In this powerful conversation, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with Jaye Marolla to explore a very different approach to leadership, growth, and self-awareness. Drawing from over a decade as a bodywork practitioner, Jaye shares how working with the body can expand our capacity to hold uncertainty, navigate conflict, and move through life with greater presence and resilience. 

Together, they unpack the concept of yin-led leadership, challenge common cultural narratives around power and safety, and introduce the idea of edge mapping, a practice of meeting ourselves at the boundary between the known and the unknown.

Key Takeaways

• Growth happens at the edge, through presence. Real transformation comes from staying with discomfort, curiosity, and the unknown rather than bypassing it.m
• Yin leadership is deeply attuned and responsive. True leadership arises from listening, receiving, and being in relationship with what’s happening, rather than controlling it.
• Edge mapping expands your capacity. By gently exploring your edges (instead of pushing past them), you can build resilience, awareness, and flexibility.
• Yin and yang are not opposites - they are interdependent. True power comes from their integration: grounded, rooted yin giving rise to clear, intentional yang.
• Fulfillment is a natural part of life cycles. Knowing when something is complete (and having the awareness to release it) is essential for growth and new emergence.

I’d love to hear what stood out to you in this conversation.

What edge are you noticing in your own life right now?

You can email me at elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com - I always love hearing what’s resonating.

Resources 

Jaye's website: https://www.thebodyinnate.com/

Jaye’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/thebodyinnate/

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

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In this powerful conversation, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with Daniela Hess, the co-founder, spiritual director, and lead educator of the organization Great Energy. Together, they explore the missing link in so many personal growth and spiritual conversations: your physical body. Daniela dives into why a regulated, relaxed body is essential for deeper healing and awareness, the concept of burnout and adrenal fatigue, and how metabolic and hormonal imbalances affect mood, nervous system regulation, energy levels, and relationships. 

Key Takeaways

• Practice diaphragmatic (belly) breathing throughout the day
• Incorporate gentle movement like Qigong or walking
• Many "emotional issues” are actually physical imbalances. Hormones, nutrients, and metabolism play a significant role. 

Resources 

Daniella’s website: https://www.greatenergy.org/

• Check out her free monthly offerings:
• Community Sunday (Qigong practice)
• Sacred Sunday (guided meditation + reflection)

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores the deeper meaning of spring through the lens of ancient Chinese medicine - not just as a season, but as an internal shift happening within your body, emotions, and energy. She unpacks the Wood element; the energy of growth, movement, vision, and new beginnings, and gently guides you to understand how spring lives within you, perhaps influencing everything from your mood and motivation to your creativity and sense of direction.

If you’ve been feeling frustrated, uninspired, or unsure of your next step, this episode offers a compassionate and empowering lens to understand why…and practical exercises to begin shifting.

Key Takeaways

• You are not separate from nature - you move with its seasons
• Spring can be a time of activation, growth, and forward momentum, both internally and externally
• Small, intentional shifts can help restore flow, creativity, and direction

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

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— Jean Culbertson Sutton, Ritual Well

What if the small things you already do - lighting a candle, holding a meaningful object, pausing with a cup of tea - are actually powerful rituals?

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun welcomes back ritual practitioner and author Jean Culbertson Sutton to explore the power of ritual and how it can reconnect us with ourselves, each other, and the sacred within everyday life. Jean shares how rituals can emerge organically from our lives and become anchors during times of transition, grief, uncertainty, and growth.

If you've ever felt drawn to meaningful practices but weren’t sure where to start, this conversation offers a beautiful doorway in.

Key Takeaways

• Ritual helps externalize inner experiences. By interacting with physical objects, emotions like anxiety or grief can feel more tangible and workable.
• Ritual creates pauses in our lives. These moments of intentional stillness can reconnect us with our bodies, our values, and our sense of meaning.
• Community rituals deepen belonging. Even simple shared gestures can foster connection and respect among groups.
• You may already have rituals in your life. Becoming aware of them often deepens their impact.

Resources 

Jean’s book: Ritual Well

Jean’s website: https://jeancsutton.weebly.com/

Find earlier Interview with Jean (episode #5) here

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with assisted stretch practitioner Lisa to explore the transformative potential of assisted stretching and body awareness. Drawing from nearly two decades of experience in massage therapy and training in Thai yoga massage, Lisa shares how slow, supported stretching can help people reconnect with their bodies, regulate the nervous system, and release long-held tension.

We talk about the difference between performing movement versus receiving movement, why many of us are disconnected from our bodies, and how intentional stretching can create space for both physical and emotional release.

This conversation offers a thoughtful look at how practices that reconnect us to the body can shift not only how we move, but also how we live.

Key Takeaways

• Assisted stretching can support nervous system regulation. Slow, guided stretching helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system - the part of the body responsible for rest and relaxation - allowing muscles to release tension and the body to settle.
• Fascia plays a major role in flexibility and tension. Fascia, the connective tissue that surrounds muscles and organs, can become tight and restricted over time due to stress, repetitive movement, or inactivity. Gentle stretching can help improve fascial mobility and overall movement.
• Reconnecting with the body can support emotional well-being. Many people store stress and emotional tension physically. Bodywork practices like assisted stretching can create space for relaxation, emotional release, and a deeper sense of grounding.

Resources 

Connect with Lisa: 

- Instagram: Prostretchflex1 

- Facebook: Pro Stretch & Flex

-TikTok: @pro.stretch.and.f

- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lisa-binkley-21862b352

- Website: prostretchflex.com

- Email: prostretchflex@gmail.com

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun is joined by Sarah Highland, pelvic floor therapist and AASECT-certified sex counselor, to explore how chronic pain is created by the brain and nervous system, especially pain that doesn’t show up on scans. This conversation addressed the nervous system, central sensitization, shame, trauma, and why pain is always real - even when doctors can’t find a clear cause.

If you’ve ever been told “nothing’s wrong” but your body says otherwise, this conversation will offer validation, clarity, and hope.

Key Takeaways

• Pain is always real, even when tests show “nothing wrong.” Pain isn’t “in your head” - your nervous system interprets signals and creates the experience of pain, even without visible tissue damage.
• Healing often involves both mind and body. Trauma, stress, sleep, fear of movement, and medical experiences all influence chronic pain. Addressing these alongside physical care can be transformative.
• Hope exists even when pain feels hopeless. If you’ve tried medications or specialists without relief, exploring a biopsychosocial, nervous-system-informed approach can offer new pathways for healing.

Resources 

Sarah Highland’s website: https://www.pelvicfloorandmore.com/

Sarah’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/pelvicfloorandmore/

Resources Sarah mentioned in this episode:

Noigroup Clinical Discussions - YouTube

Home - Pelvic Global Directory

Rachel Zoffness Pain Science Author

An interesting study that speaks to the same topics: Association of Central Sensitization Inventory Scores With Pain Outcomes After Endometriosis Surgery | Obstetrics and Gynecology | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

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In this episode, the last of the People-Pleasing Mini-Series, host Elizabeth Mintun explores why self-trust is hard, why guilt and old patterns show up, and how you can begin making changes with compassion and steadiness. Elizabeth addresses why understanding the pattern isn’t enough to shift it, how the nervous system interprets self-prioritization as risk, and the waves of guilt, fear, and identity disorientation that can arise when we are making a healthy change for ourselves. 

Elizabeth also shares her personal journey with people-pleasing as well as a free workshop happening Thursday, February 26th, called From People-Pleasing to Self-Trust. 

Key Takeaways

• Awareness ≠ immediate change. Understanding people-pleasing patterns is important, but your nervous system operates on survival wiring, so behavior change happens gradually.
• Self-trust can feel destabilizing at first. Saying no, setting limits, or interrupting old patterns can trigger guilt, fear of being misunderstood, and identity disorientation. This is normal.
• Micro-shifts and consistent practice matter. Pausing, regulating your nervous system, and practicing boundaries in relationships gradually rewires old pathways.
• Caring without disappearing is possible. You don’t have to harden, withdraw, or stop caring about others. Self-trust is about staying present with yourself in the context of relationships. 

Resources 

Sign up for the free workshop From People-Pleasing to Self-Trust: Reclaim Yourself Without Burning Bridges here:

https://go.thecalmingground.com/people-pleasing-to-self-trust

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores people-pleasing through a compassionate nervous system lens, understanding how it often begins as an adaptive survival strategy rooted in relational intelligence, emotional attunement, and a deep value for harmony and connection. She looks at how immediate relief, identity reinforcement, fear of relational rupture, and external approval can quietly keep the pattern in place, and why saying no can feel physically unsafe. 

Most importantly, Elizabeth reframes the work: the opposite of people-pleasing isn’t selfishness at all, but self-trust. It’s about growing the ability to notice your internal signals, pause, and respond in ways that honor both yourself and your relationships.

Key Takeaways

• People-pleasers are highly attuned emotional readers and that relational intelligence is a strength.
• People-pleasing often feels like kindness, not “pleasing.”
• A quick “yes” brings immediate nervous system relief (and reinforces the habituated response).
• Healing requires expanding capacity to tolerate discomfort.

Resources 

Sign up for the free workshop From People-Pleasing to Self-Trust: Reclaim Yourself Without Burning Bridges here:

https://go.thecalmingground.com/people-pleasing-to-self-trust

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores people pleasing through the lens of the nervous system, specifically the fawn response, a survival strategy organized around connection and safety. Rather than trying to “overcome” or shame this pattern, we look at why it made sense in the first place - and how understanding it with compassion can create real, sustainable change.

Key Takeaways

• People-pleasing is a nervous system strategy. It often develops as a way to stay safe, connected, and regulated in environments where harmony, approval, or emotional attunement mattered for belonging.
• The fawn response is organized around connection. Alongside fight, flight, and freeze, the fawn response seeks safety by accommodating, smoothing, helping, or staying agreeable (especially in relationally sensitive people).
• Shame and force don’t create lasting change. Trying to “override” people pleasing by pushing yourself to say no often backfires because the nervous system still perceives danger.
• Understanding comes before changing a pattern. When we understand why people-pleasing once made sense, we can honor it rather than fight it - and patterns often begin to shift naturally.

Resources 

Sign up for the free workshop From People-Pleasing to Self-Trust: Reclaim Yourself Without Burning Bridges here:

https://go.thecalmingground.com/people-pleasing-to-self-trust

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Related episodes that do focus on boundaries: 

Episode #27 The Gift of Boundaries for Compassionate Presence: An Interview with Dawn Glasco

Episode #29 Growing Our Boundary Muscles: An Exploration of Inner & Outer Boundaries with Kelli Younglove 

Episode #30 Honoring Ourselves: Freeing Ourselves from People-Pleasing

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores the idea that stuckness is often a form of discernment. When we feel stuck, it’s usually not because we don’t care - it’s because something meaningful, complex, or emotionally layered is asking for time and attention.  Rather than reacting to the discomfort of uncertainty with striving or self-pressure, this episode invites a shift toward listening and responding with curiosity.

Elizabeth also shares a folktale about the “monkey trap” to illustrate how holding too tightly - even to something valuable - can keep us stuck, and how release often comes through softening rather than force. She also shares a personal story of a real-life example of how noticing and respecting stuckness can open the door to honest movement and deeper collaboration.

Key Takeaways

• Stuckness can hold valuable information about pace, grief, vulnerability, or competing values
• Striving for clarity can be a reaction to discomfort rather than a true response to what’s happening
• Stuckness can act as a protective brake, not a breakdown
• Asking relational questions (“What is this protecting?”) can be more helpful than demanding solutions

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun interviewed Marcia Miller, a lifelong teacher and Reiki Master, and meditation coach. In this conversation, Marcia reflected on her transition into a later stage of life - one shaped less by striving and productivity and more by discernment, nourishment, and listening. After decades of teaching and running a large yoga studio, she described what it has meant to consciously do less, rest until truly rested, and only say yes when something feels fully aligned.

Marcia also expressed that winter is both a literal season and a metaphor for a way of being: honoring darkness, quiet, and fallowness as necessary parts of life. Marcia also discussed the crone or elder archetype as a stage marked by clarity, courage, and responsibility. She spoke candidly about fierceness, boundaries, and the importance of community - reminding us that we are not meant to do everything alone, nor be at full capacity all the time. This episode offers an invitation to rethink productivity, rest, and connection.

Key Takeaways

• True rest often requires intentional boundaries, not just time off
• Clarity about what is ours to do emerges more easily when the nervous system is supported
• Living seasonally can mean aligning daily rhythms, evenings, and expectations with the natural world
• Asking “What is enough?” can be a radical and liberating practice

Resources 

Marcia Miller’s Website: https://www.marciamilleryoga.com/

Marcia Miller’s Substack: https://substack.com/@marciamiller715561

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores how the dominant frame of self-improvement can reinforce the belief that something about us is deficient or needs fixing. While growth and awareness are valuable, when they’re rooted in pressure rather than relationship, they can leave us feeling managed instead of met.

This conversation offers a re-orientation: moving from self-improvement toward self-acceptance, allowance, and relational growth. Through reflection, nervous-system awareness, and a classic folktale, Elizabeth invites you to consider what happens when we stop treating ourselves as projects and start relating to ourselves with curiosity and permission.

Key Takeaways

• Awareness is about noticing; self-surveillance can turn noticing into evaluation.
• Recurring patterns are  signals asking for a tending and/or a different way of relating.
• Growth rooted in self-acceptance and permission is often more sustainable than growth driven by pressure.

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun shares reflections where a simple practice - pausing together in community for fifteen minutes each day - created surprising and meaningful shifts. From composing music from the heart instead of “shoulds,” to savoring “delicious bursts” of presence, to meeting mistakes with curiosity rather than perfectionism, these moments point to something essential: steadiness doesn’t actually come from control - it comes from presence… especially when it’s shared.

This episode is an invitation to slow down, soften the grip of “should,” and remember that even small pauses can help us live more honestly inside the both/and.

Key Takeaways

• Small, consistent pauses can create steadiness in an unsteady world.
• Shared practice matters - sometimes we regulate more deeply when we pause together.
• Peace isn’t something we wait for; it’s something we practice.
• Living in the both/and allows hope and heartbreak to coexist honestly.

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun offers a different starting point for the new year - one rooted in mindfulness, nervous system awareness, and compassionate intention-setting. Elizabeth unpacks what mindfulness really is (and what it’s not), gently challenging the idea that mindfulness is about calming down or simply engaging in positive thinking (or getting it “right”). Instead, mindfulness is presented as a brave and practical practice of paying attention, without judging, fixing, or escaping what we notice.

Key Takeaways

• Mindfulness changes the quality of how we grow, not whether we grow.
• Mindfulness helps us relate to action with more clarity, steadiness, and alignment.
• Awareness must come before sustainable change. We can’t shift patterns we aren’t aware of. Mindfulness helps us notice when choices are driven by fear, urgency, or habit - and creates space for more intentional responses.
• Intentions work best when they support the nervous system. A mindful intention is a direction of attention, not a demand. It leaves room for uncertainty, rest, and returning again and again without self-judgment.

Resources 

Sign up here for free workshop Start 2026 with Clarity: Reconnect with Your Inner Compass  

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun reflects on stillness, renewal, and possibility during late December. Drawing from timeless wisdom - the Northern European tradition of the Twelve Nights and the Inuit story of Sedna’s descent into the deep - Elizabeth explores how darkness, pause, and reflection are essential parts of growth. These stories illuminate the ways that slowing down, observing inner patterns, and cultivating clarity prepare us for meaningful beginnings.

This episode is perfect for anyone seeking calm, grounding, and mindful presence during a season that can feel emotionally heightened, complex, or tender.

Key Takeaways

• By honoring the quiet and slowing down, you create space for clarity, renewal, and the unfolding of what’s next.
• Though the spaces of uncertainty during times of change, transition, or decision-making can be quite uncomfortable, it can be very helpful to breathe through the discomfort rather than trying to “hop over it”. 
• Notice if you’re experiencing a push for “resolutions” and see how possible it might be to offer yourself ease and open curiosity about how you’d like to unfold in the coming year. Notice what emerges inwardly as you practice this curiosity and openness.  

Resources 

Sign up for Intentional 2026: 3 Days to Reset & Realign here.

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun weaves together two timeless folktales, the Taoist story of the Useless Tree and the Cherokee legend of the Two Wolves. Together, these stories illuminate how slowing down, regulating our inner world, and choosing compassion over urgency creates the foundation for lasting calm. Elizabeth talks about how, as we step toward a new year, many of us are craving more peace in our relationships, our homes, and in the world. She suggests that peace doesn’t begin with resolutions or perfect habits. It begins within. And when we nurture it gently and consistently, it ripples outward in ways we may never fully see.

Key Takeaways

• Inner peace is grounded self-connection.True inner peace can come from staying connected to yourself, even when life feels busy, emotional, or uncertain.
• What you feed internally shapes your emotional well-being. Inner peace grows from daily choices, such as where you place your attention, how you respond to stress, and which inner patterns you nurture.
• Rest and slowness are essential for mental and emotional health. In a productivity-driven culture, creating space, slowing down, and tending to your nervous system are necessary for sustainable peace.

Resources 

Sign up for Intentional 2026: 3 Days to Reset & Realign here.

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores an approach to closing the year that welcomes your whole experience - grief, joy, exhaustion, resilience - and creates gentle space for renewal.

Elizabeth shares her personal experience navigating the end of last year while her mother was nearing the end of her life, offering a tender reminder that reflection doesn’t always look like journaling prompts or structured rituals. Sometimes, the most courageous thing we can do is simply notice what is here. Elizabeth talks about the Japanese year-end ritual Ōsōji and how its symbolism can guide your inner clearing, how simple breath and movement practices to support clarity and grounding, and the difference between “resolutions” and carry-forward moments. 

Whether you are grieving, exhausted, hopeful, or somewhere in between, this episode offers spacious, gentle support as you prepare to step into a new year with clarity and compassion.

Key Takeaways

• Reflection doesn’t have to be structured to be meaningful. Mindful noticing (simply acknowledging what’s present) is often enough, especially when life has been heavy or emotionally complex.
• Your bandwidth matters. Some seasons don’t allow for deep journaling or intentional letting go. Showing up honestly to your own experience is a powerful form of self-care.
• Endings can create natural space for renewal. The Japanese year-end tradition of Ōsōji reminds us that clearing physical spaces can also clear emotional and mental space for what comes next.

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend! 

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores the tender landscape of holiday grief, including why it often feels heavier this time of year, and how we can support ourselves with gentleness and honesty. Through two powerful folktales from Japan and the Arctic Inuit tradition, she reflects on the universal experience of loss, remembrance, and the quiet ways love continues across time and distance.

This episode is for anyone moving through grief, navigating an empty chair at the table, or simply feeling the emotional weight that the holidays often stir.

Key Takeaways

• Grief often intensifies during the holidays. The season’s pressure for joy, togetherness, and celebration can amplify absence, longing, and memories. Grief naturally rises and falls, and the holidays are one of those times when it resurfaces.
• Grief doesn’t need to be pushed aside to enjoy the holidays; it can be gently integrated. You can create your own ritual of remembrance - big or small - to honor the person you miss. Lighting a candle, displaying a photo, cooking their favorite dish, telling a story about them, or simply whispering their name are meaningful acts of connection.
• It’s okay to set boundaries around traditions or expectations that no longer fit.
• Part of navigating holiday grief is giving yourself permission to adapt or simplify rituals, skip events, or ask for support.

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

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In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores the water element and the season of winter according to ancient Chinese medicine. She explores how winter can be a time of gestation, why your body may crave more rest right now, and offers micro practices to slow down during this holiday season. Elizabeth also shares a beautiful winter folktale that illustrates how clarity rises not from striving but from stillness. 

Key Takeaways

• Winter is the season of stillness, depth, intuition, and energetic conservation.
• Emotional depth - including grief - can surface in winter; this is normal and meaningful.
• Rest is not optional; it’s protective of your Jing (core energy reserves).
• Wisdom often rises when we stop striving and allow quiet to do its work.

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

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In this powerful and heartfelt episode, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with Jackie Stevenson, a therapist, coach, and equine-guided practitioner whose work blends nature, nervous system wisdom, and the profound presence of horses. Together, they explore how stepping into the world of the herd invites us to slow down, become present, and reconnect with the deeper layers of ourselves that often get buried beneath stress and daily life.

Whether you’re curious about equine-guided practices, seeking a deeper relationship with nature, or longing for a grounded way to reconnect with yourself, this episode offers a rich, expansive invitation to return home to your own presence.

Key Takeaways

Healing deepens when we are invited (not pressured) into connection.

Letting go of a rigid agenda makes room for meaningful surprise, insight, and transformation.

Small, subtle moments can be just as impactful as the dramatic ones.

Resources 

Morning & Evening Calm Bundle (Black Friday deal): https://go.thecalmingground.com/

Jackie Stevenson’s website

Jackie Stevenson’s Ted Talk

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with transformation coach Ruthie Lindsey. She shares her extraordinary story: surviving a devastating car accident, living seven years in bed with chronic pain after a surgical wire pierced her brainstem, losing relationships, and ultimately discovering the tools, practices, and inner wisdom that helped her return to herself.

This episode is an invitation into the sacred work of unlearning - the masks, conditioning, and inherited beliefs that keep so many of us folded down into smallness. We explore shadow work, trauma healing, rumination, nervous system overwhelm, and the moments that call us into rebirth.

Key Takeaways

Rumination and spiraling can be interrupted.Tools like EFT tapping, time in nature, meditation, connection with safe people, and reducing screen time can create immediate nervous system relief.

We’re not meant to heal alone.Community, support, and being witnessed make healing sustainable - especially during emotional collapse or big life transitions.

Trauma lives in the body - and so does resilience. True healing requires tending to the nervous system, not just the mind.

Resources 

Morning & Evening Calm Bundle (Black Friday deal): https://go.thecalmingground.com/

Website & Coaching Info: https://www.ruthielindsey.com/

Ruthie’s Substack Newsletter: “Love’s Invitation” 

Instagram: @ruthielindsay 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with Elena Brower, mother, mentor, poet, artist, volunteer, bestselling author, and host of the Practice You Podcast. Elena has been guiding yoga and meditation practices since 1999 on Glo, and her work explores the art of listening, self-compassion, and returning to the spaciousness within.

In this conversation, Elena and Elizabeth dive into her newest book, Hold Nothing, a deeply personal exploration of letting go of narratives, embracing impermanence, and practicing what she calls a “grandmother’s heart.” Elena shares her journey as a student of life, her evolution as a teacher, and the quiet yet powerful practices that sustain her: from meditation and yoga to chaplaincy work in hospice and penitentiaries.

If you’re curious about embracing impermanence, and finding resilience and creativity in everyday life, this episode is for you. 

Key Takeaways

• Elena’s book Hold Nothing shows how releasing the stories we cling to opens up space for clarity, freedom, and emotional resilience.
• Sharing your authentic story, even when it’s uncomfortable or scary, can be a form of courage and connection.
• Whether in yoga, meditation, or everyday life, it’s important to show up as a student, cultivating curiosity and openness.

Resources

Elena Brower’s Website

Elena Brower’s Book

Elena Brower’s Glo Classes

Elena Brower’s Hold Nothing Book

Practice You Podcast

Elena’s Instagram: @elenabrower

Elena’s Substack: On The Inside

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with Mary Sinclair, a movement educator and somatic practitioner, to explore how our relationship with the ground shapes the way we move through life, both physically and emotionally. Mary shares how posture, alignment, and the simple act of yielding can shift us from effort to ease and why learning to yield can be a path to resilience and trust. 

Whether you’re standing at a crossroads, feeling off-balance, or craving more rootedness in your daily life, this episode offers a reminder: you don’t have to hold it all up alone.

Key Takeaways

• Grounding is a relationship, not a technique. True grounding isn’t something you “do.” It’s an ongoing dialogue between your body and the earth - a mutual exchange of support and trust.
• Balance begins with yielding. Instead of holding ourselves rigidly upright, we can soften into gravity and let the ground carry some of the weight. Yielding means allowing support.
• Posture is emotional as much as physical. How we stand and move often mirrors how we meet life. Softening the body’s effort to “hold it together” can open emotional and energetic space for ease and flow.
• Trust grows through the body. Each time we let ourselves feel supported (by the floor, the chair, the breath, etc.), we practice the deeper art of trusting life itself.

Resources 

Mary Sinclair’s Website: marysinclairbalance.com

The Be Sanctuary in Columbus, Ohio: https://www.thebesanctuary.org/

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

Many of us have buried our inner knowing under years of doubt, overthinking, and second-guessing. In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun talks about how to reconnect with that inner voice, cultivate self-trust, and act with alignment even when the mind is loud and life feels uncertain.

Elizabeth shares a personal story of a time she faced a challenging decision and discovered how listening to her body, rather than just her mind, helped her find clarity. She also dives into common barriers to self-trust, the lessons hidden in fear, and an inspiring story from the Pancha Tantra - The Lion and the Rabbit - that illustrates the power of awareness, discernment, and courage.

Key Takeaways:

• Doubt and fear are normal: Acting from alignment doesn’t require certainty; it requires courage to honor your inner compass despite the uncertainty.
• Common barriers to self-trust:
• Overthinking and perfectionism
• Fear of regret or being wrong
• Seeking external validation
• Past experiences or unresolved emotions
• Self-trust is a practice: Like a muscle, it grows with consistent, small actions. Over time, it becomes a steady, quiet confidence ready to guide you in life’s twists and turns.

Resources 

Join the Rooted & Resilient free workshop → https://www.thecalmingground.com/QuarterlyWorkshop

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun talks with Lyn about her Unmuted Method, which helps people heal and feel safe to be seen. Lyn opens up about how she learned to regulate her sensitive nervous system, and the quiet courage it takes to let yourself truly be seen. 

Key Takeaways

• Visibility often brings up nervous system responses (not just mindset blocks).
• When we tend to our bodies and emotions first, showing up becomes more easeful, not forced.
• Playing small is often a form of protection. Naming it with compassion (rather than judgment) opens the door to change.

Resources 

Join the Rooted & Resilient free workshop → https://www.thecalmingground.com/QuarterlyWorkshop

DM Lyn “ELIZABETH” on Instagram to receive Lyn’s free gift - a quick 5 minute Embodied Expression Activation 

You can Find Lyn here: 

• Website: www.heartfirehealingllc.com
• FB: https://www.facebook.com/ldelmastro/
• IG: https://www.instagram.com/heartfirehealing/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartfirehealing

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

This week, host Elizabeth Mintun is honoring this milestone with a mini-episode series called The Nature Within. This is a journey back to the essence of why this podcast began:

✨ Reconnecting with your inner calm

🌱 Reclaiming your presence

🌊 Cultivating resilience through practicing mindfulness and connecting with the natural world

In this final episode of the series, host Elizabeth Mintun explores the sacred and cultural symbolism of the mountain. She shares how to embody stillness when life feels uncertain and offers a grounding meditation to reconnect with your inner strength.

Key Takeaways

• The Mountain teaches us endurance. Resting in our inner stillness can offer us the strength to hold steady through life’s changing weather.
• Life’s pressures shape us. Just as mountains are formed over time through immense force, our challenges can become the bedrock of our inner strength.
• The wisdom of the elements lives within us. Tree (rootedness), River (flow), Wind (clarity), Moon (reflection), and Mountain (endurance) can serve as inner guides..

Resources 

Join the Rooted & Resilient free workshop → https://www.thecalmingground.com/QuarterlyWorkshop

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

This week, host Elizabeth Mintun is honoring this milestone with a mini-episode series called The Nature Within. This is a journey back to the essence of why this podcast began:

✨ Reconnecting with your inner calm

🌱 Reclaiming your presence

🌊 Cultivating resilience through practicing mindfulness and connecting with the natural world

In this fourth episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores how the moon has always held a quiet power. It governs tides, influences energy, and shines through reflection. In this episode, Elizabeth shares what the moon teaches us about honoring our natural rhythms and cycles, receiving instead of constantly striving, listening inward to our intuition and emotional wisdom, and finding peace in both light and shadow. 

Key Takeaways

• Every phase has meaning. Whether you’re in expansion or rest, your rhythm is sacred.
• Reflection is a form of light. You don’t have to create it all - sometimes it’s enough to receive.
• Your inner cycles matter. Like the moon, your energy naturally ebbs and flows.
• Rest is not weakness. It’s part of the cycle of unfolding and becoming.

Resources 

Join the Rooted & Resilient free workshop → [https://www.thecalmingground.com/QuarterlyWorkshop

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

This week, host Elizabeth Mintun is honoring this milestone with a mini-episode series called The Nature Within. This is a journey back to the essence of why this podcast began:

✨ Reconnecting with your inner calm

🌱 Reclaiming your presence

🌊 Cultivating resilience through practicing mindfulness and connecting with the natural world

These episodes are both a celebration of two beautiful years together and intended to offer a steady support in these uncertain times. In this third episode in the series, host Elizabeth Mintun explores how the wind archetype can help us create space and restore clarity when stress clouds our perception. In addition, Elizabeth talks about how wind has often been seen as a powerful messenger in ancient mythologies and Indigenous teachings and offers a gentle practice that can help you find your clarity using wind imagery. 

Key Takeaways

• Wind brings clarity. Like a breeze clearing fog from a valley, mindful pauses can open new perspectives.
• Breath is your inner wind. Tuning into your breath can reveal tension and guide you toward calm and clear thinking.
• Space creates direction. When we pause and listen, we can set our sails intentionally rather than reactively.
• Listening inward matters. Sometimes clarity doesn’t arrive immediately, but creating the space for it allows something meaningful to emerge.

Resources 

Join the Rooted & Resilient free workshop → https://www.thecalmingground.com/QuarterlyWorkshop

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

This week, host Elizabeth Mintun is honoring this milestone with a mini-episode series called The Nature Within. This is a journey back to the essence of why this podcast began:

✨ Reconnecting with your inner calm

🌱 Reclaiming your presence

🌊 Cultivating resilience through practicing mindfulness and connecting with the natural world

These episodes are both a celebration of two beautiful years together and intended to offer a steady support in these uncertain times. This second episode in the series is intended to offer the natural symbol of the river as a helpful reminder of the wisdom in connecting with our adaptability and capacity to let go of our attempt to brace or control so that we can find ease and flow.  

Key Takeaways

• Flow over force. Calm often comes from learning to move with what’s unfolding.
• Tension is often subtle. We may brace ourselves without even realizing it - physically, mentally, or emotionally.
• Releasing creates space. Letting go, even in small ways, can open room for ease, clarity, and renewed energy.

Resources 

✨ Check out The Stress Resilience 6-Week Reset. A small-group coaching program where you’ll learn my C.A.L.M. framework and walk away with practical tools that help you feel steady, present, and resilient. Learn more here: https://www.thecalmingground.com/6-week-reset

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

This week, host Elizabeth Mintun is honoring this milestone with a mini-episode series called The Nature Within. This is a journey back to the essence of why this podcast began:

✨ Reconnecting with your inner calm

🌱 Reclaiming your presence

🌊 Cultivating resilience through practicing mindfulness and connecting with the natural world

These episodes are both a celebration of two beautiful years together and intended to offer a steady support in these uncertain times. This first episode in the series explores one of the most enduring archetypes of all: the tree - a symbol of grounding, stability, and endurance, and how the tree archetype can help us find steadiness in turbulent times of life. 

Key Takeaways

• Deep roots create resilience. Like a tree, we can anchor ourselves through daily practices, habits, and meaningful rituals.
• Grounding is both physical and symbolic. Visualizing roots can help regulate the nervous system and bring a sense of safety and presence.
• Nature holds ancient wisdom. Archetypes like the tree remind us we are part of a larger, interconnected whole.
• Simple moments matter. Leaning against or touching a tree can be a quiet way to connect with strength and stillness.

Resources 

✨ Check out The Stress Resilience 6-Week Reset. A small-group coaching program where you’ll learn my C.A.L.M. framework and walk away with practical tools that help you feel steady, present, and resilient. Learn more

here: https://www.thecalmingground.com/6-week-reset

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun talks with psychotherapist and author Ashley Davis Bush, who wrote The Little Book of Inner Peace, The Art and Power of Acceptance, and others. They explore how to move beyond the endless “doing” of our culture and reconnect with the deeper wisdom of simply being. In particular, Ashley addresses how self-compassion and befriending your emotions can be a key to peace, as well as how nature can be a portal to grounding, oneness, and spiritual connection.  

Whether you’ve been practicing mindfulness for years or you’re just curious about finding more calm in daily life, this conversation offers encouragement and gentle, practical tools for reconnecting with your center.

Key Takeaways

• Micro practices matter. Peace doesn’t require long retreats or hour-long meditations. Small, sacred pauses throughout the day - a breath, a bell, a touchstone - can reconnect us to center.
• Acceptance is not resignation. Active acceptance, paired with compassion, opens the door to peace and allows us to engage with life in more authentic ways.
• It’s never too late to find peace. No matter your age, life stage, or past experiences, you can learn new ways of engaging with stillness and your inner being.

Resources 

🔗 Learn more about Ashley’s work and books at: ashleydavisbush.com

✨ The Stress Resilience 6-Week Reset. A small-group coaching program where you’ll learn my C.A.L.M. framework and walk away with practical tools that help you feel steady, present, and resilient. Learn more here: https://www.thecalmingground.com/6-week-reset

✨ Free Workshop: Building Stress Resilience. Want a taste of the framework? Join me for a free workshop before the Reset begins. Choose your date and reserve your spot here: thecalmingground.com/stress-resilience-workshop

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun shares why stress isn’t the enemy (it’s a signal), how resilience really works, and why now - before the holiday hustle - is the best time to put grounding practices into place. 

Elizabeth offers a personal story of how stress showed up in her everyday life. She also explores  the most common stress patterns we all fall into and simple tools you can start practicing today to build resilience that lasts.

Key Takeaways

• Stress is a signal, not the enemy. When we learn to read it with curiosity instead of fighting it, we respond with more clarity and compassion.
• Resilience is like bamboo. Resilience is rooted yet flexible; it’s not about perfection or pushing through, but adapting with steadiness.
• Fall is the perfect practice ground. The tools you build now will become built-in reflexes for calm during the holiday rush.

Resources 

✨ The Stress Resilience 6-Week Reset. A small-group coaching program where you’ll learn my C.A.L.M. framework and walk away with practical tools that help you feel steady, present, and resilient. Learn more here: https://www.thecalmingground.com/6-week-reset

✨ Free Workshop: Building Stress Resilience. Want a taste of the framework? Join me for a free workshop before the Reset begins. Choose your date and reserve your spot here: thecalmingground.com/stress-resilience-workshop

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

In this episode, podcast host Elizabeth Mintun talks about how fall is a season of transition - a time when nature contracts, leaves fall, and we’re invited to distill what is truly essential. In Chinese medicine and Qigong, Fall corresponds with the Metal element, connected to clarity, refinement, and the wisdom of letting go.

Elizabeth delves into how autumn and the Metal element of Ancient Chinese Medicine can guide you through letting go with grace. She shares how the Metal element shows up in our bodies, emotions, and daily lives, and offers simple, practical ways to honor this season. 

Key Takeaways

• Grief is the primary emotion of the Metal element in Ancient Chinese Medicine; honoring grief can open space for clarity and new beginnings.
• Research shows that breathwork stimulates the vagus nerve and mindful breathing builds resilience.
• Mindful decluttering, rituals for release, and reflective journaling are all wonderful activities to gain clarity to honor what truly matters in this season of letting go.

Resources 

Podcast Episode The Empty Space: Grieving What Could Have Been: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-calming-ground-podcast/id1704337948?i=1000696134741

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

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In this conversation, host Elizabeth Mintun is joined by Heather Plett, author of The Art of Holding Space and Where Tenderness Lives. Heather shares her wisdom on navigating transitions with courage and compassion. She talks about how to live in liminal spaces - when one chapter ends but the next hasn’t fully taken shape, the role of grief, loss, and surrender in times of change, and why community and witness matter… especially when we’re in times of transition and change. 

Whether you’re moving through change yourself or supporting someone else, this conversation will offer insight, encouragement, and gentle permission to trust the unfolding.

Key Takeaways

• The metaphor of imaginal cells shows us that even when things feel like they’re falling apart, the blueprint for what’s next is already within us.
• Holding space means offering presence and compassion without trying to fix, control, or rush the process.
• Grief, loss, and uncertainty are not detours from growth - they are part of the path to becoming.

Resources 

Website:https://heatherplett.com/

Heather’s books: 

The Art of Holding Space 

Where Tenderness Lives

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun shares a personal story from early in her career that led her to a turning point: learning to discern between ego-driven ambition (the striving that drains us) and soul-led ambition (the kind that sustains us).

This episode delves into the hidden masks of ambition and how to recognize when it’s quietly depleting you. Elizabeth also offers practical ways to bring your body, not just your mind, into the conversation about growth and pace.

• Rest is not a betrayal of your purpose, but the very thing that fuels it.
• A Gestalt perspective on polarities suggests that calm and ambition are not opposites, but partners.
• Ambition isn’t always loud; sometimes it hides in subtle “shoulds” that feel reasonable but drain your energy.

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find episode on Elizabeth’s ARROW Framework for Compassionate Accountability here 

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In this powerful and poetic episode, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with Mary Reynolds Thompson, an award-winning author, spiritual ecology pioneer, poetry therapy facilitator, and wild soul guide. Mary’s life and work invite us into a space of reconnection: to the Earth, to story, and to the sacred wildness within. From her enchanted childhood memories in a remote Italian fishing village to a life-changing encounter with the ocean while newly sober, Mary shares the deeply personal stepping stones that led her to her life’s work: helping others live their wild soul stories. 

This is not just a conversation - it’s an initiation. An invitation to return home to your wild self.

Key Takeaways

• You are earth in human form. Mary reminds us that we didn’t arrive on Earth - we emerged from it. Recognizing ourselves as part of nature, not separate from it, is essential to healing both ourselves and the planet. This perspective reconnects us to a sense of belonging, purpose, and deep interconnection with all life.
• The wild soul speaks through archetypes. Through five powerful Earth archetypes - Desert, Forest, Ocean & River, Mountain, and Grassland - we can better understand our emotional and spiritual landscapes. Each archetype reflects a state of being and offers guidance for healing, creativity, and transformation.
• Enchantment is a choice and a practice. We can reclaim wonder and meaning in a disenchanted world by turning toward the living Earth, story, and ritual. Whether watching a sunset or journaling with intention, small moments of presence can reawaken the wild, creative, soulful parts of us that modern life often suppresses.

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Mary Reynolds Thompson Website: https://www.maryreynoldsthompson.com/ 

Links to Mary’s Books: 

The Way of the Wild Soul Woman

Reclaiming the Wild Soul

Embrace Your Inner Wild 

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In this episode, podcast host Elizabeth Mintun is joined by Rachel Pradarelli. Rachel is the founder of Tranquilopa Wellness and she is a yoga and meditation teacher, and women’s wellness coach. Rachel shares her journey from working as a family nurse practitioner (where stress and emotional overload led her to a breaking point), to discovering the healing power of yoga, meditation, and nervous system regulation.

In this conversation Rachel also shares how she now helps women who feel stuck in cycles of stress by blending mindfulness, nervous system tools, body acceptance work, and deep self-awareness practices to help women build a more compassionate, connected relationship with themselves without needing to run on empty, “fix” themselves, or prove their worth. If you’ve ever felt caught in the cycle of giving to everyone but yourself, or if you’re curious about how to reconnect with your body’s wisdom, this conversation will leave you with both validation and hope.

Key Takeaways

• Body-based practices can restore presence and resilience.
• Nervous system regulation tools (including self-compassion) is powerful for stress recovery.
• Self-trust is the foundation for lasting wellness.

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find Rachel Pradarelli: 

Website: tranquilopawellness.com

IG: @TranquilopaWellness

Email: tranquilopawellness@gmail.com 

The Compassionate Curiosity Podcast: The Compassionate Curiosity Podcast

Free Community to further explore stress relief, self-connection, and body peace: The Compassionate Curiosity Community

Rachel’s Book: Anxious Attachment Recovery Simplified: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F2N8FXMF

Reflection Journal: https://www.thecalmingground.com/self-care-reflection-journal ($4.99)

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In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun honors an often-overlooked season: Late Summer, the fifth season in Chinese medicine. Elizabeth explains how this season in ancient Chinese medicine is associated with the Earth element, and that it is a time of ripening, grounding, and nourishment - both physically and emotionally. Elizabeth offers reflective and meditative exercises throughout the episode to invite you to check in with yourself and notice where you might already be feeling replenished, and where you might need a little TLC. 

Key Takeaways

• Nourishment is more than food. What we take in (food, conversations, media, commitments) impacts how grounded and replenished we feel.
• Balance is about digestion, not just “doing”. The Earth element reminds us that it’s not how much we take in, but how well we can digest, absorb, and transform it into energy.
• Grounding practices support clarity and calm. And simple acts like hydration and noticing what replenishes vs. depletes us help us feel steady in times of transition.

Resources 

Reflection Journal: https://www.thecalmingground.com/self-care-reflection-journal ($4.99)

Find the podcast Episode Mentioned in this episode “Artful Integration: The Healing Journey of Kelli Trinoskey here. 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Whether you’re listening on a walk, cooking dinner, or with a quiet cup of tea, this episode is an invitation to slow down, reflect, and receive nourishment for body, mind, and spirit.

If this episode brings you grounding, consider sharing it with someone who might need a little Earth element sweetness too. 🌾

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores how telling and reframing your personal narrative can help you process difficult experiences, release shame, and create a more peaceful future. She dives into how neuroscience explains the healing power of storytelling, why trauma can fragment memory, and how sharing your story in safe spaces can shift both your mind and body toward greater resilience. You’ll also hear real-life examples of people transforming their hardest chapters into sources of strength - and a simple exercise to begin reframing your own story today.

Key Takeaways

• Untold stories often hold the most emotional weight. 
• Trauma can impact the way we remember and share experiences. 
• Telling our stories in new ways can not only empower us, it can actually help rewire our brain for greater resilience and healing. 

Resources 

Reflection Journal: https://www.thecalmingground.com/self-care-reflection-journal ($4.99)

Find the podcast Episode Mentioned in this episode “Artful Integration: The Healing Journey of Kelli Trinoskey here. 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

In today’s episode, host Elizabeth Mintun takes a deep dive into exploring what manifesting means beneath the buzzwords. She looks at the deeper, ancient roots of manifesting across spiritual traditions. Elizabeth also explores how manifesting can be both mystical and practical, rooted in both intention, awareness, and aligned action. 

Key Takeaways

• Many of us are better at giving or striving than receiving. Receiving, whether it’s support, guidance, or the unfolding of what we’ve asked for - is a crucial, often overlooked part of the process.
• Manifesting isn’t about bypassing reality. It’s about attuning to what you need, what’s ready to emerge, and how life might already be moving in your favor.
• It is important to trust the process as it unfolds, recognizing that life shifts happen as we are ready for them, and as we open ourselves to grow into them. 

✨ Reflection Question:

What desire or longing feels most alive in me right now and am I willing to receive support in letting it unfold?

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

DM Elizabeth on Instagram or Facebook @TheCalmingGround

If you found this episode supportive, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with a friend. Every bit of kindness helps this podcast reach more people who could use a moment of calm.

In this episode of The Calming Ground, host Elizabeth Mintun explores “the sacred and the mundane.” Not necessarily religious or spiritual (though it can be), sacredness is that deep feeling of aliveness, wonder, or tenderness that makes you pause and think, this matters.

But most of life is ordinary, filled with tasks such as folding laundry, answering emails, and making the bed. Elizabeth talks about why we often miss meaningful moments and offers simple practices to invite more of the extraordinary - or the sacred - into your everyday life. 

Key Task

• Getting caught in autopilot living and overthinking can often lead to more experiences of the mundane than the extraordinary. 
• There is a perhaps surprising link between presence and sacredness.
• Small practices, such as “micro thank-yous” and reframing ordinary tasks as meaningful acts of care can make a significant difference.

✨ Reflection Question:

If you approached one daily task as sacred this week, what would you choose—and what might shift for you if you did?

Resources 

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

DM Elizabeth on Instagram or Facebook @TheCalmingGround

If you found this episode supportive, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with a friend. Every bit of kindness helps this podcast reach more people who could use a moment of calm.

Mid-year is the perfect time to pause, reflect, and gently re-align with what truly matters for the rest of 2025 - and that’s exactly what host Elizabeth Mintun does in this episode. Elizabeth guides you through a calming mid-year reflection, celebrating what’s worked, gently acknowledging what feels heavy and ready to be released, and setting mindful intentions for the months of 2025 still to come.

Key Takeaways

• Mid-year is a natural time to pause and realign. You don’t have to wait for January to check in with your goals and your well-being.
• Reflection creates clarity. Asking gentle questions like “What am I proud of?” or “What felt draining?” can help you move forward with intention, not autopilot.
• Your inner life matters. Noticing how you're really doing (without judgment) is an act of self-care in itself.
• Visualization connects you to your future self. Imagining how you want to feel at the end of the year can help you make aligned choices today.

Resources

Join the Stress Resilience Formula: 6-Week Reset – If stress has been running the show lately, this small-group coaching program will help you feel calmer, clearer, and more in control… no matter what life throws at you. Doors close Friday, July 25, and we start next week!

The Calming Ground Self-Care Membership – Get ongoing seasonal mindfulness practices, guided reflections, and self-care tools. Learn more here.

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching here. 

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

DM Elizabeth on Instagram or Facebook @TheCalmingGround

If you found this episode supportive, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with a friend. Every bit of kindness helps this podcast reach more people who could use a moment of calm.

Key Takeaways

• Beauty has the capacity to stabilize our nervous system by calling us back to the present moment. 
• Aging can be seen as a season of ripening. Just like summer, your radiance can be unapologetic, full, and deeply nourishing.
• Even simple acts, like lighting a candle, noticing the way light hits a leaf, or wearing something that feels like you, can ground you in moments of grief, stress, or transition. These quiet gestures become anchors, reminding you that you’re still here… and still worthy of beauty.

Resources

Unlock Your Resilience Style FREE Quiz: https://www.thecalmingground.com/resilience-quiz

Podcast Episode on the Healing Power of Music (Episode 72): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/72-the-healing-power-of-music/id1704337948?i=1000689185340

Explore the Self-Care Membership: https://www.thecalmingground.com/calming-ground-membership-waitlist

Learn more about 1:1 Coaching: https://www.thecalmingground.com/inner-compass

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Share your reflection using #TheCalmingGround

If you found this episode supportive, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with a friend. Every bit of kindness helps this podcast reach more people who could use a moment of calm.

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores why financial stress activates your fight-or-flight system, how to shift to an abundance mindset, 5 grounded strategies to work with money as energy (not just numbers), and how to gently soothe shame, comparison, or catastrophizing with practical self-compassion. Plus, she guides you through a short grounding practice to close the episode so you can reset your nervous system and reconnect to a sense of possibility, even in uncertain times.

Key Takeaways

• Thinking of money as energy can shift the way we relate to it. 
• Financial concerns often layer on top of other responsibilities (like caregiving, health, or career stress) amplifying the overall emotional load.
• An abundance mindset focuses on flow, gratitude, generosity, and alignment with your values. This does not mean ignoring limitations, but rather choosing a perspective of hope and agency.

Resources

Unlock Your Resilience Style FREE Quiz: https://www.thecalmingground.com/resilience-quiz

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find us on IG & FB @thecalmingground

Visit The Calming Ground: http://www.thecalmingground.com

If you found this episode supportive, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with a friend. Every bit of kindness helps this podcast reach more people who could use a moment of calm.

In today’s episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores the impact of doomscrolling - that compulsive pull to stay plugged into a constant stream of alarming stories - and why our brains are wired to do it. She talks about what doomscrolling is and why it feels so hard to stop, how our nervous system responds to negative news, and offers practical ways to create boundaries for news and social media so that we can stay informed without being consumed. 

Elizabeth also shares inspiring examples of human goodness,  reminding us that even tiny acts of kindness can reconnect us to hope and resilience.

Key Takeaways

• Doomscrolling is designed to keep us engaged, not necessarily to keep us healthy
• Negative news activates our stress response and raises cortisol, leading to physical and mental impacts
• Small steps - like mindful time limits and trustworthy sources - can protect our peace
• Grounding practices and gratitude can help us re-center and reconnect to what is within our power

Resources

Unlock Your Resilience Style FREE Quiz: https://www.thecalmingground.com/resilience-quiz

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find us on IG & FB @thecalmingground

Visit The Calming Ground: http://www.thecalmingground.com

Good News Network: goodnewsnetwork.org

On Being Episode: ​​https://onbeing.org/programs/david-bornstein-on-our-lives-with-the-news/

If you found this episode supportive, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with a friend. Every bit of kindness helps this podcast reach more people who could use a moment of calm.

In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun is joined by Wendy Kleinke, a fitness and menopause coach. Wendy shares how tuning into your body’s changing needs - through strength training, nourishing nutrition, and stress resilience - can actually help you feel stronger, more balanced, and more at home in your body than ever before. In this conversation with Elizabeth, Wendy reminds us of the importance of the mind/body connection in life in general, and particularly when we’re facing life changes like perimenopause and menopause. 

Key takeaways

• Stress can take the form of physical stress, emotional stress, and chemical stress. 
• It’s best to introduce new habits and lifestyle changes slowly and allow yourself to adapt before adding more changes. 
• Often heavy cardio exercise isn’t the best fit for people and strength training can lead to more sustainable and healthier results. 

Resources

Visit The Calming Ground: http://www.thecalmingground.com

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

https://www.lifebeyondhormones.com/

https://www.tiktok.com/@lifebeyondhormones

https://www.instagram.com/lifebeyondhormones/

https://www.facebook.com/lifebeyondhormones/

https://www.youtube.com/@lifebeyondhormones

In this episode, Elizabeth is joined by a fellow therapist and EMDR practitioner Hannah Ciampini, who shares both professional insight and personal experience with chronic health challenges and the emotional toll of feeling dismissed or misunderstood by medical providers. Medical trauma is often overlooked. But for those living with chronic illness or having gone through invalidating or dismissive medical experiences, the emotional toll can be immense. Whether you're new to EMDR or simply looking for tools to feel safer in your body and in the exam room, this episode offers validation, education, and hope.

Key Takeaways

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) can  help reprocess distressing memories stored in the body.
• Walking, humming, and bilateral tapping offer accessible forms of self-regulation.
• Common negative beliefs people carry into healthcare settings are ones like “I’m not safe” or “My body is broken.” These beliefs can shift.

Resources

Free Summer Reset Checklist: https://www.thecalmingground.com/summer-reset

Visit The Calming Ground: http://www.thecalmingground.com

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

https://www.hellocalmtherapy.com/

​​therapy@hellocalmtherapy.com

In this final episode of our summer mini-series, Elizabeth talks about boundaries - especially how to hold them in a heart-centered, grounded way during the expansive, often overwhelming season of summer. Elizabeth also offers a short reflective practice to identify where you might need a boundary and what it would feel like to honor it. Whether you're a parent, caregiver, or simply someone feeling pulled in too many directions, this episode offers real talk and real tools to help you stay rooted - without guilt.

Key Takeaways

• A gentle mindset reframe: Boundaries aren’t rejection, they’re direction
• The 3 R’s of Rebuilding Rhythm: Remember, Reclaim, and Reset
• Each “no” is also a powerful “yes” to rest, sanity, and self-trust. You might ask yourself: “Where is my ‘yes’ costing me too much? And what boundary would bring me back to myself this season?”

Resources

🌿 Summertime Sanity Series

A 6-week private audio and coaching experience to help you stay centered and calm in the midst of summer busyness.Includes weekly 15-minute audio drops + a private Marco Polo support group.

Begins June 16th.

→ Join here: https://www.thecalmingground.com/summertime

Free Summer Reset Checklist: https://www.thecalmingground.com/summer-reset

Visit The Calming Ground: http://www.thecalmingground.com

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

In this heartfelt episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores the experience of emotional dissonance - the feeling that your inner world doesn't match the bright, cheerful energy summer often demands. This is the second episode in a special 3-part summer series, Staying Centered in Summer Busyness. Elizabeth talks about why emotional dissonance happens, how summer can stir up unexpected emotions like grief, burnout, and unmet needs, and most importantly - how to stay grounded and whole when your insides don’t match the outside.

Elizabeth reminds you that if you're navigating overwhelm, heaviness, or even loneliness while the world around you seems carefree and full of sunshine, you're not alone…and you're not doing it wrong. You'll also be guided through a gentle grounding practice to help you come home to yourself, wherever you are.

Key Takeaways

• Despite the cultural pressure to feel light, carefree, and energized during summer, many people experience emotional heaviness or inner struggle. Acknowledging this dissonance is the first step toward self-compassion.
• Suppressing or ignoring what feels heavy tends to amplify it. When you name your emotions - grief, overwhelm, uncertainty - it can sometimes create space for gentler responses and realignment with what you need.
• Simple rituals like connecting with nature, slowing down your pace, or creating sensory anchors can bring emotional steadiness. You don’t have to force lightness; you can gently return to your own rhythm.

Resources

Free Summer Reset Checklist: https://www.thecalmingground.com/summer-reset

Visit The Calming Ground: http://www.thecalmingground.com

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun shares a candid reflection sparked by a conversation with her husband about their very different experiences of summer. She unpacks the hidden pressures, shifting routines, and internal dissonance that can come with this season. And offers gentle reminders that you are allowed to feel overwhelmed, even when the world says it's time to unwind. 

Whether your calendar is suddenly full, your routines have vanished, or your nervous system feels off-kilter, this episode is here to help you reclaim your summer rhythm and return to your center, without guilt or pressure.

Key Takeaways

• Seasonal expectations can clash with inner realities. Summer often feels busier (not calmer) than some of the other seasons. 
• Gentle mindset shifts and micro-practices can help you stay grounded. Anchor into what you need, not just what the season expects - even five minutes of calm can shift your energy.
• There is an early peek at a summer support offering: a 6-week audio course with a “Coach in Your Pocket” experience via Marco Polo

Resources

Free Guided Meditation: https://www.thecalmingground.com/free-guided-meditation

Visit The Calming Ground: http://www.thecalmingground.com

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Carley shares her own transformational journey, from years of disordered eating and self-criticism to hitting her rock bottom. Through candid storytelling, she walks us through the moment she got “sick of herself” and how working with a coach opened the door to body peace and self-trust. Carley’s honesty, warmth, and lived experience make this episode a must-listen for anyone who’s ever struggled with their relationship to food, their body, or the internalized need to be "perfect."

Key Takeaways

• Inner-child and - especially - inner teen work can uncover hidden beliefs that could be significantly contributing to body image issues. 
• Self-compassion, including common humanity (the idea that we’re not alone) is a key component of healing body image struggles. 
• Shame keeps us silent, and bringing our shame into the light is one of the first steps to healing. 

🎧 Quotable Moments 

“Your body has always been your friend. You just have to come back to her.”

“Body peace isn’t a destination. It’s a daily practice.”

“You’re not here to be small and perfect. You’re here to live your life.”

Resources

Free Guided Meditation: https://www.thecalmingground.com/free-guided-meditation

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Visit Carley’s website: https://www.carleyweissert.com/

Find Carley on IG: https://www.instagram.com/carleyweissert/

Take the Quiz: Food Freedom + Body Love Quiz

Join Carley’s Free Body Peace Boost Challenge: Body Peace Boost Challenge

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun draws on insights from psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman’s decade-long study on the nature of luck. She explores how lucky people think, act, and respond to life differently - and how you might do the same. Elizabeth also shares a personal story from her winding career path that illustrates how what can look like “bad luck” might really be a redirection in disguise.

Key Takeaways: 

• Research has shown that our brains filter our perception of opportunities that come our way (confirmation and negativity bias). 
• Openness, emotional flexibility, and mindfulness can possibly increase your chances of “lucky breaks”.
• Different cultures offer unique perspectives on luck, from qi and harmony to being in right relationship with the natural world. 
• A practice for the next week could be to approach each day as if something beautiful is about to happen. Stay open, follow a nudge, say yes to a gentle stretch, and see what unfolds.

Resources

Learn more or inquire about Inner Compass Coaching: www.thecalmingground.com

💌 Contact Elizabeth directly: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

🎧 Like this episode? Share it with a friend or leave a review - it helps this work reach more hearts and minds.

Learn more about Dr. Richard Wiseman’s research at richardwiseman.com

In this heartfelt and grounding episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores what it means to be in the “in-between” - that quiet, uncertain space where transformation is happening under the surface, even if it doesn’t look like it on the outside. Elizabeth shares personal reflections and nourishing insights into why the stuckness we feel isn’t a sign of failure, but actually a sign of becoming. Whether your nervous system is integrating, your old tools are no longer working, or you’re simply in a season of rest, this episode offers compassionate guidance and practical practices to support you.

Key Takeaways

• Progress and plateaus are a natural rhythm of growth. 
• Our nervous system requires time to adjust to a new sense of safety.
• Shifting the ways we relate to our stuckness can improve our sense of wellbeing and trust in the process. 

Resources

If you’re interested in receiving the free journal prompts, contact Elizabeth: Elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Or DM Elizabeth on Facebook or Instagram @thecalmingground and say “JOURNAL PROMPTS” 

💌 Support and Connect:

If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who might need a little encouragement in their “in-between”.

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun shares 10 stories and reflections that have nourished her spirit over the years. They are ones that have comforted her in hard times, expanded her perspective, supported her professional growth, and reminded her of what truly matters. The books aren't ranked in any particular order; each one holds a special place. 

Key Takeaways

• "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." —Paulo Coelho
• "All flourishing is mutual." —Robin Wall Kimmerer
• "You don't have to see the whole path. Just take the next step." —James Norbury
• "The flower doesn’t dream of the bee. It blossoms and the bee comes." —Mark Nepo
• "Living in rhythm with the seasons is a way of remembering who we are." —John Kirkwood

 Resources

Contact: Elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Find The Calmingground on IG & Facebook @thecalmingground

Books Mentioned: 

1. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
2. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
3. Big Panda and Tiny Dragon by James Norbury
4. The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo
5. The Way of the Five Seasons by John Kirkwood
6. Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay Gibson
7. Qigong and Psychotherapy by Patrick Dougherty
8. ​​Stop Overthinking by Nick Trenton
9. Meditation Secrets for Women by Camille Maureen and Lorin Roche

Xiu Yang: The Ancient Chinese Art of Self-Cultivation for a Healthier, Happier, More Balanced Life by Mimi Kuo-Deemer

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine and how the spring season’s wood element can help us reconnect with energy, flexibility, and clarity. If you’ve been feeling a shift in your energy, a desire to clear out clutter, or perhaps even some inner tension or stuckness, you’re not alone - and this episode might hold just the insight you need.

Elizabeth talks about how, according to ancient Chinese medicine, the wood element of springtime connects with the liver and gallbladder, our capacity for vision, flexibility, and forward momentum, and why imbalance can show up as fatigue, frustration, or irritability. She shares five actionable ways to align with the spring season and support your internal wood element. Whether you’re feeling the winds of change or longing for growth, this episode will help you meet the season with intention.

Key Takeaways

• In ancient Chinese medicine, our organs aren't just physical structures; they're part of an interconnected system that includes our emotional, mental, and energetic health.
• In western medicine, the liver is known for its detoxification and processing what's no longer needed. In Chinese medicine, the liver is also believed to filter our emotions, our plans, and our direction in life.
• When the wood element of springtime is in balance, according to ancient Chinese medicine, we experience flexibility along with the wisdom of clear vision, propelling us forward, notifying us of barriers, and allowing us the clarity to find our way.

Resources

Free reflective journal prompts: https://www.thecalmingground.com/reflection-prompts-selfcare

Episode 53: Breathe, Balance, & Release: Aligning with Fall through the Metal Element

Episode 64: The Art of Wintering: Embracing Rest & Renewal this Winter

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun talks with business and life coach Renee Vogel about her perspective on how to return to and live from the inner beauty within. Renee shared about her own essence and how she helps others break through the layers that keep themselves from living more authentically and freely as they are (rather than as they feel they should be). 

Key Takeaways 

• It’s important to notice and explore our “essence”. In other words, who you are beyond the survival mechanisms that have been put in place throughout your life. Your essence is your truest self. 
• Play can help support our return to our essence. 
• Coaching can help support and guide you to your goals, however if there are deep seated traumas creating barriers, therapy would be a better first step. 

Resources 

Contact Elizabeth Mintun with any questions, comments, or concerns: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Learn about The Calming Ground: https://www.thecalmingground.com/

Free reflective journal prompts: https://www.thecalmingground.com/reflection-prompts-selfcare

Contact Renee via email: beingcoachrv@gmail.com, ph: 614-306-2026

That’s just what perimenopause doula Bean Bindloss suggests in this conversation with Elizabeth Mintun. Bean talks about the value in supporting women in perimenopause and menopause with nutritional therapy, integrative hypnosis and spiritual support. She works with women who value a body-heart-mind-soul approach to their health and wellbeing and who don’t want to sleep walk through this major midlife transition, The widely-held narrative of menopause being a miserable, chaotic ending, couldn’t be more limiting. This phase is in fact a new beginning, an invitation to look within, to realign one’s health, beliefs and connection to one’s truest self. This transition has the potential to become a spiritual awakening and a launchpad for the most empowered time of life yet. 

Key Takeaways

• During the fertile years of a woman’s life, her hormones are protective. As hormones change during the time of perimenopause and menopause, a woman can make lifestyle shifts to offer herself and her body the protection she needs and deserves. 
• The widely-held narrative of menopause being a miserable, chaotic ending, couldn’t be more limiting. This phase can represent a powerful new beginning, an invitation to look within, and to realign your health, beliefs and connection to your truest self.
• The menopause transition has the potential to become a spiritual awakening and a launchpad for the most empowered time of life yet.

Resources

Contact Elizabeth Mintun with any questions, comments, or concerns: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Learn about The Calming Ground: https://www.thecalmingground.com/

Free reflective journal prompts: https://www.thecalmingground.com/reflection-prompts-selfcare

Find Bean on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenutritionalbean/

Bean’s Website: https://www.thenutritionalbean.com/ 

When any of you listeners sign up for Bean’s upcoming course “Perimenopause Foundations”, you’ll receive a FREE 60-minute consultation. Just use the code: CalmingGround

Perimenopause Foundations course: https://www.thenutritionalbean.com/perimenopause-foundations

In this episode, Elizabeth talks with Certified Enneagram coach Alyssa Nicole about how the Enneagram can be used as a powerful tool for personal development, relationships, and workplace dynamics. Alyssa shares insights on how understanding Enneagram types, wings, and growth paths can help individuals build self-awareness, strengthen relationships, and improve communication.

Key Takeaways

• The Enneagram is a tool for growth rather than a tool that simply offers a fixed personality type
• The Enneagram can be used to recognize stress patterns and develop healthier behaviors
• The Enneagram can be helpful for pinpointing reasons why you might be getting stuck. 

Resources

Contact Elizabeth Mintun with any questions, comments, or concerns: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Learn about The Calming Ground: https://www.thecalmingground.com/

Free reflective journal prompts: https://www.thecalmingground.com/reflection-prompts-selfcare

Alyssa Nicole’s podcast

Here is one of Beatrice Chestnut’s books mentioned in this episode

Find Alyssa on IG and Facebook: @enneagramleadershipco

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores how overthinking often thrives in isolation and how connection can be a powerful antidote. Through personal stories, insights from years of facilitating groups, and real-life transformations, she dives into how emotionally safe communities foster clarity, accountability, and confidence.

Key Takeaways

• Though being vulnerable in a group can feel more daunting than in individual one-on-one experiences, the power of being in an emotionally safe community can’t be overstated. 
• Anxiety tends to operate in overthinking loops and over-analyzing. When we’re alone, it is harder to interrupt these cycles. 
• Often, as we feel more connected and trusting in community, we simultaneously experience greater confidence, connection, and trust in ourselves. 

Resources 

Register for my free one-hour masterclass on March 27th: www.thecalmingground.com/stress-resilience

Email me at: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

DM me on Instagram or Facebook: @thecalmingground

In today’s episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores the difference between stress management and stress resilience. She shares a personal story of getting stuck in people-pleasing and discusses the benefits of both stress management techniques and stress resilience. In addition, Elizabeth unpacks why building resilience is the key to navigating life’s inevitable ups and downs with greater ease and confidence. 

Elizabeth also announced her FREE live masterclass on March 27th at 11 a.m. ET, where she will be teaching the four paths to building resilience. If you’re ready to shift from feeling overwhelmed to feeling steady and capable, you won’t want to miss this! 

Key Takeaways

• Mindful stress prevention techniques can be vital to me managing overthinking and stress after it has taken hold, while stress resilience pathways that help you grow through the stress and become more resilient in the face of it. 
• When you build resilience, you become more adaptable, more grounded, more confident in your ability to handle whatever comes your way.
• Self awareness is a key component to resilience. 

Resources

📅 Sign up for the Free Masterclass on March 27th at 11am ET

📖 Elizabeth’s article on People-Pleasing

📚 Rising Strong by Brené Brown 

Articles on Resilience: 

https://studenthealth.georgetown.edu/stress-building-resilience/

https://www.in-equilibrium.co.uk/comparing-resilience-training-and-stress-management-training-what-is-the-difference/

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review — it helps more people discover the podcast!

This is the second episode in a 2-part series inspired by listener Debbie Margulies' powerful question about maintaining control in medical settings and managing unhelpful pity from others based on your medical condition. Elizabeth interviews oncology social worker Samantha Hulett about her experience working with patients and their families. In this conversation, Sam shares the importance of identifying for ourselves what our priorities are in life. In addition, she speaks to the importance of slowing ourselves and our providers down in order to ensure that our needs are getting met and we are getting the clarity we need. 

Key Takeaways

• Keeping a journal by the bed can be a useful way to record any thoughts that arise when the distractions aren’t as prevalent before bedtime. This can become a tool to help later formulate questions and concerns to take to the doctor. 
• Value-based decision making can be helpful in determining your non-negotiable priorities in your life, even while undergoing medical treatment. 
• Slowing ourselves down before, during, and after medical visits can help us remain clear about the questions we need answered, and to help us remain grounded and centered. 

Resources

• Email your thoughts, topic ideas, and questions: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com
• Connect on social media: @thecalmingground on Facebook and Instagram

This episode was inspired by listener Debbie Margulies' powerful question about maintaining control in medical settings and managing unhelpful pity from others based on your medical condition. Elizabeth explores the difficult experience of needing expert care while feeling stripped of your autonomy, as well as medical trauma that can impact our experience of getting medical care. Elizabeth also offers several tips and strategies to help with grounding. This is the first of two episodes on this topic.

Key Takeaways

• To help with medical appointments and/or hospital settings, you might consider bringing an advocate to appointments, setting boundaries with medical staff, and maintaining personal rituals to anchor your sense of self. 
• Depending on the situation, focusing on your personal growth journey rather than your patient/victim journey (as well as reminding others to focus on the power involved in this as a personal growth journey) can sometimes nourish a sense of empowerment rather than pity. 
• It can be helpful to identify elements you can control even in challenging circumstances (no matter how small). 

Resources

• Email your thoughts, topic ideas, and questions: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground
• Connect on social media: @thecalmingground on Facebook and Instagram
• Study on discrimination in healthcare
• Free Guided Meditation: https://www.thecalmingground.com/free-guided-meditation

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores the concept of grieving the empty space - an often overlooked form of grief. This grief typically centers around circumstances or things that never happened - the empty spaces where something should have been such as mourning a relationship that didn’t reach its full potential, a path we didn’t take, a childhood we deserved but didn't receive, and futures we planned that disappeared. In this episode, Elizabeth also offers ways to navigate this form of grief. 

Key Takeaways

• Invisible grief is real and valid – mourning what never happened is a legitimate form of grief that deserves acknowledgment.
• Grief for what never was often ripples through time, affecting not just our past but our present circumstances and future possibilities.
• Naming your grief helps validate your experience and begins the healing process. 
• Sharing your experience with others can provide validation and connection, revealing how common this form of grief actually is.

Resources

• Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com
• November 2023 interview with Jean Sutton on the power of rituals: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/05-interview-with-jean-sutton-using-rituals-to-enhance/id1704337948?i=1000633317348
• Psychology Today article: "2 Types of Invisible Grief" - Read here

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun dives into the wisdom of Qigong and ancient Chinese medicine to explore how we can align with winter’s natural rhythm for better well-being. Elizabeth explains about what the water element represents in Chinese medicine and how this connects to inner balance, especially in the season of winter. 

Key takeaways

• Many of us tend to fight against rather than listen to our natural rhythms in winter. 
• A simple foot soak can offer rest and relaxation in the winter time.
• Certain essential oils, like basil and sandalwood, are particularly associated with winter wellness. 

Resources

Free Journal Reflection Prompts: https://www.thecalmingground.com/reflection-prompts-selfcare

Podcast episode “Breathing Through Stress: 5 Breathing Techniques for Calm & Balance”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/71-breathing-through-stress-5-breathing-techniques/id1704337948?i=1000686586207

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Foot Soak Recipe: 

Approximately 1 gallon warm water

Juice of one lemon

½ cup of sea salt

2 Tablespoons of ground ginger. 

Stir the ingredients into the water and then soak your feet in the mixture for about 10-20 minutes. (https://www.webmd.com/beauty/features/purifying-lemon-ginger-foot-soak)

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend who could use a little winter wellness wisdom. I’d love to hear from you! How do you embrace rest during winter?

In this episode, I’m joined by Nicola Navon, a Communication & Leadership Coach, and Expert in Masculine/Feminine Dynamics. She specializes in helping driven couples create a deeper connection and lasting passion through masterful communication. In this conversation, we explore the dance between masculine and feminine energies in communication and how balancing them can create more meaningful connections.

Key Takeaways

• The process of repairing and reconnecting after conflict is powerful for deepening connection and intimacy for a couple. 
• Often when we’re giving more than receiving in a partnership there is also an imbalance within us that needs attending to. 
• Pausing and checking in with our bodies when we’re feeling hurt or triggered can help us to build our self awareness and determine how to best communicate what is happening for us within the relationship. 

Resources

https://www.nicolanavon.com/

https://www.instagram.com/nicolanavon/

Free Reflection Journal Prompts: https://www.thecalmingground.com/reflection-prompts-selfcare

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun explores the profound impact music has on our emotions, nervous system, and physical health. Elizabeth dives into the fascinating ways music influences the brain and supports overall well-being; from ancient healing traditions to modern neuroscience, she uncovers why sound is such a powerful tool for relaxation and stress relief. In addition, Elizabeth offers a little sound experiment for you to try tuning into your mind/body and the impact of different sounds on how you feel. 

Key Takeaways

🎵 Music can bring us into a flow state, helping us become fully present.

🎵 Music triggers feel-good hormones. When we listen to or move to music, we may release dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins, which boost mood and reduce stress.

🎵 Music has been used for healing for centuries. From the didgeridoo of Australian Aborigines to Pythagoras using harmonies for sleep, music’s power to restore balance has stood the test of time.

Resources

Free Playlists for to relax or feel energized: https://www.thecalmingground.com/relax-and-energize-playlist

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

The Science and History of Sound Therapy

Psychology Today: The Power of Music

Johns Hopkins on Music and Brain Health

Berklee College of Music: Music & Brain Connectivity

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review—it helps others discover the power of music for stress relief! 💙🎶

In this episode, Elizabeth Mintun shares a personal story about my journey from being an anxious child to discovering the transformative power of breathwork. She discusses the science behind how breathwork helps shift us from a high-stress state to a calm and balanced one. In addition, she offers five practical breathwork techniques you can start using today to soothe your body and mind, reset your nervous system, and build resilience against stress. Whether you’re new to breathwork or looking to deepen your practice, this episode offers tools and insights to help you on your journey.

Key Takeaways

• The difference between helpful anxiety that prepares us and the anxiety that gets in our way. 
• Breathwork activates the “rest and digest” mode.
• Practicing daily, even in short sessions, helps make breathwork a natural response during stressful times.
• If breathwork feels challenging at first, starting with awareness of your natural breath can help you ease into the practice.
• Five breathwork techniques to try:

1. 5-Finger Breathing - A tactile technique that combines touch and breath.
2. Box Breathing - A method to calm your mind through balanced inhales and exhales.
3. Straw Breathing (Pursed Lip Breathing) - Perfect for releasing tension and slowing your breath.
4. Focused Breathing - Pairing breath awareness with phrases for relaxation.
5. Resonant Breathing (Coherent Breathing) - A practice to optimize your heart rate variability and reduce stress.

Resources

Free Guided Meditation: https://www.thecalmingground.com/free-guided-meditation

Follow/DM me on Instagram or Facebook: @thecalmingground

Email: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Let’s take a breath together and create more calm in our lives! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Your support means the world!

It might feel like these thoughts are just facts of life, but what if they’re not? What if these are actually limiting beliefs - stories we tell ourselves that keep us stuck?

In this episode Elizabeth Mintun explores what limiting beliefs are and how they form, three clear signs that you’re likely experiencing a limiting belief, and a simple 5-step process to start breaking free from these thoughts and reclaiming your confidence. Elizabeth also shares a personal story about how she noticed a limiting belief sneaking into her own life recently, and how she used the 5-step process to shift it.

Plus, as a bonus, Elizabeth created a free tool to help you take these insights even deeper: Break Free: A Simple 5-Step Guide to Releasing Limiting Beliefs and Reclaiming Your Confidence. Grab your copy here: 

https://www.thecalmingground.com/download-releasing-limiting-beliefs

Key Takeaways

• Building awareness is a crucial first step - once we identify we’re grappling with a limiting belief, we can take the steps to break free from it. 
• When we notice a thought pattern as part of a limiting belief, we are already weakening its power.
• There are clear steps we can take to begin to transform our limiting beliefs into empowering ones. 

Resources

Free Guide to Break Free from Limiting Beliefs: https://www.thecalmingground.com/download-releasing-limiting-beliefs

Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com

Stay Connected

Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review The Calming Ground. Share this episode with someone who could use a little mental peace today!