The Calming Ground Podcast

Elizabeth Mintun
  • 4.9 (17)
  • 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. Aug 12

    155 - Honoring Thresholds: A Nervous System Approach to Endings and Transitions

    We rush past thresholds constantly - the small daily ones and the big life-chapter ones. This episode is about what it costs to leave transitions unmarked, and what changes when we honor our transitions. In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores why we so often rush past thresholds, both the small daily ones and the bigger life-chapter ones, and what it costs the nervous system when we do. Drawing on polyvagal-informed work and her own training as a psychotherapist and mindful life coach, Elizabeth unpacks why unmarked transitions get stored in the body as unfinished business - and shares a personal story from a two-year clinical training program that changed how she understands endings.  Key takeaways: Thresholds aren't just the big, obvious moments; they're daily, and mostly go unmarkedUnmarked transitions can leave the nervous system in low-grade activation, still "waiting" for closure Ritual and reflection turn a blur of time into distinct, metabolized chapters Resources Free live workshop: “Who Am I Now? Finding Your Footing When Life Changes Shape” on August 26th, 1pm EST: https://thecalmingground.com/free-workshop Free Guided Meditation: https://thecalmingground.com/free-guided-meditation Questions or reflections from this episode? Email Elizabeth at elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Want to go deeper in your own practice? Learn more about 1:1 coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here  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.

  2. Aug 5

    154 - Nature-Based Rituals for Transition: A Story about Marking What's Ending

    What do you do when a place that’s held twenty years of your life history is about to be sold? You bury a shell in the sand and say good bye imperfectly, with sand still stuck between your fingers.  In this episode, your host Elizabeth Mintun (licensed psychotherapist, certified qigong teacher, and mindfulness coach), shares the story of saying goodbye to her uncle’s property on Oak Island, a place woven through more than two decades of family life, births, and losses. The episode moves between a literal ending - a beloved property about to be sold - and the constant endings in life we rarely notice. Elizabeth reflects on a “Sacred Pause” retreat she co-led with Ami Peacock just days before this trip and weaves it into a larger question: what does it mean to consciously practice letting go?   Key takeaways: Creating a simple ritual (finding an object, naming what you’re releasing, marking the moment) can help an ending feel complete, even if imperfectly so. The body already practices letting go constantly. Every exhale is a small release, happening thousands of times a day. Bringing conscious attention to small, everyday endings (a season, a day, a breath) builds the same muscle needed for the larger ones.  Resources Free live workshop: “Who Am I Now? Finding Your Footing When Life Changes Shape” on August 26th, 1pm EST: https://thecalmingground.com/free-workshop Free Guided Meditation: https://thecalmingground.com/free-guided-meditation Questions or reflections from this episode? Email Elizabeth at elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Want to go deeper in your own practice? Learn more about 1:1 coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here  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

  3. Jul 29

    153 - The Privilege of Making Mistakes: Self-Forgiveness and Letting Go of the Shoulds

    She held two things dear: the privilege of making mistakes, and the right to be a “damn fool”. This episode is a re-air of a conversation between host Elizabeth Mintun and her mother, Margy, who died in January of 2025. They set out to talk about compassionate accountability; how to live aligned with our values without turning that alignment into one more way to fall short. What Margy offers is something roomier. She describes the constriction of inherited shoulds, the moment she saw that her own parameters had shrunk her possibility of living fully, and the slow work of learning her mistakes could be pardoned. It's a short conversation, and a plainspoken one. It may be helpful for anyone carrying a should that was handed to them and would like to feel more grace and love towards themselves.  Key takeaways: Shoulds are inherited, usually from people trying sincerely to give us direction - and it's adult work to ask of each one whether we actually embrace it.Rigid parameters of right and wrong don't tend to protect a life; they often shrink it.Mistakes aren't the failure of growth, they're the mechanism of it.Self-forgiveness and forgiving others are the same capacity, practiced in two directions. Resources Free Guided Meditation: https://thecalmingground.com/free-guided-meditation Questions or reflections from this episode? Email Elizabeth at elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Want to go deeper in your own practice? Learn more about 1:1 coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here  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

  4. Jul 22

    152 - Creativity, Rest, and the Power of Not Knowing with Dr. Chanti Tacoronte Pérez

    What if not knowing is a doorway? In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with Dr. Chanti Tacoronte Pérez, a creative guide, teacher, and depth-oriented artist whose work weaves together rest, image-making, myth, and embodied practice. She is the creator of The Ritual of Rest and the Bird Song Oracle Deck. Dr. Chanti describes her work as a living collage; emergent, non-linear, and responsive to the moment. Together, she and Elizabeth explore how liminality, slowness, and ambiguity open space for deeper presence and transformation: why the doodling that once made her fail math class was actually an embodied way of learning, and what depth psychology calls the "transcendent function" that blossoms when we stay inside tension instead of rushing to resolve it. This conversation is for anyone who has mistaken their slowness for stupidity, who longs to create but fears not being good at it, or who wonders when the excitement of not knowing disappeared. Key Takeaways Not knowing can be a creative doorway. Some of the most transformative moments arise precisely because no one planned them.Rest, dream states, and creativity meet in the liminal space. Drawing or writing upon waking can "translate" what we experience there.Handwriting is an embodied learning practice. Research by Audrey van der Meer shows it produces widespread brain connectivity that typing does not.Low-stakes experiments calm the demand for sharpness and let other parts of ourselves come free. Examples are drawing with crayons,  drawing with the non-dominant hand, and closing your eyes while the pencil moves.  Resources  Study: "Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity" by Audrey van der Meer:  https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1219945/full?xcod=organichQwK21wXxRhQwK21wXxRhQwK21wXxRhQwK21wXxR Dr. Chanti's Upcoming Offerings Archetypes of Artistry — Summer Art Course: https://www.yantrawisdom.com/workshops/2026archetypesMyths of Rest, Sleep and Dream — In person, Santa Fe: https://www.yantrawisdom.com/workshops/fallmythMaking Monster — Fall Virtual Creative Container: https://www.yantrawisdom.com/workshops/monster Find Dr. Chanti Website: https://www.artesvida.comInstagram: @art.es.vida Connect with Elizabeth Curious about 1:1 coaching? Learn more: https://www.thecalmingground.com/inner-compassEmail: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.comFacebook & Instagram: @thecalmingground If this conversation opened something in you, subscribe and share it with someone!

  5. Jul 15

    151 - Beyond Talk Therapy: Nervous System Regulation, Sound Healing & Whole-Person Wellness with LeNaya Smith Crawford

    What if healing is about coming home to the wholeness of who you are? In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun sits down with LeNaya Smith Crawford, The Holistic Therapist™ - a licensed therapist, holistic mental health educator, business mentor, and wellness CEO with over a decade of experience.  LeNaya shares the five-layer holistic framework that carried her through her own dark night of the soul, integrating the physical, energetic, mental-emotional, spiritual, and communal dimensions of healing. Together, she and Elizabeth explore why stillness can feel so frightening in a culture programmed to go-go-go, how sound healing works with our internal energy, why community is the layer we most often abandon, and what it means to honor "the human behind the healer." While LeNaya often teaches therapists, this conversation is for anyone longing to move beyond compartmentalized self-care into true wholeness, and especially those who give so much to others that they've forgotten how to receive. Key Takeaways: True healing asks us to integrate all five layers of who we are - physical, energetic, mental-emotional, spiritual, and communal - rather than tending to just one.Fear of stillness is natural in a culture that trains us to constantly produce; finding a trusted guide and allowing time for discomfort are the doorways in.Sound healing works with the energetic layer, helping regulate the nervous system and restore internal balance.We're often taught to heal in isolation, but at some point the journey asks us to return to community; sometimes the simplest medicine is going where the people are. Resources: The Holistic Path to Healing: A 5-day immersive experience hosted at the Omega Institute, designed to support deep restoration, nervous system regulation, and holistic healing through experiential and somatic practices facilitated by LeNaya Smith Crawford: Omega Five Day Learning Retreat Holistic Therapist Conference (HTC) A 4-day in-person conference taking place October 1–4, 2026 at the Art of Living Retreat Center in Boone, North Carolina. The conference brings together therapists, healers, and wellness professionals for workshops, panels, and experiential sessions focused on integrating somatic, trauma-informed, and holistic approaches into clinical and healing practice: Holistic Therapist Conference https://www.lenayasmithcrawford.com/ Find Lenaya on IG: @lenayascrawford  Ready to go deeper on your own re-membering journey? Explore 1:1 coaching with Elizabeth: https://www.thecalmingground.com/inner-compass Questions or reflections? Reach out: elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Find The Calming Ground on Facebook & Instagram: @thecalmingground If this conversation resonated, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs a reminder that wholeness is their birthright.

  6. Jul 8

    150 - The 2pm Energy Slump: Why Your Nervous System Needs a Midday Pause (Not More Coffee)

    It's 2pm, you've read the same email three times, and you're reaching for another coffee. What if that afternoon fog is actually one of the most reliable signals your body sends all day? In this episode, your host Elizabeth Mintun (licensed psychotherapist, certified qigong teacher, and mindfulness coach), explores what's really happening in your nervous system during the afternoon energy dip, and why the way most of us respond (more caffeine, more willpower, more pushing) quietly costs us more than we realize. Elizabeth unpacks the biology behind the midday slump - from circadian rhythms to the lesser-known 90-minute ultradian waves we move through all day - and explains why the familiar "wired and tired" state comes from overriding the body's natural requests to downshift. She shares her own relationship with the afternoon dip, the simple five-minute practices that changed it, and why a real pause works at a level your phone never will. This episode is for anyone who hits a wall every afternoon and has been blaming themselves for it. Key Takeaways The afternoon dip is built into your biology. Your circadian rhythm naturally sags between 1-3pm whether or not you ate a big lunch. Cultures around the world have honored this with siestas and midday rest. Your body moves in waves all day. Roughly every 90 minutes (ultradian rhythms), your system asks to downshift - a yawn, drifting attention, the urge to stretch. Each time you override that request with caffeine or willpower, you add activation and tension to the system."Wired and tired" is what stacking looks like. Exhausted underneath, buzzing on top. This state comes from pouring stimulation over unanswered fatigue. Caffeine masks the signal; it doesn't answer it.Scrolling isn't a break. When you switch from the spreadsheet to social media, the input changes but your nervous system stays activated. A true pause is a deliberate downshift, which is a cue of safety that invites the settled, connected ventral vagal state where heart rate eases and breath deepens on its own. Resources Free Guided Meditation: https://thecalmingground.com/free-guided-meditation The Sacred Pause Half-Day Retreat in Clintonville (Columbus, OH):  📅 Saturday July 18th | 9:30 AM –2:30 PM EST  👉 Register for here  Questions or reflections from this episode? Email Elizabeth at elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Want to go deeper in your own practice? Learn more about 1:1 coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here  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

  7. Jul 1

    149 - Exploring Sacred Ritual & Liminal Space: A Conversation with Tracee Stanley

    What if the spaces in between - the breath before the inhale, the dusk before the dark - hold more wisdom than anything we're chasing?  In this episode, yoga nidra teacher and bestselling author Tracee Stanley joins host Elizabeth Mintun to explore liminal space, daily ritual, and the practice of coming home to yourself, one breath at a time. Tracee explains liminal space as the in-between moments most of us are trained to rush past. She offers that ritual doesn't require hours of free time or a five-day retreat to be transformative. She talks about the sandhyas, the sacred junctures of the day (sunrise, midday, sunset) that anchor her own practice, the Soham mantra woven into every breath, and how our attention has become a commodity, pulled and extracted by algorithms built to take us away from ourselves rather than toward what's reciprocal and alive.  This episode is for anyone craving more groundedness in an ordinary, busy life.  Key Takeaways Ritual lives in the ordinary: how you wake, how you drink your tea, how you wash the dishes. Tracee anchors her day to the sandhyas - sunrise, midday, and sunset - rather than waiting for big blocks of free time.Our attention has become commodified. Algorithms are built for extraction; nature and ritual are built for reciprocity. The practice is simply noticing where attention goes and gently calling it home.Soham - the mantra already living in the breath itself (so on the inhale, hum on the exhale) - is one of the simplest doorways into presence. Resources Tracee's website: traceestanley.com   Tracee’s Instagram: @tracee_stanley Living Ritual: Infuse Each Day with Purpose and Spirit - preorder Tracee’s book now; it releases August 25th: https://www.traceestanley.com/livingritual#preorder Radiant Rest: Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation and Awakened Clarity - Tracee’s free guided practices: https://soundcloud.com/shambhala-publications/practice-one-grounding-deep?utm_source=Email&utm_campaign=social_sharing&utm_medium=widgetutm_content=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fshambhala-publications%2Fpractice-one-grounding-deep  Tracee’s Soham Meditation : https://on.soundcloud.com/esEnlpiANT0d2Ythyz The Sacred Pause Half-Day Retreat in Clintonville (Columbus, OH):  📅 Saturday July 18th | 9:30 AM –2:30 PM EST  👉 Register for here  Free Guided Meditation: https://thecalmingground.com/free-guided-meditation Email Elizabeth at elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Want to go deeper in your own practice? Learn more about 1:1 coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here  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

  8. Jun 24

    148 - Befriending the Resistance

    You know it's time. The relationship, the self-talk, the job… maybe you've known for a while. And still, you haven't moved. In this episode, host Elizabeth Mintun explores the question that's been showing up in client sessions, community conversations, and her own life lately: I know what I need. So why can't I get myself to move? Drawing on nervous system science, this episode offers a gentler way to meet the resistance that shows up right when we're trying to grow.  Key Takeaways Your nervous system ranks options by familiarity, not by what's best for you. A painful pattern has already been survived - your body has proof of that. A new path hasn't been tested yet, so your system defends what's known, even when it hurts.The old pattern is still giving you something, even while it costs you. This is secondary gain, and naming it honestly (without blame) is often the missing piece in understanding why you haven't moved yet.Change takes capacity, not willpower. If you're already running on empty, asking yourself to overhaul a relationship or rebuild your self-talk is asking a depleted system for more output with less fuel. Sometimes the most loving move is rebuilding capacity first. Resources The Sacred Pause Half-Day Retreat in Clintonville (Columbus, OH):  📅 Saturday July 18th | 9:30 AM –2:30 PM EST  👉 Register for here  Free Guided Meditation: https://thecalmingground.com/free-guided-meditation Email Elizabeth at elizabethmintun@thecalmingground.com Learn more about 1:1 Coaching with Elizabeth Mintun here  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.

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4.9
out of 5
17 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
    156
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Calming Ground All Rights Reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Calming Ground Podcast