Welcoming a Mindful Future

One of the most important wisdom truths is that the only constant in life is change. We have all experienced chapters of uncertainty in our lives. How can we navigate these times of fear and confusion? I believe we can learn patience and acceptance as well as the compassion that comes from knowing we’ve made it through each time. Meditation is a tool that helps to navigate uncertainty by showing us how to find the still quiet heart center that knows all will work out one way to tap into the heart’s ability to respond wisely to life. Anne-Marie Emanuelli is the founder and Creative Director at Mindful Frontiers LLC, a Benefit Corporation (BCorp) committed to Community Wellness by providing schools and organizations with mindfulness meditation tools that nurture positive social-emotional growth. With over two decades of meditation experience, Anne-Marie provides coaching for children, families, individuals, groups, and classrooms. She is a certified meditation leader and a certified labyrinth facilitator. Featured practices can be found on the ⁠Welcoming a Mindful Future⁠ podcast and Insight Timer app. The website is ⁠MindfulFrontiers.net⁠.

Most meditation traditions use the breath as a concentration anchor. Counting breaths, following the breath through its entire cycle, and being aware of the sensation of the breath going in and out of the body. The breath is used as a focus anchor in most meditation practices because it is ubiquitous. Additional focus anchors would be sound, sensations, body scanning, and eventually, open awareness where we sit without choosing a specific anchor. As we sit and pay attention to the present moment with the help of an anchor, we recognize, acknowledge, and investigate thoughts, body sensations, and feelings/emotions – without attachment or engagement. When we get distracted, we gently bring our attention back to the anchor over and over again. The following family meditation practices are effective ways to introduce a mindful moment into your daily routine.  ***************** NOTE: At any time, when you need extra time during the practice, pause the podcast for as long as you'd like and come back to finish up. Anne-Marie Emanuelli is the founder and Creative Director at Mindful Frontiers LLC. Mindful Frontiers LLC is a Benefit Corporation (BCorp) committed to Community Wellness by providing schools and organizations with mindfulness meditation tools that nurture positive social-emotional growth. With over two decades of meditation experience, Anne-Marie provides coaching for children, families, individuals, groups, and classrooms. She is a certified meditation leader and a certified labyrinth facilitator. Featured practices can be found on the ⁠Welcoming a Mindful Future⁠ podcast and Insight Timer app. Our website is ⁠MindfulFrontiers.net⁠.  All our links are compiled and can be viewed at Linktr.ee/MindfulFrontiers.

Sometimes life can be boring, right? Boredom is a feeling we get when we wish things were different – more exciting or engaging – or as children say, more “fun”. Essentially, when we’re bored we have the desire for life to be different than it is right now. Buddhism calls this “grasping” and “clinging” and is said to be caused by thoughts (ideas) of how our mind wants things to be.  In meditation traditions, we are asked to look at the grasping and clinging directly. We practice letting go of expectations and accepting what is right here in this moment – the only reality there is – instead of wishing for things to be different. When we investigate grasping and clinging, we may realize that discontent is a state of unrest. We can calm this through meditation which is being mindful of what is going on right now by following the breath that connects us to reality. NOTE: At any time, when you need extra time during the practice, pause the podcast for as long as you'd like and come back to finish up. Anne-Marie Emanuelli is the founder and Creative Director at Mindful Frontiers LLC. Mindful Frontiers LLC is a Benefit Corporation (BCorp) committed to Community Wellness by providing schools and organizations with mindfulness meditation tools that nurture positive social-emotional growth. With over two decades of meditation experience, Anne-Marie provides coaching for children, families, individuals, groups, and classrooms. She is a certified meditation leader and a certified labyrinth facilitator. Our website is ⁠MindfulFrontiers.net⁠. A compilation of all our links can be found at Linktr.ee/MindfulFrontiers.

“Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence. Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses. Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.” – John O’Donohue, poet Have you ever just stopped what you were doing and listened? Deeply listened to the sounds and silence around you? Seems like an oxymoron to be encouraging silence and listening. The kind of silence I’m referring to is one where we are mindful of what is going on in the present moment, encouraging a deep awareness that comes from listening to what’s going on inside and outside the body. It is an invitation to put down electronics, the to-do lists, turn off social media engagement, and just be with our surroundings and our senses. The meditation practice offered in this episode offers a way to bring mindfulness of sound into your family’s routine and I encourage you to set aside fifteen to twenty minutes for this practice since it may take family members a little time to settle down at first. And it would be especially nice to do this practice outdoors. NOTE: At any time, when you need extra time during the practice, pause the podcast for as long as you'd like and come back to finish up. Anne-Marie Emanuelli is the founder and Creative Director at Mindful Frontiers LLC. Mindful Frontiers LLC is a Benefit Corporation (BCorp) committed to Community Wellness by providing schools and organizations with mindfulness meditation tools that nurture positive social-emotional growth. With over two decades of meditation experience, Anne-Marie provides coaching for children, families, individuals, groups, and classrooms. She is a certified meditation leader and a certified labyrinth facilitator. Our website is ⁠⁠MindfulFrontiers.net⁠⁠. A compilation of all our links can be found at ⁠Linktr.ee/MindfulFrontiers⁠

Where we place our mind’s attention is where our character and habits of thought will gravitate, much like a rut in the road that grabs us. This is part of the concept of “neuroplasticity” which means that our brains are malleable (adults and youth) and we can change how we think and act throughout our lives with intention, purpose, and practice. One of my favorite meditation practices is Tonglen. The word tonglen comes from the Tibetan language and translates as giving and taking. Tong means giving or sending, and len means receiving or taking. Tonglen is similar to Loving Kindness (Mettà) in that we are using the transformative power of the heart to channel compassion. We acknowledge the suffering of the world and its beings and then visualize the suffering being transformed in the heart into compassion and then release it outward with intention, on an out-breath, for the betterment of the world. Heart-based meditation practices such as tonglen and mettà are healthy ways to channel compassion into the world and our own lives. Focussing on the breath going in and out of the heart center is where we start this transforming process. One of the most powerful daily mindfulness practices is to watch where we place our mental attention as we go about our day. Taking a break from scrolling on an electronic device to sit in meditation is a valuable activity that shifts our focus from the external world to our internal environment and helps us notice what our mind is doing. Noticing what we are thinking or ruminating about, and then redirecting our focus back to the body and the breath is a liberating way to change the way our brains control and create ruts of behavior. It is worthwhile to contemplate conscious attention throughout the day as we go about our lives as well as when sitting in meditation. This kind of attention is called heart-mind awareness. Setting aside five to 10 minutes a day to do a heart-mind meditation practice is a healthy way to nourish wise attention and encourage a shift in our mind’s behavior. NOTE: At any time, when you need extra time during the practice, pause the podcast for as long as you'd like and come back to finish up. Anne-Marie Emanuelli is the founder and Creative Director at Mindful Frontiers LLC. Mindful Frontiers LLC is a Benefit Corporation (BCorp) committed to Community Wellness by providing schools and organizations with mindfulness meditation tools that nurture positive social-emotional growth. With over two decades of meditation experience, Anne-Marie leads meditation workshops and provides coaching for children, families, individuals, groups, and classrooms. She is a certified meditation leader as well as a certified labyrinth facilitator. ⁠MindfulFrontiers.net⁠ Linktree page

Practicing gratitude is an extremely important skill because it brings joy and appreciation to our lives through the power of the heart. It is mental health and a daily attitude that helps connect us with that which brings joy. Mindful eating is a practice for welcoming gratitude and connecting to our food. Families can model being grateful before eating a meal by invoking thankfulness to all who had a part in bringing the food to the table. The story of our food is a powerful way to welcome gratitude as we teach young ones about the process of food growing in the fields, being harvested by people and finally reaching the store where a family does its shopping.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety in your life? Do you listen to music, do art, exercise, something else? All of those activities help distract our mind at the moment for sure. They also require that you stop what you’re doing and devote some quality time to the activity which may only work while you’re actually doing it. Meditation is a practice that you can do anywhere, anytime, and doesn’t require that you interrupt what you’re doing, change your clothes, either go outside or take a break from your work, and has long-term benefits. Mindfulness and meditation instructor, Anne-Marie Emanuelli at Mindful Frontiers, leads students and individuals in guided meditation practices that help build resilience in everyday life. Meditation is a centuries-old practice that has been proven to soothe stress and anxiety by bringing our moment-to-moment attention to what is actually happening in the present moment, and in doing so, we move reactions from the limbic part of the brain to the frontal cortex where logic and reason can take place.  More from Mindful Frontiers can be found at the following links: Linktree page Website and blog Insight Timer page YouTube Channel

Loving-kindness, also known as Metta, is a meditation in which we send kind thoughts to ourselves and others. It is a generous practice that anyone can do, no matter the age and level of emotional intelligence.  In this episode, Anne-Marie Emanuelli, Creative Director and Founder of Mindful Frontiers LLC, explains the benefits of Metta or Loving-Kindness meditation. Then, she leads us in a practice to extend kind thoughts and intentions to ourselves and others in our lives. This classic meditation practice can be easily introduced to your family or home group and will add kindness and compassion to your lives. Children are born with an innate capacity to give and receive affection and compassion. We’ve noticed how young children absorb the smiles of others and instinctively reciprocate their own heart-melting energy. We’ve watched a young child shed tears seeing another being in distress and noticed how they are able to join in the laughter of others. Observe them as they hug their furry pets and speak sweetly to un-furry pets such as a butterfly or lizards. Children are born with a real sense of how to love and be loved. As they grow older, this spontaneity wanes as life affects their lived experiences. They find out that others are not always kind and loving, that people can display hurtful behaviors and life may become more challenging to navigate.  Mindful Frontiers LLC offers vipassana-style (insight) meditation and mindfulness coaching and instruction. We bring mindfulness to school classrooms, professional staff training, and custom workshops. Our vision is to welcome a mindful future; one child, family, individual, and community; one present moment at a time. Anne-Marie has over 25 years of meditation experience and her credentials include Sage Institute for Creativity and Consciousness meditation leader certification, Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitation training, MBSR guiding experience, and Mindful Schools instructor training. Find all things Mindful Frontiers at linktr.ee/MindfulFrontiers and MindfulFrontiers.net

Meditating in nature is a satisfying activity that anyone can do, no matter their age or mobility. Many people enjoy sitting under a tree or by a stream, lying on their back in a meadow or just sitting on the porch on a hot summer day. Communing with nature can be a rewarding experience, especially if we can feel gratitude and pay close attention to what is around us, appreciating the incredible colors, shapes and designs. Anne-Marie Emanuelli, founder and creative director of Mindful Frontiers enjoys meditating in nature and believes, as many meditation teachers, that we are interconnected with Mother Earth. In this episode of Welcoming a Mindful Future, she explains the benefits of meditating in nature and then guides a practice that is intended for families or a group of friends and is appropriate for all ages and level of meditator. The guided meditation takes place in a quiet outdoor place – the backyard, a city park, next to a stream, or in a forest. Once you’ve found your spot in nature, gather everyone around and sit down. If you have brought chairs, cushions or blankets, they can make sitting on the ground more comfortable. Barefooted would also be nice. *************************************************** Meditation script and all segments of this podcast ©2023 Mindful Frontiers LLC. No parts may be reproduced without explicit permission from the author. For all things Mindful Frontiers, please see our Lintree page or website.

Mindfulness can be brought into our daily activities so that anything we do becomes a kind of meditation. Doing the dishes, cleaning the house, driving the car, drinking coffee or tea, and walking with a pet can all be done mindfully. The key to mindfulness is to pay attention to one thing at a time and really enjoy what we are doing.  When we engage in an activity mindfully we slow down and REALLY pay attention with applied concentration and open curiosity. I have noticed that when mindfulness is brought to an activity it becomes really enjoyable. The point of doing daily activities more slowly and mindfully is so that our body and mind may relax as we pay attention to what we are doing right now, rather than thinking about or ruminating about things that happened in the past or that may or may not happen in the future.  Anne-Marie Emanuelli is the founder of Mindful Frontiers LLC and has 20+ years of meditation experience. She guides vipassana-style meditation through workshops, classes, and labyrinth walks for children, families, classrooms, and individuals. Mindfulness meditation and labyrinth facilitation credentials are from Sage Institute, Veriditas, MindfulSchools, and MBSR. For more information and to sign up for our seasonal newsletter, please visit MindfulFrontiers.net.  To find out more about Mindful Frontiers: Website: MindfulFrontiers.net Linktree page Youtube Mindful Frontiers Facebook page Mindful Frontiers Facebook community page Twitter: @MindfulFuture LinkedIn: @anne-marie-emanuelli-mindful-frontiers Instagram: @MindfulFrontiers Email: [email protected]