Schmindfulness

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast.  This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice.  Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless.  But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not. Each episode answers 4 basic questions: 1.  How do you meditate? 2.  What was is like the very first time you meditated? 3.  An example of when you noticed meditation made a difference in your life. 4.  What other activities help you stay mindful on a regular basis? Please visit the How I Meditate page at www.MeditateThisPodcast.com to learn more and submit your own How I Meditate story. Thanks! Pete and Jay

Hop aboard Cory Allen's spaceship as he explains the many places his music might take you. Feel like spelunking in the labyrinth of your soul? It can do that. Maybe shoot out into the deepest ends of the universe? It can do that too. And when not composing and producing music, Cory can lead you on one serious guided meditation. So sit back and let his smooth baritone words ease you across this spectrum of mindful conversation. After, be sure to listen to his binaural beats and other music—or catch his excellent podcast The Astral Hustle, on which Pete and Jay were honored to be featured for April 11. Be sure to listen to the follow up mini-episode called How I Meditate, where Cory Allen tells us about his personal meditation practice. www.MeditateThisPodcast.com

What happens when excited Meditate This! fans across the United States get a chance to ask Pete and Jay any questions they want? Well, let's just say the U.S. Postal Service had to work a lot of overtime last month—like they do during the Christmas deluge, delivering letters full of dreams and inquiry to Santa Claus. But it was all well worth it because we've got answers to some of your deepest and darkest questions (well, not that dark). So join Pete and Jay as they respond to listeners who wonder how they can de-stress, find more time during the day, and, you know, what exactly happens when we die. Just another day at the office for Pete and Jay. Enjoy! (Note: no reindeer were used in the making of this episode.) 

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast.  This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice.  Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless.  But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not. Each episode answers 4 basic questions: 1.  How do you meditate? 2.  What was is like the very first time you meditated? 3.  An example of when you noticed meditation made a difference in your life. 4.  What other activities help you stay mindful on a regular basis? Please visit the How I Meditate page at www.MeditateThisPodcast.com to learn more and submit your own How I Meditate story. Thanks! Pete and Jay

We've all heard about it. The warm, bright light someone sees when they're near death. The angelic, universal hum. The feeling of everything being, as Radiohead once sang, "in its right place." Well, imagine that experience being reflected and championed by a renowned neurosurgeon who understands the mysteries of the brain better than almost anyone. With his New York Times bestseller, Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife, Dr. Eben Alexander gained immediate attention from believers and skeptics alike as he detailed his experience of traveling to a harmonious realm while in a coma after contracting bacterial meningitis. This episode changed him from a materialist scientist to a spiritual mystic in pursuit of bringing the message of unconditional love to the masses. We dive right in with Dr. Alexander and learn how meditation can take us to the domain where consciousness and free-will are the true foundations of this universe. Climb aboard and take the trip!

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast.  This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice.  Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless.  But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not. Each episode answers 4 basic questions: 1.  How do you meditate? 2.  What was is like the very first time you meditated? 3.  An example of when you noticed meditation made a difference in your life. 4.  What other activities help you stay mindful on a regular basis? Please visit the How I Meditate page at www.MeditateThisPodcast.com to learn more and submit your own How I Meditate story. Thanks! Pete and Jay

What is your authentic self, and where the heck can you find it?  Before you answer, take note: Our guest in episode 80 discovered her true self 30 years ago during a multi-dimensional, mystical experience. Ever since then, Maureen Pelton has been on a journey to help others along their own path of self-discovery.  She is founder of the ShiftIt Institute, which  includes integrative psychotherapy, coaching, and consulting to 150 organizations, training health care professionals and facilitating workshops.  As Maureen tells us, many people are afraid to search for their authentic self.  It's not always pleasant, and might even challenge your relationships with the people who love you the most.  If you’ve always felt there was something missing in your life, maybe you’re ready to start the journey—right here on Meditate This! Podcast (of all places).  

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast.  This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice.  Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless.  But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not. Each episode answers 4 basic questions: 1.  How do you meditate? 2.  What was is like the very first time you meditated? 3.  An example of when you noticed meditation made a difference in your life. 4.  What other activities help you stay mindful on a regular basis? Please visit the How I Meditate page at www.MeditateThisPodcast.com to learn more and submit your own How I Meditate story. Thanks! Pete and Jay

Alana Kessler isn't just founder, owner, and director of Sangha Yoga Shala—she's also a member. Yoga, especially Yin Yoga, has provided the perspective she needs to stay healthy and grounded each day. With a master’s in clinical nutrition and a bachelor’s in nutrition and dietetics from NYU, she knows well how essential the relationship is between a happy body and a happy mind.  Hear her chronicle a nearly decade-long struggle with an eating disorder and how she found her way through to the healthy state she now enjoys. When in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, be sure to stop by the studio and say hello or explore her new health and wellness website, The Heart Practice.  

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast.  This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice.  Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless.  But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not. Each episode answers 4 basic questions: 1.  How do you meditate? 2.  What was is like the very first time you meditated? 3.  An example of when you noticed meditation made a difference in your life. 4.  What other activities help you stay mindful on a regular basis? Please visit the How I Meditate page at www.MeditateThisPodcast.com to learn more and submit your own How I Meditate story. Thanks! Pete and Jay

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast.  This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice.  Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless.  But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not. Each episode answers 4 basic questions: 1.  How do you meditate? 2.  What was is like the very first time you meditated? 3.  An example of when you noticed meditation made a difference in your life. 4.  What other activities help you stay mindful on a regular basis? Please visit the How I Meditate page at www.MeditateThisPodcast.com to learn more and submit your own How I Meditate story.  Thanks! Pete and Jay

A trip to the grocery store. A day spent shopping for new jeans. While we may see these tasks as mundane, even tedious, these are just two things that Toni Bernhard is no longer able to do. With an illness that keeps her mostly confined to bed, Bernhard, a longtime Buddhist practitioner,shares her story by writing through the pain and exhaustion that each day brings. Her first book, How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers began as a manual for herself, but she soon realized they were words others needed to hear. The work won two Nautilus Book Awards: a gold medal in self-help/psychology and a silver medal in memoir. It was also named one of the "Best Books of 2010" by Spirituality and Practice magazine. Her second book, How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow, coincides with her increased presence on social media, and a life now spent interacting with sick individuals all over the world. Her blog  “Turning Straw Into Gold” is publis

A trip to the grocery store. A day spent shopping for new jeans. While we may see these tasks as mundane, even tedious, these are just two things the Toni Bernhard is no longer able to do. With an illness that keeps her mostly confined to bed, Bernhard, a longtime Buddhist practitioner,shares her story by writing through the pain and exhaustion that each day brings. Her first book, How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers began as a manual for herself, but she soon realized they were words others needed to hear. The work won two Nautilus Book Awards: a gold medal in self-help/psychology and a silver medal in memoir. It was also named one of the "Best Books of 2010" by Spirituality and Practice magazine. Her second book, How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow, coincides with her increased presence on social media, and a life now spent interacting with sick individuals all over the world. Her blog  “Turning Straw Into Gold” is publish

TIME magazine once called Gene Baur "the conscience of the food movement," and it's easy to see why. A vegan who has been championing animal rights for more than three decades, Baur co-founded the animal rescue organization Farm Sanctuary in 1986. His efforts has earned widespread media coverage—including an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart—and he has penned two books. Take a listen to this passionate and informative episode, and hear Gene describe his vision for a future where man lives in harmony with all the animals of the earth.

Feel it? The holiday magic that courses through your veins and lights your feelings with love and joy? We sincerely hope you do. But what if you don't? Well, that's okay, too. The holiday season is loaded with all kinds of pressure—but you are entitled to embrace wherever you are. So take a listen and hear Pete and Jay's tips on how to stay your authentic self in the midst of what might be some pretty, pretty intense moments of cheer.

This episode of Voices of Mindfulness features Gina White, the founder of Mindful Junkie.  She is an experienced Pilates and Mindfulness practitioner and instructor.  She is currently working on her master's degree in Mindfulness at Lesley University.  Gina has pink hair, great energy, and is committed to making mindfulness "normal" in addition to servicing people (err...in service to people). Visit www.MindfulJunkie.com and learn more about Gina.  Thanks Gina!!

Today's episode of Voices of Mindfulness features Meico Whitlock, a digital communications consultant from Washington DC.  He tells us where he finds meaning in life through connection.  Pete tells us why he admires his dog.  This episode ends with a great conversation about how social media can become mindful media. Thanks Meico for sitting down with us!  Sorry about butchering your name!!!

This very peppy episode of Voices of Mindfulness features Lisa Nirell, the author of The Mindful Marketer.  She is the Chief Energy Officer of EnergizeGrowth LLC and is an expert in strategic growth.   Lisa is a sought-after speaker for associations and leaders worldwide. Thanks Lisa!!!

This episode of Voice of Mindfulness features Lori Anderson, the President and CEO of International Sign Association.  She took up the practice of mindfulness 8 years ago after a diagnosis of breast cancer, and credits mindfulness with changing her life.  She tells us how it has personally transformed her over the years and the influence it has on the people she works with. Lori, we are grateful to have met you and thank you for stopping by to tell us your story.  All the best!!

Today's guest on Voices of Mindfulness is Victor.  He is retired from 20 years of service in the U.S. Army after graduating from West Point.  He tells us his story of almost becoming a Zen Buddhist monk at a young age and using mindfulness to deal with emotional trauma in the military.  He is now an executive coach using mindfulness to help people both in leadership and personal development. Our thanks to Victor for his many years of service and also for spending time with us.