Ep 158 | Practical Meditation at Home + Guided Mindfulness Exercise with Rachel Kanarowski

Rachel Kanarowski, certified Meditation Coach, shares simple science-based meditation tips to enhance your focus, increase your emotional intelligence, and release stress. Be still. Focus on your breath. Reflect. Today we explore meditation. A practice with deep cultural history and widespread contemporary relevance. A great complement to your KonMari practice and lifestyle. Today’s guest is Rachel Kanarowski. Rachel is a certified meditation coach based in Chicago who ditched her blazers after more than a decade in high-stress marketing and media jobs. We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast. Book a custom Virtual Tidying Experience with For the Love of Tidy (https://fortheloveoftidy.com/konmari-tidying-lesson/tidy-a-z-what-to-expect-from-a-konmari-virtual-tidy/) Join The Spark Joy Club today! (https://www.patreon.com/sparkjoy) In this episode, you’ll enjoy: - How a podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-find-real-love-with-sharon-salzberg/id508117781?i=1000386177711) inspired Rachel to be kinder to herself and embrace Sharon Salzberg's Loving Kindness through tough times - How Loving Kindness is different from breath or transcendental meditation formats and leads to structural changes in our brains that make us more compassionate - Three common myths and misconception that show up around meditation and mindfulness practices - What to beware of when integrating KonMari with meditation at home - Tips for meditation first timers or those who are struggling to maintain a consistent practice - Rachel's favorite meditation apps: Unplug (https://unplug.app/), Headspace (https://www.headspace.com/headspace-meditation-app), Calm (https://www.calm.com/), 10% Happier (https://www.tenpercent.com/) - Guided Meditation: 36:03 - 42:41 min. mark Rachel’s favorite wellness tip: Make a plan to feel the way you want to feel What's sparking the most joy for Rachel: Taking pictures outside to observe the seasons changing Follow Rachel on Instagram @rachelkanarowski (https://www.instagram.com/rachelkanarowski/) To book a private mindfulness meditation experience for yourself or your company contact Rachel via rachelkanarowski.com (https://rachelkanarowski.com/). Her future podcast: The Year of Living Better (coming soon!) Gems: "I immediately started to feel a really big shift in the relationship I had with myself." "I call myself a no beads, no incense, very science-based meditation coach." "May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease." "[Loving Kindness meditation] helps you refill your own cup...and it helps that cup get bigger." "You're creating the habit by choosing an activity that occurs on a reliable basis and stacking meditation or mindfulness practice with whatever that other thing is." "My practice helps me be kind to myself when everything isn't perfect or isn't sparking joy." The Spark Joy Anniversary Give-A-Way contest prizes! Win one of three bundles consisting of Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up, signed by Marie Kondo, a fifty dollar gift certificate to the KonMari Shop (https://shop.konmari.com) to select your own Joy Sparking gift, and a two-hour Virtual Tidying Session from For the Love of Tidy! Three lucky winners will receive a bundle of all these prizes! To be eligible for all of the prizes above, all you need to do is head over to: www.sparkjoypodcast.com/itunes for detailed instructions on how to leave a review via iTunes. Once there, follow the Apple Podcast instructions to leave us a rating and review in iTunes to help us reach more ears, minds, and hearts. Most important step: Send an email to: [e-mail] letting us know you left us a review and what screen name you left it under. This will act as your official entry. Don’t forget this step! It is the only way we can officially log you as entered into the contest. Submit your star rating and review by November 24, 2020. We’ll announce the winners during our season finale “Best of” show that will air on December 1st. **Contest runs from September 1 to November 24, 2020.* Winners will be announced during our Best of 2020 show on December 1, 2020*** You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home (https://www.theserenehome.com/) You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy (https://fortheloveoftidy.com/) S