Karen Pallisgaard is a Danish senior yoga & meditation teacher and psychotherapist in training. She is also a bestselling author of several books about yoga, meditation, mental health, and slow living. She is known for making yoga and meditation everyday-friendly and accessible to everybody.
We end with a breathing meditation.
Listen to the podcast here:
Content:
1:10 - Introduction to Karen as an author, meditation and yoga teacher, journalist, and bestselling author. A curious soul, writing her way through life, trying to live as conscious as possible.
3:00 - No fitting into the box; multipotentiality, working with many identities.
4:40 - Hverdagsmeditationer: Karen's newest book about meditation, what is meditation.
6:45: Meditation is non-dual; the experience of non-separateness, the philosophical background of meditation.
9:30 - The science of meditation, the benefits of meditation: reduction of stress, depression, and anxiety rewiring the brain, lowering cortisol, improved immune system, help focus, creativity and productivity, improve sleep, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain. It makes us more compassionate and helps us live better lives.
14:15 - Meditation and mindfulness for children, getting familiar and comfortable with emotions.
15:45 - Training your meditation muscle, why we need to meditate every day, the negativity bias, how to deal with the reptilian brain. Either you are a slave of your thoughts and emotions or you become the master.
18.38 - Building a meditation routine; have discipline, in the book you find a 4-week program, starting slowly, start with 5 minutes.
20.00 - Breathing to connect with your body, different meditation techniques, finding a meditation teacher.
22.40 - Meditation apps can be helpful in the beginning, you need to be able to meditate without later.
23.30 - Karen's journey, working with trauma with spirituality, the 7-year rule of spiritual growth.
27:10 - Dealing with pain and suffering, pain as part of life, and as a spiritual practice. Acceptance is key for meditation and mindfulness, meditation is not wellness.
32:40 - There is no destination to the journey, waking up every day, the ambition to stay present and not be ruled by rules of society, stop comparing ourselves to others.
35:20 - What happens after COVID-19, how to stay with the slow living, keeping a consciousness practice, make fewer plans, walk slowly, eat slowly, lessons from COVID-19.
39:25 - Collaborations at the Mindfulness Manor - Retreat with Karen from October 22nd-25th, 2020.
40:00 - Mindfulness of breath meditation.
Resources:
https://www.karenpallisgaard.com/
Køb hverdagsmeditationer: https://www.saxo.com/dk/hverdagsmeditation_karen-pallisgaard_haeftet_9788740055054
Retreat: https://www.mindfulnessmanor.com/retreats/becoming-who-you-are
Meditation and mindfulness resources:
Yoga videos with Karen: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoO42_aCyG-q9ok79kdkS8g
Sally Kempton: https://www.sallykempton.com/
Yoga Glo: https://www.glo.com/
Headspace meditation app: https://www.headspace.com/