The Gathering Room Podcast

Martha says one reason we humans are a strange species is because we love to make jigsaw puzzles—beautiful pictures that we cut up into tiny pieces and disassemble, and then put back together. And we don’t like them to be too easy!

In this episode of The Gathering Room: Solving the Puzzles of Our Lives, Martha talks about the way problems in our lives are like puzzles, and how it often can be more joyful to have a puzzle than not to have one. These puzzles are the life situations given to us by circumstance.

“If we can get into a state of relative relaxation,” Martha says, “and then look at even a very scary problem in our own lives, we can start to appreciate the kind of puzzles our brains like to solve.”

To learn how to approach the problems in your own life like a jigsaw puzzle—and solve them in a way that supports your awakening and can help transform the world—tune in for the full episode. It also includes Martha’s guided Space, Stillness, and Silence meditation.

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You’ve heard of the fight and flight reflexes, but what about flop and fake?

Flop and fake (also known as fawn) are two of the other responses in the polyvagal system, a theory about how our nervous systems adapt to stress and the environment. Fake/fawn is a people-pleasing response, and flop means you just lie there unable to drum up motivation.

In this episode of The Gathering Pod: The Way Back to Happy, Martha’s talking about polyvagal theory and how to regulate your nervous system when it gets hijacked by fight, flight, freeze, flop, or fake.

One of the things polyvagal theory says is that we can never go into a calm, alert state unless our nervous systems are interacting with one of four things: self, others, nature, and spirit. The good news is that Martha has a process to help you do exactly that!

If you’re feeling frazzled, overstimulated, or overwhelmed and you need some relief, tune in and let Martha guide you back to your center of calm. With a few prompts, you can start to regulate your nervous system and become conscious of the beauty, joy, and love all around you.

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We're not trained to think of a spiritually led life as being hilarious or silly or goofy. But as Martha reminds us, laughter is the beginning of prayer.

In this episode of The Gathering Pod: Letting the Force Steer Your Life, she talks about the difference between spiritual faith and religious faith, and how to connect with and trust spiritual energy (aka the Force) to guide you.

When you do, you’ll be in for some truly delightful surprises!

As Martha puts it, “The universe is not your butler. The universe is a continuous aspect of your consciousness that loves for you to play with it.”

Listen to the full episode to hear some incredibly fun stories about manifesting with integrity, learn more about the overlap between play and spirit, and participate in Martha’s guided Space, Stillness, and Silence meditation.

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“Be prepared to stop.”

This is serious life advice, Martha says, because no matter what we’re doing (or how much we want to continue doing it), at some point we’re going to get interrupted by life.

Whenever we have to stop something we thought was going to continue indefinitely—like a job, for example, or a marriage—it can really hurt.

In this episode of The Gathering Pod: When Stopping Is the Way to Go, Martha talks about how we can make peace with inevitable interruptions by embracing another perspective:

“In the flow of time in this earthly existence, stopping and starting are the same thing—every time we stop doing something, we start doing something different.”

Tune in to participate in a guided meditation with Martha and learn how you loosening your attachments can ease the pain of stopping, so you can start observing the delicious flow of life.

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Are you familiar with polyvagal theory?

It may sound highly scientific, but Martha says polyvagal theory has a profound effect on spiritual practice as well, and she’s talking all about it in this episode of The Gathering Room: Dropping Anchor.

The polyvagal nerve is a system of nerves connecting the brain to various parts of the body, and it plays a key role in our response to stress—either revving us up or shutting us down.

And according to the work of Deb Dana, it’s also involved with our sense of joy, compassion, love, and connection with higher consciousness through the part of the polyvagal nerve called the ventral vagal.

Martha says that even when we feel overwhelmed, the ventral vagal state allows us to anchor into a state of joyful, peaceful relaxation and hold that state of being even amid chaos.

To learn how to stay anchored in peace when others are in fight-or-flight or shutdown mode, tune in for the full episode. Martha even guides you through a ventral vagal exercise along with her Silence, Stillness, and Space meditation. Don’t miss it!

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It’s The Best of the Gathering Pod, and this week we’re revisiting another listener favorite from the vault—Episode 110: How to Let the Light In.

In this episode, Martha talks about her “rage to master” and the paradox of imperfection: While we can try our hardest to produce perfect results, we must accept that we’ll always make mistakes. It’s this combination of effort and grace that allows us to let the light into our lives.

To find out more, be sure to listen to the full episode!

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We’ve got another Best of the Gathering Room episode for you today, a listener favorite called Building on Bright Spots.

In this episode, Martha talks about finding and following the almost invisible “bright spots” in your life whenever things feel dark and cloudy. Because clouds are illusions, it's always possible to find little breaks in the clouds and see the clear points of truth that can guide you home.

To find out how, tune in for the full episode—which might turn out to be a bright spot for you!

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While Martha is out on vacation, we’re bringing you The Best of the Gathering Room—a treasury of Gatherers’ favorite episodes—starting with: How to Heal Your Heart.

Many of us believe something outside ourselves can heal us when we're heartsick, but Martha says the opposite is true. The heart can heal itself—if you know how to access the "heart healer" within you.

To learn how to come into integrity so that your inner “heart healer” can do its valuable work, don't miss this popular episode!

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Gatherers—I'm thrilled to be joined by Dr. Richard Schwartz, the brilliant creator of Internal Family Systems (IFS), a wonderful therapeutic model that you may have heard me talk about before because I love using it!

IFS provides an optimistic, empowering framework to help us focus on the different “parts” of our personalities so that we can shift into a state characterized by curiosity, calm, confidence, and compassion.

I hope you’ll tune in for our conversation about his latest book, YOU ARE THE ONE YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR: APPLYING INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEMS TO INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS, which is available at all major retailers.

You can follow Dr. Richard Schwartz on:
Twitter @ifs_model
Instagram @internalfamilysystems
Facebook at InternalFamilySystems
LinkedIn at InternalFamilySystems

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Have you been feeling depleted?

So many of us are tired, so much of the time. To find out what we can do about it, join Martha for this episode of The Gathering Pod: Filling the Well.

Martha points out that there are many situations in human life that are analogous to drought— times when our energy feels like it’s drying up. The good news is that there are sources of energetic replenishment always available to us.

With enough spiritual practice you can actually get to a place where you feel the dewpoint of Spirit filling you up with the energy that never fails—what Martha calls the “water of life.”

To learn more about filling your spiritual well with renewed energy and joy, don’t miss the full episode! You’ll also be able to join Martha’s guided Silence, Stillness, and Space meditation.

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