Jeni Juarez - Podcast Details

Shows

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezPractice-Only Episode: Metta (Loving-Kindness) 8-Minute PracticeThis is a special practice-only episode in which I guide listeners through an 8-minute Buddhist practice called Metta or Loving-Kindness. ____________________________ Do you love this content and want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/JeniJuarezllc I sincerely appreciate your support! ____________________________ Learn More About Live Events in Grand Rapids, MI ✦Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/TendingtoChange ✦Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/tendingtochangewithjeni/ ____________________________ Tending to Change is hosted by Jeni Juarez, a 500-hr Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT), a moth...2024-12-0908 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezShadow Work: The Parts of Me That I Cannot See Part 2This episode is a continuation of last week's discussion on shadow work. I begin with a reading of what's known as the Eleventh Hour Hopi Elders Prophecy before I revisit a working definition of what a shadow is and offer some examples of how people's shadows might manifest. I then share an example of my own shadow, how it impacts my relationship to my husband, and how I consciously work with it. It's important to remember that we all possess light and shadow. We are all flawed and imperfect humans, and yet there is an aspect of...2024-12-0223 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezShadow Work: The Parts of Me That I Cannot See Part 1This episode offers an introduction to shadow work. Our shadow includes all of the denied aspects of ourselves–the parts of us that we can’t accept, and so we push out of our conscious awareness. The problem with voting our unsavory aspects off of the island of “me” is that these shadow parts continue to heavily influence how we interact with the world around us. And they can have profoundly negative impacts on our relationships as well as our ability to live a fulfilling life. The process of shadow work involves turning toward these rejected...2024-11-2516 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezEmotions: Enemy or Information?This episode begins with an acknowledgment of what most of us are feeling these days: full of big emotions and deeply unsettled. Many of us are witnessing our relationships undergo profound shifts–some are even breaking apart. Emotions are a powerful form of energy. Some of us might fear them, so we squash them down and avoid them. Others of us let them rip, giving very little thought to the potentially destructive impact our emotional reactions may have. This is due to a tendency we each have–to identify with the thoughts and emotions we expe...2024-11-1825 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezResilience: Finding Wisdom in the DarknessWhen our hearts become awakened to reality, it can be quite painful and challenging to observe the suffering in our own lives as well as the suffering in the lives of others. But no matter how we might try, once we’ve woken up, there is no going back to sleep. We may avoid, repress, numb, or rage out, but reality will beckon us forward on our path of evolution again and again. And that’s actually a good thing. From the perspective of Eastern spiritual traditions, it is very rare for a human being to willingly turn...2024-11-1119 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezThe Obstacle is the Path: How to Get UnstuckMarcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher once wrote “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way”. This reflects the Zen teaching that reminds us that “the obstacle is the path.” Often, when things don’t go how we expect or want them to go, we feel that we have failed or are helpless victims of our lives. But what if the obstacle you’re facing is your greatest teacher in this moment? What if it’s guiding you toward your next step? In this short but valuable episode, I sha...2024-11-0409 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezPractice-Only Episode: 8-Minute Just Like Me Compassion MeditationThis is a special practice-only episode in which I guide listeners through an 8-minute compassion practice called Just Like Me. ____________________________ Do you love this content and want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/JeniJuarezllc I sincerely appreciate your support! ____________________________ Learn More About Live Events in Grand Rapids, MI ✦Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/TendingtoChange ✦Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/tendingtochangewithjeni/ ____________________________ Tending to Change is hosted by Jeni Juarez, a 500-hr RYT, a mother of four...2024-10-2808 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezSwadharma: Living Beyond PurposeIn this episode of Tending to Change, I explore the concept of life purpose through the lens of swadharma, a Sanskrit term that refers to one's own duty or unique role in the world. Honoring our swadharma goes deeper than what we do as a profession. It means living in accordance with our innate nature, gifts, and talents. Drawing insights from the Bhagavad Gita, I discuss the importance of understanding our personal responsibilities and how they contribute to the world around us and to future generations. I emphasize the journey of self-discovery, the significance of our roles, a...2024-10-2116 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezSpanda: Riding the Inhale and Exhale of the UniverseThis episode begins with an acknowledgment of resonance. There’s a reason that we’re drawn to practices and teachings like the ones found in this podcast. They affirm something that we’ve been sensing, even if we haven’t put words to the experience. And as though we’re being tugged by our own hearts, we now find ourselves on a quest. We might not even know what we’re actually looking for, but we have become seekers. We’ve encountered a depth dimension of life that we previously didn’t know existed, and now we long to return t...2024-10-1419 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezFixed Versus Growth Mindset: Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?This episode begins by pointing out that a major theme for this entire podcast series is our capacity to shift and transform our perspective. Perspective is the lens through which we view and interpret the world around us. But its ramifications are profound - our unique mental coloring of the world informs how we live, what choices we make, how we interact in our relationships, and so much more. I then thread the value of perspective-taking – of our ability to imagine the world through the eyes of another – to a conversation around the psychological concepts of fixed minds...2024-10-0718 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezSelf-Honoring: Permission to RestThis episode is both a teaching and a reminder: it’s okay to rest. The energy of the times we are collectively in at this moment is highly charged and unstable. So many of us are experiencing a season of profound transition. And while that isn’t necessarily bad, it may mean that we need to slow down a bit. In a fast-paced, achievement- and productivity-focused culture, slowing down or adjusting our expectations is a revolutionary act. But prioritizing our health and well-being isn’t a luxury in these times – it’s a necessity. So if you...2024-09-3009 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezBearing Witness: The Difference Between Sympathy, Empathy, and CompassionI begin this episode by reflecting on some common reasons why we might have a difficult time taking an honest, clear look at our own pain and determining what our current needs are - both of which are necessary if we're going to ask for support from our family or community when the going gets tough (which it eventually does for all of us). I then share how cultivating this skill of vulnerability informs our ability to effectively help others who are suffering without becoming incapacitated by empathy without boundaries. This leads into a conversation about the...2024-09-2324 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezI Need Help!: The Courage to Be VulnerableIn this episode of Tending to Change, I explore the paradox that we encounter when we find ourselves in the depths of despair: No one is coming to save us, and we can't do it alone. And it is precisely in this space of vulnerability, this place of unknowing, that we find ourselves on the precipice of profound transformation. I continue to delve into a deeper understanding of our interconnectedness and interdependence with one another, and I reflect on what a nourishing, joy-filled experience it is to be both the giver AND the receiver of heartfelt generosity. I...2024-09-1614 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezBegin Again: Strengthening Willpower Through Mindful Habit ChangeIn this episode, I reflect again on the value of reassessing our daily routines during this transitional time of year. I acknowledge that translating what we know into what we do may be one of the hardest undertakings we can take up. I then shift the conversation to a focus on the importance of strengthening our personal will through smaller commitments, and how doing so can lead to transformative change. I share a personal story about my own struggles with willpower and how I leverage my values to help me persevere even when obstacles inevitably arise. 2024-09-0917 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezSpecial Practice Episode: 12-Minute Mountain MeditationThis is a special practice-only episode in which I guide listeners through a 12-minute Mountain Meditation. ____________________________ Do you love this content and want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/JeniJuarezllc I sincerely appreciate your support! ____________________________ Learn More About Live Events in Grand Rapids, MI ✦Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/TendingtoChange ✦Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/tendingtochangewithjeni/ ____________________________ Tending to Change is hosted by Jeni Juarez, a 500-hr RYT, a mother of four, and a dedicated studen...2024-09-0212 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezDinacharya: How the Right Daily Routine Can Transform Your LifeI begin this episode with the premise that contrary to mainstream or pop spirituality, our spiritual journey is not meant to be a blissed out, “good vibes only” trip that negates, avoids, or ignores the less pleasant, more challenging human emotions and experiences. Actually, a lot of the practice is just the grind of day-to-day living. It's about learning how to live in a whole, balanced, integrated, kind, loving, conscious way. I then explore various rhythms and cycles contained within the universe, our planet, and our bodies to expand our perspective and emphasize how cyclical time is embe...2024-08-2624 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezOpening to Grace: The Hidden Gift of DespairIn this episode, we consider a perspective that the emotions of depression and anxiety are both real and unreal; they are thought constructs, yet they cause very real consequences on how we live and perceive our lives. I share how I’ve come to recognize these very painful, challenging emotions within my own body/mind as well as some strategies for how to work though and emerge from them. I then share a story about becoming aware of the experience of despair while in yoga teacher training, and the wisdom offered to me by my teacher. I ex...2024-08-1920 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezThe ACEs Study: How Childhood Adversity Harms Across a LifetimeToday’s episode builds upon our discussion from last week about the stress response, aka fight or flight, and how this invaluable system protects us from life-threatening dangers. We explore what effects a dysregulated nervous system, caused by prolonged or severe adversity experienced during childhood, might have on the health of an adult. Leaning on the experience and research provided in the book The Deepest Well by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, we take a look at the shocking data put forth by the landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study conducted by CDC-Kaiser Permanente in the 1990s. I sh...2024-08-1234 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezFight or Flight: Understanding Shame, Stress, and How to SootheIn this episode, we put a name to the painful feeling that we are inherently flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging: shame. We unpack how shame negatively impacts our ability to connect with others in a vulnerable, authentic way by telling us that we’re not good enough and that it’s better to hide behind a mask. We also discuss the difference between guilt, embarrassment, and shame, and why the first two support growth and connection while the last is both unnecessary and unhelpful. And because shame, like continuous partial attention, can trigger our fight...2024-08-0520 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezDropping the Mask: Our Innate Need for AuthenticityThis episode begins with an exploration of why the behavior of masking our authentic selves and feeling very uncomfortable in our skin tends to start quite early in our lives as a result of unmet needs and childhood trauma. I share how we learn to wear masks as a protective strategy when we fear being abandoned or rejected for who and how we naturally are and how that loss of connection to ourselves leads us to feeling dissociated, disempowered, and viewing ourselves and the world as an inherently unsafe place. I then shift the conversation to how t...2024-07-2927 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezAddiction: Interrupting Habits Through Self-Observation Part 2Today’s episode revisits the concept of witness consciousness and how cultivating this curious, nonjudgmental perspective can provide the spaciousness needed for us to choose the best response in any given moment. I reflect on my previous conversation about how mindfulness and present-moment awareness was such a support to me in my process of overcoming alcohol addiction. I then pivot the conversation away from the “how” of working with unsupportive habits to a broader conversation around some reasons why we might pick up these behaviors in the first place. Weaving in some of the teachings of Dr. Gabor...2024-07-2221 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezAddiction: Interrupting Habits Through Self-Observation Part 1In this episode, I revisit the topic of discernment, and I discuss how cultivating witness consciousness or the witness perspective supports us in looking at our lives with clarity, curiosity, and nonjudgment. I then share a personal experience of how self-observation and discernment supported me in overcoming alcohol addiction. I also explain a general framework for understanding and working with life-diminishing habits of any kind and how mindfulness can be a powerful tool in the process of overwriting addictive behaviors. The episode concludes with a Mountain Meditation as taught to me by Carol Hendershot at th...2024-07-1535 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezSpecial Practice Episode: 12-Minute Body ScanThis is a special practice-only episode in which I guide listeners through a 12-minute body scan. ____________________________ Do you love this content and want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/JeniJuarezllc I sincerely appreciate your support! ____________________________ Learn More About Live Events in Grand Rapids, MI ✦Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/TendingtoChange ✦Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/tendingtochangewithjeni/ ____________________________ Tending to Change is hosted by Jeni Juarez, a 500-hr RYT, a mother of four, and a dedicated student on the p...2024-07-0814 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezTurning Toward What Hurts: The Path of the WarriorThis episode begins with a discussion on the value of an honest analysis of how we’re living our lives and whether our choices and actions are aligned with the direction we’d like to be heading in. I acknowledge how, oftentimes, we don’t make the necessary changes to our lifestyles unless our backs are against a wall, much to the detriment of our well-being. I then share a fascinating fact about the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly and how it is similar to our own awakening process. Our ego’s resistance to change is not a...2024-07-0121 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezTrusting the River of Life: Reestablishing Our Intuitive ConnectionIn this episode, I share a metaphor of life as a river and our choice of whether to trust its innately intelligent current or to resist and struggle even as we continue in the same direction. I relate our intrinsic inner guidance to that of other life forms in nature who intuitively act in accordance with the rhythms and seasons of life. I then shift to a discussion of victim mentality and why it’s necessary to release it to broaden our vision and perspective, reclaim a trusting relationship with our bodies, and reconnect with our inner kn...2024-06-2421 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezGrowth > Comfort: The Courage to ChangeThis episode begins with a discussion about how experiences of awakening become the beginning of our journey inward: our spiritual journey. But it’s not as mystical or blissed out as one might imagine. The spiritual journey is simply our life journey, but from within. It’s more about mental and emotional maturation than constantly searching for the next high. I then share a bit about the start of my own spiritual journey, and in particular, the year between my grandmother’s death and the beginning of yoga teacher training. I invite you as the listener to consid...2024-06-1724 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezWho am I?: Ego Consciousness and What It Means to AwakenThis episode begins with an explanation of what I mean when I talk about waking up to life or awakening as well as ego consciousness versus pure consciousness. I discuss the concept of neuroplasticity, and how we can literally change our minds. I then offer a rather personal share about the early life experiences that most shaped my own ego development and my first big awakening in my mid twenties. We end the episode with a stillness practice called a contemplation. You’ll want a pen and a piece of paper or journal for this one...2024-06-1016 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezHuman Attention: Precious Resource and Desired CommodityThis episode begins with a brief reflection on previous topics before shifting to a discussion about the preciousness of human attention, why companies and social media want every second of your life, and how come it is so difficult to reclaim our focus. I continue the conversation by introducing the term and concept of Continuous Partial Attention as coined by Linda Stone, how it differs from autopilot, and why it increases our stress hormones, interferes with authentic connection, and degrades our capacity for learning. I then shift to an introduction to intuition, or pre-cognitive “felt” wisdom...2024-06-0316 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezIntention: The Activating Energy of Personal TransformationThis episode begins with a brief explanation of why I named this podcast Tending to Change. We then discuss why checking out and living on autopilot can be a protective strategy, how pain is often what causes us to “wake up”, and some of the differences between autopilot and presence. I share a bit of my own life experience, including what woke me up from my frantic sleepwalk through life, my first yoga class experience, and how I first started my mindfulness practice. We then discuss the power and importance of heartfelt intention in the journey of pers...2024-05-2818 min

Tending to Change with Jeni JuarezAutopilot: Are Your Habits Making You Miserable?Do you remember which shoe you put on first the last time you left the house? How about what you ate for dinner two nights ago? No? Well, that's probably because you were operating on autopilot! Autopilot is a super useful evolutionary skill. Can you imagine if you had to consciously think about how to breathe, drive a car, or get ready for bed? You'd be exhausted! However, we tend to get a little TOO good at going through the motions of our lives while getting lost in thought. And when that happens, we...2024-05-1809 min

So Much PingleEpisode 21: From Mexico with Love: A Conversation with the Vought FamilyHello everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty One! I recorded a bunch of material while in Mexico back in September, including this episode with Shaun, Jeni, and Brandon Vought. I recorded our interview at the Casa Juarez bed and breakfast in La Paz (an excellent place operated by a lovely Italian couple), where we stayed before visiting Isla Cerralvo just off the coast. Herping families are a fairly common thing now, which I think is pretty cool, and so I was happy to get the Voughts talking about their experiences. A herping family and a family of metal heads as well...2020-10-2556 min