Daily Practice with Benita
I see you.
You know there’s a better way.
You’re done with numbing, escaping, people-pleasing, feeling like you’re missing something.
This podcast is your invitation to come home to your sexy feminine body and radical authenticity — through self-discovery, breath, movement, sweat, and the timeless wisdom of Ayurveda and hormone-smart biohacking.
Yoga, Pilates, and mindful strength training aren’t just practices here — they’re your sacred rituals to awaken your sensuality, radiance, and fierce feminine power.
A good practice is the one you do.
Daily Practice with Benita
Tend To The Part of The Garden You Can Touch | Nervous System Healing & Real-World Change
🌿 Tend to the Part of the Garden You Can Touch
Episode 2 – Daily Practice with Benita
What if your healing could begin with just one breath?
In this episode, we explore the wisdom of Jack Kornfield’s reminder to “tend to the part of the garden you can touch”—a deeply grounding principle for staying centered in a world that often feels chaotic, overwhelming, and out of reach.
You’ll learn how small, embodied practices can regulate your nervous system, restore inner peace, and gently shift your energy from survival into presence.
✨ Inside this episode:
• Simple breathwork and somatic practices to calm your body
• How social media + the news hijack your nervous system
• Why external chaos often mirrors internal disconnection
• The neuroscience of mindfulness: calming the amygdala, activating the prefrontal cortex
• Letting go of urgency + saviorism through grounded self-responsibility
• Tiny daily rituals that create lasting, embodied change
• The power of digital detox to reconnect with real life
• Why tending your own inner world creates ripple effects
Whether you're navigating burnout, anxiety, or just feeling overwhelmed by the state of things, this is your gentle call back to center.
🧘♀️ Subscribe to Daily Practice with Benita for weekly podcast episodes every Monday at 10 AM MDT and guided meditations or movement videos on YouTube every Friday at 7 AM MDT.
✨ Because a good practice… is the one you do.
Hello everybody and welcome to the daily practice with me, benita. Remember a good practice is the one you do. Hello everybody and welcome back to the daily practice with me, Benita. I'm so happy that you're back here, or, if you're here for the first time, welcome. Just to begin today's podcast episode, I'm going to invite you to just come to your center, so if you're not operating a vehicle or otherwise engaging in some activity where you need to really focus and have your senses open, I'm going to invite you to close your eyes, inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth and just become present in the now, in the here, in your body. Just noticing how your physical body feels, maybe naming a sensation or two, without judgment, without evaluation, just allowing your body to feel whatever it's feeling right now, noticing any thoughts that arise and see if you can approach them with equanimity, without judgment, without evaluation, without labeling it's good or bad, just allowing your thoughts, your physical sensations arise and be what they are there, okay, okay, today's episode is an invitation to tend to the part of the garden you can touch.
Benita:You might have heard that phrase before. It's a quote by one wise man called Jack Kornfield. I'm not in any way specifically affiliated with Jack Kornfield. I've simply heard him talk, heard him share his experiences and share his wisdom. He comes Buddhist background and I have, like I mentioned in my previous podcast episode, I've spent some time just sitting at some Buddhist meditation retreats and there are so many things that resonate with me with the teachings of Buddhist teachers. It's not to say that I ascribe to being a Buddhist, but I think that there is really precious seeds of wisdom that people from any religious or spiritual background can really benefit from. Okay, so, whether you're a Christian or a Muslim or a Hindu or atheist or anything, don't let that stand in the way of considering or learning from the teachings of a Buddhist teacher such as Jack Kornfield. Tend to the part of the garden you can touch. So this is about coming back to what we can care for when the world feels like it's too big, too broken or too much.
Benita:And this is especially true in the age that we live in presently, where it's not just TV, like when I was growing up in the 90s. It was like, yeah, we had a stream of information or stimulus or input coming in from, whether it was radio or TV, but it wasn't as pervasive. It wasn't this 24-hour news cycle through social media, through whatever it is, that we are all the time feeling so much and we are overwhelmed by all the stuff that's coming at us, whether it's from twitter or x or, uh, whatever other social media, from instagram, from like it's, other people's lives on facebook or any of those things, and then then we start to feel like this overwhelm or thing that we need to fix everything. So, with all that um, overwhelm or stimulus from the outside world, from our phones that are with us all the time, it seems, uh, we get lost or we get confused about what really matters. And if we're getting worked up over some conversation that's happening on Twitter, or we get too caught up in somebody else's drama on Instagram or Facebook, or we worry about how many likes did some post get or did that person unfollow or whatever it is, and we let our nervous systems get dysregulated due to all this stuff that's happening somewhere out there and we're not looking at what's actually right in front of us, tend to the part of the garden like. This is similar to what, um, I guess in a lot of circles or whatever. Jordan Peterson is a very divisive or in some ways, a controversial figure and same with his teachings. I learned a lot from the stuff he talks about. I don't subscribe to all his opinions or advice, but it is is true like, before you go out there and try to change the world, make sure that your own garden, your own space, your own room is in order, in order If you're thinking about nuclear war or you know, like whatever it is like okay, there's like people suffering in the Middle East, or okay, what's going on in Ukraine, or what's happening at the US-Mexico border, like there's that stuff that you can't really directly necessarily influence.
Benita:Or, of course, it depends who you are. There are some people who are very much directly involved with those things, but most of us hear about that stuff and get nervous, anxious, overwhelmed. Where, like our, maybe our child is lacking attention, or maybe your husband doesn't feel appreciated enough, or maybe you need to call your mom. You need to call your mom, you know, instead of like fighting over something on social media or or trying to change something, that's like so out there, tend to the part of the garden you can touch, like sometimes it's also really useful to remember that your external world is a reflection of your internal world. So that's the crazy thing and the magical thing about our reality that I've come to understand more and more that the more I can find peace, clarity, harmony, joy, contentment and love inside and for myself and for those who are in my life and in my presence, the more the external world also reflects that.
Benita:There's another teacher who I find very interesting and intriguing and compelling. Again, I don't know if what he's teaching is 100% true and I'm not, don't ascribe like I'm not his direct pupil or follower but there's a teacher called Paul Selig who who talks about a teaching from these guides whose wisdom he is channeling. And those guides tell us that whatever exists in your reality is what you are in vibr. The chaos, the war, whatever is going on in the external world, just by the mere fact that it exists in your reality means that you are at a vibrational frequency where those things are allowed to exist. And this is not just about you as an individual. This is like us collectively, as humanity exists at a vibrational frequency where war, disorder, disease, suffering and all those things are still present in our 3D world.
Benita:Okay, so that's kind of a revolutionary realization that by actually raising our own vibrational frequency we can rise above that stuff and if sufficient amount of people in our world, in our reality, are actually existing in a frequency of love, of compassion, of joy, of, you know, creation and all that good stuff, then certain things would no longer exist. Okay, this could go into a whole metaphysical, discussion about the reality of reality and like the war of good against evil and all that.
Benita:But really today's episode is just about taking radical self-responsibility for your life and your garden and tending to the part of the garden that you can touch, even if you see that there's weeds growing way over there, a mile away, and there's like some stuff that like oh, that doesn't look good and you want to run over there and fix it and you want to, you want to run over there and fix it, but like you can't see that the the rosebush right in front of your porch needs water, needs tending, needs pruning. Okay, and just as an example, I I used to. I used to work at a, I used to work at a flotation center, so it's a place where you have sensory deprivation tanks and people use those for different purposes for meditation, for athletic recovery, just pain relief or other things.
Benita:But I would really notice that sometimes, when the external world seemed chaotic or my you know, I was due to hand in an essay or there was some kind of task that needed to be done with my computer and the computer wasn't working and this or that and like or or, and, and then maybe there was some other thing with my bicycle or like stuff was breaking around me and it wasn't working and everything seemed like just a mess and dysfunctional and and just like everything was like in a state of like falling apart. I went in to my workplace, I went into the float tank, floated for an hour, came out, had a cup of tea, space of calm, of relaxation, of centeredness, of grounding, things just worked out. Okay, the file that I couldn't open on my laptop, like suddenly it just appeared and everything went smoothly with that. Whatever was wrong with my bike, I was able to resolve that with ease and grace and all that stuff that seemed to be external to me was actually just presenting itself that way because of my own internal state. Tend to the part of the garden you can touch.
Benita:Okay, whatever I said just now might sound to some people a little bit woo-woo, a little bit crazy, like what are you talking about Vibrational frequency, this or that? Or like, how does what I feel matter for external things in the material world? Okay, well, if you want to think about this in a scientific or materialistic way, you can recognize that it is a scientific fact. I guess, or it is like with certain confidence, we can say that overwhelm does trigger the stress response in the brain and that makes us less able to access creative problem solving. And it's also true that these mindfulness practices and coming back to the present moment, coming back to the body, grounding and, like I said, what I did, going into that flotation tank that reduces the activity in the amygdala and that's where fear is, that's where fight and flight exists, and coming back to the present moment brings our energy, our brain activity, physically to the prefrontal cortex, where we have clarity, regulation, like forward thinking and like problem solving.
Benita:You know that rational okay, the thing that makes us human, like, okay, how do we? How do we move forward? So when we do just one small thing to tend to ourselves, to tend to the physical body, to coming back to ourselves, it becomes safer, it becomes more easy and joyful and relaxing and then we can look at the outside and be like okay, I see now, okay, this is where I have agency, this is where I can be of service, this is how I can show up to myself, to my family, to my friends, to my colleagues, whoever it is that is actually in your life and that's how you make a difference in the world, and this is really a key thing also. This is really a key thing also. Maybe you've heard of, uh, the book called Atomic Habits by I forget the author, but it's really really crucial to look at, like, how small actions that bring you closer to the center, closer to yourself, closer to a grounded, relaxed being, how that will change your entire trajectory of your life and you will start to attract better people, better opportunities, better circumstances for yourself where you can be more of who you are and therefore be more of service and be that being on this planet who you were meant to be, instead of like being tossed around by the external stuff that actually doesn't matter or that you can't actually impact, especially from a chaotic, dysregulated nervous system.
Benita:And this is an interesting I mean this is a very personal teaching for me also, because my background actually is in academia, in higher education, in I studied, I have a degree in politics, in social sciences. I have worked in the public sector in an NGO several years. I guess a career in social sciences and like really looking at how is society structured, what is power, what is power, what's going on in the world. And after several years of studying and graduating from the university, I was actually planning to pursue a career in international politics, pursuing a career where I could help as many people as possible and like help, save the environment, save the Amazon, save this, save that, and like I really wanted at the world honestly, and I talked to people and I was directly involved with institutions, organizations that were there to make a difference there, to save the planet and the people.
Benita:And I realized that the forces at play in the world are so massive that me, as a person trying to go to an office and send some emails or do these projects that are bound to somehow fail or just be frustrating because either the funding gets cut or this or that, or I was looking at great policy initiatives or populist politicians promising this or that, or we're going to save the forest and we're not going to drill oil here and we're going to respect these indigenous people, just to see everything be completely bulldozed by big oil or big corporations, so helpless and useless in those organizations. That that's actually what also brought me to yoga and to teach these practices, because I saw that the change needs to happen within each and every individual. First, because, also by becoming the best version of yourself and really expanding your own consciousness and expanding your own power and harnessing that power to inspire others and to be a force of good, that way we can do so much more and we bring people with us. Just by being in the presence of spiritually evolved peers is so transformative and and our energy field vibrates. And through tending to the part of the garden that we can touch, we actually change not just our own lives but the lives of those around us, and you'll notice that your reality will become so much brighter, sweeter and more playful when you find that groundedness, joy and centeredness within yourself.
Benita:How can you tend to your garden? That's's what this podcast, that's what this, my YouTube channel, and the practices there are all about. It's just small, simple minute ways of tweaking how you feel every day, by just small practices. Okay, what might this look like for you? Just becoming fully present, feeling into your body, not being like, okay, I'm gonna whatever uber eats something or I'm gonna order something from doordash or whatever the relevant application is in your location. Like, instead of doing that, like, can you feel into your own physical body? And, okay, what does my body really need? Okay, it's not what you're craving. It's not about satisfying every like, pull or craving. It's like no, okay, there's this. I'm hungry, I want to eat something. How can I best love myself? And, okay, maybe sometimes it is. It's like, oh, I really I think the pleasure of eating a brownie with some delicious vanilla ice cream. That's what I, that's, that's how I can love myself. Maybe it is that okay. But maybe it is like you're going to try? Okay, like I've been wanting to like, learn how to cook lasagna. Okay, I'm going to start from scratch. Okay, what do I need? How do I do this? And just be fully in that process. And then you sit down and then you eat it. And then you're like hey, I did this and this is actually so delicious and nourishing and I'm so grateful to be able to live in a world where I can just make lasagna for myself and my family.
Benita:Tend to the part of the garden you can touch, tend to the part of the garden you can touch Today. For me, it was just making sure that, even though there was a certain chaos or overwhelm in my own life or there was things that were needed my attention, I really was like, okay, no, before I get on with anything else, I'm going to take my yoga mat, I'm going to put it outside, I'm going to enjoy the sunshine and I'm going to stretch and I'm going to breathe and I'm going to strengthen my body and then go back to whatever else needs to be done so I can approach those things with more calm and peace. Just taking moments for yourself. It might be something as simple as taking three deep breaths. That's it. Sometimes. That's all you have time for or all you have capacity for. Even just that will shift your nervous system to a more grounded state. There's so much more to explore here, but, like I've said, a good practice is the one you do and just pick one, just see if you can think of the best way to tend to your own garden today and see how that shifts.
Benita:If you're watching on youtube, please do. Maybe give other listeners an insight into how you're taking care of your own garden and what impact that has. Sometimes tending to your own garden might look like you're going to ignore the whatever is happening on the outside for a moment. So maybe tending to your garden is actually taking a day off social media, doing a digital detox, leaving your phone at home so you can actually be present with what is what you can touch. Okay, thank you so much for listening.
Benita:This has been the Daily Practice with me, benita. I hope you were entertained or found some wisdom or found some inspiration for YouTube daily practice with Benita. I post a small short video on how to practice, how to meditate, how to incorporate yoga in your daily life short practices, breathing exercises and just ways on how to establish a routine and making it easy, approachable and fun. So thank you so much for listening. Tending to the part of the garden you can touch just by tuning in and I'll be back next week. Thanks so much. Please do subscribe, share and, if you're a youtube, like and remember a good practice is the one you do. Thank you, bye.
