I have a question for you -

Do you equate peace with effort? Does it feel as though you must work to attain peacefulness?

I think for many of us, it does feel this way - as though we are trying to get somewhere or attain something within this practice.

Don’t chase the light. Remember you ARE the light.

Join me for this final episode in our Endarkenment series as we discuss receptivity and share a 20-minute guided meditation practice.

The dark so often is associated with something scary, and yet it is really simply something quiet.

The quiet is only scary when you think you might hear something you don’t want to hear.

Stillness is uncomfortable because you might have to feel something you’ve been trying to ignore.

I’ve come to think that meditation is only perceived as difficult because we are so hellbent on chasing the light. The moment we let go of that control, the moment we open up to the mysterious darkness is the moment our practice becomes easeful.

Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute as we explore how chasing the light shows up in our meditation practice {and in life!}, and what it means to be fiercely compassionate in the dark.

This meditation series, The Dark Side of Meditation, is a nod to meditation teacher Deborah Eden Tull and her book, Luminous Darkness. Her teachings and my own experience have guided me to pay deeper attention to the dark; and so, we will use some of our winter months to stop chasing the light and learn how to savor the dark.

This time of year asks us to be patient enough, brave enough, to linger in the dark. Join me for today’s episode of The Mindful Minute podcast as we explore endarkenment rather than enlightenment.

Friends, today I get to share a conversation with one of my personal favorite meditation teachers, Diana Winston!

Together, we talk about the second edition release of her book, Fully Present, as well as my personal favorite book, The Little Book of Being.

Diana shares some insights on how the field of mindfulness meditation has evolved over the last ten years.

Meditation is a practice of collective empowerment. It is for us, not me alone. So, at the end of the practice, let us offer up the merit.

May this practice benefit all. May this practice be for the good of humanity. May patience, presence and kindness spread across the planet.

Remember where attention goes, energy flows.

This month’s meditation series is a foundational challenge to help you build up to a 20-minute/day nourishing meditation practice. I want to get away from the ‘check-it-off-the-to-do-list’ mentality and instead build a practice that feels so vital and lovely that you wouldn’t skip a day no matter what happens.

A piece of this nourishing practice comes when we specifically name what we most want or need from the meditation practice. When we name for ourselves why we are practicing, there is more encouragement to show up to the cushion each day, and there is more mindful energy carried throughout our day. Because we aren’t really practicing for those 10-minutes on the meditation cushion; we are practicing for the other 23 hours and 50 minutes of our day.

Normally, in January, I do an introductory series that lays out the foundations of a practice, and I stress that starting with even 5 minutes/day is enough. But I wonder if it is really enough to keep you practicing.

So this year, I’m offering something different. I’m offering an introductory series into the depth and beauty of the practice. In the next 3 weeks, you will go from meditating 10 minutes/day to 20 minutes/day, and my hope is that you’ll discover the beauty within this practice and within yourself as we go.

This series is both a beginner series and a series for those that have lost the magic in their practice.

This meditation series has been an exploration of time. For most of us, time appears to be as steady as a stone - something that is always here, guiding us along - reminding us where we are supposed to be by what time it is.

But, things aren’t quite as they appear when it comes to time or to stones.

When we meditate, time becomes circular, all encompassing and all knowing, rather than a step by step progression. There is no where you need to be because you are already exactly where you are.

Join me for this final installment in our exploration of time and guided meditation practice inviting you into the timeless realm of your deepest knowing.