Relax and breathe along with Julie Potiker as she leads you through this healing breath meditation. She completes the meditation with her poem, "In the Habitable Zone".

In the Habitable Zone, by Julie Potiker

I let the thought settle—dew on my skin—

120 light years from my morning coffee,

a world, more than eight times bigger

than Earth, orbits a red dwarf star.

Spinning steadily in what scientists call

the habitable zone.

It could be a Hycean world, covered

in water so deep it forgets land.

And maybe, just maybe, tiny beings

float there like Earth plankton

releasing dimethyl sulfide into

an atmosphere the stirs with methane,

each molecule , a question flung toward

us by the James Webb’s patient lens.

Science says: 99.7 percent confidence.

Still, let’s be careful. There are other

paths that mimic life. But I want to exhale

wonder. Let awe arise like phytoplankton

basking in the sun. If the universe speaks

in more than one place how can we not

listen with our whole hearts. Maybe, just

maybe, we are not alone

after all.

-In the Habitable Zone, by Julie Potiker.

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.