We hope everyone has been well and pushing through this crazy time in a thoughtful and peaceful way. Over the last few months, we’ve had quite a few partnerships with businesses and schools looking to introduce guided meditation in a virtual way, to help students and adults alike cope with this new environment. In an effort to continue this work and really stay true to our mission of bringing meditation to the masses, something has to give. The need right now is working with our partners to further our mission of making meditation accessible and relatable to those who are struggling in this new environment and we're creating the time and capacity to answer this call by putting an indefinite hold on the podcast. While this decision was made reluctantly, please know that it was carefully considered. As you know from our past breaks, we will always leave you with resources. To help you build during this time, we've compiled our best 10 topics and recapped them in this episode. These are all the episodes most likely to keep you growing while we’re away! For those of you who may miss our couch conversations, jokes and banter without the Weekly Wellness podcast, we encourage you to start from the beginning. We've covered so many topics over the years that we feel comfortable in taking this step without leaving you hangin'. You have access to all of our past podcasts on Soundcloud, iTunes or other streaming services to keep you going and we have over 100 episodes of mindful wellness tips to keep you engaged, peaceful, and growing. We’re also not going anywhere. If you miss us, reach out at [email protected] to chat or say “hey”. We love you all like family, so please treat this as an open invitation to keep in touch. We'll also update our website (blackzen.co) with news when we have it, and you never know, with us we could be back in the near future if the feeling strikes ;) Always your partners in progress, The Black Zen Team

We can't even begin to describe how your girls have been affected by recent events. We've been in Minneapolis for some time and the feeling in this city is fraught with anger, frustration and ultimately a heavy heart. The murder of George Floyd has confronted us with the important question of how do we, as peaceful meditators, manage our rage and handle all of the other emotions that we experience living in a world that too often doesn't make sense, while also holding on to our core values of compassion and love in all things? For us, that means utilizing meditation to help fortify our resolve for the work ahead. It means providing our community with a safe space to process grief and to continue building a community that is mentally and emotionally equipped to do what needs to be done to create change. In light of this, we're providing free, community guided meditation for anyone who needs it. Sign-up is available on our website - blackzen.co. To our community members protesting in the streets, we are donating I STAY ZEN face masks to reiterate this message of being peaceful while protesting and holding onto our zen while fighting for our right to exist. This is a lot to hold, but know that we are here to support you and help you carry it. The Black Zen Team

This is definitely one to get your pen ready for taking notes! The more we looked at how to start viewing food as medicine, the more information we found. In our final episode of this month's topic, we provide you with the Cliff's Notes version ;) We highlight the every day foods we can incorporate into our diet that not only help prevent sickness and disease, but can also heal certain ailments over time. Listen in now to find out the obvious (and surprisingly, not so obvious) things we can eat that significantly improve our health and well-being...

Now that we have a handle on some of the great foods we should be incorporating into our diet, we decided to use this week to find out which foods to avoid to ensure we’re living our best life. We also uncovered some surprising things about junk food that even we were shocked to find out! Food is so integral to our bodies, our mood and our health, so it only makes sense that being more aware of what we eat can have a profound effect on our day to day experience…

Last week we discussed the 4 happy hormones that keep our spirits up and our lives feeling healthy and full. We’re following that up this week with the low cost, easy access foods we can incorporate into our daily meals to help keep all those good vibes going! This is also the episode where your Black Zen team may have cracked under the pressure of shelter-in-place. In this episode we’re definitely at our silliest, but always serious about making sure that our community begins incorporating some feel good foods into our diet. Tune in for laughs, good vibes and to unravel the conversation that covered everything from oats and almonds to grits and a good malbec…

Last month Jas and I talked about creating your own personal wellness and meditation retreats and we hope you’ve been able to implement that in your home, especially now! One of the most direct actions we can take post-retreat is to start becoming more intentional about our food choices. This may seem like a small thing, but the foods we eat affect our energy and moods a lot more than we think. We now have the time to cook at home as we stay in place, so tune in to find out about the 4 happy hormones you need to know about so you can start cooking up some happiness in your home...

With all this extra time on our hands, your girls were digging through the archives to find things that would help us all navigate this "new normal". This week's podcast includes 3 of the most important clips we found relevant to creating a home retreat, whether that's watching what we consume in our newly found free time, tips to building that meditation practice or what we've been personally putting into place, trying to make lemonade out of lemons. As a reminder, for the rest of March (you have one day left!) we will be sending this month's guided meditation to everyone who needs it and without subscription. Message us at [email protected] to get your home retreat in gear. There is LITERALLY no time like the present...

With all that's going on in the world right now with the corona virus outbreak, it's definitely putting all of our inner-peace skills to the test! In this week's podcast, we take a detour from our regularly scheduled program to address what's happening in our nation and the world around us. We talk about how we as meditators can meet this challenge and come out peaceful and whole on the other side. Listen in now to get a free perk and to find out how to create the boundaries necessary to guard your peace and joy amidst these uncertain times...

In this week’s conversation, we continue discussing how to get the most out of your personal meditation or wellness retreat. One of the trickiest parts about taking time out to center yourself and find balance, is that eventually you have to go home, or back to work, or end up right smack dab in the middle of all the problems or circumstances that you thought you’d left behind. How do we keep up the momentum to change after the retreat is over? And how do we find time for wellness given everything that’s going on around us? Most importantly, once we return from our retreat experience, how do we navigate our new self in our old life?…

In this week’s conversation, we discuss the most crucial ingredients you need to craft a thoughtfully planned personal wellness retreat. We take the guess work out of what to prepare, how to find the time off work or from other obligations, and even share tips on how to make sure you get the most out of the time you set aside. Whether you have a few hours, a full weekend or even longer to spare, we share all the details on how to set up the best environment for your personal growth! Tune in now to start planning a retreat designed with your unique needs in mind...

The Black Zen Team has been debating for the last few days about meditation versus wellness retreats and the benefits of each. After numerous discussions about our own personal experiences, we did come to one shared conclusion. Every style of retreat has to have some component that helps us drown out the noise of life to give us the space to find and hear our inner voice. And when we say drown out the noise of life, we’re talking about both the internal chatter within our mind and the external noise we experience every day. This external noise can include things like the sound of traffic, taking in the news, interacting on social media, or even just listening to the conversations around us. The appeal of a retreat is that, by design, it removes us from our daily obligations so that we can get a bird's eye view of our lives, and this month’s Weekly Wellness podcast discussion is focused on building that retreat wherever you are...