The NeuroMeditations on this page were not professionally recorded.
Please bear with me as I recreate them and hopefully, improve the sound quality.
Brain Exercises will also be up soon!
Paulo Freire
"I dream of a world where I can lay my vulnerabilities out there, open for everyone, until they are my strengths. I am longing for this."
Harper Steele
This Site is NOT a Replacement for Therapy or Medication!!
These Keys to Success have been foundational to my progress and recovery. There are many things that can hinder or help you through this work. These are a few I've found to be valuable and served as a rudder guiding me throughout my process and continue to guide me today.
1. Be committed to yourself and your process
2. Be gentle - No Judgement - it only hinders you and others
3. Keep it Simple - Just NOTICE & Go Slow
4. No FORCE - It only HINDERS
5. What is your Intention and what are you Attending to?
6. Practice ALLOWING
8. Increase Connection: With Self & Others
9. Spend Time in NATURE
Approaching yourself with curiosity is the BEST antidote to self criticism or judgement. Practicing curiosity is softer and more compassionate. Curiosity is connected to the sense of wonder and awe. These are states of mind which are beneficial on every level. They also help you shift your Polyvagal System into a calm, neutral, homeostatic state.
Rinse & Repeat
Practicing daily, or at least often, is required to feel the desired benefits. Making time for meditation is often the most difficult part. When you find ways to incorporate/weave regular practice into your life you will notice a difference. Further, continued practice is required to maintain the benefits. There is no plateau where it is no longer beneficial.
The Foundation
The video below explains how knowledge of the brain, our nervous system and polyvagal systems help you to listen to yourself better and Take the Reins of your Mind.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR BRAIN & Why it Matters!
Learning about the brain and how it functions helps us to better understand our feelings, reactions, responses - mental, physical and emotional - to life's difficult and all too often traumatic experiences.
Through understanding what is happening in the brain and the nervous system when you are activated, you can learn how to manage and reduce your reactions. This leads to increased experiences of balance and stability.
MOST Importantly: Understanding how your brain works is empowering and is key to taking the reins of your mind and your experience.
You Have 3 Brains: Here's How to Use them
My 2025 NMI Level Three Certification Project
Comparing Two Interventions To Reduce Activation Through Accessing the Vagus Nerve
More Sapolsky Videos I recommend for understanding your brain, yourself, and your experience in a different way
It is CRITICAL to have a good therapist!
And yes... that applies to everyone! Being completely mentally and emotionally healthy is NOT the norm. The vast majority of people need, and could benefit greatly (as could society) from, therapy. The world would be a better, more sane and humane world if everyone went to therapists regularly like doctors. However, our societal norm is to blame responses to negative experiences on the individual rather than the actual source of the suffering. This is not only unfair, cruel, inhumane and simply wrong, and is also something which further traumatizes those already suffering. For far to long, our societies have placed value on individual gain over the general well-being of others and the world we inhabit.
Our society is not conducive to being a mentally stable and healthy individual. Mental health and emotional intelligence are not taught to us through our culture, school, or society as a whole. Yet we are criticized when we struggle or have difficulty as a result of the various pains, traumas, horrors and scars created by the world itself. The world will only keep churning out pain and suffering, on greater and greater scales and more permeating ways, if we don't acknowledge that the root problem lies in the fact that our system is not designed for MOST of us to thrive in.
YOU are not responsible for the fact that you may struggle; especially because our society does not choose to give you the appropriate support, resources, time and opportunity to recover that is needed. The societal message is, and for too long has been, to try harder, or 'pull yourself up' by those NON-EXISTANT 'bootstraps'. This is a myth that we must shed like the dead, diseased skin that it is. It does not serve the well-being of anyone to embrace, regurgitate or believe that idea in any way, shape, or form.
The ONLY thing you are responsible for is doing the best that you can. There is no one who can sit in judgement of your choices in how you deal with it, as they have not lived your experience. However, if your choices include things that hurt others in any way, you are accountable for your actions. I do not advocate blaming others. I advocate for radical accountability. Facing yourself. Not blaming yourself for the things that happened to you, but rather, learning from the ways that those experience moulded you and influenced you, so that you can then learn different tools to manage and regulate this as much as you can. You cannot change the things that impact you, but you CAN change how you respond to it and you CAN do things which reduce the impact over time. Therapy is an essential element to knowing yourself, to rewiring your brain and to taking the reins of your mind & experience in daily life.
If you ARE a practicing therapist and interested in incorporating brain-based tools into your practice the NeuroMeditation Institute offers courses which can qualify for Continuing Education Credits. Even if you already meditate, the information and approach are different and personalized. The course content is rooted in Neuroscience and utilizing Neuro-tools to shift the brain and nervous system states. These tools are incredibly helpful, and empowering, for people living with a variety of mental health struggles, and for general life difficulties.
You can also find Dr. Tarrant's book on the website, which is a very valuable tool to help you begin working with NeuroMeditation.
Only believing you DON'T need a therapist is CRAZY!
Having the support and guidance of a licensed and qualified therapist is crucial to navigating difficult experiences and struggles; finding the right one is essential. Make sure you choose one that fits you; one who meets you where you are at, one who pushes you enough, but not too much, and one whose practices align with your needs.
Picking a qualified therapist we are compatible with can be difficult. Especially when there are many grifters who profess ability but who have no real training. Be careful in who you choose to work with. Your mind, your mental health, your well-being are areas you must be very careful with.
ALWAYS choose someone who is licensed and qualified.
I recommend choosing someone with training in the following areas of therapy (of course CBT because this is standard practice):
EMDR
Family Systems Therapy
DBT
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
If possible - Neurofeedback as well
Choose someone you will feel safe with and who aligns with your values.
Priests, unless trained as licensed therapists, are not the same. They may offer consolation and comfort, but they are not trained appropriately for mental health concerns.
Click above to find a licensed therapist where you live or one via telehealth. It's simple... you just put in your zip code and then can filter by insurance, type of therapy and more.
This website has SO many AMAZING resources, which are broken down in clear and usable ways, to help you that is safe and inclusive.
This link takes you to the crisis section of a page, which has very important info, but also has more info if you scroll up. There you will find links to finding whatever resource you need.
What is Toxic Positivity? How does it impact people? How to set boundaries with people who are pushing toxic positivity on you... knowing they are doing it out of love and concern.
Grifters abound in the "healing" profession and community. Watch this video for some information on how to avoid those who are preying on your vulnerability, pain, suffering, difficulty and/or struggle. Be CAUTIOUS with your heart, mind and psyche - treat it with the care it deserves with choosing who you work with.
Toxic Positivity: Why It's Harmful and What to Say Instead
What is Toxic Positivity?: Being Optimistic Has Benefits, but Anything Can Be Taken To An Extreme
Working on it Coming in January 2026
Through our polyvagal system our bodies hold our traumas, memories and emotions and it can serve as a guide not only for what is happening in the mind, but also what we are experiencing in our entire system of BEING. Begin by noticing where you hold tension in the body. Is it your: jaw, tongue, back, solar plexus, chest, neck, gut, pelvis, eyes, head? Through paying attention to where you have tension in your body, you can begin to notice when meditations help ease or relax that tension.
If you struggle to "feel" what is happening in your body, try a body scan meditation to begin working with this process of listening into the body's messages. If you continue to struggle, talk with your therapist about this as there is often a reason that you are more often dissociated from your body.
Learning to listen to your body for information, regarding what kind and state of activation you are experiencing, will help you know which meditation or brain focus to use to restore calm to the whole system. Our minds and bodies are deeply integrated and connected. They are not separate systems but rather are interlocking and interdependent. Information and subsequent chemical response flows two directionally. Building awareness of both your body and your mind, as well as their relationship, will help you become more self aware and conscious of the choices you have which radically impact your experience. It is the path to freeing yourself from living at the mercy of your pain, your experiences, your suffering.
Meditation for
Attuning to the Body
This NeuroMeditation guides you through shifting your attention inward to: build connection with self and body; increase awareness of, and ability to listen to, information coming from your body which can help you begin to tune into what state your nervous system is in and to assess effectiveness of interventions
Music: Krishna’s Healing Power by Buddha’s Lounge on YouTube
This NeuroMeditation anchors you into your stable, rooted self using the vagus nerve; balances the mind through bi-lateral focus and bi-lateral touch
Music: Vagus Nerve Stimulation by Narayanjot Records on YouTube
The Vagus Nerve & Polyvagal Theory
Safety ~ What is it and Why it Matters?
What is Safety REALLY?
While Safety seems like a simple word but there are many things that affect our sense of safety. Explore these various forms of safety (listed below) and ask yourself if you feel safe in all of these areas. If you do not, you may need to change your situation in small or large ways. Each area requires certain things to generate a real sense of safety. The video at left explores this.
For more information, go to the SAFETY page
Safety with Self
Safety in Home
Safety in Community
Safety in the World
*** NOTE: If you do not feel safe, ask your therapist for help finding the resources you need to get safe. Other good resources: DHS, Vocational Rehabilitation, emergency shelters or centers, or your local Police if you feel safe going to them. ****
NeuroMeditations for Increasing the Sense of Safety
This NeuroMeditation anchors you into your stable, rooted self using the vagus nerve; balances the mind through bi-lateral focus and bi-lateral touch
Music: Vagus Nerve Stimulation by Narayanjot Records on YouTube
The system responds and can return to calm when you send it messages of safety. This NeuroMeditation is helpful for that, or whenever you need a barrier to the world, a deep sense of safety, unconditional love and support, or when you are doing difficult work. Practicing often can help restore a sense of safety.
Music: Golden Blossom - Tranquil Flute by Buddha’s Lounge on YouTube
This sounds simpler than it is. When your psyche has been traumatized, YOU are truly the only one who can create the deep, polyvagal, sense of safety for yourself. Yes, you need the love of others, but first and foremost, you must trust in yourself as the primary source of safety in life. NeuroMeditation helps you to build, create and develop this trust.
Increasing Compassion and Love for Self can Increase Feelings of Safety with Self
This NeuroMeditation is the basis and foundation of Open Heart meditations. It increases love and compassion for self and others.
Music: Peaceful Garden by Buddha’s Lounge on YouTube
When we use imagery or symbols in meditation or any form of processing/reflection, if we don't connect with the imagery. - I mean REALLY connect - the desired outcome is generally lacking. For the imagery around the Cave of Safety Meditation (below) for example, if you feel claustrophobic you won't like to use imagery of going deep into the earth, this will hinder any of the benefit of increasing the feeling of safety because your amygdala will be activated and in distress. BE SURE to always give yourself permission to alter any imagery or symbols in any meditation you are working with and use the ones you DO connect with.
The key is you MUST feel it resonate in your heart, gut, your mind, your being. If you don't feel it or connect with it then choose a different image or symbol to work with. You have to FEEL it for it to be helpful/beneficial in its effect.
Other Meditations for Intense States:
Focus ALL of your attention on ONLY ONE THING - when your mind wanders come back to that ONE thing
*Look at it in great detail: its shape, color, texture, size, any design, decoration or pattern, its ability to reflect light, its smell if it has one, everything you can think of to notice about it. Is it dull or shiny? How does it makes you feel to look at it? Do you feel a desire to touch it? Is it something that inspires you? Just put all of your attention on this ONE thing.
* OR Use the Dancing the Cingulate focus points in the brain
Focus on your BREATH. We are generally not breathing when we are super activated or overwhelmed. By focusing on breath you will not only breathe more, thus getting more oxygen into your system, but you will also interrupting the stimulation of your amygdala. This can result in an easing of the intensity.
*Focus fully on your breath: feel it filling your lungs; notice your rib cage and your solar plexus expanding and contracting; notice your chest rise and fall; notice the temperature of the air - is it cold, warm? How
Focus on your contact with your seat, feel your weight, feel the chair or ground holding you.
Focus on each of your 5 Senses: Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, and Taste
Focus on somethings soothing or a memory of feeling fully soothed. This is where going into the cave of safety is very helpful. What is essential is that you can FEEL the soothing and being soothed. This calms the amygdala and reassures that alarm system that you are indeed safe and tending yourself.
*Or lie down on the floor or bed or earth and focus on the feeling of being suspended, held, soothed
Get your body moving. Do any of the movement meditations and put all of your focus on the movements, breathing, feeling your weight supported by your feet and legs, and grounding yourself.
*Note: doing things like going for a walk, hike, run or bike ride can all be helpful when activated. HOWEVER, it is easy to be distracted when in an activated state so you MUST take extra precaution for safety... pay attention to your surroundings!
This is my favorite NeuroMeditation for interrupting my amygdala when it is activated. It is a powerful tool for taking the reins. Once you know the focus points it is easy to do ANYWHERE and ANYTIME!
Use this NeuroMeditation to balance the mind, increase focus and attention, and most importantly to interrupt the signaling from the amygdala so that you can bring your system into CALM. This is my version of one from the NMI page on insight timer.
Music: Powerful Meditation Music for Concentration and Focus by Meditation and Healing on YouTube
This NeuroMeditation aids you in accepting and facing the unknown through connecting with your core immovable self and anchoring into your strength.
Music: Calm Mountains by Fantasia Echoes
Basic Info on Focus Neuro-Tools & When to Use Them
This NeuroMeditation assists you in moving through the waters of Depression which ebb and flow.
Music: Bamboo Garden by Buddha’s Flute on YouTube
This NeuroMeditation can be helpful when you feel pulled in opposite directions or the splitting experience arising from what seems to be conflicting thoughts, feelings, or sensations. By helping you stretch and expand this supports you so that you don’t have to pick either/or, and rather can hold BOTH things.
Music: Krishna’s Harmonious Flute by Buddha’s Lounge
This NeuroMeditation gently guides you through sitting with your deep regrets and assists you in allowing and receiving the balm of self forgiveness
Music: Dive into Tranquility by Buddha’s Flute on YouTube
Go to the What Does it Help? page for more information and meditations for specific issues.
What Style is Best for YOU?
*This is not a complete or in depth assessment, however it is a helpful tool for beginning to work with NeuroMeditation. Also, I strongly recommend retaking the survey when you notice you are in a different state. The results will likely be different when you are in an active depressive state or if you are in a highly anxious state. Then you can begin to learn which style you need when you are in different states.
** Nothing will change radically by trying meditation once or twice; especially if you are new to it. However, if you build slowly and regularly practice, you will notice subtle changes that grow and compound over time.
This app has a VAST offering of meditations. All of the links on this site will come from the NeuroMeditation Institute page because they were designed by a Neuroscientist and with specific brainwave goals in mind, which makes them more effective for these applications.
This is their page on Insight Timer. I recommend all of the NMI NeuroMeditations. You won't find links for all of them on this website as I only listed my favorites. Explore the others through this link.
The Free Mini-Courses are a great place to get a feel for the style(s) your survey recommended. Take one of the longer courses if you are able!
The links above take you to the Insight Timer page, and the NeuroMeditation Institute page on Insight Timer. There are links there for various downloads. I recommend downloading it to your phone so you can always have the meditations that help you most readily available. While you can choose to pay for the extra features, all meditations referenced in on my site are available through the FREE version.
Follow These Steps:
Find the Insight Timer App on whatever app store you use. Download it to your phone. Be sure you choose the FREE option.
Search for the NeuroMeditation Institute in the app OR use the link above for their page on the app.
Select FOLLOW on their page.
As you try links for specific meditations bookmark them in the app for easier and quicker future access.
Explore other kinds of Movement as Meditations on YouTube/TikTok or google search, such as Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong and more. Find what fits you! If you find a movement you like - use it the way it works for YOU!
The Powerful Impact of NATURE
Finding Special Places and Being Safe in Nature
Awe is beneficial for everyone, especially when dealing with anything difficult. Do this often - even for a couple minutes when you are stressed/overwhelmed/hurting. This NeuroMeditation guides you through remembering with all of your senses an experience of being in a place where you FELT AWE
Music: Village Love Story by Buddha’s Flute on YouTube
Meditations for Connection with Nature
Open Heart: Being the Tree & the Forest
This NeuroMeditation uses imagery of being both the single rooted tree AND the entire forest to Open the Heart increase feelings of connection
Music: Morning Flute Music - New Day by Buddha’s Flute on YouTube
QM: Being the Tree and the Forest
This NeuroMeditation connects you with being like a tree and then slowly to the feeling of being the entire, vast and expansive forest
Music: Relaxing Flute Falling Leaves by Buddha’s Lounge on YouTube
This NeuroMeditation anchors you in your strong, immoveable center and allows you to rest in strength as you observe all thought, feeling and sensation that arises
Music: Bamboo Garden by Buddha’s Flute
This Focus NeuroMeditation uses imagery of the tree of life; drawing energy up from your roots and down from your limbs and leaves, allowing them to mingle, grow and connect you with the vitality of life.
Music: Golden Blossom by Buddha’s Lounge on YouTube
Increasing Interoception
This is an excellent book for increasing your felt sense, or your ability to access interoception. It is also helpful for people who struggle to meditate to access the inner self.
My Favorite Meditation from the NeuroMeditation Institute for Increasing the Felt Sense
Live by the Law of Kindness
If you follow and live by one law, let it be this. Practicing living by this law increases connection with and compassion for yourself and others.
Knowing what temperament you are at a base level can help you as you come to KNOW YOURSELF more fully.
We come into the world having a base temperament. This is our Nature. Who we are is comprised of this and our NURTURING or how we were nurtured. Understanding your nature can offer you amazing insight into yourself. Exploring the impacts of how you were nurtured or where you weren't allows you to see the story that is YOU. Our Nature can't be radically changed. However when we come to understand ourselves better we can gain the awareness to make choices which are in alignment with our nature so that our lives can feel more peaceful and fulfilling. It is part of learning to truly love, accept and respect yourself and the WONDER which you ARE! No one is the same as us... we are connected and can have shared experiences, but the internal world that is us is something which is as unique as our fingerprint.
Click Above for the link to the FREE survey!
Take time to answer the questions slowly and honestly for accuracy. They offer a breakdown of a buttload of very interesting and helpful information that can help you gain insight into yourself.
Connection
Having healthy, loving, supportive, encouraging people in your life makes SUCH a HUGE difference.
If you don't feel you have enough of that in your life, find ways to get connected with: support groups for whatever issue you face (to find others who understand your struggle), groups aligned with your spiritual beliefs, a book club, volunteering with any organization you care about, search and expand your ideas about connecting with others.
Music: Peaceful Garden by Buddha’s Lounge on YouTube
The Net of Indra and Ouroboros as Symbol of Connection
This Open Heart NeuroMeditation increases the felt sense of being woven into the very fabric of life
Music: Village Love Story by Buddha’s Lounge on YouTube
Go to the Connection page for more information
Psychedelic Therapy for Medication Resistant People
Some helpful videos about Psychedelic Therapies
!Caution!
Spiritual and mental health grifters are in abundance and many call themselves the titles above, they can also be priests or leaders of churches. The reality is, your mind is YOURS and you must be careful who you choose to work with in terms of guidance or help with any struggle.
Basically watch out for people charging a lot of money. This is clearly a grift. Another thing to look out for is if they are suggesting that THEY are your solution. If it is about THEM it really isn't going to be helpful for YOU. Ask yourself where there focus is? Also if you feel they are encouraging you to do anything that you feel is inappropriate - stop working with them and report them!
The Current Explosion of Spiritual &
Mental Health Grifters/Predators in the area of Psychedelics for Therapeutic Use
This is an area that is exploding right now and one where there are many grifters and people solely seeking to profit. There are not well established protocols for practice and no real accountability measures in place. Be very careful about anyone you choose to work with. MANY, I repeat... MANY people operating as "guides, sitters, healers, shamans, etc..." are predatory. BE WARY!!! Do research. DON'T RUSH into anything! Below are a couple of good links for information.
I do NOT recommend anyone try using mushrooms therapeutically without guidance. Even if you have experieced taking them before, if you have endured a trauma or any mental health issue, it is best to consult someone qualified about whether this is a good option for you.
This site offers a lot of information around this topic if you want to educate yourself more. You will find a link below to a site that offers information for you to educate yourself regarding growing your own and dosages for both micro and macro dosing.
Although there is currently a waitlist, I highly recommend working with NMI for support, guidance through this process. This is not based on experience for this service, rather, my observation of quality, ethics, and safety that the folks at the NeuroMeditation offer in general. If I was going to do this type of therapy I would absolutely choose to work with them.
https://www.neuromeditationinstitute.com/psychedelic-integration-eugene
I am not an expert on this and have done very little research. In my experience, I have found benefit from microdosing mushrooms, but again am not an expert on this in any way. Below is a link for a site I found when briefly searching. They people who offer some excellent information on using psychedelics therapeutically and I like that, regardless of using their services or not, they offer helpful information on what to look for in someone to work with in this way.
Below is a podcast you should most definitely listen to if you are considering Psychedelics for therapeutic use and a Netflix series about this type of therapy which I encourage you to watch if you are interested AND if you are critical. There are definitive benefits from using psychedelics therapeutically AND there are definitive risks. Educating yourself is the best path forward. My personal experience with micro dosing resulted in a very positive effect on my PTSD and Depression struggles. It could often lift me out of a deep hole of pain when other things could not.
If you are considering using psychedelics for therapeutic purposes, listen to this first. Or if you are part of psychedelic assisted therapy community, listen to ensure you are informed of the dangers, and some of the dangerous people currently leading or practicing in a way that damages not only their clients, but also the ability to use this treatment for countless others if these bad actors wind up causing the end of this ability to use, research, study or explore psilocybin's uses therapeutically. That would be a tragedy, because of how profoundly helpful it has been for MANY conditions (NOT all of course, and you should seek advice from a qualified professional) and we are only beginning to understand it's capability to help us, especially with conditions that are difficult to treat and for its tendency for lasting effect.
CAUTION: If you live with Suicidal Ideation you MUST be careful. This is something which may activate your suicidal ideation and not appropriate for all people. TALK TO A PROFESSIONAL!!!
Incredible documentary with Michael Pollan, will give you a lot of helpful information about Psilocybin and other Psychedelics currently being used to treat or work with many different issues.
Interested in learning more? Click the link above for course descriptions and details.