Using your breath to calm yourself is the focus of this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Self-Care", by James Crews.

Self-Care, by James Crews

Some days it feels like a foreign language

I'm asked to practice, with new worlds

for happiness, work, and love. I'm still learning

how to say: a cup of tea for no reason,

what to call the extra honey I drizzle in,

how to label the relentless urge to do more

and more as useless. And how to translate

the heart's pounding message when it comes:

enough, enough. This morning, I search for words

to capture the glimmering sun as it lifts

above the mountains, clouds already closing in

as fat droplets of rain darken the deck.

I'm learning to call the stillness self-care too,

Just standing here, as goldfinches scatter up

from around the feeder like broken pieces

of bright yellow stained-glass, reassembling

in the sheltering arms of a maple.

-Self-Care, by James Crews.

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.

Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com

This podcast is available on iTunes, iHeart, Blubrry and everywhere you listen to podcasts.