Anjanette Todd, Ph.D.

Self-Compassion/Mindfulness

When we feel stressed, we often have forgotten to breathe deeply. This practice serves as a reminder of the power of the breath.

Deep breathing serves as a reminder of the power of the breath when we feel stressed.

Brief Breathwork Practice

This meditation helps to keep you in an "abundance" mindset

The Gratitude Break

This breathing practice may help you when you are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or just need to reset yourself so that you can continue on in your day. Enjoy!

A breathing practice to relieve stress and reset yourself.

Alternate Nostril Breathing

This body scan meditation is helpful at night as you drift off to sleep.

Body scan meditation aids in sleeping better at night.

Goodnight Body Scan

We can often judge events in our life as good or bad. This Chinese proverb is a gentle reminder to take all things in stride as only time will tell the whole story.

"Chinese proverb reminds us to take life in stride as only time reveals the whole story, regardless of whether events seem good or bad."

Letting Go of Desired Outcomes

We often believe that we do not have the ability to control intense emotions. I want you to know that there are things you can do to work with these strong emotions and physical sensations. As a result, you may begin to experience life in a new and more helpful way, becoming more of your authentic self.

Learn to control intense emotions by working with them, resulting in a more authentic and helpful experience of life.

Sitting meditation: Working with stress

I want you to know that there are things you can do to work with strong emotions and physical sensations related to social anxiety. You are not your anxiety.

Learn to manage social anxiety by separating yourself from it.

A Brief Meditation for Social Anxiety

This brief breath meditation will help you to begin to notice habits of the mind. Certain habits of the mind can lead to difficult emotions. However, being in the moment can help the body to calm down and heal.

Practice breath meditation to notice mind habits that cause negative emotions; being in the moment helps calm and heal the body.

A Breath Meditation to Calm and Heal

We cultivate loving-kindness as a gentle invitation to soften our hearts and connect deeper with all of life.

Cultivate loving-kindness to soften hearts and connect with all life.

Loving-Kindness (Day or Night)

Welcome to this breathwork before bed practice. In this practice, we will be bringing attention to our breath. Allowing relaxation into this moment. Creating space for more peace, and presence as you drift off to sleep.

Breathwork before bed practice helps to create relaxation and peace for a better sleep by focusing on breath.

Breathwork: Drift off to Sleep

This mindful "chair" practice will allow you to increase your energy level when you feel you have been working for too long at your desk, or in virtual meetings.

"Boost energy with mindful chair practice during long desk work or virtual meetings."

Brief Mindful Chair Movements

When thinking about our world today. We all need courage. There is this shared sense of responsibility that arises in knowing that we all play a part in keeping our world moving in the positive direction of multiculturalism and an anti-racist society.

We all need courage to keep the world moving towards multiculturalism and an anti-racist society.

C.O.U.R.A.G.E. To Be Anti-Racist

This is an invitation to explore what it is like to give ourselves permission to meet what we do not want, or what we do not like with care and gentleness. Through this recognition and acknowledgment, an opportunity arises to engage in different ways of meeting discomfort.

Explore meeting discomfort with care and gentleness by acknowledging what is unwanted or disliked.

Working with Discomfort

Walking meditation is an intentional form of walking that can help to cultivate a sense of presence in each moment and connects the mind and body.

Walking meditation cultivates presence and connects mind and body.

Walking Meditation

Rest and recharge with this meditation so that you can connect with your authentic self and ground yourself more fully at this moment.

Meditate to rest, recharge and connect with your authentic self; ground yourself fully in the present moment.

Rest & Recharge My Friend

It's perfectly normal to take a moment each day to reset so that we can be focused and productive. This brief body scan is helpful to ground you at the moment and boost your energy.

Daily body scan helps to reset and boost energy for productivity.

Body Scan to Reset and Boost Energy

This meditation is a gentle reminder to stop throughout your day so that you can reset and begin again.

Meditation encourages a daily reset and restart of your mind and body.

A Gentle STOP to Reset

This meditation is helpful when you notice you have a "busy" mind, as we all do. Meeting this with kindness and curiosity.

Meditation helps handle the busy mind with kindness and curiosity.

Brief Meditation for a Busy Mind

This meditation is helpful as you begin to ease into your day or wind down into your night. This longer meditation will help you to deepen your practice.

A helpful meditation for easing into or winding down from the day, and to deepen your practice.

Easing Into Day OR Night (LONG VERSION)

This meditation supports the mind-body connection. You will take time to explore your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations while returning to the breath as your anchor. Relax into the practice.

Meditate to strengthen mind-body connection by exploring thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations while focusing on breathing.

Mind-Body: Relax Into The Practice

We can often feel as if we don't have the time to meditate. Here is a 3-minute mini-meditation to help develop a meditation habit that lasts.

3-minute mini-meditation to develop a lasting habit.

Three-Minute Mini-Meditation

We can sometimes need a way to shift out of our racing thoughts. One helpful way to do this is to meditate on the breath. This meditation will use the breath as a way to ground yourself in the moment (cultivating presence and calmness).

Meditating on the breath can help shift racing thoughts and cultivate presence and calmness.

Presence: Breath Meditation

We often try to sleep without any preparation. This brief guided meditation will prepare you to ease your way into sleep.

Prepare for sleep with a guided meditation to ease your mind and body.

Easing Into Sleep

We can often feel stressed about external events that are happening around us. This brief meditation will ground you at the moment by focusing the attention back inward using the feet as the object of focus.

Ground yourself with a brief meditation by focusing on your feet, bringing your attention inward and relieving stress from external events.

Grounding Into The Feet: Mini-Meditation

It can be helpful throughout the day to take a moment to ground yourself back into the body. So much of our day we are operating from the neck up. This brief meditation will help you to reconnect to the body so that you can refocus and reset throughout the day.

A brief meditation to ground yourself back into your body and refocus throughout the day.

3-Minute Body Awareness Meditation

Our breathing can often be shallow. This brief breathwork practice supports you in taking slow deep breaths that reach the belly and with practice, you can learn to breathe this way more often.

Learn to take slow, deep breaths with this brief breathwork practice to reach the belly and improve your breathing.

3-Minute Breathwork Practice

Breathe deeply enough to help activate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and repair) so that we can feel calm and ready to deal with any situations or challenges that may arise.

Deep breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system for calmness during challenging situations.

5-Count... Breathwork Practice

In this breathwork practice, you will turn inward and use the breath as a way to connect fully with the body. The practice ends by slowing down and activating the rest and repair response.

Breathwork connects body and mind, ending with a rest and repair response.

Breathwork: Listening To The Body

If we can connect to the breath and take full deep breaths in (filling the belly), it can help to shift our mood and reduce stress. This meditation is a helpful way to begin to learn how to bring attention to the breath in a kind and open-hearted way.

Deep breathing can improve mood and reduce stress; this meditation teaches how to focus on breath in a kind way.

Breathing To Reduce Stress

This breath meditation can be helpful in bringing the body back to balance. Take a few minutes each day to reset and connect to the breath. You'll feel calm and grounded at the end of this meditation practice.

Reset and connect to the breath with daily breath meditation to feel calm and grounded and bring the body back to balance.

The Calm & Balanced Breath Meditation

We often forget to take the time to practice intentional relaxation. This breath meditation helps to bring some intentional rest and relaxation using the breath as the object of focus. Rest my friend!

Breathe meditation promotes intentional relaxation by focusing on the breath.

A Time to Relax: Just Breathe my Friend!

This breathwork practice is helpful for those beginning to use breathing practices. Breathing practices (such as this one) can help to regulate the autonomic nervous system which can help provide a calm relaxing response in the mind and body while also helping to reduce things like anxiety, tension, and stress.

Beginner-friendly breathwork practice regulates the autonomic nervous system, reducing anxiety, tension, and stress for a calm and relaxing response.

Breathwork Meditation For Beginners

This 2-3-4 breathwork practice can be a supportive way to begin to regulate the breath. I've found this 2-3-4 count to be helpful in releasing tension and bringing about this soothing and healing feeling.

2-3-4 breathwork helps regulate breathing, relieves tension, and induces soothing and healing feelings.

2-3-4 Breathwork for Beginners

This meditation is helpful to begin to create more "mental space" in your practice and as a result, you will begin to hold your experiences with more ease and less reactivity. The more you do this practice, the more you will find this "spaciousness" in your everyday life. With this meditation, you learn that you have the ability to shift your focus from a single object such as ( the breath, hands, or feet) to more open awareness. You also have the capacity to choose to move from spaciousness back to a single object of focus.

Create mental space with meditation and hold experiences with ease; shift focus from single object to open awareness and back.

Sitting in Spaciousness: Zoom In & Out

This meditation is your opportunity to dwell in the mode of being, rather than in one’s usual mode of doing. Recognizing that you have taken the time out of your day to "sit." There is nowhere to go and nothing to do. Welcome to this moment, my friend.

Meditation allows us to simply "be" and appreciate the present moment, free from distractions and obligations.

Just Sit: Nowhere To Go & Nothing To Do

Allowing the hands to fully rest on the spaciousness of the heart, notice what's here for you now. Allowing for this heart-filled bond to grow and expand to all beings. May these loving-kindness feelings make a heart-print on the soul.

Rest hands on heart, notice present feelings, expand heart bond to all beings, create loving-kindness heart-print on soul.

Loving Kindness: Heart-Print Meditation

In this 3-minute version...Allowing the hands to fully rest on the spaciousness of the heart, notice what's here for you now. Allowing for this heart-filled bond to grow and expand to all beings. May these loving-kindness feelings make a heart-print on the soul.

3-minute meditation: Rest hands on heart, expand loving-kindness to all beings, let it leave a heart-print on the soul.

Loving Kindness: Heart-Print (3-min)

This sleep meditation can be helpful as you prepare for sleep. The invitation is to "let go" just for this moment now and allow the rhythm of the breath to nourish you inviting a sense of peace, calmness, and yes "rest."

Soothe yourself to sleep with a calming meditation, letting go of everything and focusing on your breath for peace and rest.

Let Go: The Path To A Restful Sleep

In this 9-minute sleep meditation, the invitation is to "let go" just for this moment now and allow the rhythm of the breath to nourish you inviting a sense of peace, calmness, and rest. Let sleep find you.

Relax and let go with a 9-minute sleep meditation, allowing the breath to bring peace, calmness, and rest to help you fall asleep.

Let Sleep Find You (9-min version)

This meditation is helpful when you need to take a moment to reconnect to the heart. Notice what's here for in this moment with an intentional focus on the heart, allowing feelings of love and kindness to come to the forefront.

Reconnect to your heart with intentional focus on love and kindness in this helpful meditation.

Take A Moment: Follow Your Heart

This meditation supports the connection between the heart and the breath and is helpful to connect back into the space of loving-kindness. My heart goes out to you my friend!

Meditation strengthens heart-breath connection and encourages loving-kindness.

My Heart Goes Out To You My Friend

This meditation allows you to take a moment to reflect on how precious and delicate life is by bringing a gentle awareness to the beating heart. Remember, the heart is where compassion and love are born.

Reflect on life's fragility through heart meditation, as it is where love and compassion originate.

The Heart Is Where Compassion Is born

We can often get lost in our worries and stresses. This meditation can be helpful to connect back to gratitude and send loving kindness to ourselves. I wish you well!

A gratitude meditation can help us connect with ourselves and reduce stress and worries.

I WISH YOU WELL: Loving-Kindness

It’s perfectly normal to find sitting in stillness a little uncomfortable at first. Just stay with it my friend! I promise, the more you practice the easier it gets and the more benefits you’ll experience. You’re doing great!

Sitting in stillness may be uncomfortable at first, but with practice, it becomes easier and brings more benefits. Keep it up!

Intro To Meditation Series: PART 2

In this practice, we are simply attending to the breath with kind attention, moment by moment. You do not need to breathe deeply or in any particular way. We are just noticing the breath. When you have completed this meditation, take a moment to scan the body and allow the feeling of presence you have cultivated through this meditation to stay with you throughout the rest of your day and night.

Mindfully attend to your breath with kind attention, allowing the feeling of presence to stay with you throughout the day and night.

Intro To Meditation Series: PART 1

In this focused awareness meditation, you will explore different areas in the body as possible anchors to access the present moment. I will guide you through touch points such feeling your feet on the ground, your hands, the breath, or sounds around you and when the mind wanders, you will continue to bring the attention back to rest in the present moment using an anchor.

Focused awareness meditation explores body anchors to access present moment; touches upon feet, hands, breath, and sounds as points of focus.

Intro To Meditation Series: PART 3

This body scan meditation will help you to drop into the body and focus on sensations moving from the tip of the toes up to the top of the head. The body scan is helpful in reestablishing a connection between the mind and body. You can do this meditation in a seated position, or you can lie down, whatever feels most comfortable for you. As this series comes to a close, my wish for you is that you continue on this meditation journey you've started. Please come back to these recording series as many times as you like as a way to strengthen and deepen your practice and remember to be patient and kind to yourself: Learning a new skill takes time:)

Body scan meditation helps mind-body connection; start at toes and go to head; do seated or lying; keep practicing and be patient and kind to yourself.

Intro To Meditation Series: PART 4

In this practice, we will explore, "how are you at this moment?" This may be the first time today (or the first time in a while) that you have taken a moment to check in with yourself. When you're ready, find a comfortable position, and let's begin...

Practice self-check-in by asking "how are you at this moment?" to yourself, find a comfortable position to start.

How Are You In This Moment? Yes You

It's often helpful to remember that our thoughts are just thoughts, not facts. Our thoughts are ever-changing and it can be helpful to just observe them without being drawn into the story they may be weaving at that moment. When we can be the observer of our thoughts, we create this space and often see how they have less of a hold on us and as result, we can feel calmer.

Observing our thoughts without getting lost in the story can create space and reduce their hold on us, leading to a sense of calmness.

They're Just Thoughts...NOT FACTS

It’s been said that there is power in the practice of visualization and I agree. I feel when you take the time to intentionally turn within and allow your imagination to create a vision of the desired outcome, this may help to bring clarity, hope, and direction to your life. I hope you may find this future-self visualization a supportive part of your overall meditation practice.

Visualizing your future self can bring clarity, hope, and direction to your life, making it a powerful tool in meditation practice.

The Power of Visualization: Future Self

We often need a gentle practice that is brief and accessible. This 2 Hands -1 Breath meditation may help to ground you in this moment and support the reconnection with the physical body. You can come back to this brief meditation as many times as you like. I hope you find it helpful.

The 2 Hands -1 Breath meditation is a gentle, brief, and accessible practice that helps ground and reconnect with the physical body.

2 Hands -1 Breath: THIS MOMENT

Starting off the day with a guided meditation that supports a positive intention can be helpful as you are putting the focus on what can serve you. In this meditation, I'll guide you through the practice of setting an intention and then (just as importantly.)...Letting It Go...

Start your day with a guided meditation to set a positive intention, and learn to let it go for a more peaceful day.

Morning Intention: then... Letting It Go

It's not just what you do each day, it's also the intention behind what you do that can be the difference between having one outcome vs. another outcome. In this track, we'll talk not only talk about what intention is but also walk through a brief practice where you can set an intention for today. There's power in intention, my friend!

Track teaches the power of intention and includes a brief practice to set an intention for the day, emphasizing how intention affects outcomes.

There's Power in Intention, My Friend!

We often can feel stressed and overwhelmed by our thoughts. This meditation can be helpful in gently exploring these thoughts. Smile as you watch the thoughts drift on by...

Explore your thoughts with a gentle meditation; smile as you watch them drift by.

SMILE...Watch The Thoughts Drift On By

Is meditating even helping me? ...This is a question that may arise for you (especially if you are just beginning on this path of formal practice). Please know that this is perfectly normal to feel this way. A helpful perspective that can support you is the practice of patience. Patience offers us the "space" we need to allow for each moment to unfold, just as it is. I hope you find this perspective supportive as you continue to cultivate your practice.

Questioning the effectiveness of meditation is normal, but practicing patience allows for moments to unfold in their own way. Keep cultivating your practice.

Is Meditating Helping Me?... Patience

When you're just beginning the practice of meditating, one of the things you might hear from a teacher, or on a guided track, is to begin to notice what’s here for you right now? This guidance is actually a very inviting and accurate invitation to begin to pay attention to the present moment. However, when you are just starting out, this may feel a bit vague and maybe even confusing for some. So, I've developed an acronym called S.O.A.R. (Shine, Observe, Allow, Release) that may be supportive for you in your practice... Remember to "soar" my friend!

New meditators can use the S.O.A.R acronym (Shine, Observe, Allow, Release) to help pay attention to the present moment and improve their practice.

S.O.A.R (Shine, Observe, Allow, Release)

In our fast-paced lifestyles, we may often find ourselves in this mode of "doing" rather than in the mode of "being." If you can relate to this idea, please know that you are not alone. The perspective of non-striving may be supportive for you as it can serve as a gentle reminder to not be so attached to outcomes, but rather enjoy what the present moment has to offer.

Don't be attached to outcomes, enjoy the present moment with the perspective of non-striving.

Non-Striving: From Doing to Being

Starting off the day with a few moments of presence can allow you to begin to become available to what is calling you (in this moment). When you listen to the whisper and wisdom of your soul, you are in fact waking up to your life, right now. Let's begin...

Take a moment of presence to listen to your soul and wake up to your life now.

Morning Wake-Up Call

The practice of mindfulness is supported by the perspective of non-judgment and often we may find that we don't even realize that we are judging. This track is a gentle reminder to offer yourself some kindness as you begin to notice the judging mind. You are not alone and this unfolding awareness is part of the practice.

Mindfulness involves non-judgmental perspective, but we often don't realize we're judging; offer yourself kindness and know that awareness is part of the practice.

Not Judging the Judging Mind

A Brief "Nature" Balm Meditation is a calming and rejuvenating meditation that allows you to immerse yourself in the soothing embrace of nature, even when you're unable to physically be in a natural environment. By the end of this meditation, you will be closer to finding solace and tranquility by connecting the serene beauty of nature to the breath.

"Nature" Balm Meditation brings the calming embrace of nature to you, promoting tranquility and connecting its beauty to your breath.

A Brief Nature Balm Meditation

Experience the tranquility of nature wherever you are with "A "Nature" Balm Meditation. This calming and rejuvenating practice offers a serene escape into the soothing embrace of nature, even if you can't be there physically. Throughout the meditation, you will discover a deep connection between the serene beauty of nature and the rhythmic flow of your breath, bringing you closer to a state of solace and tranquility. By the end of this meditation, you will feel a renewed sense of peace as you harmonize with the natural world.

Escape to nature with "Nature" Balm Meditation, a calming and rejuvenating practice that brings peace and harmony by connecting breath with nature.

A Nature Balm Meditation

The "Elemental" Breath Meditation invites you to connect deeply with the fundamental elements of nature and harness their energy for inner balance and harmony. Drawing inspiration from the four classical elements -earth, air, fire, and water- this meditation takes you on a journey of self-discovery and rejuvenation.

"Connect with nature's elements and find balance through the Elemental Breath Meditation, drawing inspiration from earth, air, fire, and water."

Elemental Breath Meditation

In this brief "Elemental” Breath Meditation you can allow yourself to tap into the wisdom and energy of nature to promote relaxation and self-awareness. By connecting with the elements, you cultivate a deeper understanding of your interconnectedness with the world around you, fostering inner balance and harmony.

"Connect with nature through Elemental Breath Meditation for relaxation, self-awareness, and inner harmony." (92 characters)

A Brief Elemental Breath Meditation

This ocean journey "sleep" meditation offers a peaceful escape from the busyness of daily life, inviting you to experience the restorative power of the ocean as you embark on a tranquil voyage into a restful night's sleep.

Experience the calming embrace of the ocean on a tranquil sleep meditation, providing a peaceful escape from the chaos of daily life.

Ocean Journey Sleep Story

This brief session offers a glimpse into the profound gift of forgiveness. My hope is that it serves as a gentle reminder that forgiveness is not only an act of strength but also an act of self-kindness and a doorway to freedom, allowing you to live more authentically and fully.

Forgiveness is a powerful act of self-kindness and freedom that allows one to live authentically and fully.

Practicing Forgiveness (It's For You)

This session offers a glimpse into the profound gift of forgiveness, along with some brief examples of things you could say to yourself to support you in this practice. My hope is that it serves as a gentle reminder that forgiveness is not only an act of strength but also an act of self-kindness and a doorway to freedom, allowing you to live more authentically and fully.

Forgiveness is a powerful gift that brings self-kindness, freedom, and authenticity, as explored through examples and encouragement in this session.

Practicing Forgiveness: (With Examples)

This "Nourishing" Breath Meditation holds the power to tap into the natural rhythm of our breath, allowing us to keenly observe its gentle flow in and out of our bodies. Through a dedicated focus on each nourishing breath, we cultivate a profound sense of presence and inner calm, enabling the gradual fading away of thoughts and distractions.

The "Nourishing" Breath Meditation cultivates presence and inner calm by observing the gentle flow of our breath and fading away distractions.

Tracks by Anjanette Todd, Ph.D.