Rachel Kanarowski, certified Meditation Coach, shares simple science-based meditation tips to enhance your focus, increase your emotional intelligence, and release stress. Be still. Focus on your breath. Reflect. Today we explore meditation. A practice with deep cultural history and widespread contemporary relevance. A great complement to your KonMari practice and lifestyle. Today’s guest is Rachel Kanarowski. Rachel is a certified meditation coach based in Chicago who ditched her blazers after more than a decade in high-stress marketing and media jobs. We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast. Book a custom Virtual Tidying Experience with For the Love of Tidy Join The Spark Joy Club today! In this episode, you’ll enjoy: How a podcast inspired Rachel to be kinder to herself and embrace Sharon Salzberg's Loving Kindess through tough times How Loving Kindness is different from breath or transidental meditation formats and leads to structural changes in our brainis that make us more compasionate Three common myths and misconception that show up around meditation and mindfulness practices What to beware of when integrating KonMari with meditation at home Tips for meditation first timers or those who are strugglling to maintaine a consistant practice Rachel's favorite meditation apps: Headspace, Calm, Unplug, 10% Happier Guided Meditation: 36:03 - 42:41 min. mark Rachel’s favorite wellness tip: Think about how you want to feel What's sparking the most joy for Rachel: Taking pictures outside to observe the seasons changing Follow Rachel on Instagram @rachelkanarowski To book a private mindfulness meditation experience for yoursellf or your company contact Rachel via rachelkanarowski.com. Her future podcast: The Year of Living Better (coming soon!) Gems: "I immediately started to feel a really big shift in the relationship I had with myself." "I call myself a no beads, no incense, very science-based meditation coach." "May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease." "[Loving Kindness meditatioin] helps you refill your own cup...and it helps that cup get bigger." "You're creating the habit by choosing an activity that occurs on a reliable basis and stacking meditation or mindfulness practice with whatever that other thinig is." "My practice helps me be kind to myself when everything isn't perfect or isn't sparking joy." The Spark Joy Anniversary Give-A-Way contest prizes! Win one of three bundles consisting of Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up, signed by Marie Kondo, a fifty dollar gift certificate to the KonMari Shop to select your own Joy Sparking gift, and a two-hour Virtual Tidying Session from For the Love of Tidy! Three lucky winners will receive a bundle of all these prizes! To be eligible for all of the prizes above, all you need to do is head over to: www.sparkjoypodcast.com/itunes for detailed instructions on how to leave a review via iTunes. Once there, follow the Apple Podcast instructions to leave us a rating and review in iTunes to help us reach more ears, minds, and hearts. Most important step: Send an email to: [email protected] letting us know you left us a review and what screen name you left it under. This will act as your official entry. Don’t forget this step! It is the only way we can officially log you as entered into the cont