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

This meditation series has been an exploration of time. For most of us, time appears to be as steady as a stone - something that is always here, guiding us along - reminding us where we are supposed to be by what time it is. But, things aren’t quite as they appear when it comes to time or to stones. Time is both flexible and relative. It moves at different speeds depending on where you are and if you are moving or not. The phrase ‘now’ has no meaning outside of your direct personal experience. Now is only now for you right now. It is an ever-expanding edge rather than a static point.And, that ever-moving edge reminds us that the universe is made up of events not things. Even things we think of as things, like stones, are actually just long events.So, over the course of the first two classes in this series, rather than time being like the steadiness of stones, we’ve really discovered time is more like the unsteadiness of stones. I’ve shared this mostly through physics and the brilliant minds of people like Newton, Einstein and Carlo Rovelli. However, we don’t have to be brilliant scientists to understand the wildly mysterious ways of time. We simply have to meditate. My guess is you already know time is relative and flexible because you have experienced it within your meditation practice. You’ve meditated on a tough day where 3 minutes felt like interminable hours.On other days, you’ve meditated and fallen into the realm of timelessness. Where a minute lasts a day, and it feels like you can’t even remember when you took your last breath and it doesn’t really matter because you might never need to breathe again. When we meditate, time becomes circular, all encompassing and all knowing, rather than a step by step progression. There is no where you need to be because you are already exactly where you are. Join me for this final installment in our exploration of time and guided meditation practice inviting you into the timeless realm of your deepest knowing.Sign up for my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dBYEUL to receive free mini meditations each month, creative musings, and more. Make a donation or learn more about my free offerings and live classes by visiting merylarnett.com. IG: @merylarnett #meditatewithmeryl

Let’s start with two scientific facts:When we are in motion, time contracts.The universe is made up of events, not things. In my exploration of time, I came across a sentence from physicist Carlo Rovelli that stopped me in my tracks. He wrote - “Now means nothing.”Now means nothing. Nothing?! What have I been teaching for the last decade if the truth of the present moment has been disproven by science? What are we meditating for, and what are we experiencing? The more I reflect on scientific facts above and the dissolution of the present moment, the more I find an invitation to stop thinking of ourselves as something to fix and our meditation practice as something to get right. This isn’t a static moment in time and we are not a thing to improve upon. We are an event, a becoming, and when we sit still time expands. We are shifting from contraction to expansion and witnessing the ever-changing dynamism of our internal experiences as a direct experience of the universe. Join me for today’s talk and guided meditation practice as we explore the expansion of ‘now’. Be sure to Sign up { http://eepurl.com/dBYEUL } for my newsletter to receive free mini meditations each month, creative musings, and more. Make a donation or learn more about my free offerings and live classes by visiting merylarnett.com. IG: @merylarnett #meditatewithmeryl

“I don’t have enough time”“Take your time”“You have all the time in the world”Common enough phrases; each signaling something about our interaction with the experience of time. Phrases hinting that we should move faster, or slower, that we should do something, or not. And all of which create a cascading story of beliefs for each of us.Time is such a funny thing. It feels fast and slow {sometimes all at once}. It feels like a separate entity 'out there' that we have no control over and which has enormous control over us... and yet…There is no universal, objective time. It isn't out there on its own. It is only HERE; in relation with a where and a who. Time is inextricably bound to where and to who. It is personal, flexible, and relative. In this all new 3-part meditation series, we will explore our relationship with time: how our experience of time impacts our meditation practice and how our meditation practice impacts our relationship with time.Sign up for my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dBYEUL to receive free mini meditations each month, creative musings, and more. Make a donation or learn more about my free offerings and live classes by visiting merylarnett.com. IG: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ #meditatewithmeryl

Today, on The Mindful Minute, I am sharing a conversation with meditation teacher and author Caverly Morgan about her new book, The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together.Caverly is a meditation teacher, author, speaker, and nonprofit founder. She is the founder and Lead Contemplative of Peace in Schools—a nonprofit which created the nation's first for-credit mindfulness class in public high schools. She is also the founder of Presence Collective, a community of cross-cultural contemplatives committed to personal and collective transformation.In this episode, Caverly and I really hone in on the phrase “realizing freedom together” and explore what this means in relation to our meditation practice, which far too easily can feel singular and isolated when we aren’t practicing in community. We talk about book clubs vs. book collectives; about freedom, community and privilege; and what it means to stop imagining that liberation comes only when ‘I’ as a singular being awaken.We go deep, y’all, and yet, I feel like we barely scratched the surface. Perhaps we’ll ask Caverly to come back and share more!Make sure you listen all the way to the end. Caverly leads a 20-minute guided meditation inviting us to reflect and create awareness around all the self-imposed beliefs we hold onto about our separateness. You can learn more about Caverly and her new book by visiting her website: caverlymorgan.orgLearn more about my Awakened Heart Meditation Community: https://www.merylarnett.com/awakened-heart-meditation-community If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation to support the growth of this labor of love. Your monthly donation will aid in keeping this show sponsor-free, employing additional small businesses AND funding the ongoing creative growth I invest in. Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minute Download freebies and learn more about my offerings, classes, and more by visiting merylarnett.com. #meditatewithmeryl

There is nothing I love more than responding to student questions about meditation, and recently I was asked two really good questions that I thought would be useful to the greater Mindful Minute community. At the end of our Political Resilience series, I was asked about what to do if you want to forge connections, to return to the table, but everyone else is hostile?And, I was asked a crucial and common question about what to do on days when you are too busy or stressed or overwhelmed to meditate… my answer might surprise you.Join me for a short Q&A session followed by a 20-minute guided meditation. Learn more about my Awakened Heart Meditation Community: https://www.merylarnett.com/awakened-heart-meditation-community If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation to support the growth of this labor of love. Your monthly donation will aid in keeping this show sponsor-free, employing additional small businesses AND funding the ongoing creative growth I invest in. Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minute Download freebies and learn more about my offerings, classes, and more by visiting merylarnett.com. #meditatewithmeryl

Our meditation practice is the practice of The Middle Way. Meaning the practice isn’t about perfection, a goal or an end-game. The practice IS the practice. A student once asked his teacher, “is there anything I can do to become enlightened more quickly?”And, the teacher responded, “as little as you can do to make the sun rise in the morning.”“Well, what good are these practices you prescribe?” asked the student.“To make sure you are awake when the sun starts to rise.” replied the teacher. Let’s make sure we are awake today. If you want to skip right to the meditation, start at 4:45.Learn more about my Awakened Heart Meditation Community: https://www.merylarnett.com/awakened-heart-meditation-community If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation to support the growth of this labor of love. Your monthly donation will aid in keeping this show sponsor-free, employing additional small businesses AND funding the ongoing creative growth I invest in. Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minute Download freebies and learn more about my offerings, classes, and more by visiting merylarnett.com. #meditatewithmeryl

This meditation series has asked some really big questions of us. Can we start to let go of binary thinking? Can we believe that two seemingly opposite things can both exist as true in the same moment? That right and wrong are not the only two choices?In a very small way, this reminds me of starting a meditation practice. Do you remember that feeling? The feeling of believing that a meditation practice would be a good thing, and yet when you sat down to practice it was hard, uncomfortable and definitely not magical? We had to do this dance between what we believed and what we experienced even though it didn’t quite line up. New futures are scary. The only thing we can do is commit to our vision, to build the rhythms and routines that support us, and to stay engaged and curious.This is true for a meditation practice AND this is true for building political resilience. We commit to our vision. We build the rhythms and routines that support us. And, we stay engaged. Join me for the final installment of our Building Political Resilience meditation series as we explore new futures and practice befriending ourselves and others through a guided meditation practice. Learn more about my Awakened Heart Meditation Community: https://www.merylarnett.com/awakened-heart-meditation-community If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation to support the growth of this labor of love. Your monthly donation will aid in keeping this show sponsor-free, employing additional small businesses AND funding the ongoing creative growth I invest in. Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minute Download freebies and learn more about my offerings, classes, and more by visiting merylarnett.com. #meditatewithmeryl

This series is one of the more challenging undertakings I’ve shared on this podcast. Talking about democracy in a time of toxic polarization feels daunting and more than a little bit overwhelming.I’m not here to fix it, and I definitely don’t have the ‘answers’ but I believe deeply in naming the things that cause us pain and turning towards them rather than away. So here we are. Democracy is hard. In part 1 of this series, we explored the term ‘gaslighting’ and the implications that come when we start to ask ourselves “am I crazy?” after hearing the day’s political news.In part 2 of this series, we follow the natural train of thought, “if I’m not crazy, then I’m RIGHT!”. And here is where things get messy… because the answer isn’t quite so straightforward. Luckily, The Fetzer Institute is doing some profound research in the area of toxic polarity and heart-centered solutions, and they recently shared some amazing interventions for reducing polarity and re-engaging with democracy. {you can find a link to these interventions within my Awakened Heart Meditation Community}. One of these interventions highlights our Moral Differences. Similarly to how we all have six kinds of taste buds {salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and savory}, but we all have different taste preferences; we also share 6 different moral values, but we prioritize them differently. In today’s episode of The Mindful Minute, we talk about moral differences, we perform a social science experiment that will blow your mind, and, of course, we share a guided meditation together. Grab your headphones and join me!Learn more about my Awakened Heart Meditation Community: https://www.merylarnett.com/awakened-heart-meditation-community If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation to support the growth of this labor of love. Your monthly donation will aid in keeping this show sponsor-free, employing additional small businesses AND funding the ongoing creative growth I invest in. Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minute Download freebies and learn more about my offerings, classes, and more by visiting merylarnett.com. #meditatewithmeryl

Not Left, Not Right, but Deep - The Fetzer Institute.With the midterm elections surrounding us, I’ve been reflecting on the challenges I feel when it comes to engaging with democracy in this country right now. Sometimes I am all moral outrage and calling my representatives and going to rallys. Sometimes, I am overwhelmed, exhausted and scared so I shut down completely. I ignore it all. In that extreme vasciliation, I find myself often thinking, “am I crazy???” And that, my friends, is the number one sign that you are being gaslit.The term originated from the 1938 play and subsequent film Gaslight, where the protagonist’s husband slowly manipulated her into believing she’s going mad. Throughout the film, the main character sees the gaslights dimming and brightening for no apparent reason. Her husband convinces her that it's all in her head, but in reality, he was switching the attic lights on and off to create the gaslight flickers. The turning point in the movie is when someone else says “hey, did you notice the gaslights are flickering?”Naming things has power. And naming a faulty, fractured, messy situation might not make it neater, easy or better, but it does allow us to reclaim a sense of sanity when we can, in community, acknowledge that indeed the gaslights are flickering. You aren’t crazy. Democracy is hard. Really hard.And, it is vital that we both pay attention and engage. In the book Burn Out, the authors write, “wellness is a state of action, not a state of being”.Similarly, Congressman John Lewis once stated, “Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.”This correlation in states of action led me to reflect on the overlap in democratic engagement and in our self-care. Join me for this 3-part meditation series as we explore what’s needed to build Political Resilience. Learn more about my Awakened Heart Meditation Community: https://www.merylarnett.com/awakened-heart-meditation-community If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation to support the growth of this labor of love. Your monthly donation will aid in keeping this show sponsor-free, employing additional small businesses AND funding the ongoing creative growth I invest in. Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minute Download freebies and learn more about my offerings, classes, and more by visiting merylarnett.com. #meditatewithmeryl

Today, I am sharing a conversation with a friend, colleague and teacher - Shonali Banerjee.Many years ago, Shonali led a Mantra Circle that I was a part of, and in it, I learned so much about the power of sound and voice. To this day, one of my strongest memories is chanting the Gayatri mantra along the banks of the Ganges river on a trip to India. And even now, I warm up my voice and set my intention through mantra before teaching live classes.Shonali is a yoga teacher, singer, ritualist, death doula, and all around Wise Woman. Together we talk about mantra meditation and the power of reclaiming our voices, walking labyrinths, political resilience, the cycle of death and birth, and so much more.At the end, Shonali guides in a powerful practice of chant and reflection. She shares - "To The Surface"I adapted this version of the song from the original, written by an unknown author, honoring Pachamama, the Earth Goddess. The original has been sung by hundreds of women and men in Baja Mexico and is spreading around the globe. Gather Together and Sing!To the surface she rises. From the fearful ways, we see her faceTo the surface she rises. Let the women breathe, again todayToday we pray, in the honor of her way. Today we sing her name.Today we pray, in the honor of her way. Today we sing.Rise Up Women, Protect Women, Rise Up Women, Protect Women. You can watch Shonali perform this chant here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFAEMTM-ec8Learn more about Shonali and her work by visiting www.wisemawellness.comAnd, be sure to check out the  work of Threshold Choirs. Threshold Choirs sing at the bedside of the dying with and for all people. Threshold affirms the beauty, dignity, and wholeness of all people and believes that everyone deserves to be treated with kindness from their first to their last breath. https://thresholdchoir.org/Learn more about my Awakened Heart Meditation Community: https://www.merylarnett.com/awakened-heart-meditation-community If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation to support the growth of this labor of love. Your monthly donation will aid in keeping this show sponsor-free, employing additional small businesses AND funding the ongoing creative growth I invest in. Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minute Download freebies and learn more about my offerings, classes, and more by visiting merylarnett.com. #meditatewithmeryl