The Calming Ground Podcast

Elizabeth Mintun
  • 4.9 (16)
  • ALTERNATIVE HEALTH
  • UPDATED DAILY

This podcast offers a space for busy people to go to for inspiration, wisdom, to learn from one another's struggles and transformations, as well as to receive actionable steps to relax, gain confidence, and move forward with the life they long to experience.

  1. 2D AGO

    130 - 15 Common Truths About People-Pleasing

    What if the opposite of people-pleasing isn’t selfishness… but self-trust? In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores people-pleasing through a compassionate nervous system lens, understanding how it often begins as an adaptive survival strategy rooted in relational intelligence, emotional attunement, and a deep value for harmony and connection. She looks at how immediate relief, identity reinforcement, fear of relational rupture, and external approval can quietly keep the pattern in place, and why saying no can feel physically unsafe.  Most importantly, Elizabeth reframes the work: the opposite of people-pleasing isn’t selfishness at all, but self-trust. It’s about growing the ability to notice your internal signals, pause, and respond in ways that honor both yourself and your relationships. Key Takeaways People-pleasers are highly attuned emotional readers and that relational intelligence is a strength.People-pleasing often feels like kindness, not “pleasing.”A quick “yes” brings immediate nervous system relief (and reinforces the habituated response).Healing requires expanding capacity to tolerate discomfort.Resources  Sign up for the free workshop From People-Pleasing to Self-Trust: Reclaim Yourself Without Burning Bridges here: https://go.thecalmingground.com/people-pleasing-to-self-trust Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here.  Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

    20 min

  2. FEB 11

    129 - The Fawn Response Explained: The Nervous System Roots of People-Pleasing

    What if people-pleasing is your nervous system doing exactly what it has learned to do to keep you safe? In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores people pleasing through the lens of the nervous system, specifically the fawn response, a survival strategy organized around connection and safety. Rather than trying to “overcome” or shame this pattern, we look at why it made sense in the first place - and how understanding it with compassion can create real, sustainable change. Key Takeaways People-pleasing is a nervous system strategy. It often develops as a way to stay safe, connected, and regulated in environments where harmony, approval, or emotional attunement mattered for belonging.The fawn response is organized around connection. Alongside fight, flight, and freeze, the fawn response seeks safety by accommodating, smoothing, helping, or staying agreeable (especially in relationally sensitive people).Shame and force don’t create lasting change. Trying to “override” people pleasing by pushing yourself to say no often backfires because the nervous system still perceives danger.Understanding comes before changing a pattern. When we understand why people-pleasing once made sense, we can honor it rather than fight it - and patterns often begin to shift naturally.Resources  Sign up for the free workshop From People-Pleasing to Self-Trust: Reclaim Yourself Without Burning Bridges here: https://go.thecalmingground.com/people-pleasing-to-self-trust Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here.  Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground Related episodes that do focus on boundaries:  Episode #27 The Gift of Boundaries for Compassionate Presence: An Interview with Dawn Glasco Episode #29 Growing Our Boundary Muscles: An Exploration of Inner & Outer Boundaries with Kelli Younglove  Episode #30 Honoring Ourselves: Freeing Ourselves from People-Pleasing Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

    16 min

  3. FEB 4

    128 - Why Being Stuck Isn’t a Problem

    What if feeling stuck offers information worth listening to? In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores the idea that stuckness is often a form of discernment. When we feel stuck, it’s usually not because we don’t care - it’s because something meaningful, complex, or emotionally layered is asking for time and attention.  Rather than reacting to the discomfort of uncertainty with striving or self-pressure, this episode invites a shift toward listening and responding with curiosity. Elizabeth also shares a folktale about the “monkey trap” to illustrate how holding too tightly - even to something valuable - can keep us stuck, and how release often comes through softening rather than force. She also shares a personal story of a real-life example of how noticing and respecting stuckness can open the door to honest movement and deeper collaboration. Key Takeaways Stuckness can hold valuable information about pace, grief, vulnerability, or competing valuesStriving for clarity can be a reaction to discomfort rather than a true response to what’s happeningStuckness can act as a protective brake, not a breakdownAsking relational questions (“What is this protecting?”) can be more helpful than demanding solutionsResources  Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here.  Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

    11 min

  4. JAN 28

    127 - Wintering, Wisdom, and the Courage to Do Less: A Conversation with Marcia Miller

    What if doing less could actually teach us more? In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun interviewed Marcia Miller, a lifelong teacher and Reiki Master, and meditation coach. In this conversation, Marcia reflected on her transition into a later stage of life - one shaped less by striving and productivity and more by discernment, nourishment, and listening. After decades of teaching and running a large yoga studio, she described what it has meant to consciously do less, rest until truly rested, and only say yes when something feels fully aligned. Marcia also expressed that winter is both a literal season and a metaphor for a way of being: honoring darkness, quiet, and fallowness as necessary parts of life. Marcia also discussed the crone or elder archetype as a stage marked by clarity, courage, and responsibility. She spoke candidly about fierceness, boundaries, and the importance of community - reminding us that we are not meant to do everything alone, nor be at full capacity all the time. This episode offers an invitation to rethink productivity, rest, and connection. Key Takeaways True rest often requires intentional boundaries, not just time offClarity about what is ours to do emerges more easily when the nervous system is supportedLiving seasonally can mean aligning daily rhythms, evenings, and expectations with the natural worldAsking “What is enough?” can be a radical and liberating practiceResources  Marcia Miller’s Website: https://www.marciamilleryoga.com/ Marcia Miller’s Substack: https://substack.com/@marciamiller715561 Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here.  Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

    34 min

  5. JAN 21

    126 - You’re Not a Project that Needs Fixing

    What if the reason growth feels exhausting isn’t because you’re doing it wrong - but because the frame you’ve been given is subtly pressurizing you? In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores how the dominant frame of self-improvement can reinforce the belief that something about us is deficient or needs fixing. While growth and awareness are valuable, when they’re rooted in pressure rather than relationship, they can leave us feeling managed instead of met. This conversation offers a re-orientation: moving from self-improvement toward self-acceptance, allowance, and relational growth. Through reflection, nervous-system awareness, and a classic folktale, Elizabeth invites you to consider what happens when we stop treating ourselves as projects and start relating to ourselves with curiosity and permission. Key Takeaways Awareness is about noticing; self-surveillance can turn noticing into evaluation.Recurring patterns are  signals asking for a tending and/or a different way of relating.Growth rooted in self-acceptance and permission is often more sustainable than growth driven by pressure.Resources  Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here.  Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Find Elizabeth on Facebook & IG @thecalmingground Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

    13 min

  6. JAN 14

    125 - Practicing Presence in an Unsteady World

    In a time when so much feels uncertain - perhaps both personally and collectively - how do we stay grounded without turning away from what’s hard? In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun shares reflections where a simple practice - pausing together in community for fifteen minutes each day - created surprising and meaningful shifts. From composing music from the heart instead of “shoulds,” to savoring “delicious bursts” of presence, to meeting mistakes with curiosity rather than perfectionism, these moments point to something essential: steadiness doesn’t actually come from control - it comes from presence… especially when it’s shared. This episode is an invitation to slow down, soften the grip of “should,” and remember that even small pauses can help us live more honestly inside the both/and. Key Takeaways Small, consistent pauses can create steadiness in an unsteady world.Shared practice matters - sometimes we regulate more deeply when we pause together.Peace isn’t something we wait for; it’s something we practice.Living in the both/and allows hope and heartbreak to coexist honestly.Resources  Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here.  Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

    10 min

  7. JAN 7

    124 - Beginning With Presence: Mindfulness and Intention for the New Year

    In January, our society tends to tell us to do more, fix ourselves, and start over… but what if the most powerful way to begin the year is actually through mindfulness?  In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun offers a different starting point for the new year - one rooted in mindfulness, nervous system awareness, and compassionate intention-setting. Elizabeth unpacks what mindfulness really is (and what it’s not), gently challenging the idea that mindfulness is about calming down or simply engaging in positive thinking (or getting it “right”). Instead, mindfulness is presented as a brave and practical practice of paying attention, without judging, fixing, or escaping what we notice. Key Takeaways Mindfulness changes the quality of how we grow, not whether we grow.Mindfulness helps us relate to action with more clarity, steadiness, and alignment.Awareness must come before sustainable change. We can’t shift patterns we aren’t aware of. Mindfulness helps us notice when choices are driven by fear, urgency, or habit - and creates space for more intentional responses.Intentions work best when they support the nervous system. A mindful intention is a direction of attention, not a demand. It leaves room for uncertainty, rest, and returning again and again without self-judgment.Resources  Sign up here for free workshop Start 2026 with Clarity: Reconnect with Your Inner Compass   Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here.  Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

    11 min

  8. 12/31/2025

    123 - Finding Clarity & Calm at the Threshold of a New Year

    What if the longer periods of darkness during winter could be our teacher?  In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun reflects on stillness, renewal, and possibility during late December. Drawing from timeless wisdom - the Northern European tradition of the Twelve Nights and the Inuit story of Sedna’s descent into the deep - Elizabeth explores how darkness, pause, and reflection are essential parts of growth. These stories illuminate the ways that slowing down, observing inner patterns, and cultivating clarity prepare us for meaningful beginnings. This episode is perfect for anyone seeking calm, grounding, and mindful presence during a season that can feel emotionally heightened, complex, or tender. Key Takeaways By honoring the quiet and slowing down, you create space for clarity, renewal, and the unfolding of what’s next.Though the spaces of uncertainty during times of change, transition, or decision-making can be quite uncomfortable, it can be very helpful to breathe through the discomfort rather than trying to “hop over it”. Notice if you’re experiencing a push for “resolutions” and see how possible it might be to offer yourself ease and open curiosity about how you’d like to unfold in the coming year. Notice what emerges inwardly as you practice this curiosity and openness.  Resources  Sign up for Intentional 2026: 3 Days to Reset & Realign here. Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here.  Contact Elizabeth: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Subscribe to The Calming Ground Podcast so you never miss an episode. If you loved this conversation, please share it with a friend!

    14 min
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4.9
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

This podcast offers a space for busy people to go to for inspiration, wisdom, to learn from one another's struggles and transformations, as well as to receive actionable steps to relax, gain confidence, and move forward with the life they long to experience.

Information

  • Creator
    Elizabeth Mintun
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    130
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Calming Ground All Rights Reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Calming Ground Podcast