I'm thinking about doing a free live online loving-kindness meditation where we can all sit together over video chat. Would you want to do this? If so, just hit reply and let me know, or shout out to me on Twitter.

(Loving-kindness meditation–a.k.a. metta meditation–is a great way to connect with our own hearts and to radiate loving energy to the world around us.)

Meanwhile, here are some guided meditations I think you might find helpful right now: 

• 20-minute meditation for anxiety
• 20-minute gratitude meditation
• Quick 5-minute mindfulness meditation

The first rule of anxiety is ...  don't beat yourself up for having it! It's not a character flaw; it's your body's way of telling you that something is going awry. It's a messenger. And we can choose to be kind to messengers.

However, we don't have to let anxiety rule our lives. Here are some ways that we can directly reduce anxiety: 

• Make your exhale longer than your inhale
• 5-7-8 breaths
• The skull hug
• Nadi shodana / alternate nostril breathing

Also: Women's Health Magazine in Australia just put my book to the test, and here they list four practices that they found work really well for stress. I also love the bonus 60-second tips they included at the end.

Doing your longer meditation sessions will be very helpful to you right now, but you can also do these things in just a minute. Take good care!

What a good time to read a great book!  Here are some recommendations if you are interested in escaping into a story: 

• Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer
  
• Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean
• Enlightenment for Idiots
• More books that are deeply loved by the EFF THIS! Meditation community

p.s. It’s also a good time to escape into music! Here is a Spotify playlist I am loving lately called "Soothe My Soul."

This July, I will be teaching about mindful technology and leading daily meditation at the Mindful Unplug retreat at the renowned Feathered Pipe Ranch outside of Helena, Montana. I am proud of a lot about this offering–the location, the price, the spaciousness! I hope you might consider joining us.

Also, my friend Adreanna Limbach, author of the wonderful book Tea and Cake With Demons: A Buddhist Guide to Feeling Worthy, is coming to LA, SF, and Austin this month on her West Coast book tour. She is a fantastic meditation teacher, and it’s also a great chance to experience some sangha, or community, in the midst of these moments of disconnection.

Speaking of staying home, as someone who has worked from home for.... well since I walked out of the mall almost two decades ago, here are my tips for working from home (or doing school from home): 

• Still do your regular morning routine, including getting dressed for the day (it sounds obvious, but it's easy to slide into pajama-working mode.)
• Have a dedicated space just for work and nothing else. It can be a desk, or a spot at the table, or whatever–but set it up just for work, and when you are in this space, you are working–you and anyone else in your home needs to respect that. Use masking tape to mark the space out on the floor if you have to.
• Do not, I repeat, do not try to mix housework and work-work. Don't do laundry while you do emails, etc. Keep these boundaries separate or you will drive yourself mad.

What might seem kinda cool at first (like being able to do chores while on a conference call, or working in your jam-jams) can quickly devolve into feeling like there is no "off" from work. When work touches everything, everything becomes work. So do yourself a favor and keep those boundaries. :)