Health Journal Online

Category: Mental Health

Awareness in Action: Rethinking ADHD Through Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness and compassion helps us see our lives more clearly. Instead of staying caught up in unskillful habits and reactivity, it encourages us to live with more awareness and intention. While mindfulness and compassion serve a uniquely supportive role in ADHD care, anyone can benefit from a similar approach.

ADHD is not what most people think. Correctly diagnosed, it is a confirmed medical condition; the genetics of ADHD are nearly as strong as the genetics that predict height. ADHD undermines a wide-ranging skill set called executive function, which represents self-management abilities including attention, behavior, time, tasks, effort, and emotion.

While everyone has their emotional ups and downs in life, it is our executive function abilities that allow us to navigate them effectively. Therefore ADHD often leads to escalating challenges with emotional dysregulation, self-criticism, and stress. It even undermines the planning skills one would use to manage ADHD itself. Because of that cycle, ADHD impacts everything from work and school to relationships and physical health. Kind and comprehensive care of ADHD must acknowledge this wide-ranging impact.

Mindfulness is increasingly a part of ADHD care, though often misunderstood in ways that turn people with ADHD away. For starters, mindfulness does not replace any part of ADHD intervention. Concentration and impulse control may improve, but no single treatment works in isolation for ADHD. Instead, focusing on self-regulation and self-awareness with mindfulness, including practices such as self-compassion or loving-kindness, is a foundational shift for living with ADHD. Integrating mindfulness makes it easier to follow through with the rest of evidence-based ADHD care.

A broad approach to mindfulness in ADHD care means far more than meditation. We aim to develop traits like patience, responsiveness, and kindness that make managing the inevitable ups and downs of life easier. One useful framework for this practice invokes three foundational supports: training the mind, building community, and a desire for ongoing learning.

A broad approach to mindfulness in ADHD care means far more than meditation.

Understanding the Mind’s Mechanics

Learning is a vital aspect of mindfulness practice, often related to the principle of cause and effect. Even though so much is out of our control, how we think about things and choose to engage with the world intrinsically affects our experience. By examining our ways of thinking and communicating through this lens, we stay in closer touch with our own best intentions and core values.

Executive function can affect anything requiring “management” in life. Because of that, ADHD can impact not only work or school, but also relationships, communication, decision making, and health routines. Having ADHD is no one’s fault nor is it a moral failing. It does however often lead to a sense of self-blame. As with any challenge, the more clearly one understands the skills affected by ADHD, the easier it becomes to make skillful choices that minimize its impact.

Our actions and beliefs always have consequences, sometimes in subtle ways. For instance, deny having ADHD, and you cannot address it; recognize ADHD fully, and you can take constructive steps forward. If we rely on fleeting sources of transient happiness, like our phones or buying stuff, that undermines our well-being. In contrast, we boost our chances of flourishing with activities such as a healthy lifestyle or acts of kindness. In this way, education guides our journey through life.

This continuing education may include:
- Learning about ADHD and exploring evidence-based management. Core interventions typically include a mix of educational supports, parent training (for families), cognitive behavioral therapy, coaching, and/or ADHD medication.
- Prioritizing foundations like sleep, exercise, and nutrition for mental clarity, as maintaining these routines can be especially tough with ADHD.
- Understanding the impact of emotional dysregulation and stress tied to ADHD and practicing tools and strategies for navigating these obstacles.
- Exploring the reality of cause and effect as it relates to well-being, such as exploring how perfectionism and self-criticism compound suffering, or how meditation or gratitude practices increase the likelihood of happiness.
Training the Mind

Reframing the intention of mindfulness practice increases the likelihood of sticking with it. The goal of meditation is not a mind empty of thoughts, although it can help calm or steady the mind. As noted above, with or without ADHD, the initial motivation is often to build awareness and patience—a far more realistic goal than complete stillness.

The goal of meditation is not a mind empty of thoughts, although the practice helps calm or steady the mind. With or without ADHD, the initial intention is often to build awareness and patience—a far more realistic goal than complete stillness.

Inside this framework, we enhance our ability to notice what’s happening right now. We see both joyful moments and our challenges with more clarity. Practice doesn’t have to require sitting still; mindful eating, yoga, and other movement practices work too. This all relates to one key definition of mindfulness that is quite valuable with ADHD: aiming to see our lives with clear and compassionate awareness.

Meditation develops patterns that influence us in the long term. Short-term benefits like relaxation happen, but the broader hope is for building traits that spill into everyday life. For example, simply observing emotion during meditation, rather than falling into habits like reacting with anger or shutting down, slowly recalibrates our responses when we are outside of formal meditation. This improved emotional regulation has direct value not only for those with ADHD, but of course for anyone. Other meditation practices focus on traits like compassion, kindness, or forgiveness.

Meditation develops patterns that influence us in the long term. Short-term benefits like relaxation happen, but the broader hope is for new traits that spill into everyday life.

To get started, consider:
- Setting aside a few minutes regularly to meditate, with the aim of building self-awareness and patience.
- Trying compassion or loving-kindness practices to address ADHD-related challenges such as excessive shame, self-criticism, or rejection sensitivity.
- Including movement practices in your day, like walking meditation or yoga.
- Staying patient and kind with yourself when starting, as beginning and sticking to new routines are both especially difficult for individuals with ADHD.
Nurturing Connection and Support

Community is another pillar of mindful living. It’s crucial to seek and nurture environments that foster emotional resilience and deepen those connections. For those with ADHD, spending time with others who share similar experiences often leads to greater self-acceptance and a sense of belonging. Surrounding ourselves with caring and supportive people helps with learning and staying strong and hopefully finding friends, joy, and laughter.

With so many demands on our attention, we have to be intentional in seeking those relationships that reinforce our well-being. Difficult people may place demands on our time and deplete our energy. True friends encourage us to be our authentic self and help us feel empowered. Without judgment they accommodate to our experience of ADHD by adapting to symptoms like forgetfulness, time blindness, or sensory overload. Valuable friends support mutual growth and respect, sustain us, and can foster our mindfulness-based practices.

Ways to connect with community include:
- Joining a spiritual or meditation group, or ADHD-focused organizations like, CHADD, ADDA, or ACO.
- Scheduling regular time with family, if those ties feel close and supportive.
- Creating or seeking shared school or workspaces that emphasize mindfulness, compassion, and growth, including executive function accommodations for ADHD.
- Prioritizing time with authentic friends while reducing time spent with people who leave you feeling depleted. This typically includes limiting exposure to social media, which frequently leads to experiences like anxiety, negativity and jealousy.
Building a Practice That Works With ADHD

Let go of thoughts of perfection, a totally quiet mind, or the idea that you’re unable to meditate. With ADHD, a foundation of self-regulation and self-compassion transforms how we see and respond to our experience. That foundation increases the effectiveness of all that must be accomplished to manage this complex medical condition. Aspire to a sustainable mindfulness practice, whatever that looks for you. Even when living through difficult times, you will more easily stay in touch with your own wisdom, joy, and compassion.

Let go of thoughts of perfection, a totally quiet mind, or feeling like you’re unable to meditate.

Dr. Mark Bertin and Dana Crews are leading a retreat October 10-12, 2025, to support adults navigating life with ADHD, whether you have it yourself, are living with someone, or are a professional in the field. Hosted at the Menla Retreat Center nestled in the serene Catskill Mountains, Held and Whole is a restorative and educational three-day ADHD retreat that will offer practical, mindfulness-based tools to strengthen emotional regulation, deepen self-awareness, and foster authenticity. We hope to see you there!

You can get more information and reserve your spot here. Plus, listeners to this podcast can claim a limited-time 15% early bird discount when they enter code “Mindful” at checkout. Spots are limited!
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August 16, 2025
A Body Scan Meditation to Prepare Mind and Body for Sleep
Summary

What Is a Body Scan Meditation? A guided practice where attention is systematically moved through different parts of the body to release tension and increase awareness.

Benefits for Sleep:
- Improves sleep quality, especially among those with sleep disturbances
- Reduces physical tension that may prevent falling asleep
- Calms the nervous system and reduces stress
- Helps disconnect from mental activity that keeps the mind active
Research Findings: Clinical trials from UCLA found that mindfulness meditation improves sleep quality among older adults with sleep disturbances.

Practice Application: Can be done lying down in bed as preparation for sleep, helping transition from wakefulness to restfulness.

The Science of Sleeping Better with Mindfulness

A good night’s sleep has a significant impact on our health—helping us feel more energized, less stressed, and able to perform better mentally. Unfortunately, according to a 2024 poll, many people struggle to get a full night’s rest, with 57% of Americans reporting that they would feel better if they got more sleep.

If you’re the kind of person who finds themselves wide awake at 3 a.m. contemplating the shadows on their ceiling, practicing mindfulness may offer the secret to sleeping better. A randomized clinical trial from UCLA found that mindfulness meditation improves sleep quality among older adults with sleep disturbances. The following guided meditation was used in that study to help people fall asleep. May it do the same for you.

We’ll be noticing these sensations without trying to change them or make them different, simply bringing a mindful attention of curiosity and openness to the present moment.

During this guided body scan meditation you may find yourself drifting off to sleep. This is fine, so you can allow the meditation to turn off on its own. If you notice thoughts such as worries or concerns arising that take your attention away from the meditation, this is also normal. See if you can redirect your attention back to the body scan, gently letting go of these thoughts.

If it’s possible, we’ll be noticing our body lying down on the bed. We’ll be feeling the body’s sensations that are present, scanning the body for any kinds of obvious sensations like vibrations, tingling sensations, heaviness, pressure, movement, heat, coolness. We’ll be noticing these sensations without trying to change them or make them different, simply bringing a mindful attention of curiosity and openness to the present moment. If you notice yourself starting to think about the sensation or think about something else, see if you can simply come back to the feelings and sensations present in your body.

A Body Scan Meditation to Prepare Mind and Body for Sleep

1. Begin the meditation by noticing the sensations at the top of your head. Simply note what you feel. You might notice vibration or pressure.

2. Focus your attention on your skull as it makes contact with the bed or the pillow. There might be a sense of pressure or other sensations. Simply be curious about these sensations.

3. If you can, allow any tension you feel to gently release. If that doesn’t seem possible, simply notice what it is that you feel.

4. Scan your face area, forehead, eyes, and nose. Notice your cheeks and mouth. There may be sensations of tingling, temperature, tightness; let it all be there. Be curious about your experience, and begin to notice the sensations in your throat.

5. Now bring your attention to the sensations present in your shoulder area. Notice any tension arising. Sometimes in the act of noticing tension, you may find yourself relaxing. If that’s not possible, you can breathe gently, directing the breath to your shoulders.

6. Notice the sensations in your left shoulder, and then bring your attention down your arm. Notice any vibration, tingling, coolness, pressure, or movement in your elbow, your lower arm, and then your hand. Be curious and open to the sensations that are present in your hands and fingers. Allow your hands to soften and relax.

7. Now, bring your attention up to your right shoulder, noticing any sensations that might be present. Start to scan your right arm for vibration, tingling, or movement. Notice your elbow, your forearm, your hands, and fingers. A lot of sensations are usually present in the hands and fingers. But if at any point there’s no sensation, just notice the absence of sensation.

8. Let your attention go to the top of your shoulders and to your back. Imagine a zigzag sensation or an up-and-down movement across your back. Can you be open and curious to whatever the experience is? Be kind to yourself no matter what comes up.

9. Notice your upper back, your mid-back, and the sensations in your lower back. If thoughts arise as you’re doing this—worries, concerns—see if you can let them go. Let them be like clouds floating in the sky, moving across your mind. Or, come back to my words and this body scan.

10. Bring your attention to the top of the chest area. Gently scan your chest, your rib cage, and your stomach. See if you can soften your stomach. Breathe deeply while directing the breath to that area—allowing it to soften and relax.

11. Now, notice your pelvic area and the places where your body has contact with the bed. Feel whatever sensations are present. Gently bring your attention to your left hip and down your left leg. Notice the sensations in your thigh.

12. Bring this kind and curious attention to your leg, your knee, and your left calf. Notice whatever sensations are present: vibration, tingling, itching, warmth, coolness, heaviness. Then bring your attention to your ankle, left foot, and toes.

13. Now, notice the sensations in your right hip. And again, bring your attention down to your right thigh. You can circle your attention on your right leg or notice it in any other way that makes sense to you. Feel any vibration, tingling, temperature, heaviness, or movement in your knee and calf. Scan your leg down to your right ankle and toes.

14. Now that you’ve scanned your body, you’re welcome to start again. This time, you can start at your feet and go back up through your body until you get to the top of your head. Feel free to scan your body up and down as many times as it is helpful to you.
The Ultimate Guide to Mindfulness for Sleep

Sufficient sleep heals our bodies and minds, but for many reasons sleep doesn’t always come easily. Mindfulness practices and habits can help us fall asleep and stay asleep. Consult our guide to find tips for meditation, movement, and mindfulness practices to ease into sleep.
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Mindful Staff

July 13, 2023
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August 14, 2025
Constant Craving – Mindful

If there’s a patch of open lawn at a corner, children will cut through, and grass soon becomes hardened ground. Ancient people created paths walking from one place to another; horses and oxen widened them; and today they’re paved roads. When we want to go someplace, we choicelessly take these well-trodden paths.

It’s the same with our brain and the muscles and organs that respond to its commands. As neurons keep firing in a particular configuration, a path is created and it’s just easier to go there. Neurons that “fire together, wire together.” It’s how we learn to talk, to play guitar, to paint, and to smoke and overeat.

As Judson Brewer points out in The Craving Mind, laying down memories (pathways to return to) is as ancient and ingrained as life itself. Eric Kandel won the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 2000 for demonstrating that even the lowly sea slug—hardly a big-brained cousin to humans—employs a “two-option approach” to raise its chances of survival: “move toward nutrient, move away from toxin.” Likewise, we adapted by laying down memories of what is and isn’t food and where to find it, so we could return for more. And, critically, the food offered us a reward: a shot of brain chemicals that signal satisfied hunger. Yum. Yum.

This reward-based learning system, Brewer notes, is easily hijacked to develop other habits: See cool kids smoke. Smoke to be cool. Be seen as cool. Feel good. Lay down a feel-good memory. Want to do it again.

Once laid down, this path takes us round trip; we’re on a loop. Seeing people smoke triggers us, and the immediate effect is the brain saying “that will make me feel better or lessen the pain.” An urge, a craving, emerges in the body. We take action to feed the craving and light up. We get the good feeling (our reward), but we also start to see the world differently. In what psychologists call increased “salience,” we now wear smoke-colored glasses that offer a landscape filled with perceived opportunities to smoke. The habit is reinforced, and the increased salience points us to more cues and triggers that keep the wheel spinning. Round and round we go.

Mindfulness can break this well-worn cycle, as we see illustrated in the diagram conceived of by Brewer below.

Graphic by Heather Jones

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August 12, 2025
Meditation to Be At Peace With How Things Are
How can we be at peace with how things are right now? In this week’s guided meditation, Dr. Mark Bertin offers a practice to help us be gently aware of sensations, feelings, and thoughts that come up in practice, building presence in the rest of life.
This is a practice that is both concrete and compassionate. Dr. Bertin guides us to take note of our tendency to either deny or try and “fix” what’s going on in our lives, and then find a third way—one where we aim to see things as clearly as possible, so that our decisions are filled with awareness, skill, and care for everyone involved.

A Meditation to Be At Peace With How Things Are

Read and practice the guided meditation script below, pausing after each paragraph. Or listen to the audio practice.
1. Start with finding a comfortable posture that you’ll be able to sustain for these few minutes of practice. Bring a sense of kind and patient awareness to our body first. Notice how you’re sitting. Make adjustments so that you feel awake and alert. Notice areas of tension, and see if you’re able to release them a little bit, gathering your awareness and bringing it to the sensation of breathing.
2. Let go of any need to do anything or make anything happen right now. You can reframe moments where you become distracted from the breath as a success. The mind always stays busy. Things happen that draw our attention and awareness away throughout the day, and each moment you come to the breath is a moment of awareness, a moment of intention. When you get distracted, just remember this sense of intention with clarity. You can say to yourself, Oh, my mind is busy —and then let go and simply come back to the next breath.
3. Next, expand your awareness to the entirety of your body. Most of us live with experiences of pleasure, and also moments of discomfort or pain at times. And if something definitively needs adjustment to relieve you of some physical pain right now, that’s always okay. But for anything else that’s either comfortable for you to work with or unchangeable in this moment, see if you can simply notice it, and then come back to the breath.
4. Now, continue to use your breath lightly as an anchor, shifting your awareness to notice your emotional state. Emotions are part of our experience. They’re there whether we acknowledge them or not. They tend to influence how we think and how we interact with the world, so it’s empowering to cultivate a sense of open and caring awareness. Living peacefully with our emotions as they arise and pass is core to living at peace in the world. It’s also core to staying in touch with our best intentions, as emotions tend to drive the bus if we’re not paying attention to them.
5. See if you can give yourself permission for these next few minutes to stay aware of your emotions. Offer care if they’re difficult. Offer compassion and give yourself permission to experience them at all. Let go of any need to fix or change them. Right now I’m experiencing happiness, or Right now I am experiencing sadness, or whatever emotions come to mind. Can you bring to this part of the practice a sense of compassion, too? Lean toward the intention to treat yourself as you would a young child or a close friend.
6. Remember, if your mind gets distracted, there’s always the option of coming back to following the breath again.
7. Now, let’s shift our awareness to thoughts. Thoughts can feel so all-consuming, and even through meditation, we can’t make them stop. That’s never the point. Rather, we’re asking if we can live more at peace with this part of our experience, recognizing we each have our own habits. We each make up stories, stories that try to make sense of our past or that project into the future. Problems can feel sticky and all-consuming and ruminative. So for these few minutes of practice, can we note thoughts simply as thoughts? Fears simply as fears. Fantasies simply as fantasies. Observe them like clouds passing in the sky, and also with a sense of peace and care. My mind is in an agitated state right now. This is really exhausting. Or at a different time maybe we experience a quieter mind, a simpler mind, noticing the thoughts as they arrive with more ease. But through the practice, simply noticing and naming: Oh, there is that thought, and then coming back to the breath again.
8. The intention and perspective we bring to the practice is fundamental to the practice itself. Through the practice, we can aim to live life—even during exceedingly difficult times—with more awareness and compassion and self-care. This leads to a better ability to stay in touch with our own best intentions when we need to act precisely or communicate well. So when we practice, whatever happens will happen. But can we do our best to stay aware, to stay clear of thought, and to stay kind.
9. As we bring our practice to a close, settle back into the breath for a moment. Then, perhaps set the intention to continue this sense of compassionate and kind awareness as you move on into the rest of your day.
Looking for mindfulness-based tools to live better with ADHD?

Together with ADHD Life Coach and Certified ADHD Educator Dana Crews, Dr. Bertin is leading a retreat October 10-12, 2025, to support adults navigating life with ADHD. Hosted at the Menla Retreat Center nestled in the serene Catskill Mountains, Held and Whole is a restorative and educational three-day ADHD retreat that will offer practical, mindfulness-based tools to strengthen emotional regulation, deepen self-awareness, and foster authenticity.

You can get more information and reserve your spot here. Plus, listeners to this podcast can claim a limited-time 15% early bird discount when they enter code “Mindful” at checkout. Spots are limited!
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August 10, 2025
What’s the Difference Between Transcendental Meditation and Mindfulness? A Teacher Explains

Meditation is everywhere these days. Guided meditations or visualizations, mindfulness, walking meditations, body scans, and even mantra meditation are taught in classrooms and workplaces as well as being featured on popular meditation apps. Some people swear by their specific type, others dabble in different ones, and many are simply curious to try but have not yet.

For me, mantra meditation—more specifically Transcendental Meditation (TM)—has been life-changing. In this piece, I explain what TM is, explore its benefits, and discuss differences between TM and mindfulness meditation.

Fifteen years ago, in 2009, I began meditating. At the time, my life was shifting in almost every possible way. I had just moved back to my hometown of San Francisco after seven years of teaching in Los Angeles. I had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, ulcerative colitis. Now, even today, we don’t know everything about this disease, but what we do know is that stress is a major trigger. There I was, diagnosed with a chronic illness, trying to understand my symptoms, manage them, and plan for an unpredictable future. At the same time, another major life event was unfolding: I had just turned 30 and was embarking on the difficult journey of trying to have a baby—an experience that ended up taking three years, filled with doctor’s visits, uncertainty, and loss.

On top of all this, I was transitioning professionally—moving from being a classroom teacher in LA to working in the central office for SF Unified School District’s new teacher Induction program. It was a lot—personally, professionally, emotionally—and this was the exact moment I started meditating.

What Is Transcendental Meditation (TM)?

The style of meditation I learned in 2009 was Transcendental Meditation (TM), through a grant from the David Lynch Foundation offered to employees in the San Francisco Unified School District. TM is a form of mantra-based meditation where you silently repeat a specific word (mantra) to help you focus and transcend ordinary thought patterns. The idea is that the repetition of the mantra allows the mind to settle into a deep state of rest and alertness, fostering a sense of inner peace.

TM is a form of mantra-based meditation where you silently repeat a specific sound or word (mantra) to help you focus and transcend ordinary thought patterns.

Learning TM typically involves enrolling at a TM center and paying for instruction, which may be delivered one-on-one or in a small group. When I learned, the program was offered free of charge to SFUSD employees and was conducted in a small group over several sessions, with monthly group check-ins. At the time, the foundation was conducting a clinical trial to explore TM’s impact on health, so participants were divided into two groups: one received instruction in the mantra-based meditation practice immediately, while the other (the control group) began six months later.

Regardless of whether you learn TM individually, in a group, or as part of a study, you are given a personal mantra by a certified TM teacher. This mantra—a nonsensical, lyrical word—is meant to be kept private and not shared with others. Some have noted that mantras are assigned based on the age of the practitioner at the time of learning.

Though TM has its roots in India’s Vedic traditions—some of the oldest known spiritual and philosophical systems, dating back over 3,000 years—the form of TM practiced today originated in the 1950s. While the use of mantras may be linked to ancient Sanskrit texts, TM is taught as a secular practice, distinct from any religious framework. It is presented as a scientific method for reducing stress and enhancing overall health. The technique gained widespread popularity, in part, due to high-profile advocates like The Beatles, who helped bring attention to this form of meditation.

Scientific research has shown that TM can reduce stress and anxiety, lower blood pressure, and improve overall well-being, immune function, and sleep. It has been found to enhance cognition, increase creativity, and even help with mental resilience during challenging times. Many people continue to be drawn to TM because of its structured nature—it’s easy to learn, and practitioners are typically taught one-on-one by certified instructors, which provides personalized guidance.

For me, TM quickly became an anchor in my daily life. As someone who values routines, it was a simple ritual that brought a deep sense of peace and clarity. I found myself looking forward to that post-meditation feeling: lighter, more grounded, and better equipped to face whatever was swirling around me. The anxious thoughts that used to loop endlessly—about infertility, miscarriages, managing colitis through diet, or the stress of potential layoffs as well as the economic recession—began to feel less heavy, less consuming.

Inspired by the power of TM, I also began to shape a personal approach to mantra-based meditation, one that felt more flexible and accessible. I was curious about how choosing my own mantra or intention might shift the experience. The concept is simple: pick a word or phrase, repeat it silently, and let the mind soften and settle. It’s a calming, effective practice that doesn’t require expensive training or long hours. While TM is one established form of mantra meditation, there are many variations, each adaptable to your own rhythm, needs, and curiosity.

What Is Mindfulness Meditation?

Mindfulness meditation is all about being present in the moment, observing your thoughts and feelings without judgment. As teacher and educator Diana Winston explains in her Tedx Talk, this type of meditation can be understood as “paying attention to present-moment experiences with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be with what is.”

While it’s common to incorporate an intentional focal point in mindfulness meditation—like the breath, a visual cue like a candle, or bodily sensations—this technique is often practiced by simply sitting or lying down in silence and just being with whatever arises. If worry, anxiety, pinging thoughts, or physical pain cause distraction, the meditator notes the distraction without judgment and then gently returns attention to the present moment.

This type of meditation is accessible, flexible, and encourages people to start where they are. Similar to TM, studies have shown that mindfulness meditation is effective in reducing symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression, improving sleep, and increasing the markers of physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

While mindfulness can be highly effective for calming the mind, some people find it challenging, especially if their mind is constantly racing. The free form offers lots of room for personalization, but that same lack of structure or focus can be frustrating, especially for newer meditators.

If you’re someone who has tried mindfulness meditation and found it difficult to make progress, let me share why I gravitated toward mantra meditation.

Mindfulness vs. Transcendental Meditation: Which Is Right for You?

So, how do you decide which type of meditation is best for you?

It really comes down to what resonates with you. Mindfulness meditation is all about being present in the moment, observing your thoughts and feelings without judgment. It’s often practiced by focusing on the breath or bodily sensations. While mindfulness can be highly effective for calming the mind, some people find it challenging, especially if their mind is constantly racing. That’s where mantra-based meditation can be helpful. By focusing on a simple word or sound, it can provide an anchor for the mind, making it easier to enter a state of calm.

For some, mindfulness offers a deeper connection to the present moment, fostering awareness throughout your usual daily activities. For others, TM or mantra meditation can provide quicker relief from mental chatter, especially in stressful moments.

For some, TM or mantra meditation can provide quicker relief from mental chatter, especially in stressful moments. But for others, mindfulness offers a deeper connection to the present moment, fostering awareness throughout your usual daily activities.

In my experience, mantra meditation offered a structured way to quiet the mind, whereas mindfulness meditation required more of an open awareness toward the thoughts and emotions that pop up during practice. There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to meditation. Some people thrive with mindfulness, while others prefer mantra meditation. And of course, many benefit from incorporating both practices, depending on the situation.

A Simple Mantra Meditation Practice for Anyone

Starting a meditation practice can feel intimidating. There are so many styles, techniques, and ideas about what meditation “should” look like. But in reality, it’s incredibly simple. You don’t need expensive accessories. You don’t need to sit a certain way or clear your mind of all thoughts. You just need a few minutes, a comfortable seat, and a willingness to try.

There are so many styles, techniques, and ideas about what meditation “should” look like. But in reality, it’s incredibly simple.

I practice using a mantra, a simple word or phrase that I repeat silently to focus my mind. I set a timer, close my eyes, and let my thoughts come and go while gently returning to the mantra. That’s it. No pressure, no perfection, just presence. Over time, this small practice has helped me become more creative, more patient, and more resilient. It’s allowed me to meet life’s challenges with a clearer mind and an open heart.

Start small—just five minutes. Try it for a week and see how you feel. And if you ever have questions or want to learn more about my mantra-based technique, reach out via my website.

At the end of the day, any form of meditation—mindfulness, mantra, TM, guided or another type—is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. It’s a practice that supports you through life’s toughest moments, enhances your best ones, and ultimately helps you show up as the best version of yourself.

So, what do you say—let’s get more people meditating! With that goal in mind, I’ve launched a series on TikTok and Instagram called #DeadOrMeditating, aimed at making meditation go viral. Remember when planking took off and people were posting photos of themselves planking in public spaces? That simple trend raised awareness and sparked conversations. Why not do the same with meditation?

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August 8, 2025
10 Tips to Mindfulness Meditation
Curious about how to start your own mindfulness meditation practice? This infographic from the Garrison Institute is a great place to begin.
When it comes to learning a mindfulness meditation practice, or learning anything new for that matter, it helps to bring in some visual representations. Here’s the latest meditation infographic from the Garrison Institute.

Get all 10 tips below, or click here for the Garrison Institute’s page. Plus, if you’d like a full description of each step, just scroll down.

10 Steps to Start Your Mindfulness Meditation Practice
1. Create time and space. Choose a regular time each day for mindfulness mediation practice, ideally a quiet space free from distractions.
2. Set a timer. Start with just five minutes, and ease your way up to 15-40 minutes.
3. Find a comfortable sitting position. Sit cross-legged on the floor, on the grass, or in a chair with your feet flat on the ground. You can also lie down, or find some other position to accommodate mobility or pain issues. The best mindfulness meditation practice is one that works for you and your body’s needs.
4. Check your posture. Sit up straight, hands in a comfortable position. Keep neck long, chin tilted slightly downward, with your tongue resting gently on the roof of your mouth. Relax your shoulders. Then, close your eyes or use a soft gaze downward 5-10 feet in front of you.
5. Take a deep breath. Deep breathing in any mindfulness meditation practice helps settle the body, relax the nervous system, and establish your presence in the space.
6. Direct your attention to the breath. Focus on a part of the body where the breath feels prominent: nostrils, back of throat, diaphragm, chest. Keep one focus; try not to switch.
7. Maintain attention to your breath. As you inhale and exhale, focus on the breath. If attention wanders, that’s okay. It’s normal for this to happen in any mindfulness meditation practice, even for people who have been doing it for decades! Simply return to the breath. When thoughts come in, which they will, think of them as floating by. Don’t get “hooked” on them—just let them float by and return your attention to your breath.
8. Keep repeating steps 6-7 for as long as you like. Your mind will wander. Just keep bringing it back to the breath. Think of it like reps in weight lifting: getting distracted isn’t bad, and you’re not doing it wrong, and every time you bring your attention back, you’re actually training and strengthening your focus.
9. Be king to yourself. Don’t be upset if your focus occasionally drifts, or if you fall asleep. If it helps, you can keep your eyes open, or adjust your posture to keep you more alert if you need to.
10. Prepare for a soft landing. When the timer goes off, open your eyes when you’re ready. Acknowledge your practice with gratitude.
Looking for more ways to build your own mindfulness meditation practice? Check out Mindful’s Getting Started page.
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August 6, 2025
Boost Compassion With A Loving-Kindness Meditation

Time required

15 minutes daily

Loving-kindness meditation:

Relax Your Body:

Close your eyes. Sit comfortably with your feet flat on the floor and your spine straight. Relax your whole body. Keep your eyes closed throughout the whole visualization and bring your awareness inward. Without straining or concentrating, just relax and gently follow the instructions.

Take a deep breath in. And breathe out.

Bring Your Attention To The Warmth of Your Heart

Keeping your eyes closed, think of a person close to you who loves you very much. It could be someone from the past or the present; someone still in life or who has passed; it could be a spiritual teacher or guide. Imagine that person standing on your right side, sending you their love. That person is sending you wishes for your safety, for your well-being and happiness. Feel the warm wishes and love coming from that person towards you.

Now bring to mind the same person or another person who cherishes you deeply. Imagine that person standing on your left side, sending you wishes for your wellness, for your health and happiness. Feel the kindness and warmth coming to you from that person.

Now imagine that you are surrounded on all sides by all the people who love you and have loved you. Picture all of your friends and loved ones surrounding you. They are standing sending you wishes for your happiness, well-being, and health. Bask in the warm wishes and love coming from all sides. You are filled, and overflowing with warmth and love.

Send Loving-Kindness to Loved Ones

Now bring your awareness back to the person standing on your right side. Begin to send the love that you feel back to that person. You and this person are similar. Just like you, this person wishes to be happy. Send all your love and warm wishes to that person.

Repeat the following phrases, silently:

May you live with ease, may you be happy, may you be free from pain.
May you live with ease, may you be happy, may you be free from pain.
May you live with ease, may you be happy, may you be free from pain.

Now focus your awareness on the person standing on your left side. Begin to direct the love within you to that person. Send all your love and warmth to that person. That person and you are alike. Just like you, that person wishes to have a good life.

Repeat the following phrases, silently:

Just as I wish to, may you be safe, may you be healthy, may you live with ease and happiness.
Just as I wish to, may you be safe, may you be healthy, may you live with ease and happiness.
Just as I wish to, may you be safe, may you be healthy, may you live with ease and happiness.

Now picture another person that you love, perhaps a relative or a friend. This person, like you, wishes to have a happy life. Send warm wishes to that person.

Repeat the following phrases, silently:

May your life be filled with happiness, health, and well-being.
May your life be filled with happiness, health, and well-being.
May your life be filled with happiness, health, and well-being.

Send Loving-Kindness to Neutral People

Now think of an acquaintance, someone you don’t know very well and toward whom you do not have any particular feeling. You and this person are alike in your wish to have a good life.

Send all your wishes for well-being to that person, repeating the following phrases, silently:

Just as I wish to, may you also live with ease and happiness.
Just as I wish to, may you also live with ease and happiness.
Just as I wish to, may you also live with ease and happiness.

Now bring to mind another acquaintance toward whom you feel neutral. It could be a neighbor, or a colleague, or someone else that you see around but do not know very well. Like you, this person wishes to experience joy and well-being in his or her life.

Send all your good wishes to that person, repeating the following phrases, silently:

May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be free from all pain.
May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be free from all pain.
May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be free from all pain.

Send Loving-Kindness to All Living Beings

Now expand your awareness and picture the whole globe in front of you as a little ball.

Send warm wishes to all living beings on the globe, who, like you, want to be happy:

Just as I wish to, may you live with ease, happiness, and good health.
Just as I wish to, may you live with ease, happiness, and good health.
Just as I wish to, may you live with ease, happiness, and good health.

Take a deep breath in. And breathe out. And another deep breath in and let it go. Notice the state of your mind and how you feel after this meditation.

When you’re ready, you may open your eyes.

This article was adapted from Greater Good In Action, a site launched by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. This exercise draws on a guided meditation created by researcher Emma Seppälä, Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education and author of The Happiness Track (Harper One, 2016) and Sovereign (Hay House, 2024).

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July 29, 2025
Can the Nine Attitudes of Mindfulness Do Harm?
Mindfulness teachers and programs often point to what Jon Kabat-Zinn called the Nine Attitudes of Mindfulness: qualities like non-judging, patience, beginner’s mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance, letting go, gratitude, and generosity.

While incredibly useful, these attitudes were never meant as commandments. They were meant as reminders, helpful reference points to support mindful awareness and compassionate living. But as mindfulness has been repackaged for the workplace, apps, and secular programs, something has gotten lost in translation.

Instead of flexible guidance, the Nine Attitudes of Mindfulness have, for many, become rigid ideals. What starts as an invitation to live more mindfully can ultimately distort practice, leading to confusion, passivity, and even harm.

Here’s the hard truth: misunderstanding or over-applying the Nine Attitudes can create real problems—problems I’ve experienced myself.

I’ve seen it happen firsthand. At Mindful Leader, we teach these attitudes in our MBSR and Certified Workplace Mindfulness Facilitator (CWMF) programs. And yet, here’s the hard truth: misunderstanding or over-applying them can create real problems—problems I’ve experienced myself.

Towards a Balanced Application of the Nine Attitudes of Mindfulness

When I first encountered the Nine Attitudes, they made perfect sense on paper. But living and leading by them left me tied in knots. Should I always be patient, even when urgency matters? Should I never judge, even when judgment is necessary? What was meant to help me navigate life started doing the opposite.

That experience helped shape Open MBSR, a framework I developed to reimagine mindfulness education for real life: practical, nuanced, and free from dogma. One key shift is learning to hold each mindfulness attitude dialectically, not just understanding its intention, but recognizing its limits and natural counterbalance.

Before I explain what that looks like in practice, let’s take a closer look at where these attitudes can go wrong, and how we might approach them differently.

When Good Intentions Aren’t Enough: Misinterpreting the Nine Attitudes

Non-judging
Intention: Observing thoughts and experiences without labeling them good or bad.

Misapplication: Dismissing critical thought; accepting harmful behavior without healthy self-protection.

Example: Excusing repeated disrespect in a relationship under the guise of “not judging.”
Patience
Intention: Recognizing things unfold in their own time.

Misapplication: Mistaking patience for endless waiting.

Example: Staying in a toxic job or relationship far longer than is healthy, believing “patience” will fix things.
Beginner’s Mind
Intention: Meeting each moment with openness and curiosity.

Misapplication: Ignoring hard-won life experience.

Example: Discarding valuable skills in the name of a “fresh perspective,” making things harder than necessary.
Trust
Intention: Trusting your intuition and feelings.

Misapplication: Blind trust in immediate feelings without discernment.

Example: Making impulsive life decisions because “it felt right,” leading to regret.
Non-striving
Intention: Letting go of fixating on outcomes.

Misapplication: Abandoning ambition or direction altogether.

Example: Neglecting education or career planning, mistaking apathy for peace.
Acceptance
Intention: Acknowledging reality as it is.

Misapplication: Resignation or passivity.

Example: Ignoring a serious health issue because “I should just accept it.”
Letting Go
Intention: Releasing attachment.

Misapplication: Avoiding necessary emotional work.

Example: Suppressing anger instead of processing it.
Gratitude
Intention: Cultivating appreciation.

Misapplication: Invalidating genuine distress.

Example: Over-focusing on “small joys” while ignoring major life dissatisfaction.
Generosity
Intention: Giving from a place of kindness.

Misapplication: Giving without boundaries, leading to burnout.

Example: Always putting others first until personal health and stability suffer.

A New Approach: Dialectical Thinking and the Balance of Opposites

In Open MBSR, we use a dialectical approach, holding two seemingly opposite ideas at once to find a more balanced, practical balanced path.

This shows up clearly in Taoist philosophy through the concept of Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang represent stillness and activity, receptivity and initiative, opposites that don’t cancel each other out but support and depend on one another.

Mindfulness works the same way. Each attitude needs its counterpart to stay balanced.
How That Looks in Practice
Non-judging AND Critical Engagement

Patience AND Proactive Change

Beginner’s Mind AND Leveraging Experience

Trust AND Discernment

Non-striving AND Goal Orientation

Acceptance AND Advocacy for Change

Letting Go AND Emotional Engagement

Gratitude AND Acknowledgment of Challenges

Generosity AND Boundaries

When we hold these attitudes dialectically, mindfulness becomes something we can actually live…not just something we perform in a meditation room.

What to Do When the Teaching Itself Is the Problem

When I first shared these observations, I encountered pushback. One response stuck with me: the suggestion that these issues stem from people simply not understanding the concepts correctly. If people just grasped what these attitudes really mean, the misapplications wouldn’t happen.

When a teaching is consistently misunderstood, when practitioners across different backgrounds fall into the same predictable traps, it may be time to examine how we’re teaching rather than blaming students.

This troubled me. When a teaching is consistently misunderstood, when practitioners across different backgrounds fall into the same predictable traps, it may be time to examine how we’re teaching rather than blaming students.

The patterns we’ve explored aren’t random. When “non-judging” is consistently interpreted as abandoning critical thinking, when “acceptance” repeatedly becomes passive resignation, and when “letting go” predictably turns into emotional avoidance, these are systemic teaching issues, not individual comprehension failures.

We’ve been presenting these Nine Attitudes of Mindfulness in isolation, stripped from their original Buddhist context that provided natural balance and guidance. When we extract these powerful concepts without equivalent frameworks, we create conditions where practitioners predictably swing toward unhelpful extremes.

Revitalizing How We Think About & Teach the Nine Attitudes

It’s time to take ownership. Something is broken in how we’re teaching these attitudes, and we have the opportunity to fix it.
That’s why I wrote Open MBSR: Reimagining the Future of Mindfulness. It’s not just about fixing how we teach the Nine Attitudes; it’s about redesigning the entire system to be open, practical, and built for today’s world.

This isn’t a minor tweak to existing programs. It’s a fundamental transformation. The Nine Attitudes can do harm when misapplied, but add dialectical thinking and they become something truly transformative, authentic, and practical.

A version of this article was first published March 5, 2024
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July 25, 2025
12 Minute Meditation: Transform Shame Into Self-Trust
Exploring difficult emotions and experiences may be the key to loosening their hold over us. Gentle awareness of our inner world allows us to transform shame in this practice from Patricia Rockman, MD.
Becoming familiar with a difficult emotion means getting interested and curious about the experience, like you might do when visiting a new city. Take it slow, uncovering new “territory” a bit at a time instead of trying to get to know it all at once. As you navigate shame, you learn that you can sit with uncomfortable feelings, and that they will eventually pass. Over time, you develop resilience, self-knowledge, and trust in yourself—the best antidotes to the self-judgment that shame inspires.

Thoughts and feelings are larger and scarier when they’re left unexplored and kept in the shadows.

Whether you’re experiencing feelings of shame right now or have buried shame that you’ve been avoiding, are you willing to get to know it a bit better? Remember, thoughts and feelings are larger and scarier when they’re left unexplored and kept in the shadows.

12-Minute Meditation: Transform Shame Into Self-Trust
1. Take a comfortable meditation posture, eyes closed if comfortable. Begin by bringing attention to the body sitting. Attending to the base of the body as it makes contact with the surface you are resting on. Allowing the jaw to soften, shoulder blades sliding down the back and hands at rest in the lap or on your thighs.
2. Turn your attention to the sensations of breathing at the level of the belly. Attending to the in-breath and the out-breath, the rising and falling of the abdomen. Perhaps letting the breath move in and out of the body naturally, as best you can.
3. And now, gently bringing to mind an experience or memory, a time in which you felt shame. Maybe it was something you did or something that someone else said about you or to you. Whatever it is, turning toward this memory, experience, or situation gently, as best you can, checking in with what thoughts are present, what emotions, and what body sensations.
4. Without needing to change or fix anything, beginning to explore what is arising or what is here right now. If there are specific thoughts, as best you can, experiencing them as sensations of the mind, as events that come and go. If there are emotions, naming or labeling them as they make themselves known. Saying to yourself, “Shame is here,” or fear, anxiety, or guilt, whatever it is, and staying with these for a few moments.
5. And now, shifting your attention to any associated sensations in the body. Investigate these with friendly interest, getting curious about them, even if they’re unwanted or intense, really getting to know them, if that is possible in this moment.
6. If the sensations are particularly intense or strong, saying to yourself, “This is a moment of difficulty. I can be with this, it’s already here.” If it is helpful, breathing into the sensations, expanding on the in-breath and softening on the out-breath, staying with these sensations as long as they are capturing your attention.
7. If this is too difficult or feels overwhelming, there is always the choice to return your attention to the breath at the belly or to open your eyes, letting go of this practice. Otherwise, continuing with this attention to the sensations in the body…
8. And now, returning to the sensations of breathing in the abdomen, to the rising and falling of the belly with each breath, breathing in and breathing out.
9. And when you’re ready, bringing attention to the entire body, to any and all sensations, resting here in a more spacious awareness, if this is available.
10. Then gently, with this shameful experience in the background now, asking yourself: Can I let this be as it is? (It’s already here, after all.) Can I let it go? (It’s already happened.) Does it need addressing? Do I have to take an action? If so, what? Can I shift my attitude, bringing a different perspective to this experience? And then gently opening the eyes if they have been closed and letting go of this practice.
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July 23, 2025
An SOS Meditation to Unwind Anxiety
In this week’s guided meditation, teacher and author Melli O’Brien offers a practice to unwind anxiety by connecting with a gentle and steady awareness when you are feeling stressed.
Often the toughest part of experiencing anxiety is just the sense of being helplessly caught up in the thought loops that keep us feeling stuck and stressed. It’s tough to unwind anxiety, and we long for the kind of support that could actually help escape the tangle of those anxious webs.

In this week’s guided meditation, teacher and author Melli O’Brien offers a practice that uses gentle, steady awareness to help you find your calm center again when you’re feeling wound up with stress or anxiety.

SOS Meditation to Unwind Anxiety

Read and practice the guided meditation script below, pausing after each paragraph. Or listen to the audio practice.
1. If you’re playing this meditation, chances are that something has you feeling a bit stressed or anxious or the body and mind are feeling really tense or wound up. I’m here to support you in finding your center again and helping you to ground in a gentle and steady awareness.
2. Make sure that you are sitting comfortably. Even if the mind is very busy or the body’s really tense right now, we’re still taking the time to settle. You might even like to lie down on the ground or on a lounge chair or a bed. When you’re ready, allow the eyes to gently close, if that feels okay for you, knowing that you have this time and space just for yourself.
3. Remember, you don’t have to try to figure anything out or mentally fix anything. There’s nothing you really need to worry about during this time, and there’s no problem to solve. You’ve given yourself this time for meditation, so give yourself full permission to let go of everything else for a while and simply be present, grounding yourself in the here and now and following these instructions as best you can.
4. Start by letting go of any agenda to get rid of stress or anxiety, or actually to get rid of any part of your experience. Instead, we’re going to practice relaxing with this moment just as it is, and making peace with it.
5. Take some deeper, slower, and fuller breaths into the belly. As you breathe in, allow the belly to swell a little like a balloon. As you breathe out, allow the belly to soften and subside. Again, long steady and smooth breath in, filling the belly. And then a long, steady, smooth breath out. If anything about this practice feels uncomfortable for you, you can feel free to just let the breath be natural. If there’s any sense of strain or gasping for air, then you can make the breath much more gentle, much more subtle. You might even like to place a hand or both hands on the belly, so you can really feel that rising and falling sensation. Focus on the feeling of the breath in the belly and allowing the movement of the breath to soothe you and settle you. You’re doing great.
6. As you continue breathing into the belly like this, see if you can get a sense of softening and relaxing a little more with each and every exhale. Let tension begin to melt and soften in the body. Really surrender the weight of your body into gravity, knowing that the ground beneath you is more than able to take your weight and support you and that it’s safe to let go and relax the tension into the here and now.
7. At the top of this next inhale, if it feels okay for you, hold the breath for a count of three. So breathe in and hold for 1, 2, 3, and then let the breath go. Continue on like that, holding the breath in for the count of 3, and then letting it go. If that doesn’t feel right for any reason, then just continue as before.
8. Now, after the next exhale, let go of controlling the breath at all. Let the body settle back into its own natural rhythm of breathing, but continue to focus on that rising and falling sensation of the breath in the belly. Again, you can place a hand or both hands there and just feel the hands rising and falling. That’s it.
9. As you follow the breath, if at any point you get lost in thought again, it’s not a problem. Each time you’re drawn by a distraction, mentally note to yourself, Just thinking. Then guide your focus back into the breath, feeling the rising and falling of the belly. Ride the waves of breath moment by moment, letting everything else go, resting here in the present moment and breathing, giving yourself this time to rejuvenate, to tap into inner strength. Notice how the body is being rocked and cradled by the flowing sensations of the breath moment by moment.
10. Remember, distraction is normal. You can return as many times as you need to, settling into the breath, letting yourself soften into the present moment. Continue practicing like this.
11. As this practice begins to draw to a close, take another deep, slow, full breath in, and let it go. Two more in the same way, so breathing in…and breathing out. One more time breathing in, this time rolling the shoulders up toward the ears a little on the inhale. As you exhale, relax the shoulders down. Then begin to wriggle your fingers and your toes. Open your eyes, looking around the room, taking in the colors and the shapes all around you.
12. As you prepare now to go about the rest of your day, make an intention now to take this more centered energy with you into the rest of your day. Thank you for your practice. Go gently with yourself today. And as always, let’s go out there and be kind, be brave, and be the change we want to see.
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July 15, 2025