Interviews

Welcome Stephen Cope to The Inspired Living Podcast. I have known Stephen’s work for many years and believe that his depth of understanding of how to navigate this life journey in line with our Dharma, or life’s purpose, has helped untold numbers of people to focus their internal lens and trust in the wisdom of the divine within. His own life is a testament to the non-linear trajectory of honoring the voice of wisdom to guide us, not to an easy life, but to a fulfilling one. In this interview, we explore Stephen’s latest book The Dharma In Difficult Times, and Stephen’s insightful understanding of the Bhagavad Gita (a remarkable ancient Indian spiritual writing).

Meditations:

This week, in honor of the upcoming Fall Equinox, I chose the Wendell Berry poem 'What We Need Is Here' as the focal point for this meditation. It ends with the wish that we 'be quiet in heart, and in eye, clear.' And in this world where we continuously bombarded with consumerism and the need for more, more more, it is such a welcome reminder to know that 'what we need is here'.

In this meditation I use the St. Francis quote "There are beautiful, wild forces within us. Let them turn the mills inside and fill the sacks that feed even heaven." You can use this to reset your day when you only have a few minutes. Enjoy!

This week I am sharing a webinar that I offered to the Alternative Balance Community in early August. I decided to offer both the webinar and the meditation because together they give a much deeper understanding of my very favorite form of meditation, Yoga Nidra. I have led meditation for two decades, and for the last decade I have led primarily Yoga Nidra guided meditation. The Indian Yogi Swami Satyananda Saraswati, in the 1960's, introduced this form of meditation , which has its roots in both the Vedic traditions of ancient India and in Western relaxation psychology as envisioned by the Swiss doctor Otto Vittoz. I explain why Yoga Nidra works so well by attending to the five bodies or Koshas, bringing a rejuvenating experience to participants. And you experience a full Yoga Nidra guided meditation focused on helping you to realize your life's direction. It is an hour well spent if you are interested in connecting to what truly matters in life. I hope you enjoy! The writings I share in the meditation are by John O'Donohue, a mystic poet from Connemara, north of Galway in Ireland. I spell his name incorrectly in the recording but have spelled it correctly here.

I use the poem A Blessing for Beauty as our passage meditation focus this week. It is a quite a bit longer than the first three in this series, but it is a gem, so I wanted to include it. Enjoy! O'Donohue has a knack for presenting the most tender hearted and beloved God, the one that I, for one, want to invite into the center of my life, for sure! I hope you enjoy!

Here is another beautiful John O'Donohue poem to take in and meditate on. It comes from his book To Bless the Space Between Us and is titled 'For Celebration. Enjoy!

"The heart is the inner face of your life. The human journey strives to make this inner face beautiful. For love alone can awaken what is divine within you..." So begins the passage used for this short and poignant meditation. I hope you enjoy!

This is the first in a series of short, sweet, passage meditations designed to provide a short period of time to tune inward with with some inspiring words of John O'Donohue, they poet, and spiritual leader from Connemara in western Ireland, a beautiful, mystical area just north of Galway. The passage today takes the last two stanzas of his poem Beannacht/Blessing.

I give a short plug, at the end of the video, for my year-long Inspired Living Journey, which begins on Tuesday, October 17th, 2023 (I gave the wrong date on the video). We meet primarily on Zoom, though folks local to Central New Hampshire do have some opportunities to meet in person occasionally, as well. To sign up for a free 30 minute coaching session, go to Inspired-living.net, email me at InspiredLivingWithEllen@gmail.com, or text me at 413-212-6470.

In the year-long Inspired Living Journey that I lead people on, one of the key elements is to discover and pursue your unique calling at this point in your life. It is the thing that, when aligned, your life feels right. Not necessarily easy, but spot on right. In tonight's meditation I lead you in a practice of Yoga Nidra specially designed to reveal your path and intend toward leading it.

The next iteration of the Inspired Living Journey begins on September 5th, 2023. Perhaps you are curious as to whether this would be a worthwhile journey for you. Tonight's meditation gives you a tiny taste of an expansive and life changing experience. And I invite anyone who wants to explore a little more about the ILJ to book a free half hour coaching session with me.

FULL MOON Meditation

July 12, 2023

The Moon is always full, we simply can only se part of it for most of the month. Around the time of the full moon, see and experience a full moon, it is a good time to assess what we may need to release in order to live into our most vibrant, most FULL lives. In this meditation I share a very profound quote from Meister Eckhart. Get yourself ready (sit up or lie down)for this longer meditation. Enjoy!

With the use of a single raisin (which you will be prompted to have with you) you will experience the complexity and interconnectedness of all. You will explore the raisin with all your senses: sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. This slow process allows you to bring curiosity and a beginner's mind to the experience. You will then be guided to understand all that allowed this raisin to be here with you now. The hope is that this meditation brings you into the present moment in such a way that you fully experience eating a single raisin. I hope you enjoy.


Today I share a meditation that I learned from Eknath Easwaran in which you bring your full focus to the words in an inspirational passage and fill your mind and being with them. I hope you enjoy!

This is a beautiful meditation in which we explore together the nature of the mind. We notice the way our thoughts come and go. They arise, we can let them be, and they will dissipate. We begin to recognize that there is space between thoughts. When you watch your thoughts, you begin to notice that part of you is thinking, and part of you is watching, or witnessing. Part of you is awareness itself. If you think of your thoughts like clouds, they appear, and they change. They come and they go.The clouds have different attributes: light, wispy, heavy, stormy. They can obscure the sky, but the sky is still present and spacious, infinite, undisturbed. You are invited to begin to identify with the spaciousness, with the infinite, with ease and joy.