Live Q&A With Clare Josa: Meditation & Mindfulness ~ 12th Feb at 20:30 UK Time

Videos

Live Q&A With Clare Josa: This month it’s all about MEDITATION & MINDFULNESS.
Answering the 5 top questions I get asked about it – and any extra you have.

Meditation? Mindfulness? Love it? Avoiding it like the plague? Vaguely curious? What are your excuses? Your questions?

Here are the Qs we covered:

I’m not sure where to start, with meditation and mindfulness
Whenever I go to meditate, I’m so tired, I fall asleep. What can I do?
How do I stop my mind whirring when I’m trying to meditate?
I don’t have enough time to meditate…
I know how to meditate, but how do I actually create the habit?
What’s my #1 piece of advice to someone who wants to meditate?

Want to dive in and make changes?

Here are some fabulous resources to help you on your journey:

How To Get Off The Emotional Rollercoaster

14 Day Master Your Emotions Kickstart

Ready to dive in and create the meditation habit?

And discover how 10 minutes a day can change your life?

Want To Stop Thinking Thoughts
That Make You Feel Miserable?

Join Me For The A-Z Of AUTHENTIC Positive ThinkingI would LOVE to share with you the exact techniques I use, each day, to master and balance my emotions. Are you ready to make that promise to yourself yet? It’s time to get off the emotional rollercoaster!Most people don’t get round to changing their lives. Make sure you’re not one of them. Join us for How To Meditate today.It’s a white-wash-free zone, as we go through the alphabet to gently – but firmly – retrain that pesky Monkey Mind to think thoughts that make you feel GREAT! A REAL life-changer. Join us for the A-Z of AUTHENTIC positive thinking today.

I would LOVE to hear your answers to the questions I asked in the webinar, via the comments.

And here are the bonus resources and articles I mentioned:

10 week online meditation course: How To Meditate

Bonus webinar: How to grow your business with meditation & mindfulness

Are you wasting your time, trying to meditate? Read here

Is it finally time to dispel the #1 meditation myth? Read here

Love chocolate? Discover 5 ways it can help you learn to meditate! Read here

Six secrets for training your family to help you meditate. Read here

Here’s How To Handle That Voice In Your Head – In The Next Five Minutes

Videos

Soul-Sized Wednesdays:

Had Enough Of That Critic On Your Shoulder Yet? Here’s How To Handle That Voice In Your Head – In The Next Five Minutes

Want more stuff like this?

Last chance to join us for “How To Meditate”

Final places left for this inspirational 10 week programme – and it takes just 10 minutes a day.

Is it time to finally teach your Monkey Mind who’s boss? Here’s where to register now:
www.ClareJosa.com/How-To-Meditate/

See you there?

And I’d love to hear from you via the comments:

which of these 4 techniques did you find most useful?
any surprises?
any resistance?
how might you remind yourself to play with these, the next time that Inner Critic on your shoulder goes crazy?

Want to catch each episode of Soul-Sized Wednesdays? Register FREE here.

With love, Namaste,

Is It FINALLY Time To Bust The #1 Meditation Myth?

How To Change Your Life

As a professional meditation teacher, I have lost count of the number of times people have thrown the #1 meditation myth back at me. And, if I’m being really honest, I’ve used it myself as an excuse not to meditate.

But regular meditation and mindfulness are so good for you – even just 10 minutes a day – that I thought I would dispel the #1 myth for you. That way you can either dive in and get meditating – or work on some new excuses to throw at me 😉

The #1 Meditation Myth: “But I can’t shut up my mind!”

There are different ways of saying it:

I don’t have an off switch.
My mind is too chattering.
My mind multi-tasks.
How on earth can I meditate, if I can’t make my mind go quiet?
As soon as I sit still, my mind takes over.

Well, it’s a myth. And it’s an excuse we often use, to get out of ‘having to’ meditate. But:

You don’t have to shut up your mind and stop thinking to be able to meditate.

You don’t have to be able to shut up your mind, to meditate.

Many expert meditators can’t do that yet. Some people find it easy. But the fact is that most of us have got monkey minds or grasshopper minds, leaping from one thing to the next. And there’s more to meditation than an empty mind.

You don’t have to make your mind go silent to be able to benefit from meditation.

If that’s what you’re aiming for, you’re likely to be disappointed. Just think about how many decades your mind has been taught to chatter. Yes, you can quieten your thoughts and slow things down with simple techniques that we’ll be covering during the next four weeks. But if you’re aiming for total ‘mind-silence’, then you’re setting yourself an extremely high standard to reach.

One of the keys to meditating well – or enjoying mindfulness practice – is to accept your mind. It’s about setting yourself free from being attached to your thoughts, so you are better placed to choose thoughts that create inner peace and happiness, rather than stress and anger. You don’t need to shut up your mind, to be able to meditate.

In fact:

Meditation is one of the processes that allows you to quieten your mind, so it is really the other way round!

Myth busted?

Strange though it may seem, having a monkey mind that chatters can actually be a bonus when you are first starting meditation, because you will quickly notice how 10 minutes a day of meditation can help quieten your mind. It takes dedication and it takes practice, just like any skill, but you will see results, even in the first few weeks.So how on earth are you supposed to meditate with your mind racing? Well, there are three keys to meditation.

The first one is relaxation.
You can’t meditate if you’re feeling exhausted and stressed. It’s a simple fact that when we are tired and stressed we are running on adrenalin – and meditation is about creating a sense of calm.
You can’t do that if you’re in your ‘fight or flight’ stress mode. That’s why you’ll notice that, at the beginning of each meditation audio, there is a sequence that allows you to settle in the moment; to settle in your body and to start to relax.
It is critical that you let go and do that.
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The second key is acceptance.
Your mind will wander: it will think about the shopping; it will think about the ironing; it will think about the school run; it will think about anything it can, because it is used to doing that.
That’s the job that it has had for so many years.
Don’t judge it; don’t dive into a story complaining to it about it getting in the way of your meditation, because suddenly your 10 minutes will be over. And you’re likely to feel that you wasted your time.
Don’t give up if your mind wanders. Just gently bring yourself back to whatever it is that you are focusing on in that day’s meditation.
Learning to accept the monkey mind is one of the most amazing ways to de-stress and calm down. It makes a huge difference to your meditation journey. It takes practice, but it is achievable.
The same thing goes for aches and pains, noises and interruptions. If you practise meditation daily, you will be learning how to accept them and not let them get in the way.
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The third key to meditation is concentration and focus.
You’ll be learning how to concentrate and focus on just one thing at a time, to deepen your meditation.
In our multi-tasking life that can feel like a real challenge – and our conscious mind might give us all sorts of reasons why we can’t do it. The key is to choose whether or not you want to buy into those reasons – or whether you want to allow the process of practising meditation to help you make changes in your life.

For those of you on my How To Meditate course, over the 10 weeks we don’t just look at how to meditate, we also dive in and deal with:

how to handle your thoughts getting in the way
how to calm and quieten your mind
how to allow your mind to relax
and how to accept those thoughts

So you see, meditation is not about switching off your monkey mind. But if that’s what you want to do, it teaches you how.

Meditation is about learning to get your mind to work with you – gently training it – and that can be fun.

So I’m curious: what are you favourite meditation excuses?
Which myths are you feeding, to avoid 10 minutes a day of potentially life-changing silent sitting?
And what would I have to say to convince you to let go, trust and give it a try?
I’d love to hear from you via the comments!

With love, Namaste,

P.S. If you’d like to learn how to meditate, how about joining us for “How To Meditate“?
And if you’d love to know how to grow your business or transform your career with meditation, here’s a free webinar for you. xx Clare

Voted Best Cake Ever By The Kids: Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Victoria Sponge

Nourishing Recipes

One of the things I have missed the most since I went gluten-free and sugar-free is Victoria Sponge cake. I’m talking the lightness of the vanilla sponge, the deliciousness of the jam and the lashings of cream…

But sugar turns me into a grumpy witch, and wheat makes me balloon at least two dress sizes, so saying no to the delicacies in the cake shops and kids’ parties is fairly easy, as soon as I consider the consequences.

My ‘bubba’ turned 10 recently and I ended up baking 3 cakes in one week – one for school, one for home and one for his party. All of them were sugar-free and gluten-free, and with this much experimenting going on in my kitchen, I decided it was time to try out the Victoria sponge cake. I chose to make it as the ‘home cake’, in case it was a disaster (then I could feed it to the dog and cats!) and because it’s secretly my favourite.

And I was over the moon when, not only did the recipe idea work, but my kids voted it the “best cake ever”.

So I’m sharing it with you in the hope it might inspire you to try it out – and hopefully fall in love with it.[image_with_animation image_url=”18683″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In”]

Ingredients for Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Victoria Sponge Cake

Makes enough for 10 ‘polite’ people 🙂
P.S. I apologise that it’s not vegan and dairy-free, too. I guess I had to draw the line somewhere for my experimenting. And, of course, this much butter, honey and cream means this is an occasional treat, rather than a daily splurge. But then I know I don’t really need to tell you that, do I? 😉 xx Clare

8 oz butter (yes, butter, not margarine – unless you know of a healthy margarine) – at room temperature – i.e. softened but not liquid
6 oz runny honey
8 oz gluten-free flour – you can either use a sugar-free blend (DO check the ingredients!) or I used a mix of buckwheat, rice & quinoa flour plus 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum – or you can use Doves Farm Gluten-Free flour plus 1 level teaspoon baking powder.
5 medium eggs – separated into separate bowls for the yolk from white
1 level teaspoon baking powder (check it’s gluten-free)
seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod – or equivalent of vanilla essence (again look out for sugar on the ingredients)
5-6 tablespoons sugar-free jam – I used Meridian organic blackcurrant spread
250 ml double cream for whipping (we’re blessed to have raw cream from our local farm shop!)

Instructions For #BestCakeEver Victoria Sponge

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Line the base two 8 inch sandwich cake tins (i.e. round and about 1 inch high) with greaseproof paper & pre-heat your oven to 180C or equivalent

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Whisk the egg whites until forming soft peaks – not as much as meringues but still white and fluffy.

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If you need to de-seed the vanilla pod, make a light score along the length of the pod, so you are only opening one side, then use a teaspoon to scrape along the open inside of the pod. You’ll get a good collection of seeds. There’s no need to throw away the pod – keep it safe to make a vanilla pudding or other recipe another time.

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Beat the butter, honey, xanthan gum, baking powder and vanilla together until they go a lighter colour and look fluffy. I use my Grannie’s geriatric electric whisk and it takes about 1 minute. By hand it’s more of a labour of love. This stage is important, because it really helps with the lightness. I add the vanilla, xanthan gum and baking powder at this stage so that I know they’re well-blended.
You might want to test for sweetness at this stage, especially if your family has a sweet-sugar-tooth. If it’s not sweet enough, you can add a little more honey or a level teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

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Add the egg yolks and half the flour and beat well until combined.

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Gently beat in the rest of the flour with half of the egg white, until well mixed.

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Stir in the remaining whisked egg white – this really helps to make the final sponge fluffier.

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Divide the mixture equally between two cake tins and gently smooth / flatten the top. It may be runnier than you are used to, but it should still be a thick cake mixture.

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Bake in the pre-heated oven until well-risen, golden brown on top and gently separating from the edges of the tin. Use a sharp knife to test the middle of the cake – it will come out clean if it is cooked. Depending on your oven, this will take between 25 and 35 minutes.

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Take the cakes out of the oven and leave them to cool completely in their tins.

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To assemble the final cake, remove the halves from the tins and take off the greaseproof paper. Place one half on a plate and cover the top with the jam. Whip the cream and spoon roughly on top of this. Then use the final half of the cake to squidge it all together. Serve immediately with a slightly smug smile and watch it disappear.

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So how did you get on? Did your family enjoy this delicious gluten-free, sugar-free Victoria sponge recipe? If you want to make it, will it be for a special occasion? Or ‘just because’?

Did you tweak it? Are you a habitual-recipe-experimenter? Or do you follow them to the letter?

I’d love to hear from you via the comments!

And as those of you who already hang around here know, I normally write about how to reconnect with your heart and soul, whilst living in a head-based world, but food it still a hugely important part of that, so I include regular Soul-food recipes as part of my other articles and videos. If you’d like to stay in touch and catch the latest inspiration for Soul-Sized Living, then please make sure you’re getting my free updates.

Until next time, with love, Namaste,

If I Had To Simplify Everything I Teach About Gratitude Into Four Simple Words…

Inspirational Quotes

If I Had To Simplify Everything I Teach About Gratitude Into Four Simple Words…
What Would They Be?

Those of you who know me well know that I write a LOT about how gratitude is a brilliant way to get out of your stress-head and back into living from your heart. But I was challenged by a friend this week to sum it all up in a single sentence – so here it is!

Enjoy The Little Things

Read on for insights as to why these simple words are so potent.

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There is so much wisdom tied up in these four simple words.

Let’s start with the word ‘Enjoy’: I’m curious – what kind of response does that invoke for you?

For some of us, the idea of ‘enjoying’ ourselves is second nature.

For others, it’s far from being part of our daily existence.

Do you give yourself permission to enjoy your experience of life? Or have you convinced yourself that life is meant to be hard work? Perhaps ‘enjoying’ comes at some unspecified ‘later’ point? That there’s no room for ‘enjoying’ or even ‘joy’ in your hectic schedule?

Can you imagine how different your life would become if you suspended that old conditioning and gave yourself loving permission to enjoy this moment, right here, right now? As you’re reading this article:

allow yourself to enjoy the experience of breathing – you might like to pause and say to yourself, in your mind, “I enjoy breathing in and calming my body… I enjoy breathing out and letting go.”

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press pause on the commentary about any aches and pains and allow yourself to be fully in your body, enjoying its presence, whatever stories you normally tell yourself about it

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allow yourself to gently smile (triggering endorphins – your body’s natural happy chemicals) – enjoy the feeling as those hormones kick in

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give yourself permission to fully enjoy whatever it is you are set to do today, even if it would usually fall under your ‘have to’ list

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Enjoying – appreciating – feeling grateful or thankful for – it’s all about reconnecting with your heart – in this moment.

What happens, as you let yourself enjoy? And… if it feels hard for you… what might NOT happen, if you let yourself enjoy? (Let me know via the comments!)

And if you’re running the ‘life has to be hard’ limiting belief, here’s an article that can get you started on shifting that one in the next five minutes: How to handle limiting beliefs
And if the phrase ‘have to’ runs the show in your inner dialogue, here’s an article that will help you to set yourself free to enjoy your day.

Now let’s move on to the word ‘little’: and here’s a trap that most of us fall into:

Most of us hold out for the ‘big stuff’ and hand our happiness over to events outside of our control.

You can spot this one if your inner dialogue ever comes up with phrases like:

I’ll feel happy, when….

It’ll all be ok, when…

I’ll be able to relax, when…

Spotting a theme?

We’re so fixated on some big event or thing that’s outside of us and at some point in the future, that it’s like we postpone our happiness and inner peace to some unspecified future date.
If you spent just one minute a day focussing on noticing the little (or even tiny) bits of your life that are going well, you could transform your experience of life, in just a few weeks.

No matter how many years you have been stuck waiting for the big stuff to come in, before you allow yourself to enjoy feeling happy, you can start to retrain your brain, one minute at a time.

And it’s not that the big stuff isn’t important – of course it is – but the small stuff is already there, patiently waiting for you to appreciate it and to lift your spirits, right now. If this one resonates for you, then you might love joining in with our Great Gratitude Challenge – it gives you all the ‘how to’ you need on this one!

And finally, we’re onto ‘things’: and here I have a word of warning for you!

The word ‘things’… It’s so easy to fall into the ‘things-trap’.

This one is where we think that ‘things’ – objects and ‘stuff’ – will lead to our happiness. We can even make the collection of ‘things’ our primary goal in life, without even realising it.

And yes, ‘things’ do have an important role to play in our lives. But they’re only the beginning of the richness of our experience.

The English language is seriously limited on this one. I’m dreaming of finding a word that means ‘things’, but that also includes ‘non-things’ – like:

the kindness of a fellow driver who lets you out of that tricky junction

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the colours of the sky when your early start means you get to see the sunrise

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the unexpected heart-felt smile from the checkout assistant as you buy your morning coffee

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Your favourite song unexpectedly playing on the radio on your way home

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Somebody doing you a favour, without being asked – and maybe you don’t even know who they are?

You’re getting what I’m saying here?

Life is about so much more than ‘things’ – it’s about everything that makes up our experience.

So my invitation to you with this one is to enjoy the little ‘things’ that come to you during your day – whether they’re stuff you can touch and hold or see or hear or taste or smell. They all add to the richness of life. And choosing to enjoy them is a miracle-worker.

I’m wondering: has any of this resonated for you? Were you falling into the ‘enjoy’ or ‘things’ traps? How might it shift your day if you were to choose to “Enjoy the little things” – even for just the next 5 minutes?
And – if you play with this – what do you notice?
Please let me know, via the comments!

And if your heart is calling you to discover how even just a minute of gratitude each day could change your life, here’s where you can join us (free!) on the Great Gratitude Challenge. I’d love to see you there.

With love, Namaste,

Soul-Sized Wednesdays: Consider This Your Official Kick In The Backside!

Videos

Have you been telling yourself the number 1 lie that keeps you stuck where you don’t want to be? Spend the next 4 minutes with me and we’ll get things turned around, once and for all. Then let me know how you get on, via the comments below:

Click to tweet: As soon as you make the commitment to changing your life, finding the time gets easier.

Over To You!

I’d love to hear from you, via the comments:

Which change are you going to make?
What support do you need?
What’s the first, tiny step you are going to take, right now, to get started?

Want moral support? There’s a whole tribe of virtual cheerleaders waiting for you over at our Soul-Sized Living Facebook group. Want to join us? I’d LOVE to see you there.

And if you know anyone who NEEDS to watch this video TODAY, please share it with them via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and more!

With love, Namaste,

P.S. If meditation is one of the things that the ‘future you’ is craving, you won’t want to miss the chance to join us for the 10 week How To Meditate challenge – doors close THIS WEEKEND, so grab your place and join us today. xx Clare

Blog

Want to dive in and make changes?

Here are some fabulous resources to help you on your journey:

How To Get Off The Emotional Rollercoaster

Ready to dive in and create the meditation habit?

Want To Stop Thinking Thoughts That Make You Feel Miserable?

Want more stuff like this?

Last chance to join us for “How To Meditate”

Myth busted?

Ingredients for Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Victoria Sponge Cake

Instructions For #BestCakeEver Victoria Sponge

Enjoy The Little Things

Over To You!

I’d love to hear from you, via the comments:

Want To Stop Thinking Thoughts
That Make You Feel Miserable?