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

Dr. Andrew Newberg, one of my favorite former guests, is back with us today to talk about mindfulness, spirituality and our mental well-being. I’ve just wrapped a meditation series, Can Meditation Unite Us, that has reflected on the overlap of several spiritual traditions, and I thought it would be interesting to talk to Dr. Newberg about what happens in our minds and our bodies as we engage with spiritual practices.Dr. Newberg is a neuroscientist and a pioneer in the neurological study of religious and spiritual experiences, a field known as “neurotheology.” His research includes taking brain scans of people in prayer, meditation, rituals, and trance states, in an attempt to better understand the nature of religious and spiritual practices and attitudes.In this episode of The Mindful Minute, we talk about religion as well as non-religious activities like meditation, time in nature, and creative pursuits. We talk about ways to explore unity even with those that we find challenging, we discuss the potential problems with religion and spirituality, and we talk a bit about ontological anxiety. I found this conversation fascinating, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!Dr. Newberg’s most recent book is Brain Weaver, Creating the Fabric for a Healthy Mind through Integrative Medicine.You can see some of the brain images that Dr. Newberg references here: http://www.andrewnewberg.com/researchJoin my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/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-minuteLearn more about my:*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.#meditatewithmeryl

2+ years into a pandemic, when we’ve been enforcing various levels of separation in our daily lives, we are mentally and emotionally unwell. And we find ourselves in this moment with time, space and nature all reminding us that to heal is to connect. Yet, this is really hard at this moment because we’ve created neural pathways of separation. Luckily, we know that meditation is a practice of creating NEW neural pathways, and not only that - meditation is a practice of being present, non-judgmental and compassionate with ourselves and with ALL other beings. Meditation is a practice of expansion and connection. A practice of healing. Join me for today’s mini meditation as we invite in a sense of unity. 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:*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

Within this series, we are exploring the concept of unity through our meditation practice. So often, we look at our meditation practice through the lens of its 3 tenets: presence, non-judgment, and compassion. Most of the time, I break these tenets down into their individual practices so that we can explore them each in a deeper way - BUT, this can create the mistaken belief that we can ONLY focus on one tenet at a time, or that if we tried to do it all we would have to meditate for an hour.The truth is these elements are inseparable. They are entangled within our meditation practice as a complete whole. In a recent conversation with Neuro-theologist Dr. Andrew Newberg, he explained that in his research it is clear that we are healthier - mentally and emotionally - when we feel unity and a connectedness to all beings. Religions or spiritual practices that teach a domination of others, an elitism, racism, sexism, etc. have adverse health effects. The practices that teach love and compassion create healthier, happier people.In this particular moment, when we are re-emerging after 2 years of being separate, we are mentally and emotionally unwell. And we find ourselves in this moment with time, space and nature all reminding us that to heal is to connect. Yet, this is really hard at this moment because we’ve created these neural pathways of separation. Luckily we know that meditation is a practice of creating NEW neural pathways, and not only that - meditation is a practice of being present, non-judgmental and compassionate with ourselves and with ALL other beings. Meditation is a practice of expansion and connection. A practice of healing. Join me for today’s talk and 20-minute guided meditation. Join my FREE meditation community here: https://meditate-with-meryl.mn.co/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-minuteLearn more about my:*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.#meditatewithmeryl

Being a mom; trying to become a mother; or not becoming a mother is likely one of the most difficult experiences of your life. We love our children, we worry endlessly, and we often experience the vast extremes of emotions with them or with our own seeming successes or failures.One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves in relation to the word ‘mom’ is a practice that refills and strengthens our emotional reserves. Join me in this practice of lovingkindess just for the mama-hearts out there… no matter how tough the day, we always deserve our own love and compassion.*The practice is also available in my meditation app Roots*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:*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 episode originally ran in 2018, and I am delighted to replay it for you this week as we celebrate the mamas. Happy Mother’s Day, mamas! This short meditation is a chance to sit and be with it all. Being a mother is its own complex mess of emotions, feelings and thoughts. And, we are here for it. All of it. Celebrating the joys, the sorrows, the triumphs and the defeats. Celebrating the mundane and the magnificent. We are here for it. We are here for each other. Happy Mother’s Day.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:*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.#meditatewithmeryl

We are so entrenched in our sides, our tribes, our ideological beliefs, that it feels almost impossible to comprehend how someone could feel or believe differently. Take any political issue, and my guess is that you can’t even believe how someone on the other side could think their choice is a good one, and yet - Even in this inability to comprehend, we know that ‘they’ are thinking the exact same thing about ‘our’ beliefs and choices. It blows the mind, doesn’t it? How is resolution or unity possible?And, then I sit and I meditate, and remember what is most important. That remembrance settles me into the type of knowing that allows me to face the unknown and the discord and have faith in our capacity for goodness.I don’t have the answers, but I do have faith in our connection.Join me for today’s mini meditation as we cultivate faith in our capacity for goodness. 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:*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 month, we are paying attention to the overlap of Easter, Passover, and Ramadan, and the way the universe seems to be reminding us of what is most important - Our connection to each other and to the planet. In our meditation practice, we can also explore our sense of unity. One of the tenets of a mindful meditation practice is non-judgment. We talk about this idea of not judging ourselves, our thoughts or our emotions quite often, but what about our judgment of others.We are so entrenched in our sides, our tribes, our ideological beliefs, that it feels almost impossible to comprehend how someone could feel or believe differently. Take any political issue, and my guess is that you can’t even believe how someone on the other side could think their choice is a good one, and yet - Even in this inability to comprehend, we know that ‘they’ are thinking the exact same thing about ‘our’ beliefs and choices. It blows the mind, doesn’t it? How is resolution or unity possible?And, then I sit and I meditate, and remember what is most important. That remembrance settles me into the type of knowing that allows me to face the unknown and the discord and have faith in our capacity for goodness.I don’t have the answers, but I do have faith in our connection.Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute. We talk about faith, non-judgment, unity, and how this overlaps with advocacy and action. And of course, we share in a 20-minute guided meditation at the end. Let’s practice.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:*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.#meditatewithmeryl

In our meditation practice, we are invited into the present moment. But the cool thing is that the present moment isn’t a static place. In fact, the present moment is more like a precipice, an edge…The present moment is a continually expanding experience of what is NOW. I think of it as a verison of the universe itself. Scientists know that the universe is continually expanding - and it feels like the present moment is a microcosm of the universe as a whole. A multitude of experiences are contained within the present, and it is always changing. Both are true. So in every moment that we sit and breathe in meditation, we are what we are in this moment AND we are becoming something new. Generating new cells, new thought patterns, new awarenesses. As part of our practice we celebrate our continual renewal. It is our chance to see ourselves exactly as we are and as we are becoming. Join me for today’s mini meditation celebrating our personal renewal.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:*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

April 2022 is a powerful month this year. For the first time in 31 years, the sacred holidays of Passover, Easter & Ramadan all overlap in the same month. These holidays respectively celebrate themes of liberation and expansion, rebirth and renewal, and forgiveness and self-restraint.Unrelated, I went on a foraging hike this weekend in the North Georgia mountains. I learned about some of the medicinal plants that are in abundance right now like violets, dead nettle, and yellow root. So many of these plants offer medicine that is deeply needed in this moment - respiratory health, vibrancy, and healing. In a talk given by a fellow meditation teacher, she marveled at the fact that the earth is producing exactly what we most need right now.In the same way, we see time responding to our needs. The overlap of lunar and solar calendars doesn’t happen often, and at a moment when divisiveness feels ever-present - when we are seeing a dramatic ramp up in exclusive policy vs inclusive policy - the universe is responding with the reminder of what we most need and what is most sacred:Our connection to each other and the planet we live onJoin me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we explore our meditation practice as a pathway to unity. 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:*Roots: nature-based meditation app*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.#meditatewithmeryl

In the last episode, Rhizomatic Meditation, I created and shared this term - ‘Rhizomatic Meditation’ which is really just another way to describe the process of becoming a meditator, in my opinion.A rhizome is “a continuously growing horizontal underground stem which puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots at intervals” like ginger or iris plants.I think this is an interesting lens to view our meditation practice through as well. Rather than a clear end goal that we are systematically working towards, accomplishing one study unit and then the next; instead we grow horizontally along our path underground.It isn’t always clear. It definitely isn’t linear. Nor are we always fully aware of the process happening underground.So, we continue to meditate, we journal, and we share or discuss with our community to help us uncover/discover what is happening as we grow underground. Join me for today’s mini meditation and let’s feel for ourselves how we grow. 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:*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