Guided Imagery Meditations

Guided imagery meditation is a form of focused meditation that helps create relaxation in the mind and body. It is a way of focusing your imagination to create calm, peaceful images in your mind, thereby providing a “mental escape."

Research shows guided imagery can help alleviate stress, anxiety, depression and many other mental and physical conditions. Guided imagery can also improve focus, productivity, and confidence. Click here to listen to some guided imagery meditations now.

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Feeling Overwhelmed? Try this 5 Minute Mindfulness Technique

happiness mindfulness Aug 06, 2021

Let's start with a quote from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"  

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

When I think of that quote, I think of mindfulness, being in the present moment, and enjoying the here and now. We live in a fast-paced world where we may struggle to take the time to really notice what is around us, how we are feeling, and what we are experiencing in the here and now.

One way to connect with the present moment and be mindful is to practice this technique for 5 minutes a day. This technique is commonly used for panic attacks and other forms of severe anxiety, but it can also be used in everyday stressful situations, as well as to simply take a moment to breathe, relax and enjoy the moment. Breathe slowly and deeply while you try this technique...


 

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Give 60 Seconds to Mindfulness

happiness mindfulness Jul 24, 2020

Here are my TOP 5 quick and easy mindfulness activities. Try one each day for the next five days, then keep doing your favorites regularly after that! 

1. Stretch for 60 seconds.

Take 60 seconds to stretch each muscle group, starting with your feet and working your way up to your head and neck. Breathe slowly and deeply as you stretch, feeling the tension and stress leave your body. Enjoy the 60 second break in your day, while reaping the relaxing benefits of stretching. 

2. Eat mindfully.

Have you ever heard of mindful eating? Well it's a thing ;) And it's probably the opposite of the fast-paced eating experience many of us are accustomed to. To practice mindful eating, take a small piece of food- for example, it could be a piece of chocolate, a blueberry or a raisin. Spend 60 seconds experiencing the item by noticing how it feels in your mouth. What does it smell like? What textures do you notice? How does it taste? Try to savor the item and pay close, mindful,...

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Use the Mind-Body Connection for Healing

happiness mindfulness Jun 24, 2019

What I'm about to explain is simply amazing, motivating, and essential for every person to know!

First, ever had that feeling when you are anxious and you get butterflies in your stomach? This is a great example of the very direct connection between the mind and body. 

So here's the coolest thing... The mind has been proven to heal the body. This is because the body is always responding to the way the mind is thinking and feeling. In fact, the immune cells that fight disease are triggered by multiple neurotransmitters in the brain. So your brain can send your cells messages to help you heal! 



The implications of this are fascinating to me. Could this mean that focusing your mind on healing a certain area of your body could actually increase the immune response to that area and help it heal? This would certainly make sense! And some research supports this too. In fact, this helps explain why some people experience improvements from placebo...

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Mindfulness for Stress Management

happiness mindfulness Jun 15, 2019

First, let me explain the stress response. When we feel a sense of threat, a stress response is activated. The problem is, if we are continuously under stress (or continuously perceiving many things as stressful/threatening), we start experiencing a stress response more easily, and often inaccurately. If you know anyone who is highly irritable or quick to become tense, they may be experiencing high levels of perceived stress, and therefore their stress response is easily triggered

This is where mindfulness comes in. If you practice mindfulness on a regular basis (5-20 minutes a day), your baseline level of stress is lower, and the inaccurate stress response becomes more difficult to trigger. This is a good thing! Don’t worry, when a real threat presents itself, you’ll still respond appropriately. (BTW, specific information about what mindfulness is, and how to achieve it, was addressed in my last email. If you deleted...

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“What exactly is mindfulness?”

happiness mindfulness Jun 04, 2019

“What exactly is mindfulness?”

This is a question a client asked me earlier this week. As I explained it, it occurred to me that MINDFULNESS, is critically important, popular, but not well understood. So of course I was excited to teach you all about it too! 

In short, mindfulness is attention and awareness of the present moment.

To expand, it is thankfulness, peacefulness, and observing thoughts without judgement.

Mindfulness is not the same as meditation, though meditation is one way to achieve mindfulness. Mindfulness is the result of being present and in the moment. An example is sitting and being aware of your senses in the here and now. That is, taking a few minutes to sit quietly and only pay attention to what you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel (touch). 

Medical research has found that achieving mindfulness for a few minutes a day (usually 5-20) can improve mood, happiness, longevity, memory and concentration, work...

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