Mindful

This meditation guides you through one of the fundamental practices of mindfulness: breathing. For seasoned meditators and beginners alike, this practice will bring your awareness to your breath, mind, and body.  Show notes: This practice has been adapted from The Mindful Life Project.  JG Larochette is a former classroom teacher, community organizer, and mentor in Richmond, CA who is the founder and executive director of the Mindful Life Project.

This guided meditation takes you through the power of soft belly breathing. Jillian Pransky says the belly is our emotional center and softening it can bring up a mirage of feelings. This practice allows you to tune in to your innermost emotions.  Show notes: Meditation by Jillian Pransky.  Jillian Pransky is an international presenter and the author of Deep Listening. She is a Certified Yoga Therapist recognized by the International Association of Yoga Therapy and the director of Restorative Therapeutic Yoga teacher training for YogaWorks.

This pen and paper practice guides you into finding your loving-kindness phrases which you can use in meditations. After writing, reflecting and writing some more, Chris guides us in using our phrases. Show notes: This practice originally appeared on ChrisGermer.com. Christopher Germer, PhD, has a private practice in mindfulness and compassion-based psychotherapy and is a psychiatry lecturer at the Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance.

A simple meditation to connect to your breath.

Don’t fall into the trap of thoughts that swirl through the mind, especially those laced with judgment. Instead, learn to let them pass through without getting sucked in. Show notes: This meditation is adapted from Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Guided Mindfulness Meditation Series 3, available here. These guided meditations are designed to accompany Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book Meditation is Not What You Think and the other three volumes based on Coming to Our Senses. Jon Kabat-Zinn is the founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as well as the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Take a moment to relax your body and focus your mind. This guided meditation is a simple way to cultivate mindfulness and bring your attention inward throughout the week. Show notes: Meditation by Diana Winston. Adapted from Greater Good In Action. Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center and author of several books including The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering your Natural Awareness.

This guided meditation allows us to move out of our own experience and open up to what is happening around and within us. This meditation cultivates awareness in a detailed way to deepen your mindfulness practice.    Show notes: This meditation is adapted from Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Guided Mindfulness Meditation Series 3, available here. These guided meditations are designed to accompany Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book Meditation is Not What You Think and the other three volumes based on Coming to Our Senses.   Jon Kabat-Zinn is the founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as well as the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Can you extend compassion toward a difficult person in your life? Congressman Tim Ryan tries a practice to help him reach across the aisle.

As part of the “Real Love with Sharon Salzberg” event hosted by Women of Wisdom and Mindful, meditation teacher and author Sharon Salzberg discussed the true meaning of love for ourselves, others and life. The following is an excerpt of her talk.

As we become more familiar with practicing mindfulness, we can begin to enjoy it as an opportunity to simply be—to inhabit our body and be wherever we are without having to do anything in particular.    Show notes: Meditation by Barry Boyce.  Barry Boyce is founding editor of Mindful and Mindful.org. A longtime meditation practitioner and teacher—as well as a professional writer and editor—he is the editor of and a primary contributor to The Mindfulness Revolution: Leading Psychologists, Scientists, Artists, and Meditation Teachers on the Power of Mindfulness in Daily Life.

The moment of noticing a thought is a very powerful moment. It’s really where the real meditation occurs. That’s because there’s a spark of insight at that point, what in technical terms is called meta-awareness: you’re aware of your thought process, not just caught up in it. Now at that moment, there are lots of possibilities. Show notes: Meditation by Barry Boyce.  Barry Boyce is the founding editor of Mindful and Mindful.org. A longtime meditation practitioner and teacher—as well as a professional writer and editor—he is the editor of and a primary contributor to The Mindfulness Revolution: Leading Psychologists, Scientists, Artists, and Meditation Teachers on the Power of Mindfulness in Daily Life.

Explore a brief mindfulness meditation practice from Barry Boyce, Editor-in-Chief of Mindful. This is a short practice for settling the mind, intended for doing in the middle of the day, wherever you are out in the world. 

This guided meditation is an introduction to deep belly breathing which helps you relax and reduce stress. The practice triggers the relaxation response, which is the opposite of the fight-or-flight response.  Show notes: This meditation is adapted from shamashalidina.com. Shamash Alidina is the author of Mindfulness For Dummies and most recently, The Mindful Way Through Stress.

This guided meditation is about labelling your emotions. Research suggests that the practice helps the amygdala, the structure in the brain that registers danger, become less active.  Show notes: Adapted from The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristin Neff and Chris Germer.  Audio: © Christopher Germer & Kristin Neff. Mindful Self-Compassion. June 2017. All rights reserved. Christopher Germer, Ph.D., has a private practice in mindfulness and compassion-based psychotherapy and is a psychiatry lecturer at the Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance.

An excerpt of a longer conversation with Rhonda Magee on mindfulness and dismantling the subtle habits and patterns that separate us. In this excerpt, Magee explores how mindfulness can be both a tool for personal growth and societal transformation—not either or, both "both, and," as she puts it. 

A 20-minute breathing meditation that explores thoughts, sensations, and mental states with kind awareness.

This body scan and breath awareness practice integrates relaxation, mindfulness, and gratitude. With it, we can strengthen our ability to notice what arises in our field of awareness—pleasant or unpleasant—with sustained attention. Show notes: Meditation by Scott Rogers.  Scott Rogers is the founder and director of the University of Miami School of Law’s Mindfulness in Law Program where he integrates mindfulness into the law school curriculum, and he is co-founder of the UMindfulness, the University’s Mindfulness Research and Practice Initiative.

This guided meditation can be helpful when you’re feeling isolated or experiencing difficulty. Connecting with self-compassion reminds us that even though the struggle is a part of life, we can still experience kindness and acceptance.  Show notes: Adapted from The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristin Neff and Chris Germer. Kristin Neff, Ph.D., is an associate professor in Human Development and Culture in the Educational Psychology Department, at the University of Texas at Austin.  Christopher Germer, Ph.D., has a private practice in mindfulness and compassion-based psychotherapy and is a psychiatry lecturer at the Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance.

Follow this guided meditation from Cara Bradley to notice your sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, and thoughts.

Steve Hickman leads this guided meditation to practice wishing yourself happiness.