Embodied Mindfulness Meditation for Somatic and Emotional healing.
Podcast Intro – Heart Attending
Welcome.
This is a space to slow down, to arrive, and to listen — not only with the mind, but with the heart and the body.
I’m Dina A. Kushnir. My work offers a feminine, embodied approach to somatic meditation and spiritual awakening — one that begins not with effort or striving, but with tenderness, presence, and loving attention.
At the center of my guidance is a practice I call Heart Attending: an invitation to awaken the heart to awareness, to meet yourself with kindness, and to allow loving attention to become the ground of healing and awakening.
In a world that often pulls us out of ourselves — into speed, fragmentation, and self-judgment — this practice invites a return. A return to the body as an ally. A return to the breath as a home. A return to the quiet wisdom already living within you.
Through Heart Attending, the body, breath, sensations, emotions, feelings, and perceptions become doorways — not obstacles — to presence and peace. As we cultivate gentle awareness and compassion toward ourselves, somatic and emotional healing unfold naturally, forming the foundation for all spiritual growth.
The roots of my work are in Buddhist Vipassana meditation, with a deep emphasis on embodied awareness and the direct experience of body sensations. For over three decades, I have guided meditation groups, retreats, and classes, integrating this lineage with somatic, body–mind, and emotional healing modalities from both Eastern and Western traditions.
In this podcast, you are invited to rest, to feel, and to remember what it is like to be at home in yourself.
There is nothing you need to fix, achieve, or become.
Just bring your presence.
And let the heart attend.
Embodied Mindfulness Meditation for Somatic and Emotional healing.
Module 12: Episode 3 - Smiling at life’s simplicity
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Send me a note, love to hear from you.
What if the doorway to happiness isn’t a big breakthrough—but the air touching your nostrils, the soft beat of your heart, or a stranger asking for help opening a bottle?
Today’s meditation invites you to practice the holy art of noticing… and smiling.
Dear friend I guided this session as a remembrance for all of us who keep waiting for life to “start” when things finally improve. The wow moment doesn’t require a better life—only a more intimate meeting with the life that is already here. If you find one small miracle today—air on your skin, a warm cup in your hands, a soft smile rising in your belly—let it be enough. Let it bring you home.
· The wow moment lives in simplicity: breath, heartbeat, tiny acts of connection.
· The body is the portal: sensations bring us back to presence faster than thinking.
· Smiling is a practice: a gentle smile can soften the grip of thoughts and emotions.
· Even in darkness, wonder can appear: Etty Hillesum’s moonlight moment reminds us that one awake moment can be enough to touch life’s fullness.
· Drop the story, return to what’s here: simplicity is often the most direct path to peace.
Spiritual life begins where we are most ordinary: breathing, sensing, and resting in the embrace of Earth.
Click here to support the show.
Visit Dina's website, oliveoasis.com, to learn more about her work and her sanctuary in upstate New York.
Click Here to Sign up for Dina's newsletter to receive meditations in your inbox every Wednesday.
