Today’s mini meditation comes from a new virtual course I’ve recently created for companies wanting to introduce mindfulness in the office. This meditation is a quick practice of returning to presence when we are stressed, distracted or overwhelmed at work. Take 5 minutes and try it today.

I am always honored when someone takes the time to share a bit about their meditation practice with me and asks about their meditation struggles. This year, I intend to do an occasional FAQ bonus episode where I will answer a few of the questions I receive, and this is the inaugural episode! Today, I am chatting about what to do if “feeling the breath” makes you feel anxious, uncomfortable or like you are hyperventilating. I’ll try to answer the “how do I know my practice is working??” quandary. And, I’ll talk about meditating with the really tough stuff: trauma, emotional or mental overwhelm and imbalance…

Gregory Boyle defines compassion as “to be in awe of what someone has to carry, rather than to stand in judgment of how they carry it.” 

Mindfulness Meditation is often described with the image of a bird – one of the bird’s wings is “presence/awareness” and the other wing is “heartfulness”. This heartfulness is the cultivation of compassion. It is both part of the practice itself and part of the outcome of the practice.

Today’s mini meditation is practice that is phenomenal if you find yourself really struggling with thoughts during meditation. If you aren’t sure what to do with your thoughts, how to relate to them without struggle, or how to get quiet… this might be the practice for you!

This class was recorded on MLK Day 2020. I always feel a profound sense of gratitude and deeply humbled to try and share teachings on this day. As it happened, this day was also the day I planned to talk about the component of ‘non-judgment’ as part of a mindfulness practice.

I created this podcast as a way to share mindfulness meditation as a support of our everyday joy. I have been practicing and teaching mindfulness meditation for 10 years as an everyday practitioner. What I mean by “everyday” is that I’m a mom-of-two. I’m a partner and activity community member. I’m a business owner. I have real life responsibilities and commitments. I’m not a monk and I don’t think you need to be one either in order to find daily joy and happiness.

This month, here at The Mindful Minute, we are all about building a strong, consistent meditation practice, and that begins by training the brain to come back to presence. Today’s mini meditation is inspired by Viktor Frankl who said, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”