Calgary Mindfulness Weekly Meditation

Greetings and welcome to our FOURTH session of the autumn 2025 season, where we are dedicated to listening to and developing our inner strength at a time when there seems to be so much more public stress and chaos.Alas it is now too cold to meet outside early in the morning! I will schedule alternate indoor times at least once monthly for our group to meet!Today, we use EMOTIONS as our primary anchor to continue to explore developing the embodied presence; paying attention to any emotions that arise during our breathwork, and then returning to the present moment and the breath.To watch this podcast, please visit https://youtu.be/XkIZwaeIo2A.The embodied presence: why this focus? Well, the present moment is the only one over which we have control, where we can align with our goals and values thoughtfully, so that we don’t feel hostage to the whims of circumstances out of our control. In our practice today, we explore how the act of paying attention to the sensations we observe during the emotion scan can be relaxing and bring ease to our thoughts and bodies.For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices.We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.caKind regards, Rosanna D’Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Greetings and welcome to our third session of the autumn 2025 season, where our next few practices are dedicated to listening to and developing our inner strength at a time when there seems to be so much more public stress and chaos. To watch this video, please visit https://youtu.be/WmKt2nZqrWE .(We are meeting in person while the weather remains warm in Calgary, thus allowing us to enjoy awesome Calgary parks, so if you're local and would like to sit in person, please email Calgary Mindfulness @ Gmail.com.) Today, we use the body scan as our primary anchor to continue to explore developing the embodied presence, meaning we become conscious of our thoughts, feelings, sub-talk, sensations, so that we are paying attention to here and now instead of being spaced out ruminating over the past, or in a trace afraid of the future. The present moment is the only one over which we have control, where we can align with our goals and values thoughtfully, so that we don't feel hostage to the whims of circumstances out of our control. In our practice today, we explore how the act of paying attention to the sensations we observe during the body scan slows can be relaxing and bring ease to our thoughts and bodies. For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Greetings and welcome to our second session of the autumn 2025 season, where our next few practices are dedicated to listening to and developing our inner strength at a time when there seems to be so much more public stress and chaos. (We are meeting in person while the weather remains warm in Calgary, thus allowing us to enjoy awesome Calgary parks, so if you're local and would like to sit in person, please email Calgary Mindfulness @ Gmail.com.) Today I thought to continue to another anchor but in fact the breath is our foundation and is a very fruitful anchor. Today, we continue to explore developing the embodied presence, meaning we become conscious of our thoughts, feelings, sub-talk, sensations, so that we are paying attention to here and now instead of being spaced out ruminating over the past, or in a trace afraid of the future. The present moment is the only one over which we have control, where we can align with our goals and values thoughtfully, so that we don't feel hostage to the whims of circumstances out of our control. Our practice today explores how the simple act of breathing can be a reminder for us to be grateful, to recognize connection, unity, and strength, to honour our connection with God/Creator/Source/, and to recognize the interconnectedness of life. For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Welcome back to our autumn session! I hope you had an excellent summer. Our next session of weekly Sunday 8am meditations is guided by many of the participant suggestions we received over the summer, and most have to do with: "how do I keep my equilibrium when the world seems to be going crazy?" From a meditator's perspective, we turn to awareness of the body and senses. Often we are operating in a trance, angry state, completely unaware of how we are mostly feeling and thinking. Once in a while we "correct" our thinking with some "shoulds" and maybe a bit of gratitude, but mostly we have the habit of being disembodied--that is, unaware of how we're really thinking and feeling. The embodied presence - being aware of how we think, feel (both physically and emotionally) and stepping back from the hot or sad emotions to observe, nurture, and enquire is one path out of the mania of public stress, which is certainly a product of tech giants' interest in making more money by securing our attention with increasingly inflammatory media. Let's start paying attention to YOU with the simple tools we introduce in today's meditation, and give your attention back to yourself, where it belongs, so that you can make decisions based on your values and goals, and not be dragged around by the wagon of public opinion. To watch this meditation, please visit https://youtu.be/feDR8KLA5tM. For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Greetings, this is our final broadcast and podcast before the summer hiatus, where we will be meeting in person in the Calgary area in our usual meditation flashmobs! I hope you can join us. Please email me at CalgaryMindfulness@gmail.com to register for our meetings (free of charge, but registration is required).When? Mostly on weekends I'll be travelling with my sweetheart and family so we will meet some weekends when I'm working in town, and some weeknights otherwise. It's been an excellent year. Thanks to the hundreds of people that continue to send in your questions each week to guide our practices; it is so helpful for me to tap into so many people all at once and to truly understand how most of us are loving, growing, enjoying and also struggling with the same things, in spite of the differences of age, gender, race, faith, spirituality, gender identity, class, education, income and more. We are all one mind and heart. All fences we prop up against that truth are illusions!To watch this practice on youtube, please visit https://youtu.be/YNAGCKqXFEIIn today's class, we focus on the embodied presence. What the heck is this weird new age term? In a nutshell, it's when we are fully aware of ourselves and our surroundings in the present moment, and not spaced out multi-tasking and figuring out problems in the future or stewing over problems in the past.Why the embodied presence? Well, for one, it is pretty relaxing not to have to multitask! It also build discipline, focus, and helps us connect with inner wisdom, the Creator, and so on; however you phrase this awareness of the consciousnesses that are outside of our own body, and that unify all life on Earth.But, another useful purpose is that being embodied helps us notice and understand our feelings, so that we can plan and do highest and best for ourselves and others. In this class, we use our judgements of others as an anchor. I relate a painful story about my own release of judgements as an example of just how insidious and hidden they can be even when you think you're done with them! Our judgements prevent us from aligning with our highest and best, and it is cathartic to be free of them!For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.caKind regards,Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

This is our seventh annual Summer Solstice Meditation! To watch our practice, please visit https://youtu.be/8WcAM7HAs8Y For folks like me in the northern hemisphere, where it is light by 4:30 and not dark until midnight here at the 51st line of latitude in Calgary, the summer solstice is a magical time of growth and power; every plant is bursting with life and green. It is very beautiful. There's a wonder in nature that is comforting and uplifting, and we connect with this today in our meditation. The second anchor of our practice today is how to handle the increasing amount of fear and worry we are steeped in. Even if we personally are untangling ourselves as best we can from our simmering collective consciousness that has followed in the wake of American bipartisan divisiveness, we are all sensitive to the collective consciousness and may feel increasingly anxious. Our mindful, heartful presence in the body during meditation is one way to move away from the unconsciousness anxiety we or our circle may be steeped in. Join in this practice for a few tips and tricks on how to connect to the present moment and pull ourselves out of fear and worry. For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Welcome to our annual Father's Day Meditation, where we share loving kindness, forgiveness and gratitude with our fathers and father figures, and with those with whom we share father and father figure relationships. We also dedicate some of today's practice to awakening and nurturing qualities of the divine masculine in ourselves. The divine masculine embodies qualities like strength, protection, discipline, and action, but also encompasses emotional maturity, responsibility, and a willingness to serve. It's not about aggression or dominance, but rather a balanced energy that fosters growth, provides guidance, and encourages positive change. Nurturing the divine masculine involves honoring and developing our abilities for protection, discipline, focus, authority, guidance, resilience, maturity, responsibility, leadership, logic, action, perseverance, confidence, commitment, and willpower. These are just a few of the qualities that all humans share regardless of gender that are traditionally associated with the divine masculine. The divine masculine provides a sense of security and safety, both for oneself and others. This strength is not just physical, but also emotional and spiritual, allowing for the ability to stand firm in the face of adversity. It is a force of action, driving individuals to pursue goals, manifest their visions, and make positive changes in the world. It involves setting clear intentions, following through on commitments, and taking ownership of one's actions and their consequences. The archetype and ideal divine masculine provides a sense of direction and purpose, not through domination, but through clarity, wisdom, and a commitment to serving others. It's probably the first time in history where men have the opportunity to nurture and express this healthier, sustainable vision of masculinity and hence the culture war divisions so common today and some men wrestle with the idea that letting go of domination actually gives more power, true power. That power comes from serving one's community instead of bending it to one's will. The ideal of the divine masculine involves acknowledging and managing emotions in a healthy way, rather than suppressing them. The divine masculine embraces emotional depth and vulnerability while maintaining inner strength. The divine masculine also embodies empathy and compassion, allowing for understanding and connection with others on a deeper level. It's about being true to oneself and acting with honesty and integrity in all interactions. For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.caKind regards,Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Good morning meditators! Today's meditation is inspired by an interview I heard on CBC's "The Current" this week with Israeli peace activist, Yonaten Zeigen, whose mother was killed in the Oct 6 terrorist attack in Israel. Vivian Silver was a peace activist, and he has taken up her mantle. I was so moved and filled with peace hearing him speak of the need for a new non-binary discourse that helps us move forward from conflict-based consciousness into something more sustainable and compassionate. As meditators, we know our work as peace activists begins inside, discovering where we are at war with the world, and then releasing this for the much greater payoff of feeling great connection and respect for our fellow humans. We practice this breath meditation today and I hope you enjoy! To watch in video format, please visit https://youtu.be/-QejnTuT-ggFor the interview with Yonaten Zeigen, please follow this link: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-63-the-current/clip/16150671-hamas-killed-mother.-now-hes-continuing-fight-peace Also, I recommend the transcript as well, since his discussion of new discourse to move past binary thinking is well worth reading several times to internalize. I do refer to it in the pre-meditation discussion, and here it is for reference if you'd like to sit with it further. It's about half way down the page; you can search for the interviewee's name, Yonaten Zeigen: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/thursday-june-5-2025-episode-transcript-1.7553590 For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

In today's practice, we wrap up with our Development of Self Control / Conflict Management series and return to a traditional anchor, the mindfulness of emotions. Emotions are an important guidance system that we are well advised to be mindful of. For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

In our final episode on the self-control series, we explore how mindfulness of thoughts can help develop self-control and more skillful conflict management. To watch this podcast, please visit https://youtu.be/bPqIiz0p8-0. For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Welcome back! Today's podcast is filmed in my partner's backyard under this fabulous May Tree; the fragrance is so powerful and uplifting! We are focusing on our development of self-control as a conflict management tool by training our minds to amplify positive, beautiful aspects of our lives--nature, relationships, honouring our contribution to self and community and so on. To watch this meditation, please visit https://youtu.be/4jREAvVmj4Y. This is contrast to the dominant mode of media which is to amplify the negative in order to drive views and make more money. This fixation on the negative makes use of our physiological response that focuses on what is negative to keep us safe. However, we are not often UNSAFE when we are "stressed out." Learning to be mindful of the difference and reorienting our cognition to have a more appreciative basic response to life's events and circumstances can really change our lives. Changing our attitudes about our lives can be more powerful than changing our lives, and also result in bringing about the changes we want. In our meditation we are stepping out of this way of thinking and being into one that offers greater inner peace, joy and security. For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Happy Mother's Day! Today's practice, filmed in the Rocky Mountains on my last camping trip, focuses on the anchor of loving kindness as part of the series in developing self control and managing conflict. Happy to share this beautiful part of my world and my partner's life with you also; we so enjoy being out in the mountains! To watch this video, please visit https://youtu.be/OeQ2x_3GFCU. For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Greetings and May the Fourth Be With You!Today is the second part of our new series on developing self control, and we are again focused on conflict management visualization as an anchor.This time, we introduce a three-part method in visualization to help change our attitude about and default response to conflict. Focus, repetition and discipline are what bring results here, so jump in the deep end with me!To watch the video, please visit our Youtube channel here: https://youtu.be/B6uYAgEkmVkAs always, I welcome your questions and comments to guide future meditations, so please don't hesitate to write me at CalgaryMindfulness.ca.For more information about our meditations online and in person, and for a list of workshops, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca.Many thanks and enjoy this gorgeous day!Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness. www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca

We are moving on from the self-care series to a several part series on conflict management. Today’s meditation focus was suggested by a participant wondering how he can develop self-control when in a high-conflict situation. He has been meditating for a long time, but still flies off the handle pretty quickly in a way that doesn’t align with his goals for psychological and spiritual growth. He’s a pretty hot-tempered fella, but it doesn’t feel good to get mad at every little thing when you want to be a psychologically and spiritually mature human! As meditators, we are committed to understanding the highest control we have over a situation is our own response; that is really the only control. Join today’s meditation to learn and practice some strategies for developing a mindful, skillful response to stressful situations.For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.caKind regards,Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Today we sit in practice to honor Easter. Representing the renewal offered in the resurrection of Jesus, the rebirth of the earth in spring, and the rebirth of our hearts and minds in laying aside old grudges and judgements and planting the seeds for love and forgiveness in our future thoughts and actions. To watch this meditation in video, please visit https://youtu.be/vsvSTNHZBAA.For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.caKind regards,Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Greetings meditators, and welcome to our Sunday practice! As the final podcast in our self-care series, we explore Tara Brach's RAIN method as a means of seeing with greater wisdom, compassion and heartfulness, for ourselves and others. To join our practice live, please email CalgaryMindfulness @Gmail.com. Thanks! Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness. www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca

Greetings Sunday meditators! In this week's meditation, we continue our series on self-care, and following up from last week's practice on releasing anger and victimization, we undertake conflict management visualizations. To join our practice live, please email CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com. Thanks! Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder & Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Greetings! We continue our series on promoting self-care, and in today's practice we explore how to let go of victimization. The idea of letting go of being easily offended is a key way to offer self and other loving kindness. There is a bit of enthusiastic discussion about the science behind why feeling like a victim harms us physically and mentally. Sick of being wishy washy? Watch, listen, try, do! To join our practice live, please email CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com and visit our website at www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca for more resources. Your emails and concerns guide our practices, so I always look forward to going through my email bag!! Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulnesss www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca.

Can we get enough of loving kindness? Nope! For self and other, loving kindness represents the highest level of appreciation and gratitude! In today's practice, we continue our series about self care, and further explore the practice of extending loving kindness to ourselves, which is often difficult for people used to caring for others! To join our practice live, please email CalgaryMindfulness@gmail.com, and for more resources, please visit our website at CalgaryMindfulness.ca Thanks! Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder & Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulnesswww.CalgaryMindfulness.ca

Welcome back! How quickly the weeks pass. Today we undertake the next class in our self-care series, loving kindness for self. Often offering ourselves loving kindness is more difficult that giving it to others, and in today's practice, we guide you through how you can improve this important skill. To join our practice live, please email CalgaryMindfulness@gmail.com. We meet Sundays 8am Mountain Time on Zoom. To watch today's meditation on video, please click here: https://youtu.be/ilKDTe7_ZSoThanks! Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca