Episodes
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Pleasure is something that many of us may think of as an indulgence, but Martha says itâs actually the gateway to the things that really enrich our souls⊠And we access this pleasure by relaxing. đ
In this episode of The Gathering Room, Martha shares an exercise you can do to drop into relaxation mode, and it doesnât require a trip to the spaâyou can do it anywhere!
Using small, pleasant feelings to anchor the whole mind can lead to revolutionary changes, Martha says, and it begins with just two simple steps:
First, clench your jaw. đŹ
Then, release it. đ
Repeat this a few times, and start to notice the feeling of release when your jaw drops. See if you can find something pleasurable in that release of tension because even the smallest sense of pleasure can pull your attention toward itâand away from negative feelings.
You can extend this Relaxation Pleasure exercise throughout your whole body to help relieve anxiety, anger, or heartbreak. Want to learn how?
Listen to the full episode where Martha will walk you through the steps and also lead you in her guided Silence, Stillness, and Space meditation. Itâs a recipe for what Martha calls âa mighty pleasant momentâ so be sure to join her!
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Did you know that you have a superpower you might not know about? đŠžđœââđŠžââïž
In this episode of The Gathering Room, Martha talks about how to tap into the creative impulses at the center of your psycheâa superpower we all have but may not realize it!
Remember the things you did when you were a child or a teenager for no other reason than the pure joy of it? Maybe you still do these things now, but the culture dismisses them as unimportant âhobbies.â
Martha says that the very things that brought you joy as a child, the things that just floated your boat and you had no idea whyâŠthose things have a magic to them. In fact, theyâre the keys to unlocking your superpower! đđ„
Youâll be able to tell itâs your superpower because it will give you the feeling, the itch, the burning desire to go and play in creation. And, as Martha says, that's how we change the world.
To learn more about how to recognize and follow the pulse of creativity to unlock your superpower, donât miss this inspiring episode, which concludes with Marthaâs guided Silence, Space, and Stillness meditation.
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Have you ever tried to manifest something, but it just wouldnât happen?
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In this episode of The Gathering Room, Martha shares how to use what she calls the âtechnology of magicâ to make your deepest yearnings a reality.
Martha says that having a thought or intention is a necessary but insufficient condition for manifesting the things you want. Your intention must be combined with inventionâor as Martha calls it, ârolling up your sleeves and getting to work!â
At the corner of your intention and your invention is where the magic happens. And it only happens, Martha says, when your intention comes to you as part of your lifeâs true mission.
To learn more about using the technology of magic to manifest your soulâs intentions, be sure to tune in for this episode of The Gathering Room. Youâll also get to join Martha in meditationâand hear about her magical monkey manifestation in Costa Rica! đđđ
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âHow do we adjust to the drudgery?â
Martha was asked this question by Ro when they returned home from a wonderful stay at the Imiloa Institute in the Costa Rican jungle.
A lot of upkeep is required to sustain ordinary living, and much of daily life gets consumed by repetitive tasks. In this episode of The Gathering Room, Martha talks about a shift we can make to transform drudgery into beauty.
In traditions where they have the concept of awakening or enlightenment, Martha says, the emphasis is not on what you do, but how you do it. It's the quality of presence in your body, mind, heart, and spirit while you carry out each task.
As the Zen saying goes, âBefore enlightenment: Chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: Chop wood, carry water.â
When you are fully present and engaging with all of your senses, any experience can become sublime, even mundane tasks like washing the dishes. You can look at even the simplest object and say, âYou are so beautiful.â
To get more insights about transforming drudgery into a spiritual practice, tune in for the full episode, which also includes Marthaâs guided Silence, Stillness, and Space meditation. And if a retreat with Martha sounds like just the thing to help you return to your life with fresh eyes, read about her Pure.Wild.Self Retreat in Costa Rica at the link below!
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Where does your life want you to go sailing?
In this episode of The Gathering Room, Martha is talking about the pull for adventure that all humans have but are often too scared to follow.
To build up your adventuring spirit, Martha recommends going on âlittle adventuresâ every dayâthings that push you out of your comfort zone and into your growth zone.
How do you do this?
By consulting with your deep, deep essential self to see how you truly feel about all the different things you could do in a day. Then you do what feels âwarmerââwhat makes you happier even if itâs a little scaryâand you do less of what feels colder.
Because when you live your life in the growth zone, Martha says, it looks like all kinds of adventures are coming to youâbecause they are!
For more travel and adventure inspiration, plus the opportunity to join Martha in a guided meditation, donât miss the full episode. And to find out if Marthaâs Pure.Wild.Self Retreat in Costa Rica is the adventure for you, you can check out all the details at the link below!
https://marthabeck.com/retreat/CONNECT WITH US
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How do you know when something is worth the trouble?
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Thatâs the question Marthaâs exploring in this episode of The Gathering Room, and the short answer is: If itâs your passion, itâs always worth the trouble!
Marthaâs recent trip to New York with her family to see Ani DiFranco on Broadway ended up being an enormous amount of troubleâbut when she finally got to see the show, she was blown away. She found that the joy it brought her was worth all the trouble it took to get there.
She also realized that so much of the art and music and writing that inspires usâthe astonishing art, the amazing music, the brilliant booksâtook an enormous amount of trouble to create. And the fact that these things take trouble to create means theyâre worth the trouble.
Are you looking for some creative inspiration? Want to find out if your latest passion is worth the trouble itâs going to take? Then this episode is for you! You can also participate in Marthaâs guided meditation to help you tap into the creative power of silence, space, and stillness.
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Do you feel in desperate need of a rest?
Most of us are underestimating our need to rest to an almost criminal degree, and Martha is talking about why that isâand how to change itâon this episode of The Gathering Room.
We live in a society that wants us to work constantly. However, nature says that we need to rest regularlyâin fact, this is absolutely crucial. âYou can live without intense activity,â Martha reminds us, âbut you cannot live without rest.â
Rest is your connection to the Divine and comes in many different formsâitâs not just lying down and napping!âand connecting to the Divine is what gives you rest and nourishes your soul.
Tune in to the full episode to learn how to respect your circadian and ultradian rhythms, how to come up with what Martha calls âcultural cover storiesâ when you need them, and how to cultivate low-demand living to help you get the rest you need.
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What does it mean to âcompose yourselfâ?
The usual definition is to calm down and control yourself, but Martha has a very different meaning in mind, and sheâs exploring it in this episode of The Gathering Room: How to Compose Yourself.
As Martha defines it, you are literally composing your lifeâthe being that you areâthrough the act of creating something new.
Whether itâs a watercolor youâre painting, a meal youâre preparing, a business youâre building, or a child youâre raising, the act of creation is also creating youâand according to Martha, this is the actual point of creating. (Not, as the culture would have us believe, to make money from it.)
Tune in for the full episode to learn more of Marthaâs insights about the beauty and importance of creating âfor no reasonâ and to participate in her guided meditation on imperfection, impermanence, and the essence of creativity.
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Is there something you really want to do, but the thought of it absolutely terrifies you? đ±
Martha has been there many times, and thatâs what sheâs talking about on this episode of The Gathering Room: Doing the Thing You Think You Cannot Do.
If youâre facing something in your life that you want to do but it makes you anxious, Martha says to remember that 99% of every original thing that has ever been done has been done by someone who didnât think they could do it.
In other words, youâre in good company! đ
Listen to the full episode to find out how to recognize when it's love that wants you to do something that scares youâand how to work up the courage to run at it full speed. Martha also adapts her Silence, Space, and Stillness meditation to soothe your anxiety about the things you're scared to do.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Sometimes weâre hit with a change so big it knocks us for a loop. We look around in a daze thinking, âNOW what?â
đŠ Welcome to what Martha calls âSquare Oneâ in The Change Cycle, a unique framework she developed to help people understand and navigate lifeâs transitions.
đŠ As Martha explains, life's changes aren't things we plan in our calendars. They are fundamental metamorphoses.
You will go through the four Squares of the Change Cycle over and over throughout your lifetime. And Square One is about not knowing exactly what to do or what will happen next.
đŠ Itâs about letting go and waiting to see what kind of butterfly youâre going to become.
If youâre in Square One and feeling scared or confusedâŠand you want to learn how to get through it with grace and ease, then this episode is a must-listen. Youâll also be able to cultivate an immediate sense of calm by joining Martha in her Silence, Space, and Stillness meditation.
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Are you someone who makes New Yearâs resolutions?
Martha enjoys making one (yes, one) each yearâand she always keeps it!
In this episode of The Gathering Room: A Year of Peace, she talks about her resolution to increase her brainâs wellbeing by dropping demands that have an overriding feeling of negativity and tend to make her brain shut down.
Research that has shown that our brains work best when we can answer YES to two questions:
Am I safe?Am I loved unconditionally?After basic survival, Martha says, love is the next imperative. When we feel safe and we feel loved, itâs amazing how fast we can learn, how much we can create and doâand how much happier our lives can be.
Tune in for the full episode to learn how to let go of the demands we place on ourselves for no good reason, hear about some of the demands Martha has dropped so far, and join her for her guided Space, Silence, and Stillness meditation.
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Do you ever struggle to do things you know you have to do, even though you donât really feel like it?
Nyad film
Weâve all been thereâincluding Marthaâand sheâs talking about it in this episode of The Gathering Room: Keep Swimming.
Humans are the kind of creatures that can get so focused on a dream that even if that dream seems impossible, or the work it requires feels like a total slog, we can make ourselves keep going.
Martha watched a movie about long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, who made several failed attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida. Despite serious setbacks, Diana kept going back and trying againâand she finally achieved her goal at the age of 64.
On her final successful attempt, Dianaâs coach jumped into the water to swim alongside her, which Martha says is something we sometimes have to do for each other.
We may not be able to touch each other, but we can still swim alongside each other like a pod of dolphins, encouraging each other to keep goingâbecause the effort will be worth it.
Tune in to the full episode, Ep 146: Keep Swimming, for more encouragement to keep going despite challenges and to participate in Marthaâs guided Silence, Stillness, and Space meditation.
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Did you know that everything around you is conscious and responding to you in various ways?
It may sound woo-woo, but Martha says there's a tremendous amount of legitimate scientific research to support this idea!
When weâre willing to acknowledge that we don't know everything about the universe, and weâre willing to play with the idea that the universe is conscious, very interesting things start happeningâŠ
In this episode of The Gathering Room: How to Play with the Conscious Universe, Martha talks about the synchronicities and âGod winksâ that occur when we realize we're all one field of consciousness.
To learn how to start picking up what the universe is actually saying to youâand feel its deep calm as Martha guides you through her Silence, Stillness, and Space meditationâbe sure to listen to this fascinating episode.LINKS
The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin, PhD
The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony
Plant researcher Monica Gagliano
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Did you know that the right hemisphere of your brain is doing supercomputer-level processing all the time, whether youâre aware of it or not?
NASA study on creative geniusMann Gulch Fire of 1949
Wild, right? Martha calls the right hemisphere âthe magicianâ because it can come up with the most amazing, brilliant solutions to very difficult problems, seemingly out of thin air.
In this episode of The Gathering Room: Awakening Your Magician, Martha talks about how we can activate our highly creative right hemispheres, so we can solve the problems in our livesâand in the world.
And the best part is, reawakening your own creative genius can actually be a lot of fun!
To learn how to use Marthaâs 4 Câs (calm, curiosity, courage, and feeling cornered) to rev up your right hemisphere and start solving problems as if by magic, tune in to this fascinating episode, which also includes Marthaâs Space, Stillness, and Silence meditation.
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Some people have a bullseye picture of their purpose in life and are headed straight toward it. However, this is extremely rare.
Why?
Martha says itâs because we live in a culture dominated by left-hemisphere thinking, which pulls us toward anxiety and socializes us to do as weâre told and acquire material wealth.
In this episode of The Gathering Room podcast, Martha talks about following your curiosity to activate the right side of the brain, which is where our passion lives. And our passion is what leads us to our lifeâs purpose.
If you want to start looking for things that draw your attention (rather than push yourself toward the things you think you should do), and youâre ready to prepare yourself to follow your curiosity wherever it leads, tune in to the full episodeâit may contain just the spark you need!
Episode LinksJill Bolte Taylor
Josh Waitzkin
Daniel Coyle
Elizabeth Gilbert
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Do you ever feel like your life is a crazy quilt?
Martha says that creating your life is the ultimate creative project, and thatâs what sheâs talking about in this episode of The Gathering Room.
Each of us is given all the material to make a lifeâa human body, a set of circumstances, and a set of abilitiesâand the life we make from that material is ours to determine in this day and age.
Sometimes it feels like weâre just piecing things together helter-skelter without a pattern, crazy-quilt style, but Martha says thereâs nothing crazy about it. âCrazyâ is trying to follow the pattern the culture gives us, using only the materials it wants us to have.
When you stitch together the unique elements of your life to make something that brings you joy and a sense of purpose, that is actually very saneâwhat Martha calls a âsanity quilt.â
Listen to the full episode to learn how to see beauty in the fabrics of your life so you can make your own warm and wonderful âsanity quilt.â Youâll also be able to participate as Martha guides you through her Space, Stillness, and Silence meditation.
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Martha says one reason we humans are a strange species is because we love to make jigsaw puzzlesâbeautiful pictures that we cut up into tiny pieces and disassemble, and then put back together. And we donât like them to be too easy!
In this episode of The Gathering Room: Solving the Puzzles of Our Lives, Martha talks about the way problems in our lives are like puzzles, and how it often can be more joyful to have a puzzle than not to have one. These puzzles are the life situations given to us by circumstance.
âIf we can get into a state of relative relaxation,â Martha says, âand then look at even a very scary problem in our own lives, we can start to appreciate the kind of puzzles our brains like to solve.â
To learn how to approach the problems in your own life like a jigsaw puzzleâand solve them in a way that supports your awakening and can help transform the worldâtune in for the full episode. It also includes Marthaâs guided Space, Stillness, and Silence meditation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Youâve heard of the fight and flight reflexes, but what about flop and fake?
Flop and fake (also known as fawn) are two of the other responses in the polyvagal system, a theory about how our nervous systems adapt to stress and the environment. Fake/fawn is a people-pleasing response, and flop means you just lie there unable to drum up motivation.
In this episode of The Gathering Pod: The Way Back to Happy, Marthaâs talking about polyvagal theory and how to regulate your nervous system when it gets hijacked by fight, flight, freeze, flop, or fake.
One of the things polyvagal theory says is that we can never go into a calm, alert state unless our nervous systems are interacting with one of four things: self, others, nature, and spirit. The good news is that Martha has a process to help you do exactly that!
If youâre feeling frazzled, overstimulated, or overwhelmed and you need some relief, tune in and let Martha guide you back to your center of calm. With a few prompts, you can start to regulate your nervous system and become conscious of the beauty, joy, and love all around you.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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We're not trained to think of a spiritually led life as being hilarious or silly or goofy. But as Martha reminds us, laughter is the beginning of prayer.
In this episode of The Gathering Pod: Letting the Force Steer Your Life, she talks about the difference between spiritual faith and religious faith, and how to connect with and trust spiritual energy (aka the Force) to guide you.
When you do, youâll be in for some truly delightful surprises!
As Martha puts it, âThe universe is not your butler. The universe is a continuous aspect of your consciousness that loves for you to play with it.âListen to the full episode to hear some incredibly fun stories about manifesting with integrity, learn more about the overlap between play and spirit, and participate in Marthaâs guided Space, Stillness, and Silence meditation.
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âBe prepared to stop.â
This is serious life advice, Martha says, because no matter what weâre doing (or how much we want to continue doing it), at some point weâre going to get interrupted by life.
Whenever we have to stop something we thought was going to continue indefinitelyâlike a job, for example, or a marriageâit can really hurt.
In this episode of The Gathering Pod: When Stopping Is the Way to Go, Martha talks about how we can make peace with inevitable interruptions by embracing another perspective:
âIn the flow of time in this earthly existence, stopping and starting are the same thingâevery time we stop doing something, we start doing something different.â
Tune in to participate in a guided meditation with Martha and learn how you loosening your attachments can ease the pain of stopping, so you can start observing the delicious flow of life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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