This week, meditation teacher Vinny Ferraro leads us in a practice that helps us direct compassion to ourselves. We often strive for perfection and can become our harshest critics as we try to hide our flaws and mistakes. This meditation guides us to embrace self-compassion, a shift that allows us to grow more comfortable with our imperfections and human difficulties. We set the intention to meet ourselves with warmth and affection, fostering a friendship with ourselves.    Show Notes Find...

This week, meditation teacher Holly Rogers leads us in a guided meditation for moving on. Life often presents us with challenges and discomfort. This practice is a gentle guide to navigating those moments with grace and clarity.  Acceptance, as Holly reminds us, is not about liking or agreeing with what's happening; it's about acknowledging the truth of the present moment. By learning to embrace each moment as it is, without layering on resistance or judgments, we can ease the suffering that...

This week, meditation teacher Adam Ortman leads us through a guided meditation that explores our inner dialogue. Our inner voice often constructs a limited narrative that obscures the full picture of our experiences. By paying close attention to this inner voice, especially when it tends to focus on negative thoughts, we can begin to nurture a habit of self-compassion. This episode of 12-Minute Meditation is one of a series we created earlier this year in partnership with WholeSchool...

This week, meditation teacher Charisse Minerva guides us in a unique sound meditation for greater awareness and self-discovery. Explore the symphony of sounds that surround us and learn to navigate stress through mindful breathing. Join us to embark on a sensory adventure with sound.  This episode of 12-Minute Meditation is one of a series we created earlier this year in partnership with WholeSchool Mindfulness to support young people. That being said, anyone of any age can benefit from this...

This week, meditation teacher Carrington Kernodle Epperson leads us in a guided visualization meditation for self-care and self-compassion. This meditation helps us invite in abundance and inner peace, and reminds us that we have everything we need within us.  This episode of 12-Minute Meditation is one of a series we created earlier this year in partnership with WholeSchool Mindfulness to support young people. That being said, anyone of any age can benefit from this beginner-friendly,...

This week, meditation teacher Enrique Collazo leads a guided loving-kindness meditation to practice compassion toward ourselves and all others. In our society, we’re often hard on ourselves and strive to reach the high expectations we set. Inevitably, we fall short and this can  lead to a habit of self-criticism. With loving-kindness we can learn to befriend ourselves and others, even when it’s difficult.  This episode of 12-Minute Meditation is one of a series we created earlier this year...

This week, Kazumi Igus leads a guided walking meditation that invites you to slow down and rediscover the beauty of the natural world, even within the bustling urban environment. If you pay attention, you can hear the call of a bird, notice your favorite color in shop windows, and look up at the vast sky above. In this guided meditation, we slow our roll and take in the beauty of our surroundings, no matter where we find ourselves. This episode of 12-Minute Meditation is one of a series we...

This week, Wholeschool Mindfulness Director, Ashley Williams shares a practice to help us check in with our minds, our bodies, our hearts, our energy, and our emotions. Earlier this year, Mindful partnered with WholeSchool Mindfulness to create a series of guided meditations to support young people. With the new school year beginning for many people, we'll be sharing these practices over the next few weeks. However, these practices don't have an age limit. Anyone can benefit from these guided...

In this week's episode, we explore a unique approach to dealing with difficult emotions. Instead of pushing them away, we delve into the power of recognizing and embracing these emotions with kindness and curiosity. Join us this week as Jud Brewer introduces a straightforward exercise that can help shift your perspective towards what you're feeling. Discover how curiosity can be a valuable tool in connecting with your own lived experience, whether it involves emotions like sadness, anxiety,...

Embark on a journey of self-discovery and mental growth with the insightful guidance of clinical psychologist Diana Hill in this week's edition of 12 Minute Meditation. Dr. Diana Hill leads you through a meditation designed to sharpen your perspective-taking skills—an essential component rooted in psychological flexibility and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). This practice empowers you to momentarily step back from your personal narrative and connect with a broader viewpoint, offering...

This week, join mindfulness expert Shamash Alidina in this transformative 12-minute guided meditation, "Finding Meaning with ACT in Action," exclusively on mindful.org. Drawing from his acclaimed course "ACT for Beginners," Shamash will lead you through the 6 flexibility skills of the ACT process, using the acronym ACTION: A - Acceptance: Embrace the present moment with kindness, making space for feelings. C - Cognitive Defusion: Unhook from unhelpful thoughts, creating mental flexibility. ...

Join clinical psychologist Diana Hill this week as she takes you on a transformative journey of mindfulness and self-discovery. Embrace the soothing power of Thich Nhat Hanh's mantras from the revered Plum Village tradition as you begin with a gentle focus on your breath. From there, expand your awareness, letting your breath flow through your head, your heart and into a space of profound loving consciousness.   In this meditation, Dr. Diana Hill skillfully guides you to find the delicate...

Join Dr. Reena Kotecha, creator of Mindful in Healthcare, in this week's practice, called the 'SOS Response' meditation. This practice uses guided visualization and mindfulness to enable response flexibility when you're experiencing a challenging situation or when you're in the midst of difficulty. You will come away equipped to emotionally regulate and create a well thought out response when you're stressed or triggered. Show notes Find more from Dr. Reena Kotecha here: ...

Join Shalini Bahl-Milne in this week's practice as she guides us through a practice to replenish our mental energy. By focusing on our senses, we can rest our thinking mind and fully experience the present moment. Feel the sensations in your feet, listen to the sounds around you, and embrace the scents in your environment. Open your eyes and see an object with fresh eyes, free from judgments. This 12-Minute Meditation allows you to reconnect with yourself and cultivate a sense of...

Join us for a transformative meditation led by Jessica Morey, as we explore the power of connecting with our own goodness. By anchoring ourselves in feelings of love and gratitude, we can cultivate a sense of loving-kindness and compassion that extends beyond ourselves and into the world. In this practice, Jessica guides us through various steps to deepen our connection with ourselves and others. Starting with listening to our bodies and surrendering to gravity, we embrace the support and...

Join clinical psychologist Diana Hill as she takes us on a journey to uncover the profound meaning that can arise from our greatest pains. Drawing from her extensive experience straddling the realms of pain and meaning, Diana guides us through a thought-provoking experiment. Through a series of activities, we explore the discomfort we feel and the significance these activities hold in our lives. From saying no when overwhelmed to engaging with opposing political views, Diana skillfully...

Join us this week as Rose Felix Cratsley shares powerful affirmations that nurture self-compassion, encourage personal growth, and bring about healing through hope. With a firm belief in the importance of mindfulness as a fundamental human right, Rose reminds us that we enter this world with openness and curiosity, yet often find ourselves burdened by self-judgment, criticism, fear, and anxiety. Rose is the visionary founder and president of Ivy Child International, a remarkable non-profit...

Join expert Cara Bradley for a transformative mindful movement practice, synchronizing mind and body through breath and spinal movement. This practice integrates mindfulness into movement, unlocking the power of the mind-body connection. Experience increased calmness, clarity, relaxation, and alertness. Cara Bradley, renowned in mindful movement, guides you through spinal alignment with breath, followed by seated observation. Explore subtle sensations and body boundaries in the first half....

As this week’s meditation teacher Mark Coleman says, "We know being in nature is good for us, but how do we put this into practice in a way that will really serve and nurture us?" This is a question we address in our course, Nature Meditations. And with Spring blossoming around us, it seems like the right time to get outside and appreciate what the natural world offers. Show Notes: Find more from Mark Coleman here: markcoleman.org  Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of...

Delicious means enjoyable, delightful, and pleasant—and we can bring that perspective into the kitchen as we cook. This week, mindful eating expert Lynn Rossy offers four ways to savor the dance of cooking. Lynn says Delicious is the term used to describe the type of food she hopes to eat, but also the way in which she moves.  For this practice, find a quiet spot to listen and visualize with Lynn’s guidance, or, bring this podcast with you into the kitchen when you go to cook your next meal....

This week we're offering something a little different. Elaine Smookler guides a laughter yoga practice. The amazing thing about laughter is you don’t even have to really have something funny to laugh at. We can actually induce laughter as an experience and the body will still release the same endorphins. This gentle movement exercise is Elaine’s foolproof way to induce laughter. It is based on the Hawaiian word “Aloha,” a nice vowel-y word that opens the mouth and throat just by saying it....

This week, Patricia Rockman offers a practice to explore your habitual reactions. This meditation is about working with habits. In particular, our habitual reactions to difficult situations that commonly arise. These could be anger at being stuck in traffic, sadness at not getting what we want, or frustration when dealing with companies that keep us on hold for what feels like eternity. Whatever it may be, mindfulness practices can help us deal with our habitual reactivity in more skillful...

Wisdom arises out of our mind’s capacity to be aware—which is not the same as thinking. Meditation teacher Kimberly Brown says, wisdom is a moment-to-moment awareness of what’s arising internally and externally. So, this week, Brown offers a practice to train our awareness. It begins with developing concentration, which allows us to let go of our thoughts and our plans and be in this moment. Show Notes Find more from Kimberly Brown here:  meditationwithheart.com ...

Walking meditation can be a formal practice, like watching the breath, or it can be informal, simply bringing awareness to this everyday activity whenever we need to travel from point A to point B. It’s an opportunity to gather our awareness which so often becomes distracted or even stuck when the mind is left to its own devices. Whether moving between floors of a building, on a city street, or in the woods, Mark Bertin offers this opportunity to guide ourselves out of the distracted...

The opposite of feeling checked out or distracted—the unfortunate reality for many—is the experience of flow state, bringing your skills and focus together to meet whatever challenge you face. This week, Nate Klemp offers a practice to rest in the flow of effortlessness. Here’s how you can train your mind to cultivate the ease and joy of being “in the zone.” You’ll find this practice as a web extra in the April issue of Mindful. You can find the April issue of the magazine now on newsstands...