026 | Announcing a New Title for My Book + A Bonus Reading

I wanted to share an update on what's happening with the book I wrote of my travels in India! After raising over ten thousand dollars in the Kickstarter campaign last Fall to publish it, I got right to work with my publishing team.  

Right now the manuscript is being copyedited, the official release date is August 22, 2017 and Kickstarter supporters should receive their early copy in July. 

After much contemplation, research, and discussion with my publishing team and kickstarter supporters, I have decided to change the title of my book from Synchronicity to Just Be: A Search for Self-love in India.

After my publisher approached me with the suggestion to find a title that was more direct, short, and to the point…something that would immediately speak to what the reader would be able to take away from reading this book, I began to tune into the total stillness and wisdom of my heart and asked the universe to send me a sign. (To hear the full story and hear the introduction of the book, listen to today's podcast episode)

When I was asked to "look at where my attachments lay" and make a decision that was best for the book I laughed to myself, because literally the last sentence I had written in my book was, "If I was able to release my attachments to the outcome, I knew everything would fall into place…"

Soon after, I found myself recording a podcast interview with Achintya Devi, an amazing woman in the world of women's spirituality and empowerment, and we began having technical difficulties - getting disconnected, coming on the line but using different links, about 15 - 20 minutes passed while we were just trying to begin the interview…

Frustrated, I found myself saying a new mantra over and over in my mind without realizing it, "Just be. Just be. Just be." Within a moment Achintya came on the line, and we recorded a powerful interview to close out the year.

Just Be happened to be one of the titles I was considering for the book, and in that moment, I knew this was the sign I was asking for.

Very little will actually change in the content of the book - I still share of synchronistic events and happenstance, but I’m seeing how synchronicity fits in as a natural side-effect when we tap into a space of “just being…”, releasing our attachments, and allowing the events of the universe to unfold magically around us…

I am feeling ever-more resonant with this new title and direction. After reading through the book last week, I saw how present the theme of “just being” is shared throughout. It just took having an outside perspective to point this out to me.

I believe the message of just being is so relevant and needed at this time - in a world so focused on achieving and doing…

This belief was affirmed to me a couple weeks ago when I received an email from one of my readers, Clare. She wrote in response to a newsletter I sent about letting go of goals and action plans for this year, and rather asking how we can bring more love, gentleness and service to every moment:

“When your email came in, I was initially afraid to open it, I was afraid that I was going to see yet another mention about New Year resolutions which would in turn make me feel shitty about the lack of my own. I had already seen plenty, and I was just about done feeling bad.

I opened your email, and it was the comforting hug that I needed, to remind me of that whisper in my heart that told me to spend more time nurturing myself, taking better care of myself.

After your email, I continued having similar signs pop up everywhere -- telling me that it's ok not to have everything figured out, and it's ok to take it slow. To JUST BE.”

I've been thinking more about what I want for the woman I wrote this book for…and I truly want her to experience what it is to just be...

...To fully accept herself as she is… And from that place of presence, self-love and acceptance… to follow her dreams and experience deep connection and synchronicity… but from a place of truly tuning in, and first finding stillness and silence, and listening to her heart.

After all of this I went into a 10-day silent meditation retreat, where I watched the busy-ness of my mind and found myself coming back again and again to this new mantra, "Just Be" and knew I was being guided to change the title.

My wish is for you to have an open heart and mind, and see how this mantra, “just be,” may come to play in your life…

This whole experience has really shown me the power of releasing my attachments. And how very often when we release those attachments, we end up with a solution that is even more in alignment. Who knew the process of publishing a book full with spiritual lessons would be so full of…spiritual lessons…? :)

What’s the latest update with the book now? We are putting final touches on a whole new cover - something that encompasses the magic and colors of India and the theme and message of just being…so stay tuned.

I’m so grateful for all of you. Thank you all for bearing witness to this journey. I hope you enjoy today's show.

With love, 

 Meredith

P.S. Congratulations to "Ksenia" and "Jokerofthenines" for winning the New Year Giveaway! I loved reading all of your podcast reviews and am so grateful for the time you took to share your stories. "Ksenia" and "Jokerofthenines" can email [email protected] to schedule your free coaching session. If you'd still like to write a review for Rising Women Leaders please do so here.

017 | Amma, Service & Finding My Voice: A Book Reading with Meredith Rom

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Last night I held my first book reading in Berkeley, CA at the community meditation house I used to live in.

The living room was packed, and at one point people were even spilling out into the hallway!  

What happened there, was pure magic.

I sang with the harmonium, told stories, answered questions from the audience and shared the first in-person reading from Synchronicity. 

It's amazing to think that only three years ago I never would have imagined my life would look like this.  Singing and telling stories in front of a group?  Me?  I don't know if I would have believed you!  

However, what I've learned about my fear over the years is that confidence comes from actually going out and DOING the things that scare us.  

Confidence comes from taking action.

It's only when we are in the non-action - the waiting and procrastinating that our minds run wild telling us stories that aren't even real.

Every time I've done something that scares me, it always feels like a crazy leap of faith, but every time I have made the jump, I have been met with so much love, synchronicity and magic. 

Today I have a new Synchronicity book reading to share with you!  It's all about Amma, service and finding my voice as a teacher.

In this episode you'll learn about:

• Teachings of Amma, the hugging saint and my experiences at her ashram 
• What it was like to teach English to hundreds of children at an orphanage in India
• My experience of teaching my first yoga class and discovering my authentic voice as a teacher

I'm curious what fear you have been hiding from?  What small step could you take to walk towards it?  Let me know in the comments below.

There are just 10 days left in the Kickstarter campaign! I am so grateful to everyone who has gathered together in support of this project. Really, I had no idea my heart could expand with this much love.

Warmly,
Meredith

015 | Heartbreak, Visions, & My First Big Leap: A Book Reading with Meredith Rom

I believe we all have the power to transform our greatest moments of pain and suffering into our greatest moments of awakening.

But I know from personal experience it is so hard to see the light when it feels like the world is crumbling beneath our feet.

Today I want to share with you one of my more difficult moments in the first reading of my book, Synchronicity, on the Rising Women Leaders podcast.

I take you back to over six years ago where I found myself sobbing on the floor after going through  total heartbreak (something that I know so many of us are familiar with).

I share about the challenges and hardships I faced that eventually led me into my greatest moments of awakening...the moments where I began to live beyond my fears and follow my intuition first across the country and then to the other side of the world to India.

This book is a story of finding forgiveness, of transformation, of healing and ultimately of finding love within.

I  look back and see my hardships as profound gifts.  It was these moments that prompted my greatest awakening, and I hold them in my heart with gratitude.

But today I wanted to share with you where I was and what my life was like before I found the inner peace I speak of now.

If you feel called to hold the book in your hands and read the whole story of transformation, I invite you to  watch the kickstarter video and contribute to the campaign.  

Supporters have a chance to receive an early signed copy of the book, coaching sessions for women on a heroine's quest, a self-care gift box, and 40 day meditation practice, among many other rewards.  Check them all out right here!

I hope you enjoy this  podcast and opportunity to learn more about my story. 

Stay tuned for more podcast episodes and sneak previews of the book coming soon...

With love, 
Meredith

24 Hours of **Magic**

Click the image to watch the video!

Over the last month I've ridden the waves of fear and trust as I prepared to start the publishing process to share my book with the world.

...And since launching a campaign yesterday, I am humbled and AMAZED by the outpouring of love and support this project has received...

Check out the latest stats to see how far we've come in only 24 hours.

This book was written to help you take bigger leaps to stand up and share your gifts with the world...

If there's anything I've learned in the last day, it's that we're all in this together.  
You can now watch the project video and be one of the first to join the community ready to experience my new book, Synchroncity.

Thank you to all of you who have helped me cross this threshold.

With immense love & gratitude, 
Meredith

P.S. Your help makes all the difference!
Please like, comment, and share this post on facebook to continue spreading the word.  In your post please include the project short link http://kck.st/2dTEZpS so people know where to go to view the project!

Yoga, Kirtan & Book Readings!

11/4 ~ Yin Yoga, Tea, Book Reading & Celebration! in honor of finishing my book, 'Synchronicity' 6:30 pm at The dhyana Center

10/27 ~ Kirtan! 6:30 pm at Alive Yoga in Sebastopol

10/24 ~ Kirtan & Book Reading at the Dhamma Pad 8 pm in Berkeley, CA

Please contact me if you'd like to invite me for a book reading, kirtan or yoga event during the campaign :)

The Secret to Finding a Four-Leaf Clover (and Manifesting Other Desires...)

I remember growing up and feeling envious of how my mom had a way with finding four leaf clovers.  

I sometimes spent hours in a patch of grass looking for those four leaves, perfectly bound together.  I would immediately grasp my fingers around anything that looked close. But I didn't find one.

It wasn't until one day I met a British man in India who told me the secret.

"The secret is you have to believe it's there waiting for you..."

He handed my friend a four leaf clover, then crouched down again and moments later stood up with another one for me. 

I later thought, "Isn't that the secret to life, and really anything we want to manifest?"  We have to believe with our whole heart that it is possible.  

We have to believe the universe is on our side, even conspiring in our favor to help us manifest what we want and need...

But months passed and I still didn't find one.

"I believe!" I told myself, but I continued to be disappointed.  

Then finally, I released the idea that I ever needed to find one. 

I found myself at the headwaters of Mt. Shasta a few weeks later sitting in a patch of grass.  I looked down, and there it was.

There was my first four-leaf clover waiting for me.

It was that moment I realized I needed to release all attachments to the outcome in order to manifest my desires.

I've learned this is an essential part of manifestation.  

When I believe, trust, and let go, I am met with exactly what I need.  

Again and again, I've seen this play out in my life.

I live for moments like finding that first four-leaf clover.  It is in these moments of pure synchronicity that I feel most connected.  

That's when I feel like there is a higher power...something greater at work that is guiding me and protecting me.

That is when I know I can offer up my fears, my need to control, and trust in the universe.

This is why I chose Synchronicity as the title of my book. The book tells the stories of the chain of events I experienced in India that linked together in an almost too perfect way.  

And it was those synchronicities that brought a deeper meaning to my life. 

I've spent the last few weeks revising my final manuscript to prepare for publishing.  I have some really exciting news to share (in about two weeks) and I can't wait to give you a chance to be one of the first people to get your hands on a copy so that you can experience this magic for yourself...

With love,
Meredith

P.S.  Click here to see the collection of four leaf clovers I have found since learning this secret...

What My Cat Taught Me About Abundance

Last December I put on my high heels and red lipstick to go to a fancy holiday party at a beautiful modern home in Penngrove, CA.

However, this wasn't just any normal holiday party.  This was a Toastmasters holiday party, a public speaking group I have been a part of for the last year.  Three people were prepared to give a speech that night, and one of them was me. 

After much practicing in the back field of my home, I felt ready.  I was excited.  As I put on my jewelry and curled my hair, I reflected back on how much I had grown in just one year.

I remembered standing terrified looking out at the audience at a podium in front of thirty or forty people the first time I stood up to speak in front of this group.  Despite the fear of that first moment, I knew I was ready to grow, ready to face the fear, and over the last year, I have.  

Public speaking has become more and more familiar, and through putting myself on center stage, I have learned so much about myself and the craft of captivating an audience.

Over the last year, I realized there was a girl inside of me, ready to be SEEN, to be LOUD, ready to STAND UP and share her voice.

I was encouraged every step of the way by this amazing group of people of all ages and from all walks of life.  I delivered my speech, "The Gifts of Giving" at the Holiday party that nightand was on a total high.

Then just a few weeks ago, I was looking at the voice memos on my phone and discovered my boyfriend Michael had recorded the whole thing!

At first I felt shy about sharing it, but realized this magical story of giving and receiving could be inspiring for you to break free from scarcity and believe in the beauty, magic, and abundance all around you.  So here I am sharing it with you...

The speech is only 8 minutes long, so I hope you take some time to listen above.  You'll also learn how I ended up with a magical cat on my doorstep...

Warmly, Meredith

Photo by In Her Image Photography

My story of transformation

In 2011 I started writing a book about synchronicity, the chain of events that links one thing to another in an almost too perfect way.  

I had just come back from six months traveling in India visiting spiritual teachers, living in ashrams and attending meditation retreats.  I was full with stories that seemed almost "too crazy to be true," so I sat down and started writing them.

Unfortunately, a few months later I got swept up in the need to earn money and find a place to live in the Bay Area housing scene.

My writing was pushed to the side...Until two months ago.

I woke up from a dream, where I found a book in a drawer, and was flipping through the beautiful pages - of what happened to be - another woman's travels!  There were photographs, beautiful designs and stories woven throughout.  I woke up and thought, "That was supposed to be the book, I wrote.  I need to do this." 

Moments like this, of synchronicity, have always brought me back to feeling like life has more meaning.  These moments have helped me believe there really is something more out there, linking us all to each other and to something greater...

But a few years ago I didn't know what synchronicity was or even fully believe miracles could be real...

At the time I was applying for jobs I didn't want, had chronic pain in my body and my skin was constantly breaking out.  I felt stressed and insecure - physically and emotionally.

One night, I was riding a subway alone in New York City feeling so depressed.  I went to a party looking for connection, but all I found was beer and small talk.  I felt alone and lost.

I sat and looked at the woman sitting across from me in the subway.  She was overweight, looked like she had just gotten off work in the subway system, and seemed equally exhausted, stressed out, and depressed.

I started thinking "What is the point? What is the point in living a life just to earn money and feed into a system that makes me feel like I'm not enough?  So that I spend more money, and need to earn more money working at a computer all day at a job I hate?  So I continue to have terrible chronic pain in my body and feel the need to numb myself out all the time??"

I went home that night and cried, feeling all the pain that arose from asking those questions.

Luckily, around this same time, a friend brought me to my first yoga class.

I remember lying in pigeon pose and realizing that instead of resisting all the pain in my body and my life, I could just be with it.  And in that willingness to be with it, I began to find release. 

I learned, that instead of trying to distract myself from my problems by going to food, to sugar, to alcohol, or to the pills the doctors gave me, I could be present with my body and ask what it was trying to tell me.

I see now, everything I have gone through, from the chronic aches and pains, the acne, the headaches and the jaw clenching, it has all been telling me, "Look at the root of the problem. What needs to change in your life?"

That was when I began to truly take care of myself. 

I started paying attention to what I ate.  I spent less time on the computer, took baths, went to yoga classes, and began addressing this pain I was trying to push away.

 I started loving my body, even with all its aches and its pains.  

And in that presence, in the willingness to just "be with it" instead of numbing myself out with food, sugar, alcohol, or the pills the doctors gave me, I was granted access to my intuition.  I was granted access to my body's wisdom.

That intuition told me to go to San Francisco, and a few months later, I did.  I moved on a total whim, not knowing anyone in the city and found a sublet on craigslist in an artist collective.

When I moved, I made a vow to start following my intuition and listen to my body.

Just days later a man came up to me in a park and said, "I'm going to meet a saint this weekend, and I think you're supposed to come..."  I listened.  

I started seeing visions of India in my meditations.  I listened.   I woke up one day with the strong urge to become a yoga teacher.  I listened.  

My intuition opened me to new visions, my path, my purpose, and my passions.

When I started following these passions, I quickly saw I needed to face my fears.  Thoughts like, "But how will I speak in front of a group?  How will I find the money to go to a teacher training?  How can I go to India by myself without a plan?  People will think I'm crazy!"  played over in my mind.

But I took action anyway.

I knew I needed to step outside my comfort zone to manifest my visions.

Up to now I've stood for courage and self-love. All along I've known, courage and self-love were key -- but for what?

I'm seeing now, courage and self-love are key for synchronicity...

As I meditated yesterday, these words dropped into my mind:

"When you love your body and live your passions life becomes full of magic."

"Oh," I thought to myself.  "That's it."

I am here to love my body, even with all the symptoms, aches and pains it sometimes shows me.  I am here to live my passions, because when I do, I open myself to synchronicity, joy, love, and ultimately, a more meaningful life.

And now, I am here to help you shift your thoughts, your beliefs and your reality.

When I started loving my body and living my passions, it all clicked.  I tapped into synchronicity.  Life had meaning again.  My life became magical.  

And I believe so can yours.

So today, in service to you, your body, and your passions, I ask, "What would a magical life look like to you?  How would you feel?  How would you treat your body?  and What passions would you be living?"

I would love to hear, in the comments below.

In service to you, sister.

May you love your body. May you live your passions. May you tap into a magical life full with love, joy, and synchronicity.

With love,

Meredith

_____

About the Author:

Meredith Rom is a spiritual activist who’s work has been empowering women since 2010. She helps women tap into self love and a life full of magic through her writing, coaching, and yoga retreats.

The # 1 block of miracles in your life

Stress!

When you are stressed out, you miss out on powerful opportunities to bring you exactly what you need.  {tweet it}

I recently read a book by Deepak Chopra where he shared:

"Stress is a form of anxiety.  If you're stressed, then you can't even begin to think about synchronicity.  Synchronicity is a means of getting in touch with God.  It's a path to meaning and purpose in your life.  It's a means of having the experience of love and compassion.  It's a means of connecting to the nonlocal intelligence of the universe.  If my attention is on situations that generate stress, then it is difficult to access synchronicity.  To do so effectively you have to have an attitude of surrender to the universal domain, which is much grander than anything you could imagine.  Surrender requires a leap of faith, a jump into the unknown...and if you take this leap of faith you will be richly rewarded."  ~Deepak Chopra

Think about it - songs, books, and breakthrough ideas do not come through us when we are in a state of anxiety and stress.

We need to create the space for these miracles to occur in our lives.

I receive all my best intuition and creative ideas when I create the space to just BE.

So when I start to feel overwhelmed, here are my go to steps to drop the stress:

1.  Move your body - Wisdom lives in your BODY not your mind.  Get out for a run, go to yoga class, or dance!

2.  Get a good night's rest - turn off the cell phones and computers early, make yourself a hot cup of tea, read a book and go to bed!

3. Be creative - Here are some images of my most recent creative ventures inspired by the retreat I went to last weekend.  Try making a collage, an earth mandala, make a painting or sing a song.

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When we lessen the chatter of our mind we create space for creativity, intuition and insight.

If you're local,  and feel like life is pulling you in different directions, I invite you to my Yin & Harmonium Yoga Series starting on Monday September 22.

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Each class will be a deeply nourishing and relaxing yoga practice to release stress and open to new insights about your life.

Take a moment to slow down, breathe, and try to incorporate the above steps to let go of stress in your life.  Because only when we create the space to let ourselves rest, do we open up to receive miracles...

Much love,

Meredith