Tracee Stanley, founder of Empowered Life Circle shares teachings that are inspired by more than 20 years of study in the traditions of the Himalayan Masters and Sri Vidya Tantra. The focus of her teaching honours life as a ritual and she is devoted to yoga nidra, meditation, self-inquiry, nature as a teacher, and ancestor reverence. She is the creatrix of the Empowered Life Self-Inquiry Oracle Deck and host of Radiant Rest Podcast which celebrates the practices, teachers, and traditions that prioritize the rituals of rest, sacred dreaming, and self-care.

Today, she is going to talk to us about the power and grace of yoga nidra, why we should practice both yoga nidra and meditation, and how to find the time to do so!

This conversation was such a treat for me; I know you will enjoy it too.

This week’s mini meditation is a self-compassion break guided by Dr. Kristen Neff. It is a powerful practice that offers you the chance to access exactly what you need in this moment - tender or fierce self-compassion.

You can listen to the full interview with Dr. Neff in the previous episode titled Fierce Self-Compassion.

I am thrilled to share today’s episode with y’all - I am talking with Dr. Kristen Neff, author of Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power and Thrive.

This book arrived right on time for me personally, and I can’t wait to share some of the stories behind it in today’s interview. We talk about the two sides of self-compassion, the interplay between personal and collective compassion and the powerful action that arises from it, and how anger is easily misunderstood within a meditation practice.

Join us for this powerful discussion and be sure to stay for Dr. Neff’s self-compassion meditation at the end.

“It is only when you go too far that you discover the boundary.”

This was the insight from a recent conversation I had with my partner in Shoreline meditation app, Gordon Hempton. He was applying this thought to recording sounds, and I believe it equally applies to our life experiences.

What if we shifted our internal narrative from one of shaming to one of appreciation for the times we misstep, overstep or go too far past our own boundaries?

Today’s episode of The Mindful Minute is the final installment of the Boundary Setting series. We’ve talked about the importance of presence, of non-judgment, and now, of compassion when it comes to both our meditation practice and our boundary setting.

Join me for today’s discussion and 20-minute guided meditation in this final exploration of boundaries.

Within meditation, non-judgment is the idea that whatever comes up within practice - thoughts, feelings, distractions - we simply allow it to be part of our present-moment experience without assigning a good/bad, like/dislike label to it.

Within boundary-setting, this same skill is the ability to separate the threads between ‘this is the boundary I need to set’ and ‘this is how I feel about setting the boundary.’ Without the skill to separate these threads, it is very easy to get lost in the emotional tangle of - I want to say no but I also want to be liked/loved/approved of/kind/etc… - and that contradiction often makes boundary setting feel difficult or even impossible for some of us.

Today’s mini meditation practice puts into practice the skill of non-judgment, so that ultimately, you too are able to say “no.” as a full sentence without any sort of emotional tangle surrounding it.

Within meditation, non-judgment is the idea that whatever comes up within practice - thoughts, feelings, distractions - we simply allow it to be part of our present-moment experience without assigning a good/bad, like/dislike label to it.

Within boundary-setting, this same skill is the ability to separate the threads between ‘this is the boundary I need to set’ and ‘this is how I feel about setting the boundary.’ Without the skill to separate these threads, it is very easy to get lost in the emotional tangle of - I want to say no but I also want to be liked/loved/approved of/kind/etc… - and that contradiction often makes boundary setting feel difficult or even impossible for some of us.

When we start to build our skill of non-judgment, we are in essence teasing apart the threads of our thoughts into the thought itself, and the way that we feel about that thought. Non-judgment allows us to cultivate discernment, choosing which threads to pursue and which to relinquish as real and not-true.

Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we explore the tenet of non-judgment and put it to use in our 20-minute guided meditation practice.

Today’s meditation practice is a practice in awakening to the physical boundaries of your body and the energetic boundaries of your being. This might sound so obvious or simple, but as we talk about often in meditation, many of us live slightly removed from our bodies. We aren’t conscious of our feelings or our embodied experience. 

This is why the first step of meditation is to get into the present moment, and to get into the body. This first step allows us to become embodied and conscious of our feelings and our boundaries.

So, we find our physical edges.

As we meditate, we use this first step of presence as a tool to find, feel, and fill out both our physical and energetic body boundaries.

Join me for this meditation exploration.