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

Water. An essential ingredient of life; we know it in many forms - rivers and oceans, rainfall and mist, trickles, streams and tears. Water is perpetually seeking a goal it will never achieve: to reach the center of the earth. Instead of achievement, water teaches us the importance of the journey. Water is always moving, concerned with nothing other than its own flow and following a path of least resistance. Each of us was held in water for roughly 9 months; perhaps it is even correct to say this is the first element we know. Water allows for birth; not just of human life, but also of ideas, of creativity, and of vitality. Water allows us to be reborn again and again. In working with the elements inside of our meditation practice, we’ve swept ourselves clean and dried ourselves out through wind. We have burned what no longer serves, not to destroy it, but so that we can allow the nutrients buried deep inside to be freed as ash and then be absorbed through the flow of water. Water teaches us of perseverance, inevitability and surprise. Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we follow this path through a brief dharma talk and 20-minute guided meditation. Let go into flow. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider leaving me a review wherever you found this podcast. Your review helps others to find this show! You can learn more about my: *Spring Equinox Virtual Meditation Retreat *My upcoming meditation app: Shoreline *and, my live, virtual meditation classes All by visiting merylarnett.com. The story I read in today’s episode is an excerpt from Illusions by Richard Bach 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

Happy Monday y’all! Today’s mini meditation is another sneak peek within my soon-to-be-released meditation app: Shoreline! I’ll be releasing a longer episode later this month with all the details and background stories of this app, but in the meantime... This meditation practice is drawing on an innately meditative experience - that of staring at a campfire. Any camper will tell you that something quiet and reflective occurs as the sun sets and the campfire burns. Perhaps it is the yellow orange flames that lick or the crackle of burning wood, but something of this experience calls us inward. Fire calls to us on an elemental level as well - for the elements show up within us just as they do outside of us. Fire calls forth experiences of transformation, of lighting the path ahead and of creating the warmth of safety and the clearing away of what is no longer needed. This meditation uses the sounds of campfire embers as recorded by acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton. Enjoy! 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: *Spring Equinox Virtual Meditation Retreat *My upcoming meditation app: Shoreline *and, my live, virtual meditation classes All 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

Fire is perhaps the most often referenced element within sacred practices from around the world. In cultures near and far, the belly is seen as the home of our life force, our passion, our drive, our digestion {of food, thought and feeling}. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote of the “fire in the belly” to describe a person’s drive back in 1882, and today, science continues to prove the deep relationship between our gut and our brain. When we work with the element of fire in our meditation practice, it is useful to reflect on the element of fire in the external world as well. In reading about controlled burns of forest, two of the most often cited benefits are: Fire reduces the risk of destructive wildfires. In the same way, when we intentionally work with the fire element in meditation, we are preventing the wild flare-ups that are all too common in moments of high-stress. Fire can be rejuvenating. It returns nutrients to the soil in the ashes of vegetation that could otherwise take years to decompose. The additional sunlight and open space in a forest can help young trees and other plants start to grow. Likewise, when we burn away the stories that haunt us, we are left rich and fertile for deep healing and new growth. In Winter Solstice ceremonies, fires are lit to call the light of the sun home. In Indigenious ceremonies, grasslands along the river are burned to call the salmon home. At first glance, fire can seem like a fearsome, raging torrent, but in actuality, it is lighting our path home and nurturing our rejuvenation. So let’s burn. Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we delve into the fire with a dharma talk and guided, 20-minute meditation practice. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider leaving me a review wherever you found this podcast. Your review helps others to find this show! You can learn more about my: *Spring Equinox Virtual Meditation Retreat *My upcoming meditation app: Shoreline *and, my live, virtual meditation classes All 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

Y’all! I am so thrilled to share with you a sneak peek into my labor of love: a new meditation app called Shoreline. I'm delighted to offer my listeners and students something straight from my heart. You likely know how much I love meditating in nature, and now, I am able to bring you my very favorite meditative experiences combined with stunning soundscapes created by Emmy-award winning acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton. Together, we will use the elements, unique geographical locations and the call of many wild animals to enhance our meditation practices. I can't wait to share this with you. The app won’t be available for download for a few more weeks; in the meantime, every Monday, I will release a sneak peek meditation from the app starting with today’s practice: Swept Away By The Wind. Sign-up to be notified when Shoreline goes live here: https://mailchi.mp/merylarnett/shoreline-announcement 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 practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.merylarnett.com/live-virtual-meditation-classes ***Did you know I have a 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

When we pull up a map, we do it because we are trying to figure out how to get somewhere we want to be. We see developed land represented as one color and forest as another. We see water represented in blue and roads in a myriad of colors indicating the type of road. What we see are symbols that can help guide us on a journey. The ancient meditation practitioners also left us maps. They left us markers from their journey to help us on ours… The map of the interior journey is often described via a map known as the chakras. Depending on the school of thought, there might be differing numbers of chakras, differing locations, colors or symbols; just as different mapmakers vary their symbols. Regardless of what the map may look like, we can read it because certain threads are maintained as consistent. In the meditation world, this consistency is the symbiotic relationship between the outer world and the inner world. When an ecosystem is healthy and thriving, we see the elements {Earth, Air, Fire & Water} working in tandem to promote the most prosperity, the most diversity possible. The same holds true within the inner landscape. We can use the elements both as an anchor for our meditation practice as well as tools for healing. In this month’s meditation series, we will explore each of the four elements, starting with wind, and practicing a technique known as elemental purification. I hope you’ll join me! You can take this awareness of the elements even deeper this month during my Spring Equinox Virtual Meditation Retreat on Saturday, March 20. Learn more here: https://www.merylarnett.com/events You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett **Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!** Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to meryl@merylarnett.com to get your first live class with me FOR FREE! ***Did you know I have a 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 my experience on the meditation cushion, the web of indebtedness is exactly what we innately become aware of as our meditation practice moves into deeper cycles. It begins as we enter into a reciprocal relationship with our meditation practice.   We give our time, energy and attention to our practice, and it responds to us with greater awareness, insight and warmth… The practice becomes sweeter because we give ourselves to it.   And eventually, this spills over into our everyday actions. Join me for today’s mini meditation practice and notice how it feels to consciously ‘give’ to your meditation 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. You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett **Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!** Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to meryl@merylarnett.com to get your first live class with me FOR FREE! ***Did you know I have a 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

This month, we have been exploring the cycle of awakening in this 4 part series - ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It?’ And, with today’s episode, we reach the pinnacle of this cycle. Reciprocity. This cycle moves from paying attention, to noticing the gifts, to an outpouring of gratitude, and finally to reciprocity. Reciprocity is the literal answer to “what does love have to do with it?” Reciprocity is the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit; cultural anthropologists support this idea in what they call the "web of indebtedness". In my experience, this web of indebtedness is exactly what we innately become aware of as our meditation practice moves into deeper cycles. It begins as we enter into a reciprocal relationship with our meditation practice.   We give our time, energy and attention to our practice, and it responds to us with greater awareness, insight and warmth… The practice becomes sweeter because we give ourselves to it.   And eventually, this spills over into our everyday actions -   We become more aware of our excess. Of how and what we teach our children. We are more inclined to listen and engage with humans we might not otherwise notice…   And that noticing, it is starting another loop on the never-ending spiral of awakening. It is yet again paying attention, which will lead to noticing more gifts, more gratitude and new levels of reciprocity…   Let’s explore this cycle now; join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we talk through this teaching and then share in a 20-minute guided meditation. You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett **Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!** Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to meryl@merylarnett.com to get your first live class with me FOR FREE! ***Did you know I have a 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

Today’s mini meditation is a practice inspired by the words of Maya Angelou - “This is a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before.” A practice of gratefulness and wakefulness without the requisite “3 things you are grateful for…” cliche. 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 practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett **Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!** Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to meryl@merylarnett.com to get your first live class with me FOR FREE! ***Did you know I have a 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

I can imagine many of you, like me, feel something between a yawn and an eye roll when you hear the word 'gratitude' these days - it has become such an overused, misunderstood word... I must have taught a dozen different gratitude classes over the years, but I've noticed a significant shift in my practice and understanding of gratefulness in the time of COVID. This shift got me thinking… when excess is stripped away, is it possible we feel more abundant?⁠ In the past, if I practiced gratitude, I did my diligence to write down 3 things I was grateful for - the issue was I tended to take the “things” part of that phrase too literally. I would be grateful for my coffee {and let’s be clear, I still am. Every. Single. Day.}, but living gratefully really isn’t about the things. Or the shoulds. A gratefulness that feels alive in our bodies doesn’t come from a mandate that “you SHOULD practice gratitude”. In fact, I believe that gratitude isn’t something we can ‘do’. I think it is actually the spontaneous evolution of waking up to a more heartfelt existence. So, in today’s episode of The Mindful Minute, I ask you to brave a discussion of gratitude; we will look at it perhaps from a different perspective, with absolutely no request to journal 3 things you are grateful for at the end!! Ready? You can practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett **Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!** Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to meryl@merylarnett.com to get your first live class with me FOR FREE! ***Did you know I have a 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

Today’s mini meditation practice is a practice in recognizing the gifts that your time and attention bestow on you. Every breath, every thought, every feeling is a gift from your soul to your ego-self. Will you waste these gifts obsessing about your next to-do, or will you witness that obsessive thought with a smile and a “thank you” as you honor the gift of wisdom that just landed in your lap? And because this is a practice in receiving gifts, we will bring in a few extra elements meant to infuse your practice with a sense of sacredness and reverence. Join me for this short practice, and be sure to tune into the episode titled What’s Love Got To Do With It {part 2} for a deeper explanation of the gifts we receive from meditation. 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 practice with me live each Monday as I record this podcast. My virtual meditation class includes time for Q&A and a chance to connect with me personally! https://www.union.fit/orgs/meryl-arnett **Use code: Mindful5 to get your first class for $5!** Even better, if you enjoyed today’s episode, leave me a review wherever you get your podcasts, screenshot it and send it to meryl@merylarnett.com to get your first live class with me FOR FREE! ***Did you know I have a 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