National Meditation Month: Breathe & Meditate with Ananda Leeke on May 1, 13, 20 & 27 on Facebook Live

Meditation has been a part of my life for over 25 years. During this period of time, I have come to know meditation as a mindful living practice that helps me make friends with my mind. In meditation, I make the choice to focus my awareness on what’s happening inside of myself – what’s happening in my spirit, heart, mind, and body. Through the power of my breath, I cultivate stillness by observing it and coming back to it when my mind is distracted by thoughts. Meditation has helped me increase my self-awareness and self-acceptance, relax, improve concentration, outsmart stress, cope with panic attacks, strengthen my emotional and physical well-being, develop deep listening in my interactions with others, and commit to a healthier lifestyle.

AL-NationalMeditationMonth-FacebookLiveMeditations-FINAL.png

This month I am using National Meditation Month to offer “Breathe & Meditate,” a free Facebook Live series, on May 1st, 13th, 20th, and 27th from 7 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. EST. Each morning I will guide you through three short meditation sessions and offer tips on how to create mindful living moments in your daily  life.  Join me on  www.facebook.com/anandaleeke64

TM-EmbraceThrivingMindfullyfor31Days

Need more mindfulness in your life? I invite you to join the #ThrivingMindfully 31-Day Challenge to incorporate more mindful living, creativity, and technology moments in your life. It starts May 1st and is self-directed. That means you do it at your own pace.

Here’s how the #ThrivingMindfully 31-Day Challenge works. There at 31 #ThrivingMindfully podcast episodes that include guided meditations, breathing exercises, short talks, tips, and resources. They are divided into three sections:mindful living, creativity, and technology. Follow the steps below to access the podcasts.

Step 1: Each day go to the #ThrivingMindfully Soundcloud page and click on the #ThrivingMindfully 31-Day Challenge playlist.

  • Mindful Living: Listen to episodes 1-15, 29
  • Mindful Creativity: Listen to episodes 16-21, 30
  • Mindful Technology: Listen to episodes 22-28, 31

Step 2: Select the podcast episode for Day #1, #2, #3 etc. and listen to it. You can also choose to listen to a podcast that resonates with you. Make the challenge your own. Take what you need and leave the rest behind.

Step 3: Practice the breathing, meditation, and reflections exercise(s) throughout your day and/or week.

Step 4: Join the A Mindful Cup of Tea Facebook Group and share your experiences with others.

ALWebsite-NeedMore-FINAL

Check out my resources page.

If you live or visit the DC area in May, consider joining me for two #ThrivingMindfully Meetup Group events on May 19 and May 21. Go here for more details.

Looking for mindfulness-inspired books to read? Check out my three books on Amazon: yoga-inspired novel Love’s Troubadours, mindful creativity memoir That Which Awakens Me, and mindful technology memoir Digital Sisterhood.

ALWebsite-SUPPORT

My online offerings and events are offered as a gift. If they have blessed you, I invite you to show gratitude by supporting my work with a donation on PayPal or with the Cash app: http://www.paypal.me/anandaleeke or http://cash.me/$AnandaLeeke. Thank you for your generosity. It is deeply appreciated!

 

Celebrate Spring & International Day of Happiness with Mindfulness & Mouth Yoga (Smiling)

Are you ready for Spring? Start it by celebrating International Day of Happiness on Tuesday, March 20, with a mindful practice of mouth yoga a/k/a smiling. Smiling is one of the best ways to create positive energy inside of yourself. When you smile mindfully, your positive energy can help open your heart to more gratitude. Also, your smile also has the power to brighten another’s person’s day!

InternationalDayofHappiness (1)

Check out my #ThrivingMindfully Podcast resources.

How are you planning to celebrate Spring and/or International Day of Happiness? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Enjoy Spring & International Day of Happiness!

#ThrivingMindfully Self-Care Challenge, Week #4 – Equanimity

AL-HappyHolidays

Happy Holy-Days! Welcome to Week 4 of the #ThrivingMindfully Self-Care Challenge, a four-week experience that invites you to practice and reflect on loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity! Equanimity is the theme for this week.

I launched the Challenge on December 1. It’s hard to believe that we have reached the last week. If you missed the previous weeks, click on the links below.

Week 1, December 4-10: Loving Kindness
Week 2, December 11-17: Compassion
Week 3, December 18-24: Joy

TM-Equanimity-GardenofSelfAcceptance

Week 4 of #ThrivingMindfully Self-Care Challenge: December 25-31

Equanimity or upekkha is a state of being that allows you to stand in the middle of whatever thought, feeling, or experience you may have with calm awareness and nonjudgment. Going within and being with all of your stuff (thoughts, feelings, and experiences) on a daily basis helps you plant seeds of equanimity in your garden of self-acceptance. When you give yourself equanimity, you are able to handle the ups and downs of life with more peace. You also access more loving kindness, compassion, and joy. In addition, your capacity to support others with loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity grows.

Theme/Video: Equanimity

Invitation: Slow down and take three deep breaths. Touch your heart with one or both of your hands as you enter into a moment of stillness.

Take three more deep breaths. Right where you are repeat the first prayer out loud or silently three times: May I embody and express equanimity for myself.

Take three more deep breaths and repeat the second prayer. May I share equanimity with others. Inhale deeply and as you exhale thank yourself for showing up in the stillness.

JournalYourThoughts

Reflection Questions and Journaling Exercise: Take some time this week to reflect on and journal about one or more of the questions below.

1) What does equanimity mean?
2) What does equanimity look like in your life?
3) What prevents you from embodying and expressing equanimity for yourself? and for others?
4) What do you want equanimity to look like in 2018?
5) How can you add more equanimity into your daily, weekly, and monthly routines?

TM-Equanimity-OceanText

 

Befriend Yourself

Becoming your own best friend is one of the greatest self-care gifts you can give yourself. It is loving kindness.

TM-Lovingkindness-Blackman

Take a moment to look into your eyes and befriend yourself today or this week. In that moment, ask yourself what you need to outsmart stress and thrive+work mindfully. Do one thing that helps you meet your need.

TM-SpecialGift

Join the #ThrivingMindfully Self-Care Challenge, a four-week experience that invites you to practice and reflect on loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

Happy December: #ThrivingMindfully Self-Care Challenge, Week 1 – Loving Kindness

AL-MeditatingatEMIHappy December! It’s the last month of 2017. It’s also my birthday month and an opportunity for me to share what I have learned so far in my mindfulness facilitator training program with the Engaged Mindfulness Institute (EMI). The EMI program started with a week-long silent retreat that was held in Deerfield, Massachusetts in September. One of my biggest takeaways from the retreat is the value of practicing loving kindness or metta towards myself each day. It is one of my four self-care vitamins (loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity) I use to outsmart stress and thrive+work mindfully.

TM-SpecialGift

Here’s my special gift for you: #ThrivingMindfully Self-Care Challenge, a four-week experience that invites you to practice and reflect on loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

Each week, I will share a video and invite you to participate in a self-care exercise that includes breathing exercises, reflection questions, and journaling. See the schedule below.

  • Week 1, December 4-10: Loving Kindness
  • Week 2, December 11-17: Compassion
  • Week 3, December 18-24: Joy
  • Week 4, December 25-31: Equanimity

Week 1 of #ThrivingMindfully Self-Care Challenge: December 4-10

Theme/Video: Loving Kindness

Invitation: Slow down and take three deep breaths. Touch your heart with one or both of your hands as you enter into a moment of stillness.

Take three more deep breaths.

Right where you are repeat this prayer out loud or silently three times: May I embody and express loving kindness.

Take three deep breaths. Thank yourself for showing up in the stillness.

TM-Selfcare4weekchallenge-12417

Reflection Questions and Journaling Exercise: Take some time this week to reflect on and journal about one or more of the questions below.

  1. What does loving kindness mean?
  2. What does loving kindness look like in your life?
  3. What prevents you from embodying and expressing loving kindness for yourself?
  4. What do you want your loving kindness to look like in 2018?
  5. How can you add more moments of loving kindness into your daily, weekly, and monthly routines?

Happy #FierceLiving Friday: #FierceLiving Fitness Celebration of My Prevention Magazine Challenge

image

Happy #FierceLiving Friday!

On May 28, I successfully completed my Prevention Magazine 28-Day Challenge. During the #28fitdays Challenge, I used social media on a daily basis to share photos of my healthy living journey.
image

image

image

image

Sharing my journey via social media strengthened my healthy living commitment, created community with other women who participated in the Challenge, provided a cheerleading choir made up of my social media friends and followers, and offered greater accountability especially on days when I felt like skipping my fitness routine. The end result is a deeper healthy living practice on my road to #FierceLiving at 50.
image

image

So what’s next for me?

I’m starting a 21-day fitness challenge called Body Reboot on June 1 to sculpt my core and increase my weekly running. I’m also planning to attend Mint Condition Day sponsored by my gym on June 7 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Marie Reed Elementary Soccer Field, 2200 Champlain Street, NW, Washington, DC. If you are in DC, click here to register for the free event. See you there!

Here’s something new I learned about today – Healthy You Now

Happy Monday!

My Blogalicious sistalove Xina Eiland sent me a Facebook invitation to become a fan of Healthy You Now (www.healthyyounow.com), a new bi-monthly online health magazine that launches on December 8.  Healthy You Now’s mission is to: 

  • promote information on good eating habits,
  • change the conversation from weight to health & healthy choices, and 
  • challenge each individual to make adjustments to their overall lifestyle.

Tonya Lewis Lee is serving as Editor-in-Chief.  Lee is a lawyer, writer, mother, wife, and lead spokesperson for The Office of Minority Health’s “A Healthy Baby Begins With You” campaign (http://www.tonyalewislee.com/tll_involvements.html).  Lee penned a best-selling novel Gotham Diaries.  She also co-authored the children’s book Please Baby Please with her husband Spike Lee.  Visit www.tonyalewislee.com for more information.

After checking Healthy You Now’s web site out, I happily accepted the invitation and proceeded to tweet about this wonderful new online magazine so that my BAP Living (http://twitter.com/bapliving) and Sisterhood, the Blog (http://twitter.com/sisterhdtheblog) audiences would know more about it.  Please support this new publication by visiting www.healthyyounow.com and signing up for the free newsletter. If you are on Facebook, join the Healthy You Now Fan Page:  www.facebook.com/#/pages/Healthy-You-Now/184831227905?ref=ts.  Tell your friends to join too!

 Enjoy your day and week!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, Gratitude, and Healthy Living,

Ananda