Messy, Luminous, Being Podcast

In this episode, my gorgeous meditation buddy Jacquelyn Cooper and I discuss meditation practice within the traditional Tibetan Buddhist tradition. We talk about how she has incorporated traditional practices into her life, what happens when we worry too much about "getting things right", and how meditation practice can become a precious inner safety net. You can find Jacquelyn at halcyonyoga.com.

Didn't make your morning routine or finding it hard to meditate in the mornings? I know that was my situation for years when my kids were little, and it can still be the case that some mornings I just don't find time to sit. Don't worry! There are still so many opportunities in the day to practice. Here are five suggestions I have for integrating mindfulness into the rest of our day. (I'd love to hear your ideas too, so get in touch and share your thoughts!)

We are all different. We come into the world as unique selves with unique constitutions. We all like different kinds of exercise, have varying levels of energy & come with our own emotional worlds. We work within different practical time constraints, react differently to seasonal change, enjoy different diets. And so, says Su Menon, we need to find our own unique practice through a holistic approach to fitness and well-being. I loved this conversation with Su who is a yoga teacher, holistic fitness instructor, Ayurvedic practitioner and creator of shakitFIT. Connect with Su on Instagram @shaktifit.co.uk or online at www.shaktifit.co.uk

Can't fall asleep at night? Waking up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep? Need some tips for getting up in the morning in time for your morning routine? This episode is all about sleep and how we can use yoga breathing techniques & simple meditation practices to improve our ability to rest at night. As someone whose first child never slept, I know first-hand the torture of sleep-deprivation. A lack of sleep impacts everything from our health and mood to our ability to show up in the world feeling like ourselves. So if this is something you struggle with, hang in there, you'll be surprised at how effective some of these techniques can be!

It's the time of year for overwhelm, reflections and hopeful intentions for the future. In this episode, there are some fun Messy Luminous projects you can get involved in (for FREE) and I talk about my own personal practice of creating intentions for the year ahead.

Have you ever felt low on energy or a sense of fulfilment and wondered what was going on? Have you ever had that sense that something isn't working, but you weren't sure what was wrong? Have you ever felt like you were out of balance with yourself but didn't know how you could ever find balance within the messy busy life you were living? If so, you are going to love this conversation with Lucy Bishop. Her journey through burnout in the corporate world and the many practices she used to recreate a mindful, grounded and balanced life is one so many of us can relate to. Lucy now works as a Nutritional Therapist and Health Coach. Inspired by an approach of nourishment, not deprivation, Lucy empowers women to build strong, healthy relationships with food, their bodies & minds so they can feel healthy, confident and energised.

Our boundaries lie at the intersection between what is necessary for us to be live authentically, truthfully, mindfully & all our big fears about disapproval, rejection, hurting people we love and maybe especially feeling exposed and vulnerable about saying what we need and who we truly are. This process is a constant mindfulness practice, and this episode is my reflections of how to create boundaries that are not only compassionate towards others but compassionate towards ourselves.

Creating a practice when every day is different. Using yoga as a profound adventure...both on a paddle board, as a traveller and as a personal inner journey. Reflecting on the physicality of releasing emotions through yoga practice. These are some of the many topics we explore in this conversation with Allison Moonbeam Archer.

When we open our eyes in the morning we have two options. We can take some time to align. Or we can pick up our phones, gulp down a coffee and start rushing around. The temptation to take this second option is always there. So we need to figure out how to set up a morning routine that is resilient to these temptations! In this episode I share a few new tips I've learned on how to establish a morning routine habit, and discuss why creating space in your morning for YOU works as a vote for the person you want to become.

As blissful as retreats often sound, as quiet and peaceful as we imagine monasteries to be, we live in real messy busy life. And yet, we still want all those lovely aspects of calmness, mindful presence, & community to become a bigger part of our lives. That's why I loved this conversation with Melissa Berry Appleton, who talks about creating a domestic monastery. Melissa is a yoga teacher, and is studying Zen Buddhism with the Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program led by Roshi Joan Halifax. In this episode we talk about honouring transition moments like coming home from work, her journey from addiction to meditation, what her own domestic monastery looks like and more. You can find Melissa on Instagram @mettawithmelissa and all about her retreats at www.melissaberryappleton.com.

Our spiritual practices help us find inner space for ourselves, return to the core of who we really are & reconnect to the beautiful world around us. And we've got a lot of ideas about what our practice should look like. We strive to be consistent, to stick to our practice day-in and day-out, but life and our own energy levels are incredibly inconsistent. In this episode, I talk about my own experiences with inconsistency and how we might create a spiritual life and group of practices that embrace inconsistency rather than assume it is always just taking us off track.

In this episode I talk with fellow yogi Belinda McLean about what she calls the great question we must ask of all our thoughts and assumption — Is it true? We also discuss what she has learned from working with the elderly as an Occupational Therapist, how hugging trees can be a life-saving practice, and what is means to keep making good causes (even if we sometimes mess up)!

"The cultivation of gratitude and joy is the way home." This quote from a conversation between Oprah and Brene Brown has had me thinking about gratitude. Research has shown it isn't joy that makes us grateful for the many blessing in our lives. Rather, it's the opposite. Practicing gratitude is the thing that invites joy into our lives. Wow! In this episode, I talk about my own recent experiences in practicing gratitude. This includes expanding our understanding of gratitude to include ourselves!

In this conversation with Aiko, we talk about what how to fit mindfulness into our day when our morning practice doesn't go as planned. We talk about our expectations for ourselves, what to do when life doesn't go the way we thought it would, and how most of life is "none of our business". You can find Aiko on Instagram @aiko.means.love and her coaching practice and blog at themindfulnessmindset.com

We think happiness is something we experience when we get what we want. When situations go the way we expected, or we get a reaction from another person that we were hoping for. But what if we were to experiment with the idea that joy is a natural state of being? What effect would it have on my life if I started with the assumption that feelings like calm joy & alive presence are already there inside of me all of the time?

In this episode, I talk to Anna Neubert-Wood about how sea-swimming has become the purest way for her to reconnect to herself, how her 100 day personal challenge to create nature mandalas became a form of meditative play, and how leading women on adventures into the wilderness allows her to continue her passion for stepping out of busy, everyday life and slowing down in nature. Anna is the Chief Wanderess of her organisation Wander Women in Scotland. You can find more about joining one of her adventures at www.wander-women.co.uk or connect with her on Instagram @wanderwomenscotland

Whether it's our yoga mat, a daily walk or time enjoying the morning quiet with a cup of tea, our practice of reconnecting with ourselves should be a time we invite all parts of us to show up. All the emotions we aren't always able to express, all the aspects of us that don't always have a place in our family or professional life. But don't we also really practice to have a calm mind? To get away from all the busy whirling thoughts? In this episode, Sarah talks about how we can accept the reality of our emotional lives and still enjoy a sense of calm in our minds.

In this episode I talk with yoga teacher Emma Johnston about how barefoot walking is the best way for her to reconnect with the present. We also get real about parenting young children, how taking a few minutes to do Emma's 'utility room breathing' might be the best new life hack you've heard of to stay calm, and the details what her daily practice actually looks like within her busy, full life. You can get in touch with Emma on Instagram @emmajohnstonyoga.

So often we fall into the mindset of waiting until things calm down so we can find space for ourselves. Next week is looking better, but this week is crazy! Or we think the only way we can find mental space and time to meditate is to step out of our lives. Head off on retreat. But making space for ourselves in our lives just as they are is the goal. This episode is about how our lives don't have to be look like the calm, perfect pictures of 'meditation' for the practice to work for us.

Micro-dosing silence. Being a lighthouse in the middle of life storms. These are some of the gorgeous and also very practical thoughts Clem shares in this week's conversation. Apart from being incredibly down-to-earth-wise, Clem Cocquet is the founder of Scapa, a community centred around yoga, adventure and environmental leave-no-trace ethos. You can find more at www.scapafest.com.

We think we're complicated. And our problems feel complicated too. So it's really hard to grasp how a simple practice could profoundly shift all of that. But life has a great way of teaching up what we need to know. In this episode I reflect on a recent experience that reminded me that the simplest solutions are often the most effective and how that remind can stretch to our spiritual practice.

In this episode, Caz Hitchcock shares how walking the dog became her favourite meditation practice, how yoga helped her through a recent relapse of an old injury, and so much more...

We want to take time for ourselves. We know it's important. And yet, despite our best intentions, it gets pushed to the background of our lives. In this episode, I talk about the three biggest reasons I think we don't take time for ourselves and the most effective way we can change that.

In this first episode, I talk about the inspiration behind Messy Luminous Being, what you find when you let go of all the stuff you need to be for other people, and why you don't need to earn time for yourself.