BIG NEWS: New Name; New Look
BIG NEWS: New Name; New Look
Our Mindful Nature 🍃
Friends, you will notice something BIG today as you click ‘play’ on this episode…
The Mindful Minute has a NEW name!!!
After 8 years of sharing recordings of Monday night meditation class on this podcast; I felt it was time to shift, to level up, to adjust in response to the times we find ourselves in.
As a meditation teacher, I very often hear 1 of 2 comments:
I want to meditate but I just don’t have enough time
I tried meditation once but I think too much
And so, this podcast was originally built on the premise of responding to those two statements. My goal was (and is) to offer accessible, enjoyable meditation practices with the reminder that you can meditate in 5 or 10 minutes just as effectively as you can in 20 - 30 minutes.
But then, I started noticing a steady uptick in another response when I mention that I am a meditation teacher… This response goes something like -
I DO meditate. I do my 10 minutes, and I am still struggling. I’m still anxious. Overwhelmed. Scared. Despairing.
And, the truth is, my friends, me too. We are in times of massive change, upheaval, and heartache; and this is going to require more than a 10-minute nervous system reset.
It asks us to wake up. To be less afraid of the dark. To be more tender with ourselves and all beings in this universe.
The work I hope to explore with you on this podcast moving forward is HOW?
How do we do this?
What makes us feel steady & well?
What makes us feel resourced?
I know without a shadow of doubt, from my own meditative experiences as well as through the teachings of many ancient wisdom holders, that embodying our connection to the natural world is perhaps the most important thing we can do for the wellbeing of humans, the planet and the more-than human that live here with us.
Hence the new name of this podcast - Our Mindful Nature.
It is a bit of a double entendre. Our Mindful Nature as in our inner nature, our own mindfulness, but also, it references the wisdom of the natural world that surrounds and supports us.
Moving forward, you can expect nature-based meditations accompanied by incredible soundscapes recorded by some of the best field recordists in the world. You can also expect conversations and practices that expand our understanding of mindfulness, meditation, and most importantly ‘wellness’.
Join me for today’s talk and 10-minute guided meditation practice.
Special thank you to Dr. Chanti Tacoronte-Perez for the cameo appearance in today’s episode, and the wisdom and insight regarding the vast spectrum of practices that make up our well-being. You can learn more about Dr. Chanti and her work here:
This Week’s Mini Meditation
Just the meditation; just for you!
Opening to the Wilderness
Grab your journal, a pen and some headphones. Then go take a seat outside and join me in this 10-minute guided meditation inspired by the words of Shefa Gold:
Can I open to trust the wilderness,
the unknown, the Mystery that rises
in response to my loving, curious longing?
Bonus Content:
Friend, collaborator, and nature field recordist Nick McMahan has a new series out on Apple TV called Earthsounds.
Earthsounds travels to spectacular habitats, including the Queensland rainforest, the Antarctic ice shelf, the Namibian dunes, tropical coral reefs and more. Discoveries and rarely heard recordings from the series include snow leopards singing love songs, the intimate chatter of ostrich chicks from inside their eggs, musical spiders, walrus’s underwater courtship calls and more. But it’s not just animals that make unusual noises; the series also captures the mesmerizing secret sounds of our planet, including the hum of deserts, drinking trees, and the mysterious buzz of the Northern Lights.
Highly recommend you check it out!
*all of the content shared in my podcasts, newsletters & meditations is written by me {Meryl Arnett} without the use of AI. If you catch a mistake or typo, I hope it makes you smile knowing a real person is behind every word published 💛