Host Ying Deng interviews mindfulness teacher and nature-based practitioner Lisa Pedscalny about how to face “this moment” by discerning media intake and intentionally resting attention on both human systems in transition and the sustaining wisdom of the natural world. Lisa, a highly sensitive and neurodivergent naturalist on Vancouver Island, shares how spring rhythms (recorded back in February), interdependence, and cycles like compost mirror human renewal and inform sustainable engagement. She outlines non-negotiable “pillar practices” (nature time, contemplative practice, connection/community, and nourishment through food, rest, and movement) plus Maitri—unconditional friendliness toward oneself—framed as asking, “What does it mean to be the friend I most need in this moment?” They discuss love as a responsive practice, value-driven service through sanghas and Tara Brach’s Choosing to Love, sources of hope in peaceful actions and nature’s resilience, and close with a guided “coming to our senses” embodiment practice.
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00:00 Welcome to ADHD Gathering
00:18 Meet Lisa Pedscalny
01:57 Navigating This Moment
06:53 Sensitivity and Self Care
08:39 Pillar Practices Toolkit
11:44 Maitri Self Friendship
16:08 Tending the Soil Metaphor
18:06 What’s Mine to Do
21:48 Love as a Verb
24:31 Begin Again Practice
27:19 Resistance and Hope Stories
31:49 Embodiment: Coming to Senses
39:26 Closing Thanks and Farewell
Find this episode’s transcript here.
Resources:
- Booking a free coaching discovery call with Ying, an award winning ADHD coach & meditation teacher featured on Self Magazine
- Download a free ADHD emotional regulation menu
Guest’s Bio:
Lisa Pedscalny is a mindfulness teacher rooted in nearly twenty years of Vipassana practice and a lifelong relationship with the natural world. Her teaching grows from that lived connection, blending deep contemplative practice with close attention to the more-than-human world.
A graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, Lisa facilitates trauma-informed retreats, courses, and sangha gatherings through Forest Floor Mindfulness and serves on the teaching team for Tara Brach’s yearlong program, Choosing to Love. Her work integrates mindfulness, embodiment, and ecological connection as pathways of healing, belonging, and sustainable engagement with the wider web of life.
As a nature photographer specializing in fungi, Lisa brings the same attentive presence to the forest floor, inviting others into the simple, joyful practice of looking closely and discovering that mindfulness often arises naturally when we slow down and meet the living world with curiosity.
She lives and practices on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, where time outdoors continues to shape and inform both her life and her teaching.
Find Lisa on:
Her website https://www.forestfloormindfulness.com/ (Lisa has a new bi-weekly practice group starting September 2026!)
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