Balanced Mind with Julie Potiker

Join Julie Potiker as she leads this open awareness meditation. She completes the meditation with her poem, "Before Dawn".This version ends with music allowing you to drift off into sleep.Before Dawn, by Julie Potiker.Even with fences, even with locks, I’m not always safe from the thoughts in my head. The second sleep—that strange, lucid hour before dawn—can be a dangerous place. My mind unspools anxieties, wild and uninvited.I climb out from under the dogs and tangled covers, pour a strong brew, and step into the courtyard. The air is cool, the sky still a deep indigo. Somewhere a robin begins, then a towhee joins in, and soon the whole chorus is at work as the light rises. Slowly, I begin to breathe in rhythm with them. The chatter inside softens. The morning expands. I remember that peace is not the absence of thought, but the practice of returning—again and again.Continue your mindfulness journey with Julie - through her writings. Her latest book is, "Gentle Currents: Poems of Pause & Peace", a collection of poems focusing on themes of nature, self-compassion, and tranquility.Her other books include,"SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". All are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Using your breath, breathe in what you need for yourself - and then breathe out what you want to send to others. Julie Potiker completes her meditation with the poem, "Drifting Ochre", by Sam Aureli.This meditation ends with music to allow you to drift off into sleep.Drifting Ochre, by Sam AureliA single leaf of yellow ochrefloats along the water's gentle current.It spins and twirls, as if rememberingall it had known - the warmth of spring,the quiet labor of becoming,a life steeped in sun and rain.The stream nudges it forward,over rocks and eddies, past rootsand shadows, urging it onalong a path unasked, untraced.The leaf didn't need to know.There was onlythe freedom of letting go.And as I watched, I thought:all things drift in time,each in our own rivers and bends,our passage carved by wind and water,until the earth calls us back,her soil richwith all that has come before.-Drifing Ochre, by Sam Aureli (from On the Edge of Knowing).Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Find yourself in stillness as you listen to this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Invitation", by Mary Oliver.Invitation, by Mary OliverOh do you have timeto lingerfor just a little whileout of your busyand very important dayfor the goldfinchesthat have gatheredin a field of thistlesfor a musical battle,to see who can singthe highest note,or the lowest,or the most expressive of mirth,or the most tender?Their strong, blunt beaksdrink the airas they strivemelodiouslynot for your sakeand not for mineand not for the sake of winningbut for sheer delight and gratitude –believe us, they say,it is a serious thingjust to be aliveon this fresh morningin the broken world.I beg of you,do not walk bywithout pausingto attend to thisrather ridiculous performance.It could mean something.It could mean everything.It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:You must change your life.-Invitation, by Mary OliverFind out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

This meditation focuses on using your breath to breathe in loving kindness for yourself and out for others. Julie Potiker completes the meditation with the poem, "Reciprocity - When redpolls arrive in Minnesota," by Holly Lamond.This version ends with music allowing you to drift off into sleep.Reciprocity- when redpolls arrive in Minnesota, by Holly Lamond - Poetry Tracks in the SnowA gallup of redpollsappeared this morningat our feeders, the firstto arrive this winter.Thankful for seed, theydescended in drovesas if they knew that here,there would be enough.I did not begrudge theirhunger.I needed this reminderas I read the news today,that goodness beginswith giving,that survival is a two-waystreet – today, an exchange ofsuet and seed for the sight,sound of so many birds –saving my soul from turning to ice.-Holly LamondFind out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Julie Potiker leads you through this guided meditation focusing on loving kindness. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Small Kindness", by Denusha Lameris.This version ends with music allowing you to drift off into sleepSmall Kindness, by Denusha LamerisI’ve been thinking about the way, when you walkdown a crowded aisle, people pull in their legsto let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”when someone sneezes, a leftoverfrom the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.And sometimes, when you spill lemonsfrom your grocery bag, someone else will help youpick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smileat them and for them to smile back. For the waitressto call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.We have so little of each other, now. So farfrom tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, thesefleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,have my seat,” “Go ahead—you first,” “I like your hat.”-Denusha LamerisFind out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.comThis podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.