfort.

Sign up for the free workshop From People-Pleasing to Self-Trust: Reclaim Yourself Without Burning Bridges here:

https://go.thecalmingground.com/people-pleasing-to-self-trust

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: [email protected]

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!