The Mindful Coping Podcast

There is a strange, mysterious beauty to how things don't work out as planned.Things don't get done.things sometimes stay on our to do list forever.intentions or goals sometimes are never fulfilled.things get forgotten aboutplans fall through.People disappoint us.we disappoint ourselves.our expectations dont get met.projects sometimes are left unstarted or abandoned half-finishedPeople aren't who we think they are.we aren't who we think we areThings don't satisfy us the way that we expect them to.the experiences we seekdon't bring us the happiness we had hoped forWhat we expect to happen doesn't.what we fear sometimes does come to passWhat we hope for doesnt materialize.the meaning we strive for vanishes like a thief in the nightCan I learn to laugh at the ridiculousness of my belief that everything I expect to happen will or won't?how can I know?Can I learn to see the beauty in what lies unfinished or what is never even started?Can I finally open my eyes fully to see that what is complete is just a small fraction of what exists in the Universe?

Grace Bubeck is a psychologist (MSc), philosopher (PhD), and certified massage therapist by work history and professional training. In 1999, she left a first career in academia at the London School of Economics to become a body-mind therapist in private practice and a personal development and meditation teacher. She offers in person therapy, counseling, and workshops, as well as online non-dual spiritual events and group programs.http://www.gracebubeck.com/about.html

When I am finally able to “see” that there is so much more to it All than the things that I feel like I have to get done,when I no longer have an agenda to push out into the world,when I no longer need to make anything happen,when there is no longer really anything to do other than what comes naturally in each moment,when I no longer need to worry about where I am going in life,when it all begins to feel like nothing more than just a series of moments unfolding in time,when I am not afraid to be in a place where I exist outside of time but not afraid to return back here and fully inhabit this particular human incarnation,when it's no longer about my personal will,when it's really no longer about how I feel,when my personality and perspective is finally seen  to be just another drop in a much larger Ocean,when I am ok with just flowing with it All as it happens and when it happens,then I am just simply here along with everything else at the center of it All.

Spiritual guide and author, Shakti is known internationally as one of the most authentic and profound voices in contemporary spirituality. Presenting the message of Advaita and non-dual Tantra within a contemporary framework, Shakti offers, with compassion and great clarity, an inner technology for dissolving the contraction of suffering that traditionally accompanies each of our lives. Her invitation is to come to the space of inner peace and unconditional love which resides at the heart of us all.      Her key teachings are the love for transcendence, or spiritual awakening, followed by its deep integration, into everyday living, so that each moment can be met as a precious opportunity for spiritual growth. Her students are left with the joy of an open heart and an authentic sense of freedom within the recognition of our being as one with everything.      https://www.shakticaterinamaggi.com

Things get really interesting when I get to a point where there is nothing that can be extracted or collected from any particular experience. Somewhere along the journey I learned that when I want or need something, it's like a “bottomless pit” and it's never, ever enough because that's the way the game works. My predicament is that sooner or later, I am always going to “hit the wall” and there is nothing left whatsoever in yet another zero sum game that I am trying to win.When the point of no return is reached, the saddest thing is to wake up and find myself still grinding away trying to take away something from nothing as it just simply cannot be done.What's in front of me isn't what I am trying to make it be; it's just what it is, and it really doesn't require my input, and stands on its own.The most liberating realization is to finally see that there is joy in Nothing as there really is something there, but it is fleeting and quickly comes into existence and then quickly disappears and cannot be amassed and set aside for later.Life has really begun to happen for me after it's all already been played out and all of the illusions have been shattered and the infrastructure of delusion has been dismantled, and all that remains is what's really happening, right here, right now, without any need for me to “curate” it.

Melissa Moore Ph.D. is the steward of North American Karuna training since 2014, and co-founded Karuna Europe in 1996. Melissa has her MA in Contemplative Psychotherapy from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and her Ph.D. in Psychological Anthropology from the California Institute of Integral Studies.Melissa has been a student of Vajrayana Buddhism and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche since 1979. She was the founding Director of the Felton Institute for Research and Training in San Francisco (2006–2016). She has been involved in community-based research for the most marginalized populations in California, trained front-line providers in mental health in evidence-based practices, and then researched the outcomes.Melissa is the Executive Director of Karuna Training and a lead faculty. She has taught Karuna Training in nine countries and in four states in the U.S. She lives in Denver with her dog and husband.Melissa recently published The Diamonds Within Us: Uncovering Brilliant Sanity Through Contemplative Psychology; find out more about the bookhere: https://thediamondswithinus.orgTo learn more about Melissa and about Karuna Training, visithttps://karunatraining.com

When I get still physically and/or mentally, there is a deeper sense that my mind is contantly “under construction”…….thought forms turning into building blocks of beliefs and fuel for the fire of emotional reactions.At some point, it feels like these thoughts and beliefs become their own “infrastructure.”There has been a freeing discovery that I don't have to “buy the building” or “live in it.”Whether I “live in it” or not, the construction project unceasingly goes on, but it gets easier to find peace and harmony amidst all of the noise as I practice not giving in to the need to “own the building.” It took years to recognize that “moving somewhere else” doesn't really work as this “construction project” goes on everywhere that I go.At the same time, there is also an “active demolition” of this infrastructure as thoughts and the energy that fuels them simply move through and come and go as long as I am not in the way of that natural process of creation and destruction.It has taken a long time for me to realize that I don't have to own these thoughts and internal reactions as they really aren't mine at a deeper level and all part of the energy moving through something much more vast than me.It's just all part of the dance of life, and it's so much less personal than I ever dreamed possible.

Louise is a researcher, coach & intuitive artist,  stone whisperer, and earth energy worker (PhD, MSc, PGDipCEIG, BA, INLPTA NLP, AAMET EFT,  VTCT, Reiki Master)She supports and empowers individuals and organisations to return to heart and reconnect to life. We do this by putting you back in the driving seat of your own life – guiding you to the wisdom and knowledge that resides your own heart, and giving you the confidence to bring forward this new understanding in everyday life.https://www.heartsenseresearch.co.uk

Woke up this morning feeling time rushing away from mewind relentlessly blowing outsideWhy do i resist the present moment when it leads to eternity with me and without me, all at the same time?Why do i feel like i am moving so slowtime is rushing by so fastwhere is it that I really need to go?what is it that i really need to do?Can I just simply feel what I feel, however it feels, without believing anything about it or even that it is real beyond what is in my mind and how I am reacting to it ?What I feel and think is simply the weather that passes constantly and changes into something else .

Nicole Peltier has been teaching her eclectic, musically motivated, creative yoga classes for over 25 years to all ages and levels. Nicole draws a lively following of teens and young people who are inspired by her young, fresh attitude and easy to follow instruction. Being "mature" also makes Nicole an ideal teacher who inspires older students to let down their hair and rock without reservation.  Tulsa's first yoga studio was opened and operated for over 20 years by Nicole and her partner. She is considered, by many,  the OG of Yoga in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  She is wildly passionate, energetic and inspirational. She is a true motivator. She is known as a powerful leader within the yoga community. She offers exceptional yoga retreats. Raven Yoga Retreats encompass sacred spiritual practices, mindful living techniques, healing modalities, holistic health and yoga for beginners as well as seasoned practitioner in a tranquil environment. Her powerful delivery in yoga classes is called "an experience" by her students.  She focuses on the energy yoga arouses when combined with music which is part of how she connects the students to joy, movement and childlike freedom.  Also, since Nicole's discovery into her own recovery, she has developed her own 'Raven Yoga for Freedom', (Trademarked in 2016) which addresses the issue of addiction, fear and emotional blocks. Nicole also leads a non-denominational Sunday Yoga Service with gospel and worship that she calls "All Rise Yoga Service". Nicole studied at Mount Madonna Center in Santa Cruz in 2000, and has studied extensively to hone her craft.  She spent 2022 studying Shamanism with a local shaman and incorporates shamanic practices into her classes.  Nicole is a festival favorite presenting at Internationally renowned yoga festivals. Yoga on the Mountain (4 yrs), Fayetteville Yoga Fest (4 yrs), Telluride Yoga Fest (3 yrs), Yoga Farm Fest Shreveport (3 yrs), Wild West Yoga Fest (2 yrs.), Drishti Beats (2023), Little Rock Yoga Fest (2023), Serenity Fest - Durango (2022, 2023), OKC Yoga Fest (2018), I AM Yoga Fest (4 yrs), Big Om Yoga Fest (2 yrs). Nicole shines at yoga retreats being a top presenter at Big Om Retreat (13 seasons), Dazen Collective (8 retreats) & Connect & Evolve (4 retreats). She has several modules she offers for yoga teacher training. She teaches Cueing, Voice Control and Flow Tactics to budding new yoga instructors. She continues to travel all over the world hosting yoga classes, retreats and ceremonial offerings. 

Dashama is a life and business strategist, happiness expert, author, speaker, media producer and teacher. She has practiced hatha yoga since childhood and is now one of a rising generation of young yoga instructors who incorporate life coaching skills in their teaching.

Ronald A. Alexander, PhD, MFT, SEP (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner) is a Creativity and Communication Consultant, and an Executive and Leadership Coach, with a private psychotherapy practice working with individuals, couples, families, and groups in Santa Monica, California. He is the Executive Director of the OpenMind® Training Institute, a leading-edge organization that offers personal and professional training programs in core creativity, mind-body therapies, transformational leadership, and mindfulness meditation. For more than forty-four years, Alexander has been a trainer of healthcare professionals in North America, as well as in Europe, Russia, Japan, China, and Australia. As a Mindfulness and Zen Buddhist practitioner, he specializes in utilizing mindfulness meditation in his professional and corporate work to help people transform their lives by accessing the mind states that open the portal to their core creativity.Alexander is a leading pioneer in the fields of Mindfulness Based Mind-Body Therapies, Gestalt Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, Ericksonian Mind-Body Therapies, Holistic Psychology, and Integrative and Behavioral Medicine. He is a long-time extension faculty member of the UCLA Departments of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Entertainment, a lecturer in the David Geffen School of Medicine, and an adjunct faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute and Pepperdine Universities. Alexander received his SEP Certificate from the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute in Boulder Colorado. He consulted with and received treatment from Milton H Erickson MD. He personally trained with Ernest Rossi and Steven Gilligan in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy as well as with Daniel P. Brown of the Harvard Medical Cambridge Hospital professional training's seminars in hypnosis and hypno-analysis. He trained with and was certified by the Los Angeles Gestalt Therapy Institute and with Erving and Miriam Polster PhD of the Gestalt Training Center of La Jolla. He also received training and supervision in Contemporary Gestalt and Family Therapies, Psychoanalytic Self-Psychology, Relational and Object Relations Therapies.Dr. Ronald Alexander, PhD is a leading Creativity and Communication Coach, International Clinical Trainer, Executive and Leadership Coach, with a private practice in Santa Monica, California. He is the originator of the OpenMind Training® Institute, a leading edge organization that offers personal and professional training programs in mindfulness based mind-body therapies, transformational leadership, and meditation. His unique method combines ancient wisdom teachings with Leadership Coaching and Core Creativity into a comprehensive integrated, behaviorally effective mind-body program. This system combines techniques that support strategies of personal, clinical, and corporate excellence and growth.Alexander's extensive training includes core creativity, conflict management, Gestalt therapy, leadership and organizational development, and vision and strategic planning. He pioneered the early values and vision-based models for current day leadership and professional coaching. He specializes in Mind-Body therapies and has been studying and teaching Mindfulness Meditation, Creative Visualization and Transpersonal Psychology since 1970. Alexander studied with and was influenced by noted leaders in these fields such as Ken Blanchard, Werner Erhard, Warren Bennis, Umberto Materana and Francesco Variela, and was one of the grandfathers of coaching along with Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins and Jack Canfield.To learn more about Dr. Ron and his work, visithttps://ronaldalexander.com

Victoria Angel Heart M.Ed is a mindfulness meditation guide, sacred musician and intuitive channel. Her life's work is to be a conduit of love for people to realize themselves as love personified.

Zoe gave up her house and her teaching job as a linguist, to fully live her life as a dance. She lives where she works or where people welcome her. Traveling and speaking many languages seem to be part of that dance. As she doesn't have any thoughts about who she is and who she should be, she completely surrenders to the present moment. The present moment is her only permanent companion, her beloved traveling guide, and biggest inspiration in working with people.“It is my wish to inspire people to live their life in the light of the present moment, to transcend the level of the mind and its endless thoughts, and remember who they truly are.”Zoe mostly draws from her own direct spiritual experience. She is also inspired by Advaita Vedanta (non-duality), Sufism (the ultimate reality is Love) and Tantrism (masculine and feminine energy come together in oneness).  She writes articles in two Dutch magazines* and shares her inspiration in the newsletters you find on this website. In 2010 Zoe had her first opening. One night she woke up bursting out laughing.  ‘Living as God!' she said. She realized that believing her thoughts was her only problem.  ‘If I don't believe my thoughts, I become totally available for Life/God to live through this body …' The next morning she started writing and two weeks later she finished the book Living as God. It is still available in Dutch and in English.** Nobody's Dance seems to be the sequel to Living as God. “Back then there was a lot of mental clarity, now there is a much deeper experience of that reality that is Love.”“When we become unattached to our stories, past and future and other fantasies, we become transparent. We remember our true nature and become available for life to dance through us. Our life becomes a Nobody's Dance.”Zoe is a citizen of Belgium but the world is her home. Zoe offers private sessions in person when possible. She also works through online private sessions. The energy doesn't care about distance. She is fluent in Dutch, English and French, and also uses Italian and German to talk to people.For more information about Zoe, visit https://www.zoejoncheere.com

Lisa Piccirillo almost gave up on songwriting, but The Muse wouldn't let her. The inspiration for her latest record came to her as a vision: the silhouette of a woman, backlit by the sun, alongside the word RADIATE. Fueled by this idea and the desire to reclaim her creative identity, Lisa devoted herself to daily songwriting sessions at sunrise and the new record was born. An unapologetically loud follow-up to her mellow and folky 2008 debut (momentum), RADIATE chronicles Lisa's vast emotional landscape with her signature blend of vulnerable songwriting and powerhouse vocals. Find her at the links below and on all major streaming platforms.Website: https://www.lisapmusic.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisapiccirilloYou Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@lisapmusicRadiate Record: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/lisapiccirillo/radiate-2

DEBORAH EDEN TULL, founder of Mindful Living Revolution, teaches the integration of compassionate awareness into every aspect of our lives, bridging personal and collective awakening in an age of global change. She is an engaged Buddhist teacher, spiritual activist, author, eco-dharma educator, and facilitator of The Work That Reconnects, a field created by Buddhist scholar and eco-philosopher Joanna Macy for transforming our love and pain for our world into compassionate action. Eden teaches dharma intertwined with post-patriarchal thought and practices, resting upon a lived knowledge of our unity with the more than human world. She has practiced meditation for 30 years and  trained for seven and a half years as a Buddhist monk at the Zen Monastery Peace Center, a silent Zen monastery in the Sierra foothills. She has been teaching for over 20 years. Eden's teaching emphasizes relational presence, acknowledging the personal, interpersonal, intrapersonal, transpersonal, societal, ecological, mystical, and global impacts of embodied dharma. She has worked with a wide range of audiences, from dharma students and spiritual teachers to those practicing or teaching secular mindfulness, to concerned citizens, activists, leaders, and change agents, to parents, schools, inner city youth, nonprofits, corporations, and people who are incarcerated. Eden taught for many years with UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center, and has been collaborating with Nina Simons, co-founder of Bioneers since 2012, on the topics of Regenerative Leadership, Women's Leadership, and Sacred Activism. She is also a member of the national Eco-Dharma Advisory Committee of Buddhist teachers and leaders in the eco-dharma movement. Eden has a special gift for facilitating mindful inquiry and fierce compassion, and bridging personal, ancestral, and collective healing. Weaving dharma with her embodiment of animism, deep ecology, shadow work, somatic awareness, ancestral healing, and conscious movement/dance, she helps people release limiting beliefs and collective biases that have been passed down over generations. She draws upon her own experience of navigating loss, illness, and trauma, guiding people to embrace the mystery and celebrate the value and alchemy of light and darkness as teachers of love. Having lived in or taught about sustainable communities and organic gardening/permaculture for decades, Eden weaves the essential wisdom of nature into everything she teaches. She currently resides in the mountains of western North Carolina, originally Cherokee land, with her husband Mark. She offers retreats, workshops, and consultations nationally and internationally, integrating presence and partnership with nature. Eden feels that the most important aspect of being a teacher is continually being a student. She continually immerses herself in trainings and retreats, recognizing direct experience as our truest guide. She works closely with mentor Pam Weiss, author of A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism, to deepen her embodiment of Soto Zen Buddhism in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi.

Jessi Sands is a multidisciplinary artist who uses different mediums such as painting, ceramics, and mixed media to explore how the intersectionality of their multiracial identity influences their roles as an Indigenous parent, queer person, and land steward.Jessi grew up in Oklahoma on the Cherokee reservation and on their Mvskokereservation where they currently live in Tulsa, OK. They received their Associates of Arts Degree from Tulsa Community College in 2021. They received their Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with minors in American Indian Studies, Pre-Art Therapy, and Art History from Oklahoma State University in 2024.While attending OSU they received several scholarships, the most notable being the Dana, Lisa, and Chris Tiger Scholarship and the Jackson Narcomey Rising Artist Scholarship.Currently, Jessi is working towards receiving their MA in Art Therapy/Counseling and Ecotherapy from Southwestern College and New Earth Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico.Their career goal is to continue as a studio artist while creating spaces for healing as an art therapist.https://www.milkycreates.comInstagram @milky.creates