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

Often, when we talk about simplifying, getting back to basics or our foundation, we say “getting back to our roots”...  and my offering this month is exactly that - It is an invitation to get back to our roots in the most literal way possible. To explore our rootedness and how this relates to our meditation practice. When I think about the roots of a plant, I see this as something innate, something forged, and something woven. Over the next 3 classes, we will look at each of these ideas in turn.Roots are innate. They are the first thing to grow from a seed; a seed is ‘born’ with roots so to speak. They are something we too are born with. This early and automatic ability to present. To be HERE. We are just part of the earth, the family, the moment without question. Roots, in botany, are the part of a vascular plant normally underground. Its primary functions are To anchor of the plant To aid in the absorption of water and mineralsTo store a reserve of food.Our practice serves much the same purpose. It anchors us to the present moment, it allows us to absorb the benefits of being present, non-judgmental and compassionate, and it prepares us to face difficult times with equanimity.And, here is the vital element - we can access this wisdom just as we are. We are born with roots. Rootedness is innate to us.Join me for today’s talk and 20-minute guided meditation. 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-minuteJoin my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/Special thanks to today’s sponsor: Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journaler, I use and love their guided meditation journal, dream journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! Get one for yourself at baronfig.comLearn more about my:*Elemental Awakening: Begins March 20, 2022*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.#meditatewithmeryl

Today’s mini meditation is offered with the reminder that community is a valuable part of any meditation practice. It is what helps us to explore meditation off the cushion and to put our practice into everyday use.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.Join my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/Special thanks to today’s sponsor: Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journaler, I use and love their guided meditation journal, dream journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! Get one for yourself at baronfig.comLearn more about my:*Elemental Awakening: Begins March 20, 2022*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.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#meditatewithmeryl

One of my intentions for 2022 is to truly pay attention to and foster community both in my work and my personal life. This is a value I hold so dear, and I’ve felt the impact of the last 2.5 years as it has asked us all to reimagine community connection.I’ve recently introduced a monthly community discussion class in my live Monday night meditation class as one way to foster this sense of connection, and I thought, even though you won’t get to hear the actual community chatter in this episode {I’ve kept that private to maintain safe, sacred space within my live class}, it is valuable to hear my thoughts on why community matters so much to us as meditators.You’ll hear some short thoughts from me, and we will share in a 20-minute guided meditation as usual. Please know, if you are searching for your own meditation community - you are, of course, welcome to join my live classes if the timing works for you, but you could also join my free meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/If you join, please feel encouraged to post! Share your questions, ideas, wins, and wonderings! Discussion is how online community begins to build, and I would love to hear from you.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-minuteJoin my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/Special thanks to today’s sponsor: Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journaler, I use and love their guided meditation journal, dream journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! Get one for yourself at baronfig.comLearn more about my:*Elemental Awakening: Begins March 20, 2022*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.#meditatewithmeryl

Mini Meditation: Elemental Awakening to FireIn today’s mini meditation, I’m sharing another elemental practice with you in celebration of my upcoming program Elemental Awakening!We have explored two different wind-based practices recently and now we will revisit an old favorite - fire. Today’s meditation is one of my original offerings in Roots - my nature-based meditation app. In this practice, you hear the embers of a campfire crackling as it burns in Little Yosemite Valley. This soundscape was recorded by Gordon Hempton and the meditation was written from my direct experience of sitting in front of decades worth of campfires.Don’t forget registration for Elemental Awakening closes TOMORROW, March 15 at Midnight. There are just a few spots left and I would love for YOU to join me in this intimate exploration of the elements, ourselves, and our relationship to mindfulness. Special thanks to today’s sponsor:Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journaler, I use and love their guided meditation journal, dream journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! Get one for yourself here: https://baronfig.com/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.Join my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/Learn more about my:*Elemental Awakening: Begins March 20, 2022*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.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#meditatewithmeryl

Show Notes: Astronomical Mindfulness with Sarah Scoles“Back when humans lived in communal caves and tribal encampments, we told stories about the stars. When we started sailing, we used these same pinpricks of light to estimate our own location. When we began planting, we relied on the constellations and the Sun to plant and sustain crops. Yet today, most modern humans have lost this deep connection to the cosmos that was once central to our daily lives.”The new book, ASTRONOMICAL MINDFULNESS, is a unique guidebook written by astronomy professor, Chris De Pree, and science journalist, Sarah Scoles, and in today’s episode of The Mindful Minute I chat with Sarah about all things astronomical. We talk about the power of the sun, moon, stars, and planets to offer engaging exercises that deepen your knowledge of the solar system, help you take necessary pauses every day, and foster a renewed sense of presence in the universe.Sarah Scoles is a freelance journalist and contributing editor at WIRED. She is the author of Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers.This conversation is such a fun listen after January’s Meditation & The Moon series and my upcoming Elemental Awakening offering. Join me for this exploration of the cosmos, mindfulness, and some new practices you can try tonight. Learn more about Sarah Scoles at: https://www.sarahscoles.com/ You can purchase Astronomical Mindfulness at your local bookstore.Learn more about Elemental Awakening at: https://www.merylarnett.com/elemental-awakening-2022Special thanks to today’s sponsor:Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journaler, I use and love their guided meditation journal, dream journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! Get one for yourself here: https://baronfig.com/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-minuteJoin my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/Learn more about my:*Elemental Awakening: Begins March 20, 2022*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.#meditatewithmeryl

Mini Meditation: Delight, Sorrow and What Lies BetweenWhen we reflect on opposing forces such as good & evil or joy & sorrow, it is easy to see them as existing on a scale with one force on each side - thesis and antithesis. But, what happens when we introduce a third force? Thesis. Antithesis. Synthesis. Fire. Water. Air. Rabbi Jill Hammer writes, “ when we come to presence, we are able to hold multiple truths without straining.”Join me for today’s mini meditation as we practice holding multiple truths and bringing synthesis to the moment.  Today’s meditation is inspired by the guided visualization Higher than Delight, Deeper than Sorrow written by Rabbi Jill Hammer.You can learn more about Elemental Awakening here: merylarnett.com/elemental-awakening-2022Special thanks to today’s sponsor:Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journaler, I use and love their guided meditation journal, dream journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! Get one for yourself here: https://baronfig.com/ 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.Join my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/Learn more about my:*Elemental Awakening: Begins March 20, 2022*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.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#meditatewithmeryl

You’ll remember that this month’s meditation series is a series about the ever-changing wind and the play of opposite forces in our daily lives. Good & evil, praise & blame, joy & sorrow, etc.Last week {part 2} we looked through the lens of Buddhist teachings on the 8 Worldly Winds, and that we never know when the wind will change directions. We were offered a solution of learning how to live in the ‘middle’ or with equanimity. Now, I love learning how these same ideas permeate time, location and culture. Lately, I’ve been reading an ancient Jewish mystical text known as the Sefer Yetzirah. The interpretation I’m reading is written by Rabbi Jill Hammer - it is a story about creation, the elements, the cosmos and God.  As the text explores opposing forces such as delight and suffering, merit and guilt, even fire and water, Rabbi Hammer writes, “even things so diverse as pleasure and pain are still made up of the same building blocks, the same human consciousness and experience, the same divine creative force. The wheel of letters contains all phenomena. All happenings are ultimately one, even when they appear radically different. When we understand this, we can come to a state of equanimity within the cosmos.”It is all the same wind, just blowing differently.And, the suggested solution, over and over again, is Equanimity. Rather than fight with the present moment, can we learn to be with it exactly as it is?Philosopher and poet Mark Nepo describes it so beautifully when he offers -“We are all continually asked to learn how to ask for what we need, only to practice accepting what we’re given.”Join me for today’s discussion and 20-minute guided meditation on The Mindful Minute. Today’s meditation is inspired by the guided visualization Higher than Delight, Deeper than Sorrow written by Rabbi Jill Hammer.You can learn more about Elemental Awakening here: merylarnett.com/elemental-awakening-2022Special thanks to today’s sponsor:Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journaler, I use and love their guided meditation journal, dream journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! Get one for yourself here: https://baronfig.com/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-minuteJoin my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/Learn more about my:*Elemental Awakening: Begins March 20, 2022*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.#meditatewithmeryl

Mini Meditation: Elemental Awakening to WindMy newest program, Elemental Awakening, is an exploration of the elements and their corresponding sacred practices. It runs from the Spring Equinox to the Fall Equinox, and it is a chance for 12 of you to study in-depth with me over the course of the next 7 months. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be releasing a few mini meditations that correspond with each element as a way to explore Elemental Awakening for yourself.Today’s mini meditation invites you to meditate with the idea and experience of wind.This experience invites us into equanimity as sometimes we resonate with the sensation of being blown around. Chaotic, uncontrolled. Other times, we resonate with the sensation of our feet solidly on the ground, a steady anchor as the wind whips around us. You can learn more about Elemental Awakening here: merylarnett.com/elemental-awakening-2022Special thanks to today’s sponsor:Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journaler, I use and love their guided meditation journal, dream journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! Get one for yourself here: https://baronfig.com/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.Join my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/Learn more about my:*Elemental Awakening: Begins March 20, 2022*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.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#meditatewithmeryl

This is a series about wind, about good and bad, about our struggles with the state of the world; but mostly, this is a series about wind. I love wind. Sometimes, I resonate with the sensation of being blown around. Chaotic, uncontrolled.Other times, I resonate with the sensation of my feet on the ground. My body, a steady anchor as the wind whips around me. It is a both/and situation, and it asks us to acknowledge paradox. It teaches us equanimity. In Buddhist teachings, there is a teaching known as the 8 Worldly Winds. These winds are:-Praise/Blame-Gain/Loss-Success/Failure-Joy/SorrowThe gist of the teaching is that we never know when the wind will change directions.We are also reminded that one doesn’t exist without the other. We can’t only have praise. Or success. Or Joy. And in fact, we know through psychological research that if you refuse to experience sorrow, you inadvertently are unable to experience joy. The teaching isn’t telling us to fix it, or to get better. Rather the teaching is offering us a way to learn how to exist in the middle. We learn to embrace tension, paradox, change.  Instead of seeking resolution, waiting for the chord at the end of a song, we let ourselves open and relax in the middle.Ajahn Sumedo teaches us to be open to the way things are.  “Of course we can always imagine more perfect conditions, how it should be ideally, how everyone else should behave. But it’s not our task to create an ideal. It’s our task to see how it is, and to learn from the world as it is. For the awakening of the heart, conditions are always good enough.”Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we explore the ever-changing wind both in concept and within a 20-minute guided meditation. Special thanks to today’s sponsor:Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journaler, I use and love their guided meditation journal, dream journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! Get one for yourself here: https://baronfig.com/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-minuteJoin my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/Learn more about my:*Elemental Awakening: Begins March 20, 2022*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.#meditatewithmeryl

You guys. I have something BIG to share with you today!I have just released my newest offering into the world. This is something that has been incubating in my meditations, my dreams and my daily walks for a full year, and I am so delighted to finally share this with you! ⁠Elemental Awakening is an exploration of the elements and 6 corresponding sacred practices. This program will run from the Spring Equinox to the Fall Equinox, and it is a chance for 12 of you to study in-depth with me over the course of the next 7 months. This is not a workshop, a training or an intensive. This is an invitation. An invitation to go deeper with me; to gather in an engaged, curious community; to explore together; and to weave a tapestry of our own magic.I’m so excited to share a bit about this opportunity with you guys, AND I’m releasing one of my newest meditations from my newly redesigned nature-based meditation app - Roots. This practice is one I’ve been using daily for weeks, and I think you might enjoy it too -A while ago, I had the opportunity to hike to the top of Haleakala - a dormant volcano on Maui, Hawaii. The summit lies at 10,023 feet above sea level. We were above the clouds, and although it was summer time, it was bitterly cold as the wind whipped around us. The landscape felt desert-like, but what was most noticeable was the way it seemed like you were closer to the sky than the earth. It felt like we were quite literally ‘hanging in the void’ or the liminal space between the solid ground we call home and the expansive universe that wraps around us. It was a moment of both/and - of being connected to the life we live on a daily basis and equally connected to the greater expanse that reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously or to worry too much. In this practice, we hear the wind whipping from the top of a volcano as recorded by Gordon Hempton. We imagine ourselves at the edge, the void between earth and the universe, between the mundane and universal consciousness.Let’s practice balancing on this edge.Native Hawaiians, also known as Kanaka Maoli, are the first people to have heard the sounds of this particular landscape. You can learn more about Elemental Awakening here: merylarnett.com/elemental-awakening-2022Special thanks to today’s sponsor:Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journaler, I use and love their guided meditation journal, dream journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! Get one for yourself here: https://baronfig.com/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.Join my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/Learn more about my:***Elemental Awakening: Begins March 20**Roots: my nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.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-minuteYou can also grab my 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 ***Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/#meditatewithmeryl