The Meditation Podcast: Recent Episodes
Jesse and Jeane Stern
A free podcast designed to help you benefit from meditation in your everyday life, written and produced by Jesse Stern and Jeane July-Stern. The guided meditations contain audio technology called binaural beats. These tones actually help slow the brain waves to induce a relaxed and powerful meditative state. Please use headphones, and do not listen while driving or operating machinery.
Welcome to The Meditation Podcast. This is Jesse Stern with Episode 153, Theta State.
This podcast's life purpose is to facilitate profound meditation experience through guided meditation and binaural beats. The technique and technology help to amplify the brain's slower Theta waves, inducing an altered state of consciousness known as the 'Theta State'.
In today's meditation, we enter the Theta State.
Remember that this podcast uses binaural beats, audio technology that affects the brain, so please use headphones, and please do not use this podcast while driving or operating machinery.
We are not licensed health care practitioners, and we do not claim any specific health benefits from using this podcast. You are responsible for your own health.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast.
Now, let's begin.
Welcome to The Meditation Podcast. This is Jesse Stern with Episode 152, Reiki for Creativity.
For those of us in creative freelance professions, the last few years have hit hard. The Pandemic, advances in AI, and economic-political chaos, have significantly altered our career paths. Many are left stunned, silent, and struggling.
In today's meditation, we use reiki to restore and heal our creative voices.
Remember that this podcast uses binaural beats, audio technology that affects the brain, so please use headphones, and please do not use this podcast while driving or operating machinery.
We are not licensed health care practitioners, and we do not claim any specific health benefits from using this podcast. You are responsible for your own health.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast.
Now, let's begin.
Welcome to The Meditation Podcast. This is Jesse Stern with a simple meditation to release muscle tension.
In many social and professional situations, we tend to hold our breath. Holding our breath halts the natural flow of movement within our bodies, causing tension, fatigue, and stagnation.
In today's meditation, we practice a simple meditation to release muscle tension.
Remember that this podcast uses binaural beats, audio technology that affects the brain, so please use headphones, and please do not use this podcast while driving or operating machinery.
We are not licensed health care practitioners, and we do not claim any specific health benefits from using this podcast. You are responsible for your own health.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast.
Now, let's begin.
Welcome to The Meditation Podcast. This is Jesse Stern with Episode 150, Inspiration.
In many languages and cultures, the words for 'spirit' and 'breath' are closely related. The Latin words spiritus (spirit) and spirare (to breathe) give us English words like inspire (to enter breath), expire (to exit breath), and respiration (to cycle breath).
Note that these words are not related to desperation, which comes from sperare (to hope).
In today's meditation, we focus on each breath, each inspiration.
Remember that this podcast uses binaural beats, audio technology that affects the brain, so please use headphones, and please do not use this podcast while driving or operating machinery.
We are not licensed health care practitioners, and we do not claim any specific health benefits from using this podcast. You are responsible for your own health.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast.
Now, let's begin.
As we enter the Spring season, much of the world is focused on war, AI, and the potential impact of these actions on economies, jobs, careers, social interaction, and human evolution. Spring represents new life, budding growth, warmth. But in the generational cycles of our lifetime we are entering Winter - representing death, contraction, cold.
In today's meditation, we remain focused on the heart.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast.
After traumatic events or periods of elevated stress, the body may continue to hold onto its protective responses. Thus, even after a painful or difficult event has ended, we may continue to feel elevated heart rate or nervous system, a sense of high alert, or a persistent thought that something bad will happen. By resetting our stress response, we cultivate the release of old injuries and old stress responses, which in turn helps to cultivate a natural sleep cycle.
In today's meditation, we reset our stress response.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast.
Our modern society relies on defecit. Governments, organizations, and corporations use debt to create wealth. Advertisers highlight our individual defecits -- our flaws and insecurities that encourage us to engage and purchase. This can lead us to devalue our own wisdom, our unique voice, our personality, our humanity. In today's meditation, we explore radical self acceptance. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
The language we use in our internal dialog has a profound effect on our experience. This includes nonverbal communication, such as images or feelings we invoke. When we reflect on our self talk and self-invoked feelings, we gain clarity on the ways in which we influence our experience in the world, in community, and in our daily lives. In today's meditation, we meditate on self love. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
The term ADHD Brain refers to neuro-divergent or neuro-spicy attributes. This can, but does not necessarily, include people on the PTSD or ADD spectrum. In the context of this podcast, I am referring generally to people who are easily overwhelmed or distracted. The most commonly accepted traditional styles of meditation value stillness and silence, which can feel especially difficult for people experiencing ADHD Brain. In today's meditation, we invite movement as an anchor to keep our overly active minds focused, as we meditate with ADHD Brain. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Meditation allows us the opportunity to slow our actions, regulate our nerves, and gain insight from our own natural wisdom. Reiki is a gentle infusion of life energy. Combined, these practices help us to invoke rest and recovery. In today's meditation, we practice a simple meditation, infused with reiki. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
We often enter our meditations with some kind of expectation. We expect a clear mind, a favorable outcome, answers, insights, and solutions. However, our meditations don't always play along nicely. Our minds race, our anxieties seem to increase, and we remain lost in our unanswered questions. In today's meditation, we learn to embrace disorder, uncontrol, and chaos. This allows us to simply exist. Over time, we learn to release control over ourselves, and to think and act deep in our true nature. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
When we experience stress, our bodies tighten, which can restrict our lungs, air flow, and the subtle Life Force energies flowing through us (chi, prana, reiki, etc). In today's meditation, we align our physical and energetic bodies with our breathing. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Use this short meditation when you want to shift gears, recenter, or simply check in with your self. In today's meditation, we reground, recenter, reset - with ease! This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
The Twenty is a meditation I developed using techniques from yoga, yoga nidra, and qigong practices. We inhale deeply, release our exhale, and count each breath to twenty. This simple practice helps to regulate the nervous system and gently observe our racing minds. In today's meditation, we count our breaths to twenty. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Debilitating aspects of stress build over time. One way to reset our baseline stress levels is via self care toward the nervous system, specicifically the Vagus nerve. In today's meditation we use breathing, movement, and reiki to 'reboot' the nervous system. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
What is a heart's desire? It can be a desire of the moment: to sleep, to daydream, to smell the ocean, to eat my favorite meal, to spend time in community or with loved ones. It can be a lifelong desire: What is my purpose, my calling, my service, my passion? What would I do every day if I could do anything ... where hours pass, and it feels like minutes? Whether we are in a life-milestone crisis, seeking to adjust course, or simply checking in about what we really want, acknowledging our heart's desire can help us to align our choices with our values and needs. In today's meditation, we seek our heart's desire. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Life events can overwhelm us. In addition to the challenges of daily life, we also carry the change and loss that many of us experienced during the pandemic. In today's meditation, we practice letting go. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Dr Charles is a Minister and Babalawo, father, mentor, and friend. To describe the impact he has made on my life would take hours, so I will simply share his words with you. In today's meditation, I am honored to introduce Dr Charles Brown. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast Please note that Dr Charles uses language referring to God as 'he' and people as 'men'. It is intended and understood that 'men' includes all people, and that the infinity and mystery of God is beyond body and gender.
Meditation, in its simplest form, is simply awareness. In today's meditation, we practice awareness. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
As we flip our calendars to a new year, we face an opportunity to revisit our intentions. Which parts of our human experience would we like to drop, diminish, add or amplify in the coming year? In today's meditation, we infuse the new year with Universal life force of Reiki. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Overwhelm, anxiety, stress, grief, frustration. These intense, 'big feelings' can sap our energy, our drive, our focus, our presence, and our joy. In today's meditation, we allow the Universal Life Force of Reiki to help us experience peace, even within the intensity of our big feelings. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
I don't know about you, but I've been feeling exhausted. My energy levels alternate between hyperfocused and hyperalert to lethargic and unmotivated. I go to bed buzzing, and I wake up tired. I need a recharge!
In today's meditation, we use the Universal Life Force of reiki to restore fatigue and rebalance ourselves.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Since 2020, our concept and purpose of 'home' has evolved. For many of us, home has become more of a refuge, a sanctuary, an office, a workspace, and we may have experienced significant changes in where we lay our heads.
In today's meditation we fill our home with awareness, peace, appreciation, and unconditional love.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Smiling feels good, calms our stress levels, stimulates the Vagus nerve, and sends a message to our psyche that we are ok. As a mindful practice, smiling disrupts patterns of self-judgment by circulating kindness and unconditional love to ourselves. In today's meditation, we smile inward. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Modern life is full of distractions. Our jobs, screens, and apps all pull our attention by design. Environmental noise from people, animals, and machines can all distract our focus and affect our mood. We tend to shift our attention to whatever alert, sound, or nudge is the loudest and most persistent. When our environment feels out of our control, we may lose focus on our current task, and we may off-track our habits and intentions. In today's meditation, we center ourselves in the eye of the hurricane. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
A paradox of human existence: when I turn my attention upon myself, am I the self being observed, or am I the Self that is observing? The idea of a 'higher self' is one way to experience the part of ourselves that exists both within and outside of us, independent of our bodies, independent of the physical world. In today's meditation, we experience our higher self, our divine nature. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Being human is naturally resilient. I believe that our natural state is health and wholeness. It is also a natural human process to lose track of our wholeness, to 'forget' who we are. When we forget our nature we are often tempted to 'try' to 'fix' ourselves, when our most effective action may be to simply allow. In today's meditation, we amplify our healing ferquency, and allow our bodies, minds, and spirits the space to heal. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Last Friday I slipped on ice, hit my head on a stone stair, and got a concussion. It affected my thought process quite a lot. I was tired, had splitting headaches, and had trouble comprehending and speaking words. Until yesterday I felt strange, not like myself, like something was off. I am ok, and am now recovering, but with my brain working on healing itself, I have not had much capacity for complex thought or "strenuous mental activity". This experience led me to think a lot about shoulds. The things I feel I should be doing, the life or career milestones I should have reached by now, the project I should start, or the project I should finish. Shoulds come from our survival needs and fears, our societal and cultural messages, the voices of our well meaning friends and families, and our own self talk. Our shoulds are often tied closely with our self worth. And so, in today's meditation, we listen to our shoulds with compassion. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Welcome to The Meditation Podcast. This is Jesse Stern with Episode 109, Grieving and Healing. My oldest friend died last week. We were born 6 months apart, friends since birth. He was like a brother to me. He was my first companion in meditation and healing work. He was severely abused as a child. The trauma of his abuse led to severe mental illness. He spent many years of his adult life between housing stability and homelessness, and between mental stability and schizophrenia. He died alone. I am in shock, I am angry, and I am sad. In today's meditation, we honor and grieve for those we love.. This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
Happy Halloween, Samhain, and Dia de los Muertos. During this season we traditionally honor our ancestors, and those loved ones who are no longer with us.
In today's meditation we honor our ancestors ... and raise our spirits.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon (dot) com (slash) theMeditationPodcast
As the world stumbles its way through our third year in a global pandemic, many of us have experienced major changes in our work lives, our relationships, our routines, and our travel patterns. This may have left us feeling tired, uninspired, burnt out, exhausted, nihilistic, or even hopeless.
In today's meditaiton, we use reiki and energetic healing energy to relight and reignite our inspiration.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not exist without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
Here at The Meditation Podcast, we have often described meditation as sitting still and breathing. While this is one way to practice meditaiton, it is not the only way. Movement in meditation is useful when our bodies want to move. It can also be a great practice to prepare for mindful activity in our daily lives.
In today's meditation, we practice meditation in movement.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not exist without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
Here at The Meditation Podcast, we have often described meditation as sitting still and breathing. While this is one way to practice meditaiton, it is not the only way. Movement in meditation is useful when our bodies want to move. It can also be a great practice to prepare for mindful activity in our daily lives.
In today's meditation, we practice meditation in movement.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not exist without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
Our self-care practice is an important antidote to the pressures of production and improvement and optimization. However, sometimes even our self-care can feel like a chore or a means to a different end.
In today's meditation, we experience the simple pleasure of our practice. En-joy meditation.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not exist without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
Chakras are the traditional Sanskrit name for energy centers in the body. If you prefer, you may think of them simply as energy centers, electromagnetic poles, or source points of tension and release. Like any form of energy, when our chakras become depleted, stuck, or imbalanced, we may follow suit and become depleted ourselves.
In today's meditation, we recharge and rebalance our chakras, and rest ourselves in a blissful state of self healing and restoration.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not exist without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
Is your life 'up in the air'? Are you 'on Cloud 9', walking around with your 'head in the clouds'? While cliche, these expressions may indicate a loss of grounding. As we navigate the ups and downs of our lives and circumstances, it may be useful to reconnect our feet to the earth and our minds to our bodies.
In today's meditation we ground our energy and our attention.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not exist without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
Work hard! Lose weight! Fight aging! We live in a culture of self improvement. Advertising encourages us to strive toward an ideal that is impossible to attain. Whether related to body image, how we earn or create income, or how we fit in to some standard of 'normal' -- we take for granted the idea that products, diet trends, or hard work will somehow improve us. Many of us have internalized the belief that we need to change fundamental aspects of our selves in order to be acceptable to our families, our jobs, or our communities.
Non-judgmental awareness of our selves is the first step toward self clarity. Self clarity is the first step toward knowing what we want and need. And knowing our wants and needs is the first step toward contentment and true inner power. In today's meditation we accept ourselves just as we are.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not exist without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
Many of us are experiencing disturbed sleep. We have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, dreaming, and waking up refreshed. Many of us feel anxiety, stress, and uncertainty in our daily lives. Sleep, designed to restore our bodies and minds, has instead become yet another source of worry and anxiety.
In today's meditation, we sleep.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not exist without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
Over fifteen years of the Meditation Podcast, many listeners have shared their profound life transformations, physical mental and emotional healing, relief from anxiety, and being able to fall asleep. Serving others in this way has been some of the most rewarding and fulfilling work of my life, and I hoped to create something special to celebrate our 100th episode.
So, in today's meditation, I celebrate myself and this community and the Meditation Podcast. This meditation is my own prayer for myself, and I believe it will also serve you. You are welcome to support me, or follow my example. Give yourself whatever you need today.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not exist without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
Many of us become overwhelmed with anxiety, disturbing news, or concerns about the future. This can create doubt within ourselves that tests our integrity and our core beliefs.
In today's meditation, we practice self-kindness, while experiencing an infusuion of healing reiki life force energy.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not exist without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
We all create intentions, goals, resolutions, prayers, wishes, and dreams. But for many of us, these intentions remain unfulfilled. According to the Law of Attraction, this is because we do not release or surrender our intentions. Instead we continue to micro-manage our intentions, using our conscious minds and force of will.
When we are unable or unwilling to release our intentions, we block our own good. This creates a perpetual state of want, instead of a path to fulfilment. Our intentions live in the realm of the unknown. It is impossible to take a known path to the unknown. Known paths lead to known destinations. But how do we find, or even see, an unknown path?
In today's meditation, we use the Law of Attraction to experience our intentions as complete, and we surrender them to God, the Univers e, our Highest Self.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not have been able to continue without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
As we navigate through the joys and stresses of life, we may sometimes lose our sense of power, of connection, of liviing in our truth. We may latch onto our losses and disappointments, we may become overwhelmed with grief or anxiety, or we may simply need a little reminder of who we truly are.
In today's meditation, we power up the capacity to heal ourselves, to feel clear in our purpose, and to experience simple joy in our daily lives.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not have been able to continue without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
This month, we celebrate 15 years of The Meditation Podcast! It has been a wonderful and powerfully healing journey for us, and for many of you as well. Thank you for taking this journey with us.
In today's meditation we sit still and breathe.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. We would not have been able to continue without your support. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
Many of us experience difficult feelings such as anxiety, frustration, anger, isolation, empathy, grief, depression, or uncertainty in career and relationships. When unresolved, these feelings build on each other, and we may begin to feel overwhelmed or overloaded by their 'size'.
In today's meditation, we process and release Big Feelings.
This podcast is made possible with great thanks to our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
In the last few weeks, I've talked to a lot of people who were releasing secrets, have recently had secrets revealed to them, or in other ways were processing information that led to new perspectives on long held beliefs.
Knowledge of secrets – whether holding on to, releasing, or learning of them – can feel like a shift in emotional or psychic weight. New perspectives can affect not only ourselves, but our relationships with others and how we interact with the world.
In today's meditation, we practice embracing secrets, knowledge, and rebalancing the psyche around things that change our perspectives.
This podcast is made possible by our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
A mantra is a phrase or sound that is repeated during meditation. It can be spoken, chanted, whispered, or repeated silently in the mind. Mantra meditation can help to focus and restore the mind body and spirit.
'So Hum' is a Sanskrit phrase meaning simply 'I Am'. In today's meditation we practice this mantra.
This podcast is made possible by our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast
We live in a culture that rewards productivity. We push ourselves to produce results at our jobs, at the gym, with our income, our weight, we read and podcast topics on self-improvement. We use our bodies and our time to the point of exhaustion.
So, where does rest fit into productivity? Resting allows our desires and intentions to manifest, without the effort and control. At rest, we allow our bodies to restore and to heal, our natural breathing and sleep cycles to return, and we accept ourselves without needing to 'improve'. Rest is its own reward.
In today's meditation, we rest.
This podcast is made possible by our subscribers on Patreon. Join our community at Patreon.com/theMeditationPodcast