NPR interview replay, plus my 6 second holiday stress reliever

Published: Wed, 11/15/17

Just in case you missed this Monday! In a hurry? Jump to the NPR replay here.

Hi ,

NPR Interview Replay! As promised last week, I have been able to grab the replay of the interview on the local NPR station all about The Mindful Vegan (in studio, left).

I edited out announcements and station breaks to trim it down to just the content of our interview, uploaded it to YouTube as audio with a few snapshots, and the interview is now up on the blog here. The entire experience was extremely positive, as has been response from the international community that we all know NPR serves. I hope you enjoy the discussion, and that you will leave your thoughts on the blog.

6 Second Holiday Stress Dissolver: As demands ramp up with the advent of the holiday season, time out from the busy-ness - both mentally and physically - is imperative.

Though this may sound like one more thing you have to do, this is where filling moments through the day with a simple mindfulness tool helps enormously - without taking any extra time.

Remember, mindfulness is a BEing, not a DOing. So while some time designated each day to cultivating some degree of mastery over the habits of a jump-around mind with formal practice is extremely helpful, it is easy to restore presence and calm in as little as 5 - 6 seconds with the practice of S.T.O.P. S.T.O.P. can be implemented while waiting in the line at the market, when you sit down to eat, at a stoplight, when the phone rings - the possibilities are endless.

S.T.O.P. is described at about minute 31:40 in this NPR interview, and is also detailed in depth in The Mindful Vegan on page 85, with examples of application sprinkled throughout the book. Briefly, S.T.O.P. is an acronym for Stop, Take a Breath, Observe, i.e. what is going on right now? What emotions are you experiencing? Are you stressed, agitated, happy, excited, trying to avoid something...

The breath and the awareness of being in the present with whatever your experience is takes you out of the Default Mode Network (chapters 5 and 6 of The Mindful Vegan are devoted to the problems of wandering mind) and causing instant stress reduction as you veer yourself into presence. Finally, Proceed with your day - with the intention of bringing some degree of mindfulness to the activities before you. S.T.O.P. may sounds like such a little thing, so simple in practice that it may seem like it can't do much of anything! But give it a try. Implemented several times a day, without really having to break stride, brings you back into presence and out of the anxiety that comes with wandering mind.

To a kinder, gentler world for all,

Love, Lani

P.S. Last time we spoke, my husband Greg and I had just returned from a 16 mile round trip bike/hike to the Butte Creek head dam near our home in the foothills of Northern California. Well, a couple of days later we went back - and this time Greg made some spectacular video of the adventure! If you like, you can view it on his YouTube channel here. Waterfalls, fall colors, bears, snakes - it's all in there!

P.P.S. Reminder that some of the 30 audio support tracks for The Mindful Vegan are playing now on the Insight Timer app! Days 1 - 6 are up, making these an easy portable process for you.

P.P.P.S. Guess who's the new #GUNASgirl? Gunas, a high quality vendor of all-vegan bags and shoes, invited me to come on board as their new gunasgirl. I join fellow vegan authors Fran Costigan, Miyoko Schinner, and others with this very fun honor. You can see the page they created and my interview here. Not a paid position or anything like that - just a fun way that GUNAS likes to show support for the vegan community and advance the cause.

Thank you to Donna Lynn Strong Brott for this just published review of The Mindful Vegan.
Read more reviews. If you are already enjoying your copy, please leave one of your own on Amazon here.