Present Moment Mindfulness and Yoga

12/30/2025

Mindfulness and Stoicism. Two things that changed my life. At first, it seems like these practices are at odds with each other. I think they perfectly complement each other. One says pay attention. One says choose wisely what you can control and what you can’t.

One of my favorite authors is Ryan Holiday. He hosts The Daily Stoic podcast and the wrote the book by the same name. A favorite teaching Ryan shares is from Marcus Aurelius in Meditations. It’s called The Obstacle Is the Way. This means: the thing in the way becomes the way.

Sounded weird to me too when I first read it. Until I really studied it. It really showed up in attempts to be healthy. I'm sure you can relate. The healthy plans at the beginning of the year. And then the obstacle (the donut, just one...lol). Next the frustration. Then the quitting.

This is especially true for my mindfulness coaching clients who struggle with following through on healthy goals.

For most clients, the “problem” with eating isn’t willpower. It’s confusion:
Am I hungry? Or bored?
Am I craving salt or comfort?
Why do I eat when I’m not hungry at all?

If we even pause long enough to consider those things.

To help you and others, I built the 4-Week Mindful Eating Program around this idea:
Pause (mindfulness). Identify the obstacles (thank you Ryan). Study them to teach you about yourself (self-inquiry). Then stay the course (do the hard thing).

In this 4-week program you’ll:
• Learn the difference between hunger, appetite, and cravings while noticing eating patterns
• Receive a 4-week Mindful Eating Journal for daily reflection
• Meet with me for weekly 30-min Private Coaching Sessions for education and support

Most eating programs try to fix behavior. This one teaches attention. It teaches the value of pausing. It teaches how to face obstacles and use them to eat in a healthy way.

If eating has felt confusing or frustrating, if the hard thing prevented progress, maybe the obstacle is the way forward.

Click the link to sign up for the 4-Week Mindful Eating Program today. And if someone you love or care about has mentioned they’re struggling with food choices, be the person that supports them by sharing this post with them.
https://www.jotform.com/build/250014848698163

12/13/2025

Excited to share my new article for the national wellness magazine Taste For Life. I hope it's helpful to you.

Waiting annoying you this season? Try this.

It doesn't take long to shift from feeling stressed to more peaceful.

Turning Waiting into Wonder | Taste For Life

It doesn't take long to shift from feeling stressed to more peaceful.

11/14/2025

🔒 Mindful Living Tip of the Week: The Great Lock-In (Holiday Chaos Version)

The Great Lock-In is exploding on social media — TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, everywhere.
People are picking one thing to stick with through December so they don’t roll into January wondering where the holiday spirit went and why their house looks like a festive crime scene.

Why it’s a thing:
Because this season is an Olympic sport.
And your brain LOVES one predictable, meaningful ritual to counter all the unpredictability.
(Neuroscience translation: small consistent acts boost mood-regulating circuits and lower stress hormones.)

So here’s your Mindful Lock-In, and it’s actually fun:
🎁 Micro-Acts of Holiday Kindness
One tiny thing a day. Zero pressure. Maximum connection.

Try things like these with a smile:
📱 Send a 10-second voice text to someone you care about: “Just sending a little spark for your day.”
🚪 Hold the door open for someone and say, “After you!” like you’re narrating your own feel-good movie.
😂 Drop someone a holiday meme that is 20% wholesome and 80% chaos (the perfect ratio).
💌 Mail a card with a funny line like: “May your lights untangle themselves this year.”
☕ Buy the next person’s coffee and vanish like a festive ninja.
🌟 Compliment a stranger’s winter vibe: “That scarf is straight-up fantastic.”
🛒 Let someone go ahead of you in line with, “You look ready to roll — go for it.”
✨ Post one silly holiday joke to your feed: “What do you call a snowman with a six-pack? An abdominal snowman.”

Tiny kindnesses.
Mini moments of humanity.
And surprisingly — legit nervous-system regulation.

✨ That’s the real Great Lock-In:
A season-long practice of spreading little sparks of joy so the holidays feel like community, not chaos.

If you want more grounded, mindful tools for this season, message me — I’ve got you.

11/08/2025

🛑STOP! Before the holidays start pulling you in a hundred directions, come spend an hour to get ahead of the stress and overwhelm.

If your brain feels like a browser with 47 tabs open, this one’s for you. This month we’re talking attention. How to avoid getting tangled up in distractions and start using it to create the calm, clear energy you’ve been craving.

🗓️ Thursday, November 13th • 6:15 p.m.
📍 St. James Church
☕ Refreshments provided | FREE event
✍️ Registration required (link in comments)
🎁 Donations appreciated
A warm space to pause before the season begins.

10/31/2025

🛑We all know that disappointed feeling when we’ve made a promise to ourselves and don’t keep it. We swear we’ll exercise more, eat healthier, have that hard conversation, or finally say “no” more often.

And then… we don’t.

That’s the Action Gap — the space between what we intend and what we do. It’s not a discipline problem. It’s an alignment problem.
Because when what we do doesn’t match what we value, nothing feels satisfying.

✨Are you ready to change this?
✨To let go of the loop of “shoulds” and self-criticism?
✨To finally align what you say with what you do?

I’ve got the solution — The Compass Values Assessment.
It closes the gap between intention and purpose. It identifies your true values and helps you use them to create real fulfillment — not someday, but now.

Three sessions. Real alignment. Real clarity.

2025 is almost over. 2026 can be different — more aligned, more intentional, more you.

Message me today to find the Mindfulness Coaching option that fits you best. Zoom available

10/28/2025

⚓Trauma Recovery Weekly Wisdom
When the Nervous System is Stuck in the Past

Sometimes our bodies keep replaying a story the mind already knows is over. A sound, a tone, a certain kind of quiet and suddenly, we’re back there. Not in memory, but in physiology. The body moves first; the story catches up later.

We’re not acting out. We’re acting on instinct.
This is the intelligence of our bodies, shaped by years of adapting to what once felt unsafe. Every brace, flinch, or shallow breath is the body’s way of saying, I’m trying to keep you safe.

But what once protected us can quietly hold us back when life asks us to adapt again—to a steadier, more grounded kind of safety. Recovery isn’t about forcing change; it’s about teaching the body that safety can feel different now.

💡 Coaching Insight
Grounding isn’t about calming down—it’s about updating the body’s map. Each sensory experience we fully engage in teaches the nervous system something new: Here is not there. Now is not then. Over time, the body begins to draw a new landscape—one defined not by threat, but by contact, presence, and choice.

Each time we engage our senses, we’re updating the body’s map.
Interoception helps us notice what’s happening inside—the heartbeat, breath, or tension that tells our story from within.
Exteroception brings awareness outward—through touch, temperature, texture, or sound—helping the body register the world as safe to inhabit again.

🎯 Practice in Action
Use your hands as anchors.
They’re dense with nerve endings, built to connect the internal and external worlds.
Run cool water over them and notice the precise temperature shift.
Hold an ice cube until it starts to melt, then feel the warmth return.
Rub your palms together slowly, sensing the friction, heat, and pulse of aliveness.
We’re not trying to “relax.” We’re letting the body rediscover itself—one real sensation at a time—until safety becomes something it can feel, not just imagine.

✨ Self-Inquiry
What happens when I let my hands remind me I’m here?🫱🫲

10/18/2025

🍽️Food and the holidays...Mindful eating isn’t a diet — it’s a power move.💪

Slow down. Taste every bite. Listen to your body.🧘‍♀️

Enjoy your food without guilt, stress, or being on autopilot.

Eat with intention. Fuel with love. 💥💚

10/06/2025

So excited to share! Read my latest national blog publication.

Familiar Chaos vs. Unfamiliar Peace

Are you addicted to stress?

There's a way out of constant chaos.

https://tasteforlife.com/blogs/alyson-phelan/familiar-chaos-vs-unfamiliar-peace

10/03/2025

⚓Trauma Recovery Weekly Wisdom
The Armor We Forget We’re Wearing

So many of us move through the day with invisible armor. It shows up in the set of the shoulders, the breath held without realizing, the way the body stays braced for something that isn’t happening right now.

That armor isn’t failure. It’s wisdom. At one point, your nervous system decided this was the safest way to protect you. And it worked. You made it through. But the strategies that once kept you safe can also keep you stuck, long after the danger has passed.

💡 Coaching insight: In trauma-informed mindfulness, we don’t rip the armor off. We build safety through choice. We ask: What does my body need to feel just a little less guarded today? Even the smallest signal—an exhale that feels complete, a shift in posture, a gesture of kindness toward your body—reminds your nervous system it has options now.

🎯 Practice in action:
Pause and get curious. Notice one place that feels guarded. Instead of demanding it to relax, invite a micro-shift—stretch your fingers, breathe into the back of your ribs, or place your hand gently where the tension lives. Not fixing, just listening. That simple act coaches your body back toward choice.

✨ Inquiry for you:
What does your armor look like today? And what’s one way you might remind your body it doesn’t have to carry everything at once?

10/02/2025

Free event! Mindful Living Group
October 9th at 6:15pm
Topic: The Truth Behind My Yes

✨ Ever say “yes” when your body says “no”? It drains energy and trust. This month we’ll explore the truth behind our yes — and how boundaries become care.
✍️Registration required. https://presentmomentmy.com/mindful-living-groupamelia-event-list/
Donations welcomed!

09/23/2025

💥 Ever think, “Why am I like this?”

Survival looks like fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.
Recovery looks like choice, clarity, calm, and feeling whole.

When stress or trauma hits, your biology takes the lead.
Those patterns — fight, flight, freeze, fawn — are wired for survival.
Automatic. Not chosen.

But survival mode doesn’t have to run your life forever.

That’s why I created a step-by-step coaching journey built on mindfulness and neuroscience.

✨ We start with a strategy session — looking at what you’ve already tried, what’s helped, and where you’d like to see change.
✨ From there, each session builds on the last, giving you science-backed insights, practical mindfulness tools, and strategies you can use right away.

What you’ll walk away with:
✔️ The ability to notice stress or trauma patterns before they take over
✔️ Anchors that bring you back to center fast
✔️ A way to rewrite old stories into values that actually guide you
✔️ More steadiness, more clarity, more you

💜 Available in person (Mentor/Painesville Township area) or on Zoom — wherever you feel most comfortable.

🌟 Less survival mode. More clarity, calm, and real connection.

👉 Know someone this might help? Pass it along to them to show you care. Curious to learn more? Send me a message — I’d love to share the details.

09/19/2025

🧘‍♀️Mindful Living Tip of the Week
🌙 The Hidden Cost of Lost Sleep

Most people know sleep is important — but here are a few things you might not realize:

🧠 A rested brain regulates emotions better. Without enough sleep, the brain becomes more reactive, which means stress and frustration hit harder.
💔 Poor sleep raises your long-term risk for dementia and heart disease — because the brain and body lose their nightly repair window.
😴 Rest isn’t just about “shutting down.” A well-rested brain actually resets itself, clears out waste, and builds resilience for the day ahead.

✨ This week, notice not just how long you sleep, but whether you wake up feeling restored. That’s the true measure of rest.

📅 Want to go deeper? Join me Saturday, Sept 20 at 9am ET on Zoom for a free 30-minute workshop:
“Why You Can’t Sleep (and How to Fix It).”
Message me for the Zoom link — and share this with someone you care about who could use better rest.