Ep 137 30-Day Nature Reset Introduction
Mountain Zen Den Podcast
Welcome to the mountain! How are your New Year’s goals and resolutions holding up? No cause for guilt or shame. No need to feel bad. On the journey toward wholeness, every day is Day 1. A fresh start. Every day offers an opportunity to learn and grow and begin again. Abraham Maslow, (you know - the hierarch of needs guy), observed, “What one can be one must be”. You and I were created for a purpose. And deep within each of us is the desire to grow and fulfill that purpose. We become restless, (or something even worse), when that purpose is...
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Ep 136 Horses and Eating Disorders with Lisa Whalen
Mountain Zen Den Podcast
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Ep 135 Wild Embrace
Mountain Zen Den Podcast
Welcome to the Mountain! The end of winter and the onset of summer has brought a beautiful lush, green world to us here on the eastern slope of the Colorado Rockies. With more rain than usual, followed by cool mornings and incredible sunny days in between, Nature has given the gift of Paradise for us to embrace, explore and enjoy! I recently had the privilege of narrating and producing an audiobook for my friend Erik Stensland, a well-known and loved, highly respected nature photographer and author, who owns a gallery here in Estes Park, Colorado, as well as one in Abiquiu,...
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Ep 134 Awaken to Mindfulness in Nature
Mountain Zen Den Podcast
It’s been awhile. Glad to see you back here. Today is a new day. A fresh start to a new you. A great time to ask the question, “Am I awake to this moment? To the here and now? To this moment?” Henry David Thoreau reminds us that the vast majority of civilization leads quiet lives of desperation. Or maybe if he were around today, he would say “noisy lives of desperation” Lives spent trying to be anywhere but here, now. Today I would like to invite you to remember that all we have is this moment. Yesterday is gone, a thing of the past,...
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Ep 133 Nature Immersion Through Art Therapy with Sherri Phibbs
Mountain Zen Den Podcast
MZD Podcast – Ep. 133 – Nature Immersion Through Art Therapy Since 2009, facilitator, author, and artist Sherri Phibbs has been gaining a wealth of experience in Nature immersion, and to date, has written three books which, among other things, teach the hungry and willing student how to connect with Nature through art and deep sensory Nature immersion. You don’t have to be an artist to enjoy and appreciate the lessons she shares. In fact, Sherri emphasizes that you need absolutely no art experience previously in order to create. All of us could benefit from...
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Ep 132 The Big Quiet with Lisa Stewart
Mountain Zen Den Podcast
Can you hear "The Call" to a Great Adventure in your life? Something you know you were meant to do? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in a setting where it was just you and Nature for an extended period of time? Imagine yourself as a woman, alone on a horse, 500 miles from home… At age 54, Lisa Stewart did just that. She set out to regain the fearless girl she once had been, riding her horse, Chief, 500 miles home. Hot, homeless, and horseback, she snapped back into every original cell. On an extraordinary homegoing from Kansas City to Bates and Vernon...
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Ep 131 Calm and Bright
Mountain Zen Den Podcast
Far too often we pay attention to the loud and brash, which tend to have little meaning, while overlooking the important things that are taking place so quietly and humbly just outside the corner of our eye. ~ Erik Stensland “Whispers in the Wind” At different points in our lives, the Christmas holiday season is marked by stress and anxiety, overwhelm, overindulgence, undernourishment and sadness and depression. For many, it is a hollow season of unmet expectations, disappointment and despair. Instead of Joy we’re met with sorrow. Instead of Hope we carry...
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Ep 130 - Mirrors in the Earth with Asia Suler
Mountain Zen Den Podcast
“Nature is hungry to interact with us. It wants connection…if you take one step, the world rushes in to meet you.” ~ Asia Suler One of my favorite aphorisms is “Affirm Truth wherever you find it.” It’s a philosophy I have more recently come to hold dear and try to live by every day that I’m alive, because I’m finding that as I seek Truth, capital “T”, on my own “Hero’s Journey” as Joseph Campbell would put it, I am stretched a little out of my comfort zone. There was a time in my younger days where I felt like I really understood it all, and pretty much knew what Life...
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Ep 129 Happy Thanksgiving!
Mountain Zen Den Podcast
Today, is the day before Thanksgiving, and as I intentionally stop and breathe and just Be, one word comes to mind. Thankful. This past year has been a year of Growth and Gratitude for us. We just want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for choosing to be on this journey of Mindfulness in Nature at Mountain Zen Den, and we pray for your continued growth and well-being. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year because everything hinges on Gratitude. Without it, life would ultimately be an empty series of drab days coming and going with no meaning or purpose. Without it, we are...
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Ep 128 - The Forest of Faith with Chris Highland
Mountain Zen Den Podcast
What does it mean to be a “Freethinker”? Today, we meet with one who calls himself “The Friendly Freethinker” — Chris Highland. A skilled presenter, Chris Highland has given public presentations, taught classes and led retreats for congregations, business groups, high schools, universities, social service workers and youth leaders. He has taught in Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Pagan, Unitarian, secular and other settings. His educational style is engaging and inspiring, drawing students or audiences into an active participation in the subject. ...
info_outlineLet’s get back to the basics. Today we’re gonna learn how to meditate.
You may be thinking, “This is the 79th episode of MZD and you’re just now telling us how to meditate?!
Too often people make a really big deal about meditation, complaining that it’s just way too hard, or discouraging, or that they don’t have enough time to meditate. So we’re going to take a few minutes to squash those objections and then…we’re gonna meditate. J
So what is Meditation…really?
Well, broken down to its simplest form for our purposes, Meditation is an intentional pause in your day to simply stop all doing and enjoy Being. We do this by simply breathing. “But wait you,” say, “Isn’t that what I do all the time? I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t breathing!”
Yes, but are you AWARE of your breathing. Can you slow that busy brain of yours (sometimes called “monkey mind”), down enough to separate yourself from the constant barrage of thoughts long enough to just observe them and allow them to go by without being attached to them?
Reminder here – You are NOT your thoughts. “Thank goodness”, I hear you say, “’cause if I was, I’d be in big, BIG trouble!” Me too!
No, meditation is a good tool and reminder for us that we are not our thoughts. In fact, mindful meditation gives us the opportunity to simply “Observe” our thoughts, ruminations and busy brain activities, long enough for us to get a much needed reprieve from them and to be able to look at them objectively. In fact, when meditating, the goal is for you and I to acknowledge them without judgment and simply say, “Hmmm, that’s interesting.”
There are also numerous health benefits to meditation, such as lowered heart rate, blood pressure and clearer thinking, but the end result is always a higher quality of life.
It’s about “Self-Awareness” – Your body, your thoughts and motives and energy and state of being.
And finally, to those of us who feel that we don’t have enough time in our day to meditate, relax. You can meditate for any reasonable length of time. In fact, you can even do one- minute meditations throughout the day, or even once a day, in order to help lower your stress, restore your balance and clear your thinking.
Bottom line – You can’t afford NOT to meditate simply due to the jump in productivity you will receive as a result of meditating.