Singers and yoga lovers know this trick well. It’s simply diaphragm breathing. Breathing in to your diaphragm instead of your chest cavity allows for deeper, longer breaths and enables this quick do-it-anywhere exercise:

Breathe in slowly through your nose, filling your belly, instead of your chest. (it may help to place your hands on you stomach, to guide the air and feel the expansion)

We experience thousands of marketing messages each day. Sensory stimuli constantly compete for our attention and our dollars. So much so, that we begin to forget what an effect these messages have on our decisions.

Photo by Suat Eman from freedigitalphotos.net

In this brief video, Thich Nhat Hanh will make you smile, laugh and think.

What if we all acted in accordance with the knowledge that we are intimately related and interdependent? What if interpersonal relationships mirrored the relationship between our two hands?

Our diets are too high in salt and sodium. The optimal limit for sodium is 1,500 milligrams a day, equivalent to the amount of sodium in about two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt.

I love to walk and enjoy nature. A mindful connection between my feet and the earth reminds me that I am intertwined with an abundance of beauty- a mutually supportive world that I give to and receive from, with every breath.

Despite the knowledge that walking brings me joy, I often need a reminder to prioritize this activity and an incentive to get out the door.

Your surroundings influence you and you influence your surroundings. This seemingly obvious statement often gets lost in our daily shuffle, but the implications of this relationship are important to understanding our own agency.

If you find that you have fallen away from your exercise plan for a day, a week, even a month, do not judge yourself harshly as a failure. Just start again. Everyday is a new day, an opportunity for a new beginning. You can begin anew every moment.

"when I go shopping, when I cook, and when I eat, I shall give rise to mindfulness and not bring into my body the kind of food which makes me heavy and unwell."

– Thich Nhat Hanh

This 5 minute video from Plum Village brightened my day. I offer it to you for a break from the usual and inspiration for loving wholly.

The video describes that learning to truly love is the essence of mindful living. True love consists of friendship, compassion, joy and non discrimination.