The Aware Mind

In this episode, Sarah and her guest, licensed therapist Mike Comparetto, discuss why simple body awareness exercises help us better process our emotions, gain a better perspective and move us through difficult situations in a healthy way.  Our psyche comes up with a million reasons to resist our experience. And we usually follow through on most of them. However, accepting, instead of, resisting our experience is better for us in t...

In this episode, Sarah and her guest, Doctor Breese, discuss what shame feels like and sounds like, especially as relates to negative body image. Learn the differences between negative body image and body dysmorphia and how dieting is often a form of disordered eating. However, with mindfulness, we can wake up to our patterns of thinking and behaviors and lean into our emotional experiences. These mindful abilities are the antidote...

In this episode, Sarah's current coaching client and guest, Jasmine, tells her story of healing from childhood trauma with the help of the tools provided by TSD Mindfulness practice and coaching. Jasmine grew up in a home with alcoholism and at a young age learned she needed to ignore her needs in order to "keep the peace" at home.  Even as an adult she still struggled to feel and understand her emotions, as well as,...

In this episode, Sarah and her guest, Brianna Cuthrell, discuss how mindfulness can be used to minimize anxiety caused by anxious thinking. 90% of people have intrusive thoughts but it is rare for people to share their uncomfortable thoughts with others. We often experience shame about the thoughts that our minds create, which causes even more anxiety. Not to mention the anxiety and fight or flight responses the thoughts originally...

In this episode, Sarah and her guest, Sonya Strange, discuss why fawning and people-pleasing is a survival response caused by past trauma. This fawning response can affect every aspect of our relationships including sexual encounters. There is limited information available on the topic of fawning during sex, therefore this is an important episode to listen to and become educated on why fawning can lead to discomfort and shame after...

In this episode, Sarah and her guest, Melanie Haskell, discuss the ways learning about the Enneagram can change your life. The Enneagram is a circle of personality types that identify how people interpret the world and manage their emotions. The Enneagram describes nine personality types and maps each of these types on a nine-pointed diagram which helps to illustrate how the types relate to one another. Learn how the three fields (...

In this episode, Sarah and her guests, Ali Sweeney and Marzia Bosi, discuss the ways mindfulness can break down perfectionism into its various parts so you can better manage stress caused by perfectionism. Perfectionism can result in physical symptoms, relationship stress, anxiety and depression. TSD Mindfulness provides tools for healing through perfectionism, including naming your thinking, identifying your patterns of overextens...

In this episode, Sarah and her guest, Emelda De Coteau, discuss the ways mindfulness can reduce overwhelm, feelings of shame and disconnection. They talk about the importance of taking a pause instead of simply pushing through every single moment. What are we missing when we do not acknowledge our difficulty and simply power through instead?  Emelda shares true stories of three of her mindfulness clients and how she used the tools ...

In this episode, Sarah and her guest, Heather Liv Melver, discuss the ways mindfulness can reduce, and sometimes even eliminate, experiences of anxiety. Heather shares her personal story of how she learned to accept the realness of what she was feeling in the present moment and trust that life will unfold in a way she can feel good about. Heather was formally diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and also had many of the mark...

In this episode, Sarah and Jacob talk about the three doorways of liberation in the Buddhist teachings,  emptiness, signlessness and aimlessness. Kinda sounds like a wondering fool doesn't it? Could it be that forgetting the details of who you are, giving less meaning to your circumstances and reducing your goal-setting are actually all the things that contribute to happiness? Sarah isn't completely convinced but Jacob do...

In this episode, Sarah and Jacob talk about their personal struggles and triumphs with worthiness. A lack of worthiness can show up in our lives as packed schedules, lack of boundaries with difficult people, a need to be successful, fear of failure or not capable of feeling difficult emotions in a healthy way. Take the "Worthiness Test" with Sarah and Jacob and find out which of these categories you have great worthiness ...

In this episode, Sarah and Jacob talk about their personal meditation practices and what they have found to best support them to gain benefit from sitting. One of the most important teachings related to meditation focus on how we handle losing focus. When we meditate we periodically lose awareness and concentration and go into a state of daydreaming or unconscious. Sarah and Jacob discuss their points of view on this phenomenon and...

In this episode, Sarah explains that any idea begins in the mind and then is executed. If this is true, then mindfulness of the workings of your mind and your preset mindsets are key to effectively executing any idea. Sarah and Jacob discuss mindful leadership and how this practice can be used by anyone from a business owner, executive, stay-at-home parent, or employee. Research shows mindful leadership training and coaching suppor...

In this episode, Sarah and Jacob discuss why we criticize ourselves and why we rather keep this habit instead of being compassionate towards ourselves. Could it be that on a deep level we do not want to give up our self-judgemental thoughts because we believe they are what in fact is keeping us from experiencing something bad in our lives? Sarah and Jacob also cover the many reasons why self-compassion can be just plain uncomfortab...

In this episode, Sarah and Jacob discuss the ins and outs of internal conflict. Find out what typical internal conflicts look like and healthy ways to address them. Is your internal conflict about opposing needs or trying to be your true self? And is your internal conflict rooted in shame or past trauma? Jacob stresses about getting errands done, finding time for his self-care and spending quality time with his wife. Sarah and Jaco...

In this episode, Sarah and Jacob discuss the possible hypothetical outcomes of Donald Trump learning the practice of mindfulness. Would he lie less? Would he treat women better? Would he still have run for president? How would a mindfulness practice change the thinking of someone like Donald Trump? Sarah also shares some revealing research about people with narcissistic traits practicing mindfulness. The results of these studies mi...

In this episode, Sarah explains how we can become more mindful and aware of how much space and closeness we need in our romantic relationships and how to gain understanding of how those needs came into being.  Sarah shares Esther Perel's views on what it means to have boundaries in a relationship and how to be more mindful when we are making assumptions. Jacob and Sarah discuss how cognitive biases play a role in our relations...

In this episode, Sarah outlines five categories that make up a well-rounded mindfulness person. How well do you use language to describe your feelings and thoughts? How well do you move into mental neutrality? How well do you observe your physical surroundings? And how well do you pause before you react?  Take the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire at this link http://www.awakemind.org/quiz.php , receive your score and find out ...

In this episode, Sarah challenges Jacob's knowledge of Buddhism by testing him with questions most of us don't know the answers to. You might be surprised to learn that reincarnation is not technically associated with Buddhism. And have you ever wondered if the original Buddha was a vegetarian? And have you ever thought about when Buddhist teachers are asked, "Do you believe in God?" how do they respond? And do ...