This is episode 637 of the Daily Meditation Podcast.

I'm Mary Mechley and welcome back to day 6 of a special series I'm sharing with you on a mind body connection.

How your mind and body influences your very gene expression.

I am sharing a full guided meditation every day this week that I recorded six years ago and in today's episode you will discover an herb that can benefit you in a similar way as do meditation techniques and you'll be guided in a meditation layering together all the techniques you've explored all week long.

And I hope that you will enjoy this series and gain a little perspective on the mind body connection especially as we continue to experience COVID the coronavirus during this pandemic.

So I invite you to perhaps meditate a little longer than you normally do but I want to mention that the way the meditation is set up.

It allows you to break off at that point that feels right for you.

You may enjoy listening to the insight I share and then you might do your own thing you might meditate in your own way or you might enjoy being guided through the full body relaxation.

And then that might be just enough for you or you may enjoy sitting in stillness as you're guided combining all the different meditation techniques from this week.

And then of course the music will play longer so that you can go a little more deeply into inner stillness so break off at the point that's right for you or continue through the whole meditation.

I hope you enjoy today's episode in today's meditation I always provide you with an herbal tea that you can try now herbs can benefit you in a similar way as a meditation technique they can help calm your mind and body.

You know for me it started with tea tea slowed me down simply sipping a cup of tea can really slow you down and provide you with a little pause in your day and so I always encourage you to end your meditation and ease yourself back into your day and even in your interaction with other people.

And you can do that by sipping a cup of tea after your meditation maybe riding in a journal and just reflecting on your meditation and enjoying the beautiful sensations you've created for yourself so I'm going to be sharing an herbal tea that I recommend for you for this week's series on promoting your positive gene expression.

And then I'm going to guide you through a meditation layering some of the techniques and affirmation a mood draw and a breathing technique together into one meditation and then you break away from the techniques and my guidance and then you'll meditate on your own you'll hear the music stop you'll hear me stop guiding you and this is your time to immerse yourself in the stillness.

Meditate just to the point where you feel like you could go a little bit longer leave your meditation on a high note should never force yourself to sit in meditation to sit and do your time know always meditate just to the point where you still really enjoying it.

And so that's what I have planned for you today so.

So the herb that I recommend for you today for this week's promoting positive gene expression meditation series is turmeric now there are so many herbs that I could recommend told see ashwaganda cinnamon ginger there's so many different powerful herbs but I chose turmeric because I think that.

It's a little bit of an exotic herb to capture your interest to try something new but it's not so exotic that you can't pick it up at very likely your local grocery store or especially at a market on natural foods market and I recommend that you buy it.

The root the turmeric root just like you would buy ginger root in fact it's often right next to the ginger root in the store where I buy it and you prepare it in a similar way as you would prepare ginger tea if you do that you would take the root of course you wash it now I don't peel it I like to keep the skin on you might want to take your skin off but I like all the essential nutrients in this in the skin of the turmeric.

So I just slice it and chop it and I boil some water and then I steep the chopped turmeric in the water you can add about two inches to like one or two cups of water depending on how strong you like it and just steep it with a lid on your cup or over the saucepan wherever you're steeping the turmeric in the hot water.

Steep it for about 10 minutes or however you like it to taste and you can add a little honey if you like but I just sip it like that and it doesn't taste super sweet but it has a nice taste so you might try this and I want to let you know why I chose it because

turmeric is quite a powerhouse for your health it helps ease arthritis now turmeric is very popular in a lot of Indian and dishes and so if you eat a lot of curry you're likely to find turmeric there but you can use turmeric in your cooking certainly the powder turmeric I add that to a lot of things especially whenever I have rice or quinoa

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