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

As our Living in a Divided World meditation series comes to end, I wanted to wrap up the month with a discussion with one of the amazing creative souls that has provided me with a sense of connection and hope during the pandemic - my cousin!Uli Beutter Cohen is a New York City–based documentarian, artist, and the creator of Subway Book Review. She explores belonging to a time and place through writing and photography. Uli is a sought-after speaker and panelist. Her work has been featured on TV, in print and online by New York magazine, Esquire, Vogue, Forbes, Oprah Magazine, Glamour, the BBC, and The Guardian, among others.For nearly a decade, Uli has ridden the subway through New York City to observe, interview, and photograph some of its most imaginative people: the readers of books. Between The Lines: Stories from the Underground, Uli’s first book, is the remarkable result—a collection of conversations that beautifully illuminate who we are and where we are going. Between the Lines is an enthusiastic celebration of the ways stories invite us into each other’s lives, and a call to action for imagining a bold, empathetic future together. So, get on board, stand clear of the closing doors and enjoy this special ride.*Between the Lines releases everywhere on October 26, 2021. You can pre-order Between the Lines at your favorite indie bookshop.Pre-ordering books is a huge help to authors. https://bookshop.org/a/3206/9781982145675 Find Uli at https://www.subwaybookreview.co/@subwaybookreview@theUBCMindful and Modern - Mindful and Modern makes the most beautiful meditation cushions, chairs, candles, and more. Be sure to visit https://www.mindfulandmodern.com/ and use code MindfulMinute10 to save 10% on your entire order. 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 learn more about my:*Shoreline: my new meditation app*Awakened Heart Meditation Teacher Training*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.You 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

In this mini meditation, we dig into the four qualities that all beings possess in immeasurable quantities. Lovingkindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy & Equanimity. This guided meditation will walk us through all four qualities, allowing us to foster and grow what we need most for the days that lie ahead.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.In celebration of my 5-year podcast anniversary {!!!}, 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. Plus you’ll get goodies in the mail from me!Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minuteSpecial thanks to today’s sponsors:Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journal, I use and love their guided meditation journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! By using our code MINDFULMINUTE21, you'll receive 20% off your first purchase. https://bit.ly/BaronfigMindful and Modern - Mindful and Modern makes the most beautiful meditation cushions, chairs, candles, and more. Be sure to visit https://www.mindfulandmodern.com/ and use code MindfulMinute10 to save 10% on your entire order. You can learn more about my:*Shoreline: my new meditation app*Awakened Heart Meditation Teacher Training*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.

This meditation series, Living in a Divided World, is a series about truly acknowledging the level of divisiveness in our society and in ourselves at this particular moment in time. It is a series exploring how we might find a sense of balance or even peace within the fractures.Part 1 invited us to courageously stop and notice that we stand at a crossroad. A crossroad between aversion {all that we disagree with} and attachment {all that we believe to be true and just}. A crossroad where all opposites meet. Part 2 offered the chance to lean in softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear. It was a reminder that much of our practice hinges on the ability to listen. And now, in part 3, we dig into the four qualities that all beings possess in immeasurable quantities. Compassion is one of them, to be sure, but compassion alone isn’t enough to get us through this moment. Join me for today’s dharma talk and guided meditation practice; it is designed to help us draw out these 4 immeasurable qualities when we need them the most. Right now.In celebration of my 5-year podcast anniversary {!!!}, 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. Plus you’ll get goodies in the mail from me!Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minuteSpecial thanks to today’s sponsors:Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journal, I use and love their guided meditation journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! By using our code MINDFULMINUTE21, you'll receive 20% off your first purchase. https://bit.ly/BaronfigMindful and Modern - Mindful and Modern makes the most beautiful meditation cushions, chairs, candles, and more. Be sure to visit https://www.mindfulandmodern.com/ and use code MindfulMinute10 to save 10% on your entire order. You can learn more about my:*Shoreline: my new meditation app*Awakened Heart Meditation Teacher Training*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.

As we explore living in a divided world, as we struggle with the myriad of problems that face us in this moment, it can be hard to understand the teaching of The Middle Way. The invitation to rest in the middle of tension, paradox or discord without needing to resolve it, can feel uncomfortable to say the least. As I work through this teaching in my own practice, I often find myself reflecting on the words of Rilke - “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.”Join me for today’s mini meditation as we learn to love the questions themselves. 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.In celebration of my 5-year podcast anniversary {!!!}, 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. Plus you’ll get goodies in the mail from me!Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minuteSpecial thanks to today’s sponsors:Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journal, I use and love their guided meditation journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! By using our code MINDFULMINUTE21, you'll receive 20% off your first purchase. https://bit.ly/BaronfigMindful and Modern - Mindful and Modern makes the most beautiful meditation cushions, chairs, candles, and more. Be sure to visit https://www.mindfulandmodern.com/ and use code MindfulMinute10 to save 10% on your entire order. You can learn more about my:*Shoreline: my new meditation app*Awakened Heart Meditation Teacher Training*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.

“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.” ~Ajahn SumedoAs we talk about facing the divisiveness that plagues our every moment, the never-ending list of crises that need solving, we are exploring a path within meditation known as “The Middle Way”.The Middle Way lies between aversion and attachment; it lies within the meeting point of opposites. This teaching feels like something like a koan to me. A koan in an unanswerable question, riddle or poem that invites us to a state of awakening. We can’t explain it but somehow, when we hear it, we understand the truth that lies within it. There is a part of us that feels called to stand up for what we believe is right, to stand up for the health of the world {in all of the ways, and addressing all of the pandemics, and in this same moment, we are invited to sit in the middle of the tension, paradox and discord, and quietly relax right in the middle of it all. It is ok if you respond to this teaching with more questions than answers, with a whole list of comments that start with, “but…” I have questions too. And, I am reminded of Rilke as he writes, “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.”These teachings don’t say “don’t feel”, and they don’t say “don’t act”. These teachings allow for all of it to be here. In the middle. In celebration of my 5-year podcast anniversary {!!!}, 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. Plus you’ll get goodies in the mail from me!Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minuteSpecial thanks to today’s sponsors:Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journal, I use and love their guided meditation journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! By using our code MINDFULMINUTE21, you'll receive 20% off your first purchase. https://bit.ly/BaronfigMindful and Modern - Mindful and Modern makes the most beautiful meditation cushions, chairs, candles, and more. Be sure to visit https://www.mindfulandmodern.com/ and use code MindfulMinute10 to save 10% on your entire order. You can learn more about my:*Shoreline: my new meditation app*Awakened Heart Meditation Teacher Training*Live, virtual meditation classes with me*Upcoming eventsAll by visiting merylarnett.com.

As we explore the paradox of the deep divides of our world today and the teachings of connectedness that have existed throughout time, we use practices like this meditation to help us land right here in the present moment. Meditation is always inviting us into the reality of the present, where all opposites exist at once. "The still point of the turning world" as T.S. Eliot calls it. We can choose to battle out right/left politics, and all the other ways of division, but the truth is we are the same. We, all beings, Are. The. Same. We share 99.9% of our genetic material with every other human on this earth. We are all scared of dying and of being alone. We all biologically need to belong and feel ‘correct’ in some way. And yet, the more we entrench ourselves in our own correctness, the more we ensure our fears become true. We feel more alone. We feel more threatened and unsafe. Climb out of the trench. Sit on your cushion. Land right here, right now. Let’s practice. 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. In celebration of my 5-year podcast anniversary {!!!}, 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. Plus you’ll get goodies in the mail from me! Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minute Special thanks to today’s sponsors: Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journal, I use and love their guided meditation journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! By using our code MINDFULMINUTE21, you'll receive 20% off your first purchase. https://bit.ly/Baronfig Mindful and Modern - Mindful and Modern makes the most beautiful meditation cushions, chairs, candles, and more. Be sure to visit https://www.mindfulandmodern.com/ and use code MindfulMinute10 to save 10% on your entire order. You can learn more about my: *Shoreline: my new meditation app *Live, virtual meditation classes with me *Upcoming events   All by visiting merylarnett.com.

Today’s episode kicks off a new series for me, and I've been turning this over in my mind for months {maybe years?}... exploring how our meditation practice invites us to engage with a world that feels more divided than ever. This month, on The Mindful Minute we are going to *Deal with Divisiveness* - I struggle as much as the next person with fear, outrage, frustration and exhaustion. And yet, I do believe there is a way forward, and I believe that our meditation practice always shows us the next right step when we are willing to listen. ⁠ ⁠ Meditation is always inviting us into the reality of the present, where all opposites exist at once. "The still point of the turning world" as T.S. Eliot calls it... but once we land here, what do we do?⁠ ⁠ Join me for today’s discussion and guided meditation as we begin an exploration of division and interdependence * together* <3 In celebration of my 5-year podcast anniversary {!!!}, 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. Plus you’ll get goodies in the mail from me! Donate here: https://www.merylarnett.com/support-the-mindful-minute Special thanks to today’s sponsors: Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journal, I use and love their guided meditation journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! By using our code MINDFULMINUTE21, you'll receive 20% off your first purchase. https://bit.ly/Baronfig Mindful and Modern - Mindful and Modern makes the most beautiful meditation cushions, chairs, candles, and more. Be sure to visit https://www.mindfulandmodern.com/ and use code MindfulMinute10 to save 10% on your entire order. You can learn more about my: *Shoreline: my new meditation app *Awakened Heart Meditation Teacher Training *Live, virtual meditation classes with me *Upcoming events   All by visiting merylarnett.com.

BIG news, y’all! This month I am celebrating 5 YEARS of podcasting?! 5 years of creating, writing and sharing meditations with you. And, this little podcast has grown to over 40,000 listeners each month! Wow. And, thank you! Thank you for listening and being a part of this community. I’ve got some big goals and some fun giveaways to help celebrate this milestone. Tune into today’s episode to learn more and then to meditate with a beautiful practice from my app: Shoreline. Today’s 10-minute meditation is a sound meditation that includes an ancient practice from the zen tradition known as a koan. A koan is a type of teaching that is offered as a phrase, question, short poem that feels both completely cryptic and deeply understood in the same moment. You don’t have to try to understand or explain it. Just let it live inside you as you listen. Pop some headphones on for the best sound experience, and let’s begin. 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. Special thanks to today’s sponsors: Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journal, I use and love their guided meditation journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! By using our code MINDFULMINUTE21, you'll receive 20% off your first purchase. https://bit.ly/Baronfig Mindful and Modern - Mindful and Modern makes the most beautiful meditation cushions, chairs, candles, and more. Be sure to visit https://www.mindfulandmodern.com/ and use code MindfulMinute10 to save 10% on your entire order. 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 You can learn more about my: *Shoreline: my new meditation app *Live, virtual meditation classes with me *Upcoming events All by visiting merylarnett.com.   Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/

What a fun show I have in store for you today! As I very often do these days, I got an email a few months ago suggesting that I consider artist Kyle Webster as a guest for The Mindful Minute. Now, I get a lot of these emails and 99% of the time, I say ‘no thank you,’ because this show is not primarily about interviews, but occasionally one feels like a really good fit. And this one??? Well, it was suggested we talk about meditation {my favorite subject}, creativity {my second favorite subject}, and beautifully designed notebooks {ummmm, hi. Obsessed.} so this was an absolute yes for me. And, I’m delighted to say that the conversation was just as good as I hoped it would be. Kyle T Webster is an international award-winning illustrator, living in North Carolina, who has drawn for The New Yorker, TIME, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and more. He is known throughout the world as the founder of KyleBrush.com, the brand behind the world's best-selling Photoshop brushes for professional illustrators, animators, and designers. And most recently, he released an interactive, meditative notebook through Baronfig called Trace. Today, Kyle and I explore the intersection of mindfulness and creativity, the difference between meditation and meditative practices and how valuable it is to realize what is meditative for you, why boredom is a vital element for our lives, and he shares a bit of his own meditative practice that we can try at home {even if you “can’t” draw!}. Side note, this interview is how I was introduced to the company, Baronfig. I am so in love with their notebooks {the dream and meditation journals specifically} that I have since asked them to be a sponsor of The Mindful Minute. Bonus for you - you can buy Trace at 20% off using code MindfulMinute21! *This interview was secured before Baronfig and I had any discussions of sponsorships. All guests on this show are here because I truly wanted to share a conversation with them. No one can pay to be a guest on this show.* Check out Kyle’s notebook here: baronfig.com/accessories/trace 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 Special thanks to today’s sponsors: Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journal, I use and love their guided meditation journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! By using our code MINDFULMINUTE21, you'll receive 20% off your first purchase. https://bit.ly/Baronfig Mindful and Modern - Mindful and Modern makes the most beautiful meditation cushions, chairs, candles, and more. Be sure to visit https://www.mindfulandmodern.com/ and use code MindfulMinute10 to save 10% on your entire order. You can learn more about my: *Shoreline: my new meditation app *Awakened Heart Meditation Teacher Training *Live, virtual meditation classes with me *Upcoming events All by visiting merylarnett.com.   Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/

This class originally aired in July 2020: According to the Yoga Sutra, meditation connects us to our inner luminosity & sorrowless joy. In modern day terms, when we talk about meditation as a tool for emotional resiliency, we are really talking about tapping into this inner luminosity. ⁠ ⁠ We won't avoid hardship and pain in our lives just because we meditate, but we will be able to maintain connection to that inner luminosity and sorrowless joy to help us move through with more grace. Join me for today’s mini episode of The Mindful Minute as we work with a specific meditation practice to help us build awareness of that inner light. Special thanks to today’s sponsors: Baronfig - Baronfig’s line of “Tools for Thinkers” includes guided journals, notebooks, writing instruments, bags, accessories, and so much more. As an avid journal, I use and love their guided meditation journal and their basic Confidant notebooks! By using our code MINDFULMINUTE21, you'll receive 20% off your first purchase. https://baronfig.com/ Mindful and Modern - Mindful and Modern makes the most beautiful meditation cushions, chairs, candles, and more. Be sure to visit https://www.mindfulandmodern.com/ and use code MindfulMinute10 to save 10% on your entire order. 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. You can learn more about my: *Shoreline: my new meditation app *Live, virtual meditation classes with me *Upcoming events All 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 You 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