The Heartwood Treehouse

Resilience and mindfulness work is serious business--maybe too serious? In this episode, host Jacquelyn fletcher Johnson encourages you to tap into a potent tool that can help you plug into your inner strength so you can get back on your feet. 

Humans understand story structure. And in challenging times like the one we're living in now, we can use the art of story to access our power, reclaim our hearts, and create positive change. In this episode, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson offers a fun practice you can use to be the hero in your own story.

I wonder what would happen? What if? What's that? These questions are ones that dominate the child's mind--and for good reason. They teach us to be human and help us innovate and evolve. In this episode of the Heartwood Treehouse Podcast, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson makes the case for curiosity and teaches you a few evidence-based strategies to use your curious mind to help you get through challenging times.

This is the season of uncertainty and in times of great stress, there are two very powerful questions we can ask ourselves. Tune in for a mini coaching session with host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson to see how these questions can help us stabilize when we're knocked off balance.

In this episode, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson shares a story from her cancer journey, in which a random act of kindness increased her levels of wellbeing and happiness in surprising ways.

Getting a little cranky from staying at home? In this episode, Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson shares a practice that can help you instantly feel better. All you need is a patch of grass, a stand of trees, or some other sparsely populated spot where you can physically distance yourself from others outside.

There are heroes among us, in each of our communities. The job of the community is to be a place where we can both give and receive things in return. In this relaxing meditation, Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson helps you feel the truth that you are not alone. Your community is there to catch you.

Who knew improv and quality improvement went together? Sarah Horst, that's who. This genius of a woman from the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) in Minneapolis shares her approach to creating an improvisational mindset to help teams and the humans in them thrive in a world turned upside down. Tune in for some light-hearted laughs and some solid strategies that can help you navigate our new reality now that coronavirus / covid-19 are reshaping our lives and work.

Mindfulness teachers, including host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson, often use the breath and body as mindfulness tools. However, some people find focusing on the breath or body can produce anxiety. In this episode of The Heartwood Treehouse Podcast, you'll learn another way to anchor your attention to help you escape the spin of negative or fearful thinking.

Laughter truly is the best medicine. In this episode of The Heartwood Treehouse Podcast, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson shares an inspiring story of how laughter helped her through her cancer journey. In this episode, she offers a short exercise you can do to lighten up even during stressful times.

In this short episode, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson invites you to do a mindful listening exercise to help you calm your amygdala and help your body and mind relax.

When you're freaking out, stressed out, ready to give out, this hands on embodied practice can help you self-soothe in moments. Host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson leads you through this simple exercise to help you take a short and needed break in the midst of chaos.

Did you know a gratitude practice can actually change your nervous system? Yep. In this short message for Healthcare Heroes, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson explains.

In this special episode you'll learn a very simple breathing exercise to help your body relax during times of great stress, anxiety, or fear.

In this special series, Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson provides short episodes to comfort and support our nation's healthcare heroes. And if you don't work in healthcare, these inspirational talks will help you work with acute stress, too. We're all in this together.

We all make assumptions because that's how the brain works. But that doesn't mean we have to live by them. In this week's episode, you'll hear about a challenge that host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson is embarking on to be more conscious about assumptions. Join in?

A return story in which Aransas Savas talks about how she finally came to love and respect her thighs. Don't miss her inspiring story that includes a harrowing car accident, a marathon-running 90-year-old grandmother, and qualifying for the Boston Marathon after running 19 marathons herself.

When things are challenging, we tend to isolate ourselves, because we think we're the only ones that have suffered in that way. We're embarrassed. We don't want to be a burden on other people. We judge ourselves. And yet, community is what helps us and heals us. In this episode, you'll experience one of Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson's favorite techniques for feeling connected.

A return story in which author Sheila O'Connor describes uncovering the story of her maternal grandmother who was incarcerated in the 1930s for being pregnant. This harrowing tale is told in O'Connor's new novel, The Evidence of V. Don't miss this inspiring talk about memories, secrets, and the power of our stories!

Humans were not made to live in isolation. We are at our best when in community. In this week's episode, Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson considers the idea that community may be the most important thing we've got and shares a powerful way you can build yours.

Emotions developed in humans because they're a warning system that help us survive. And when they're banned, you can be sure they're operating anyway, but without consciousness, which can cause all kinds of chaos. In today's episode host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson leads you through a consciousness-building exercise that helps you embody the idea that emotions are here to teach us something.

The body offers us its wisdom in ways we can't always hear. Tune in for some practices that can help you honor your body in ways that can leave you feeling connected, aligned, and whole.

A return story in which Laura West, founder and CEO of Joyful Business, talks about working in a job where she never felt comfortable in her own skin. The story of how her CEO called her out will give you chills! Tune in to hear how she started her own business so she could dedicate her life and her work to returning to joy each day.

When your path to self-mastery requires you to return to your feet, one way to do that is to fill your senses with beauty. In this episode, you'll get some ideas for how to fill back up when you're depleted and worn out.

After a big event has rocked you to your core, there can be a pause before new life begins. In this episode, you'll get a dose of inspiration for how to navigate those times when uncertainty reigns and you can't see the path ahead.

A return story in which Dondeena Bradley talks about how she'd lost little bits of herself over time while working a high-paced corporate life. Hear her inspiring insights as she shares how when she wrote her new book, Living Full Circle: Simple Ancient Rituals for Modern Life, she returned to her vision of what wellness and being a well person means.

When life burns through your life, it's hard to remember that the ash from the fire creates soil that's perfect for new growth. In this episode, Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson leads you through a guided imagery meditation that takes you into the fire so you can find out what's on the other side.

Research shows that practicing gratitude can boost positive emotions. But in difficult seasons, it can be hard to feel grateful for anything. Tune into this episode as Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson shares a new twist on her favorite gratitude practice to heal your heart and strengthen your inner core.

A return story in which Tara Jaye Frank shares her journey at Hallmark Cards, Inc., as a writer and the company's first black, female vice president. You'll hear her talk about how falling in love forced her to make a decision that threw her life into upheaval. You won't want to miss how she navigated the return to her sense of purpose while she built a non-profit business, #MoreThan: A Movement, to facilitate deeper understanding between disconnected people. 

There's one thing that drives all the life on earth--light. In this episode, practice the art of receiving in an embodied practice that will leave you feeling lit up. Listen in for a practice that will help you connect to that life-giving light.

Happy New Year! With the start of a new decade, it's the perfect opportunity to create a new ritual. In this episode, you'll learn two practices Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson uses to honor our past and celebrate the possibilities of the future. Are you ready to mark this big occasion? You won't want to miss it. We're doing giveaways in the Treehouse all month long! Tune in to hear more.

Life is complex. It's made of both dark and light moments. In order to develop psychological strength while remaining connected to what makes you human, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson shares return strategies that can help you return to your strength and your softness. Plus, we're celebrating 50 episodes of playing in the treehouse with giveaways all month long! Tune in to hear how you can win.

When your world has gone off center, it's important to have a strategy to return. In this week's episode, you'll meet someone very special who can help you find your balance again. Tune in to hear how you can ask for counsel and soak in the wisdom that's already available to you.

If you're a people pleasure or a chameleon, you might be used to changing who you are to fit into whatever environment you're in. But this shape-shifting ability comes at a cost. Listen in for a practice you can use to return your attention to your own inner voice.

Recent studies show that people would rather administer themselves an electric shock than to sit alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes! But befriending our own minds is where self-mastery resides. In this episode you'll learn one of Jacque's favorite consciousness-building writing exercises that can help you drain your brain so you can notice your own habitual thought patterns and knee-jerk reactions.

If you feel stress as the holidays approach, you're not alone. It can be a challenging time. To prepare yourself for the holiday season, Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson leads you through one of her favorite meditations for restoration.

In a time when loneliness and disconnection among humans is growing, there is one thing we can rely on—stories connect us to each other. And when we listen with our whole soul as author and performer Kevin Kling says, we can gather wisdom we need for our journey and connect our hearts to others. This week, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson shares some stories to inspire you to reach out, see the truth in a story, and listen with your whole soul.

Happiness can certainly arise in the moment, but it is also a feeling we can cultivate. In order to feel happiness more often, we can practice the art of the return every day, in as many moments as we can. In this way, we teach ourselves to look for what makes us happy, more often. In this episode, you'll get to experience a mindfulness practice that can help you return to happiness. And you'll hear about an opportunity for you to get your voice heard on The Heartwood Treehouse Podcast! Don't miss it.

There are times at work and in life when we work too much. We push too hard. When put everything aside in order to push through until its done. In this episode, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson talks about how the art of the return can help us give ourselves the grace we need to return to our intentions, our goals, and our hearts—no matter how long it's been since we fell off the wagon.

When you're stressed out, exercise can be the last thing on your mind, but I'm hoping it will be the first from now on. The benefits of exercise are astounding, and it's no wonder. Our bodies were born to move. You were born to move. Tune in to hear why movement is such a fantastic way to care for yourself.

What if being nervous—like having stage fright—wasn't a statement about what's wrong with you, but instead was just part of the experience? If you could accept it as normal, would that change things for you? In this episode, we consider the idea that this moment, right now, is perfect.

If you're listing the things you're grateful for each day like you're checking off your to-do list, it's not going to do a whole lot for your happiness. Instead, there's a mindful gratitude technique that can re-train your nervous system and rewire the pathways in your brain so you notice the things you're grateful for more often, and you actually feel grateful in the body. Tune in to experience this powerful self-mastery tool.

Busy people often view their bodies as inconveniences, but the truth is that your body is the vehicle to your consciousness. It is the vehicle to mindfulness and joy. In this episode, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson leads you through a relaxing experience to slow down the nervous system and honor your magnificent body.

What mindfulness, meditation, and other contemplative traditions teach us is how to return. Again and again we learn to return our attention to something. This training is fertile ground for learning to return to our lives, our hearts, our values, whenever we are lost. Get ready to release stress and overwhelm with this traditional vipassana meditation.

Relax this week with a meditation by host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson that plugs you in to your own inner knowing. Then try an exercise that helps you reframe any challenges you have with other humans.

If you work in healthcare or any other industry that requires you to work with humans, getting an education in the humanities—reading a novel, watching a play, going to the art museum—can help you learn to work with people more than getting a medical degree. Tune in to hear this week's challenge that can help you broaden your perspective by looking at the great minds that have come before us.

Silence can be scary. In fact, many people will do anything they can to avoid it. In this episode, you'll hear how resistance and discomfort can be pathways to greater self-mastery. And you'll hear about a mindful eating exercise you can use to help you develop self-mastery skills that have transformational benefits.

In this episode, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson returns to the idea that 80% of job burnout in healthcare is created by organizational factors. She offers a perspective of organizational change that can help you find greater personal power within the system you're in.

According to The National Academy of Medicine, 80% of job burnout in healthcare is caused by organizational factors. In this episode, you'll hear host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson talk about what you can do if you're working in a crazy environment to find your sense of center and balance more often.

So many physicians and clinicians are totally overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work they're required to do. And often, while in school, they're taught to split themselves into pieces in order to be a physician or nurse. In this week's episode, you'll experience an exercise that will help you begin to take steps toward re-aligning your inner core with the work you do in the world.

Life is always changing and that can be extremely difficult for us. In this episode, host Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson shares how a growth mindset can help us see rainbows—even in the dark. Tune in for a mini mindfulness session that can help you shift your consciousness so can you create greater nourishment and joy in your life.