💌 WITH LOVE, DOMINIQUE

Bringing meditation, mindset and spirituality down-to-earth to empower your authenticity & greatest potential.

 📚️ VOL 02 / 🕖️ READ TIME: 10 m 14 s

🎉 Exciting News: The Muses Program is Now Taking Applications! 🎉

In honor of that, over the next week, I wanted to use this as an opportunity to share some REAL insights that get me jazzed about meditation and why you’ll always catch me saying it’s a life changing, transformative practice. 

These are topics we’ll be covering more in depth and applying in THE MUSES PROGRAM, which is taking application until July 17th. 

Lucky for you readers, I love ranting about meditation — so below you’ll find your own mini-coaching session on how to use your meditation practice to reprogram your mind to your ultimate potential & wellbeing!

IN TODAY’S ISSUE:

• 🧠 TODAY’S LESSON / Don’t Meditate to Relax, Honey! Meditate to Reprogram your Mind to your Ultimate Potential & Wellbeing!

• ✏️ WORK IT / TIPS FOR YOUR PRACTICE

• 👩‍💻 MORE DEETS / THE MUSES PROGRAM

 🧘🧠✨ TODAY’S LESSON: Don’t Meditate to Relax, Honey! Meditate to Reprogram your Mind to your Ultimate Potential & Wellbeing!

To understand the real power meditation holds, I want you to imagine for a moment what it would look and feel like to be living inside of your own perfect life? 

(Just trust me here for a second okay, don’t overthink it! I know it sounds dramatic & woo-woo, but just make it some fun.)

• Would you be running your own business with your own hours? Being able to balance work, life, fun effortlessly?

• Would you be on a beach in Costa Rica with not a care in the freaking world? 

• Would you be surrounded by loving empowering relationships? Maybe ones that give you the type of love you’ve never experienced before? 

• Would it be the feeling of a lifetime of good sleeps (because you can calm your brain before bed) and mornings waking up (genuinely) thinking goddamn I love my life? 

• Or would it simply being able to have clarity on the above or be able to meet that question without a scoff, resistance, eye-roll or even the fear to really admit it?

Have you visualized it? Do you feeeeeeeeel it? Okay feel free to read on. 

Okay, but did ya really feel it or are you just skipping along?

Did ya?

Promise?

Okay okay I believe ya!

^ It’s important because that’s everything you’re loosing out on when you think of meditation as a practice to just “relax”.

Meditation has a massive misconception in the western world - and I’m all about love & light, but that misconception really grinds my gears. 

The misconception is that meditation is a practice for relaxation, which doesn’t do it anywhere near enough of a service. 

Sure there’s certain types of meditation that focus specifically on relaxation and sure, stress-reduction is (one of) the main benefits talked about in the mainstream. 

But here’s how I see this misconception most often mess a medi practice up: 

❌ If you sit down for your first time to mediate & it doesn’t relax you — you’ll probably give up or never meditate again.

❌ If your mind is overactive & it feels like it’s going to be a “bad” (i.e. not relaxing) meditation — you probably won’t do it. 

❌ If you feel like your day is too busy & the “to-do” of meditation adds to your stress making it not relaxing — you’re gonna skip it. 

❌ And when meditation FINALLY starts kicking in & life feels good — you’ll probably think you don’t need it anymore and drop your practice (never experiencing how good it can really get).

If you’re still in that boat, don’t worry most people (myself included) believe that at the start.

It wasn’t until I started working with my own coach that I was finally introduced to meditation as a practice of non-judgemental observation, awareness and strengthening your focus - by noticing (lovingly) how nutso our minds can truly get before we re-focus it to the present or something more supportive.

“Oh that’s interesting, I wonder how I got here?” was a phrase he told me to implement when I realized I had been taken down the mental & emotional rabbit hole by a thought. 

The results from even that practice (and I say this with my full-chest) were life-changing. By shifting from “person who couldn’t relax” into neutral observer of my mind I quickly realized:

• A thought (factual or not) had the power to impact my emotions. 

• My emotions would impact my behavior, reactions or choices. 

• My choices dictated the way I “showed up” to situations, which in return would impact how people, situations or “life” showed up for me.

• Most of this process was happening totally internally, at a nearly lighting fast processing speed. 

By becoming aware of this process, I could break the power of that thought, regulate my nervous system via meditation and make better, more intentional choices that started to completely shift my life. 

It felt like almost suddenly through my daily 10-30 minute practice, things I felt like I struggled with my entire life started to have less impact on me, while the things I’ve always dreamed of experiencing started to happen.

As an example, one of those things was speaking up for myself when I felt vulnerable (which I had almost never done prior).

But now, in the moments an opportunity presented itself I would notice:

• A thought would come in (something like “they don’t care what I have to say”) which would leave feeling uncared for and angry. 

• Feeling uncared for / angry would lead me to shutting down & ruminating in my mind (maybe even while trying to convince myself I was fine).

• Which would lead me to being delayed in texting back, not responding, saying “nothings wrong, I’m fine” or avoiding the situation all together — which in turn became a self-fulfilling prophecy of that thought because (contrary to my belief at the time) most people are, in fact, not mind readers. (So when they ask “what’s wrong?”, I say “I’m fine”, but noticeably start to get distant — this starts their own ???? about it.)

Once I started to realize this process (despite my body + mind being incredibly uncomfortable with doing something new) I began to speak up for myself more in dating, friendships, family, career, the works. 

From there, my relationships starting getting deeper, more supportive and more aligned.

During my meditation certification, I began to feel more comfortable in sharing my experience vulnerably on social which led to SO many amazing connections, a growing following and later some day 1’s that would become long-term clients.

Familial dynamics that felt constantly triggering started to shift.

And as you can imagine, the ripple effect started to grow + grow over the years. 

What I didn’t realize then, but what I know now is that I was exercising my mind’s neuroplasticity through my meditation practice - which is the brain’s lifelong capacity to change and rewire itself in response to the stimulation of learning and experience.

For those who still think meditation’s main purpose is relaxation, I want to give you another perspective to bulk up your practice:

Meditation is a practice of reprogramming your mind to support your ultimate potential & well-being.

Benefits like relaxation, increased focus, increased compassion, increased confidence, better decision-making, or whatever you desire in your “new reality” are by-products of that.

Let me break it down for you:

What does it mean to “reprogram your mind”? 

Reprogramming your subconscious mind is the process of rewiring your brain to achieve goals like success, positive thinking, and problem-solving. The subconscious mind is the part of the brain that processes thoughts, emotions, decisions, and bodily responses. It's like a hard drive that stores all of your life experiences.

How it works from the lens of neuroplasticity:

• When we’re born, our brain is filled with neurons: the fundamental units of our brain and nervous system, but not many neural pathways.

• Neural pathways are a series of connected neurons that send signals from one part of the brain to another, formed and strengthened over time in our subconscious through a habit loop (cue, behavior, reward—more on this below).

• The neural pathways that fire most often together, wire together, becoming automated, invisible processes that dictate almost all of our daily behaviors, emotions, thoughts, perceptions, how we make meaning of “external stimuli” (i.e., reality), and therefore, how we show up to it.

It’s important to note that our neural pathways, which again, dictate not only how we “show up” to life but also how we process the information coming from it, are being created from birth.

This means without awareness, everything you’ve learned about yourself, life, “how other people are,” and “how the world is meant to be” is secretly impacting your present moment. No, I know WILD.

How our neural pathways are formed through habit:

• Cue: The cue is the trigger that initiates the behavior. This can be an external stimulus (like seeing certain food) or an internal one (like feeling bored).

• Routine: The routine is the actual behavior itself—the action or set of actions taken in response to the cue (i.e., you may eat that food to satisfy a craving or reach for your phone to alleviate boredom).

• Reward: The reward is the internal (like feeling satisfied) or external (like interacting with a friend) feedback that grants that result, answers the “cue,” and reinforces that routine.

So, it can look like:

• Cue: You feel stressed out and want to decompress.

• Routine: Based on what you do most often, you may grab your phone to scroll on social media, grab a few drinks with friends, go for a walk to decompress, light up a cigarette, call a friend to vent, or meditate.

• Reward: Whichever routine you most readily choose relieves that immediate cue (to decompress) and has the power to reinforce that habit for the next time the cue pops up.

Now, like I said again - this is happening from birth: as a way to assimilate and survive in our immediate upbringing. 

One of the things important to mention is that as babies we interpret love with survival because we need our caregivers love in order to survive — and we can do a lot of mental gymnastics with ourselves in order to figure out the best way to be loved. (Bonus note: if you’ve ever caught yourself doing this in your now relationships - that’s why. The brain just replays that programming.)

So I want you to picture a hypothetical lil’ baby learning something like the below. Read Scenario A first, then B.

Now, once this habit loop is learned, it gets stored in the back of the subconscious mind where it begins to invisibly run the show — impacting perceptions, beliefs, behavior, emotions in the present. 

Can you just imagine how that would impact a person’s self-concept? The way they feel internally about wanting affection? Their relationships? The way they “show up” to the world?

This is just one isolated example, the way we interpret and make meaning of the world is through all of these frameworks stored in our mind. 

This is because this habit loop impacts more than just routine behaviors, it has the power to impact everything, like:

• Our self-concept and the way we perceive our potential.

• The assumptions we most readily make about other people/the world.

• Our inner narrative: how we habitually speak to ourselves.

• What we most readily prioritize in our life or deem as “valuable.”

• How we show up to challenges, confrontations, or obstacles.

• Our automated subconscious fears that dictate what we do/avoid.

• The way we fill our time, calendars, experiences, and ultimately our life.

• So much more.

In Tibetan Buddhism, these conditioned patterns are referred to as our “karma” and for multi-millennias this practice of meditation has been used to shift our “negative karma” (i.e. the stuff that stresses us out or causes our suffering subconsciously) in order to create a life of “good karma” a more blissful, peaceful state of mind and being.

When done with intention, a daily meditation practice increases our awareness and our emotional neutrality to the unconscious, unsupportive patterns that stem from our past, breaking their momentum and hold they have on us.

From there, each day, we get to open our minds to new possibilities from the lens of our intention so we can implement conscious choices that align MORE with the type of person we want to be in this ONE LIFE WE GOT!!

Eventually because of neuroplasticity - things that felt initially impossible: like loving yourself, or public speaking, or having a peaceful mind & life, or actually choosing healthy relationships or finally not getting triggered by those familiar family dynamics — start to become easy.

But you do have to do it consistently. 

When you first start meditating - you can almost imagine it as discovering a garden in your backyard. The garden is your mind. And because it’s been left untended, there are some beautiful flowers that have been grown but also weeds in the mix. Now when you start meditating, you start tending. Giving more attention and nurturing to the beautiful flowers - thoughts that are supportive - and planting new seeds for the future, while giving less attention and nurturing to the weeds - less supportive thoughts. Eventually, because you’re a fab gardener I already know it, you create this beautiful garden of your mind that supports your potential & ultimate wellbeing.

Because like mentioned above, what fires together, wires together.

Most of us don’t get to choose what wired together as a result of our immediate environment from birth — but now as adults, we can choose what re-fires and wires together for our future!!

Which hopefully, gives you a bit more background to why you can catch me ranting and raving about this practice the next time you see me hehe

 🧘✏️ WORK IT: TIPS FOR YOUR PRACTICE

This (obviously) runs deep and is what I’ll be covering in more depth in THE MUSES PROGRAM for my female visionaries. But if you’d like to implement this into your meditation practice, here’s what you can do:

COMMIT & GROW YOUR PRACTICE: If you’ve been working with an awareness-based practice like mindfulness meditation or Vipassana practice, commit to consistency—that means ideally seven days a week. If you’re new or scared of commitment, start with five minutes. When you get comfortable with that, grow it to 10, then to 15, then to 20-30. Consistency is the most important thing in meditation, so on busy days when you want to skip/give up, alternate with a smaller time that feels manageable.

SET AN INTENTION: Before you start, ask yourself what you need to feel more like yourself or for your day ahead.

Intentional states like: joy, patience, confidence, compassion, love, trust, etc.

As you breathe, imagine inhaling that feeling in and exhaling whatever is not that out. Lean into that feeling as much as you can on the cushion.

BRING THAT INTENTION OFF THE CUSHION WITH YOU: If you experience something in meditation, when NOTHING else is acting upon you — where do you think that state is coming from? (You, duh!!!)

Meaning that throughout your day, when you get pulled out of that state you can always refocus and come back to it (strengthening your intentional habits, behaviors and responses).

Stay connected to that intention throughout your day and become a neutral observer of what takes you “out” of that alignment. Based on the trigger that knocks you out, see if you can reframe, shift your focus to something aligned with that intention, or practice limiting the mental energy and time you give to it.

 👩‍💻💌✨ MORE DEETS: THE MUSES PROGRAM

Single-pointed focus meditations like the ones mentioned above are fab, but in The Muses Program, we dive into:

• 12x, Weekly 90 Minute Zoom Sessions

• 3x 1:1 Coaching Calls Throughout the Program

• A Personal Power Plan & Lessons — to break down even your biggest visions into approachable steps in the program & beyond.

• 5x Frameworks of Meditation — that you’ll be able to guide yourself through by the end of the program to unlock intuition, embrace personal power & release anything that stands in your way.

Allll to offer you the quickest, most direct path to bringing your visions to fruition!

For more information or to apply, check it out: HERE.

APPLICATIONS CLOSE: on July 17th, PROGRAM BEGINS: July 30th / Aug 1st.

MORE WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER:

1:1 Alignment Coaching: For Founders, CEOs, or Executives who are looking for more personalized sessions, I currently have one spot available for July.

Reach out to [email protected] with more details on why you’re interested in coaching to start the conversation!