Everyday Mindful

Hope to see you in July at my upcoming Mindful Writing for Transformation course!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1QEzFoLkXk/

You know how it feels when you want to do a body scan, but your body and mind feel too scattered and restless to begin? This week on the blog, I'm taking it back to the basics -- How to Do a Body Scan (Even When Your Mind Won't Stop Racing). The link is in the comments below. Enjoy!

The page can be more than a place to think. It can be a place to breathe.
A place to listen. A place to return to yourself.

Join me for Writing as Meditation, a 4-week course exploring mindful writing as a practice of presence, reflection, and refuge.

Registration and more information: go.unc.edu/mindfulness

Instructor: Jen Johnson, MS, MFA, LCMHC is a mindfulness teacher, writer, and psychotherapist offering an integrative approach to mind body healing. She is the author of "Mindful Writing for Transformation" in Transformational Journaling for Therapists, Coaches, and Clients.

This week I'm writing about practicing mindfulness in an uncertain world...

Link is in the comments.

Sometimes the smallest details hold the most meaning. When we take even a moment to pause and notice these subtle moments, we anchor ourselves in the present and reconnect with the living world.

Try slowing down this week to notice things you might otherwise walk past without seeing. Red Columbine is in bloom in coastal NC this week.

Writing as Meditation is a restorative practice for self-discovery and renewal.

This 4-week online course introduces reflective writing as a mindfulness practice that cultivates awareness, inner calm, and resilience. Through guided mindfulness practices and gentle writing prompts, you’ll be invited to slow down, listen inwardly, and reconnect with a sense of presence and vitality.

This is not a writing craft workshop. Instead, we’ll approach writing with curiosity and compassion — using the page as a space for emotional clarity and renewed engagement with life through present-moment experience.

No prior writing or mindfulness experience is required.

This course is offered through the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill's Program in Integrative Medicine. Let's get mindful and creative together! Open to the general public. Hope to see you there. Please share!

Online / Zoom
May 14 - June 4, 2026
9:30 - 11:00am Eastern Time

Cost: General Public $225
UNC Affiliate currently employed by the University or Hospital System $200
Currently enrolled Undergraduate and Graduate Students $175

Registration: https://apps2.research.unc.edu/events/index.cfm?event=events.go&key=CD7D

At some point, grief touches all of us, whether we have lost a loved one, are grieving a loss of health or loss of the way the world once was.

Though loss feels disruptive, we can learn ways to process feelings of grief in ways that allow us to maintain inner steadiness and resilience. We can learn to feel and express grief without feeling so overwhelmed by the feelings or afraid to feel them. We can even learn to find our balance again by learning how to experience little glimmers of inner peace and feelings of aliveness again.

I'm teaching The Mindful Way through Grief, a 4-week online course, through University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill's Program in Integrative Medicine. It's open to the public. Please share!

Loss touches all of our lives at some point, whether we are grieving the loss of a loved one, loss related to health conditions, loss of a sense of safety and security in the world, ecological loss, or the loss of assumptions about how we believed our lives would unfold.

Although it can feel like grief disrupts our lives and sends us reeling, we can learn ways to feel grief that allow us to stay grounded and feel more in control. Mindfulness offers us a path toward being with feelings of grief in ways that feel manageable and not so overwhelming. One breath at a time.

Online - Zoom
April 2- April 23, 2026
9:30-11:00am EST

Cost: $225-General Public
$200-UNC Affiliate currently employed by the University of Hospital System
$175- Currently enrolled Undergraduate and Graduate Students

Registration: https://apps2.research.unc.edu/events/index.cfm?event=events.go&key=CD7C

I'm hosting a monthly online gathering, Ecological Grief: Practice & Presence with the Living World, in collaboration with Reimagine.

We'll gather on Thursday, March 5, 2026 12:00 - 1:00pm Eastern Time.

A gentle hour to practice praise and presence with the living world through meditation, writing, and ritual.
This monthly one-hour gathering offers a gentle, welcoming space to tend ecological grief together. Through guided meditation, reflective writing, and ritual, we practice praise and presence with the living world—making room for our sorrow, beauty, and reverence for the Earth.

Cost is pay what you can, $0 - 50 USD.

See the link in the comments for more information and registration.

This week I'm exploring how we can stay awake and present in a world that is filled with so much uncertainty and chaos. Everyday Mindful explores ways to create inner refuge through mindfulness, creativity, and nature connection.

Link to the post is in the comments.