Mindful

Practice sending loving-kindness to people you feel neutral toward as well as those you have difficult feelings toward. It's only after we've practiced many times that we begin to notice a habit developing—namely, letting ourselves off the hook once in a while. Show notes: Adapted from a talk from Sharon Salzberg at the Insight Meditation Society. Listen to the full talk. Sharon Salzberg is a meditation teacher and New York Times best-selling author. She is also the cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society.

This guided meditation allows you to let go of your thoughts and settle into the natural rhythm of the breath.

'Tis the season to give up the guilt. Let go of aiming for perfection around the holidays with this guided meditation. The practice offers a way to let go of expectations and open up to the opportunities for joy and connection that you may be missing. Show notes: Meditation by Mark Bertin.  Mark Bertin, MD, is a pediatrician, author, professor, and mindfulness teacher specializing in neurodevelopmental behavioral pediatrics.

Psychiatrist and mindfulness expert Holly Rogers explains why you should not even try to stop your thoughts. Plus, a guided practice on noticing your inner chatter with curiosity rather than judgment.

This guided meditation focuses on a craving you may have. Maybe it’s for food, or an empty email inbox. Whatever it is, Judson Brewer invites you to welcome and engage with the craving though kind and curious awareness.  Show notes: This guided meditation was recorded live at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. This meditation provides additional information to a feature article titled “Constant Craving” which appeared in the April 2018 issue of Mindful magazine. Judson Brewer MD, PhD, is a thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery”, having combined over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training with his scientific research therein. A professor and researcher at the Mindfulness Center at Brown University, he has developed clinically proven app-based training to help people with emotional eating and anxiety.

The fight for perfection is a fight that can’t be won. Use this guided meditation to notice the voice of judgment in your head and then begin to release it and wish yourself well. Through the breath, awareness, and compassion, this practice can help tame the inner voice we all dread.  Show notes: Meditation by Mark Bertin.  Mark Bertin, MD, is a pediatrician, author, professor, and mindfulness teacher specializing in neurodevelopmental behavioral pediatrics.

This practice from Ed Halliwell opens our hearts to others, offering them kindness and compassion.

A brief mindfulness meditation practice to relax your body and focus your mind.

Block off some time for yourself to engage in connection, compassion, and kindness. This immersive heartscape meditation offers deep healing of ourselves and others.  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.

Follow this guided meditation to become more aware of the emotions and body sensations when you use your phone.

This guided meditation will help you to get familiar with self-judgments and how you relate to your flaws, so that you can cultivate compassion and recognize your own worthiness. Show notes: Meditation by Diana Winston.  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 practice involves deep investigation into the causes of anxious feelings so you can discover the story lines that trigger and drive your emotions. Show notes: Adapted from A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety by Bob Stahl PhD, Florence Meleo-Meyer MS, MA, and Lynn Koerbel MPH. Bob Stahl, PhD, has founded eight Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs in medical centers in the San Francisco Bay Area and is currently offering programs at Dominican Hospital and El Camino Hospitals in Los Gatos and Mt. View.

23-minute meditation for working with anxiety from Hugh Byrne, meditation teacher and author of the Here-And-Now Habit.

From The Mindful Podcast series.