Breath Deep
Tamara Chill-laxing in Laurel Canyon
Remember: Your Breath is Your Friend
Meditation is Magic
Year 3 of the Global Pandemic
Tamara shares that following a recent meltdown caused by challenges in the pandemic, she came to the realisation that she deserved gold stars, and we all deserve gold stars! She encourages us to be good to ourselves and others.
Mistakes May Be Blessings
Make Way for New Stories
We carry so many stories about ourselves that develop early in life from all the things that our parents, our teachers, and our peers have said to us, in addition to the stories that we tell ourselves.
Tamara Levitt shares that unless we challenge them, those stories continue to dictate our beliefs, and limit us in a myriad of ways.
In order to change our stories we need to start by challenging them, with what Tamara calls reflective inquiry.
She says we should ask ourselves Who created that story? When was it created? Is it entirely true? Does that story sustain us? If not, can we let it go?
She goes on to explain that slowly, over time we begin to tell ourselves new stories. Fresh stories that free us, build our confidence, and help us grow.
Honor Your Smallest Victories
Celebrating the small victories is often overlooked, and Tamara reminds us that it's sometimes the smallest things that we should be most proud of.
Tamara Levitt is a successful entrepreneur and author, Head of Mindfulness and Meditation at Calm.
Ask Tamara Anything
Tamara Levitt, the Canadian author and mindfulness instructor, and narrator for the Calm app, gives her followers the chance to ask her questions about meditation or mindfulness, challenges they have been facing in their practice, and anything about Tamara herself.
Over the next few months, Tamara endeavors to answer as many of her follower's questions as she can.
Gratitude During Hardships
Tamara agrees that this is sometimes hard to practice. She has become better at tapping into gratitude over the years, during ups and downs, even when the concept of feeling gratitude during a deep struggle felt impossible.
The most important time to tap into gratitude is when we are struggling, and Tamara suggests we look around and really see what there is to be grateful for. Things that we cannot see, like this breath, this earth, this life.
Joy and Good Lighting
Tamara’s belief in a woman’s natural beauty is evident in her joyful smile and natural radiance.
Happiness
It’s in the simple things – like the appreciation of a loving touch.
Gratitude
Tamara reminds us that the secret to having more gratitude is intentionally focusing on being grateful in the moment, every day.
"It’s never the greener pastures a few miles ahead. It’s the earth beneath our feet right now” – Tamara Levitt –
Failure
One of Tamara’s favourite topics, failure, has taught her to appreciate all her efforts and that anything takes courage.
End of Summer Days
A hammock, the ocean and the end-of-Summer sun are sometimes all that we need to be truly happy.
How to Find the Calm Within the Chaos
Today's turbulent world presents a storm of challenges in our professional and personal lives. In her half-hour talk, titled, 'How to Find the Calm Within the Chaos,' Tamara Levitt, Head of Mindfulness at Calm, will reveal three ways that mindfulness help us cope with the stress and turmoil of modern life. Mindfulness offers us present moment awareness, choice, and stability.
Bloopers
Shooting the intro video for the Daily Calm with Tamara’s colleague, Writer and Producer Chris Advansun, had its fair share of bloopers and laughter.
The Daily Calm
Tamara created this intro video to describe ‘The Daily Calm’, a daily meditation series, which she produced for the app.
It’s a 10 minutes guided meditation focusing on a new theme each day; like managing anxiety, deepening self-acceptance and building resilience.
The Time is Now
Tamara reminds us not to save anything for special occasions because being alive is the special occasion.
Calm Team Retreat Throwback
Looking back 4 years to a team retreat at Powder Mountain in Eden Utah; when the Calm team was just 14 strong and has grown to over 300 since.
There's No Better Time Than Now
Whatever is stopping you from doing that one thing, is the one thing itself. There's no better time to do it than now.
Breath Deeply and Courageously
A reminder that beyond the darkness there is always light, so we should breathe deeply and courageously, and take one step after the other, becoming mindful of our moment-to-moment experience.
Pain is Sometimes Our Greatest Teacher
Tamara believes that sometimes the hardest moments are the most important ones. We should listen to them, sit with them and act on them. Hard times get us in motion to do the things we’ve been putting off, in the hopes that things will change.
A reminder that beyond the darkness there is always light, so we should breathe deeply and courageously, and take one step after the other, becoming mindful of our moment-to-moment experience.
Forever Friendships
One thing to be grateful for: The rare kind of friendships that last forever.
Openness, Playfulness & Gratitude
Tamara shares a few of her efforts to connect with life, in a mindful and meaningful way; by being open and non-judgemental, being playful, and practicing gratitude.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Tamara and Ellen talk about the power of gratitude, how it can be underrated, but how expressing gratitude changes our lives and takes the focus off the negatives.
Behind the Scenes With Tamara Levitt
Tamara talks about why she started meditating to manage her emotions better and find peace, bringing mindfulness into day-to-day life and being present in the world.
The Practice of Letting Go
Learning to roll with the tides in life is about letting go of what can’t be changed, rather than resisting what is.
Throwback Thursday
Reflecting on one of her “back-in-the-day” addictions Tamara is grateful she kicked the smoking habit, even though sometimes the temptation creeps in.
Photo credit: Melanie Freeman
Tamara Reads a Bedtime Story
On day 6 of Sleep Awareness Week, Tamara reads ‘The Lavender Valley’
Download Calm for free at: calm.com
Come Back Home
In the busyness of life, it’s important to disconnect in order to connect with a slower, calmer peace.
Chris' Birthday
Tamara wishes her old friend, Chris Advansun, Writer and Producer at calm.com, a Happy Birthday.
Happiness Doesn't Come from Headstands, Book Trailer
Tamara introduces the official release of her children's book, ‘Happiness Doesn't Come from Headstands’ about one girl’s rise from failure. A book she wants her 5-year old niece Eden to know.
A 50th Birthday Wish
A heartfelt birthday wish for her old friend, Sandra Evans.
Breath
Finding grounding in the breath, to bring us back home.
Gratitude, a Calm Masterclass
Tamara shares practical tools to help you create your own practice in our latest Calm Masterclass, Gratitude.
Looking at the barriers to gratitude with a practical tool kit to overcome them. Feeling grateful is a transformation shift, helping us to focus on what’s right.
How to do a Heart Hug
Tamara demonstrates a short exercise to help soften and ground the body and soul.
A Technique to Calm Stress & Overwhelm
1. Find a quiet spot & close your eyes.
2. Place your right hand on your belly, & your left hand on your heart.
3. Breathe in, feel your belly filling up with air.
4. Breathe out, direct lovingkindness towards yourself
5. Repeat
De-stigmatizing Mental Health
Tamara shares her past struggles with chronic depression, generalised anxiety disorder, insomnia, panic attacks, an eating disorder, and PTSD; which is what led her to become a meditation instructor.
January 1, New Year Message
A message, which is also the theme of today’s Daily Calm, is that regardless of our circumstances, there is always something to be grateful for.