The FDIP

In this episode of Mindful Moments, Dr. Misty Rhoads, Kim Ervin, Instructional Designer, and Dr. Andrew Kerins explore how spending time in nature - even briefly - can support nervous system regulation and overall well-being. They share practical approaches like tech-free walks, sensory awareness, and simple outdoor pauses that fit into a busy day. The episode also includes a guided mindful moment to help listeners slow down, reconnect, and experience the quiet support that nature offers.

This episode explores what healing means beyond the idea of fixing what is broken. Dr. Misty Rhoads, a somatic practitioner and EIU public health professor, is joined by undergraduate public health student Hazel Norris to examine healing through personal, ancestral, and collective lenses. Beginning with a brief grounding meditation, listeners are invited to reconnect with the present moment and notice how awareness of the body can create a sense of safety and calm.

Through a thoughtful conversation, this episode reframes healing as an ongoing relationship with our experiences rather than a destination. Drawing on somatic practices and insights from public health and epigenetics, it highlights how nervous system awareness, intergenerational patterns, and community environments shape well-being, offering a more compassionate and sustainable approach to growth, connection, and resilience.

Inspired by the work of Lee Holden and his book Ready, Set, Slow, this episode invites listeners to pause and reconnect with the present moment. Dr. Misty Rhoads begins with a gentle inquiry meditation that helps us notice where we are physically, mentally, and emotionally before moving into simple mindfulness practices that can be woven into everyday life. Through intentional awareness during our mornings, meals, and daily routines, listeners explore how slowing down can restore energy, sharpen focus, and create a more sustainable rhythm for living and working. Rather than pushing harder to be productive, this episode offers a grounded path toward efficiency that honors the body, calms the nervous system, and reduces burnout.

This episode invites you to turn everyday travel time into a moment of grounding and calm. Dr. Misty Rhoads gently guides listeners through simple, nervous-system–informed practices using awareness, breath, and the senses to support regulation while in motion, helping you arrive a little more present, steady, and connected than when you began.

This episode explores how long-term stress reshapes the nervous system and gently narrows our capacity for pleasure, ease, and connection. Dr. Misty Rhoads offers a compassionate, nervous-system–informed approach to rediscovering joy through small, realistic shifts in awareness and daily life, supporting a sense of aliveness that feels safe, sustainable, and real.

Paws and Practice Mindfulness: Mental Health and Misconceptions (3 of 3)

This episode discusses the mental health misconceptions that create barriers to practicing mindfulness.

Paws and Practice Mindfulness: Time Constraints (2 of 3)

This episode discusses how time constraints prevent time for mindfulness and offers strategies for fitting it in into a busy schedule. A guided breathing exercise is included.

Paws and Practice Mindfulness: Our Nervous System (1 of 3)

This is the first podcast in a three-part series based on research into barriers that prevent mindfulness practice: understanding our nervous system, time constraints, and mental health and misconceptions. Created by EIU undergraduate Hazel Norris and Dr. Misty Rhoads as the result of an URSCA grant project: Paws and Practice: Barriers to Mindfulness for Students (P-A-W-S, like a panther's paw), each episode addresses one barrier with insights and strategies applicable to anyone seeking to incorporate mindfulness into their life. This episode discusses our nervous system and includes a guided meditation.

Designing For All: Digital Accessibility in Your EIU Courses

FDIC Instructional Support and Training Specialist (ISTS) Keerthana Saraswathula joins Instructional Designer Kim Ervin to discuss the upcoming ADA Title II Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1, Level AA compliance deadline and what faculty need to know about the digital accessibility standards.

Show notes and resources:

ADA title II WCAG 2.1 AA Compliance Timeline PDF

FDIC Digital Accessibility Compliance Webpage

FDIC Digital Accessibility SharePoint

EIU Office of Accessibility and Accommodations Website

SensusAccess @ EIU Webpage - does not require account creation for use

FDIC Digital Accessibility Remediation Request Form

To reach out to Keerthana, please feel free to contact her at 217-581-7856, [email protected], or through MS Teams.

Dr. Misty Rhoads, Professor from the Department of Public Health and Nutrition Dr. Andrew Kerins, Associate Professor & Graduate Coordinator from the Department of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation join Instructional Designer Kim Ervin to discuss faculty burnout – the why, how it can manifest, and what faculty can do to respond to it.

Show notes and resources:

Visit the FDIC Faculty Learning Community Webpage and scroll down to find the “Making Mindfulness Matter for Educator and Classroom Wellbeing” section for the 2024-25 academic year. This page is regularly updated as communities continue to develop.

If you are interested in furthering the conversation about faculty burnout, please feel free to reach out to – [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected]