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Tag: guided meditation

  • A 12-Minute Meditation to Widen Your Perspective

    A 12-Minute Meditation to Widen Your Perspective

    This guided mindfulness practice helps us relax and see the full scope of the possibilities in front of us.

    When we feel stressed, anxious, irritated, or angry, one of the things that happens to the mind is that it shrinks down and zooms in on the challenge at hand—the stressful moment, the emotion we don’t want to feel. There’s a researcher, Andrew Huberman at Stanford, who calls this “the soda straw view” of the mind. This is the view of stress. When we’re stressed, our perspective becomes small and possibilities fade away. All we can see is the thing that we want to get rid of, or that we want to change, or that we wish wasn’t happening in our lives, or even in the world. 

    One of the most powerful mindfulness practices we can do is intentionally and consciously expand our perspective, expand the size of our awareness.

    One of the most powerful mindfulness practices we can do is intentionally and consciously expand our perspective, expand the size of our awareness. Research shows that we can do this by adjusting our visual focus. When we shift from an intensely focused stare to something more like a relaxed gaze, taking in a panoramic awareness of our environment,  we’re actually shifting the nervous system itself. It has a similar effect as taking a few deep breaths. 

    We’re going to play with this shift in this guided meditation. You can think of this shift as going from a small, contracted, tight mind to a relaxed, wide open, big mind. From here, we can begin to create this habit in our lives, intentionally creating an experience of relaxation, especially during tense moments. Stress, moments of discomfort, irritation, and anxiety, are often like looking up into the sky at a dark thundercloud, and all we can focus on is the dark cloud. What we’re going to do in this practice is zoom out from that one small cloud and begin to see that surrounding that one small dark cloud in the sky is miles beautiful, clear blue sky. 

    A Guided Meditation to Expand Perspective and Let Go of Stress

    1. Find a comfortable seat. For this practice, unlike many other forms of mindfulness practice, I actually find that it’s very helpful to keep your eyes open. In addition to that, it can be very helpful to align yourself somewhere where you have a view of something. It could just be a view of your house, a view of your room. Maybe you have a window you can look out of. We’re kind of giving ourselves this visual field that’s going to become part of the practice. This practice is unbelievable when done on the top of a mountain, or sitting at a beach, or at a park, or at sunset—but we’ll take whatever we’ve got. 
    2. As always, I like to start by just feeling the sensations in the body. Feeling a sense of relaxation trickle down from your head, through your neck, into your torso, your hips, your legs, all the way down into your feet. Relaxation, it turns out, is the key to this practice. You might also notice the breath. Notice the sensations happening with each inhale and exhale. 
    3. Now let’s turn our attention to the first element of this bigger view: the big mind. And that is the visual field. So just for fun, let’s start by picking an object in your visual field. One small, tiny object. Maybe it’s a tree outside. Maybe it’s a chair in your room. It doesn’t matter what it is, but we’re going to start with the opposite of the wide view that we’re trying to cultivate. Focus in on this one small thing as intently as you possibly can. Bringing all of your visual perception to this one small dot of awareness. Let’s do it for about ten more seconds…and now drop all effort. 
    4. Let your eyes relax. Notice that almost automatically, after a moment of focus like that, the mind just sort of relaxes into this wider, bigger view. Notice what it’s like now to see the panoramic view of whatever’s in front of you. You’re not trying, you’re not effort-ing. You’re just allowing yourself to take in this view, to gaze at what’s in front of you. In a relaxed way, you can even imagine the edges of your visual field slowly expanding. It’s like you’re now the wide-angle camera on your phone. And we do this from a spirit of allowing and receptivity. You’re just allowing yourself to be in this state where you’re gazing at the world in panoramic awareness. The big view. 
    5. Now let’s add one more piece to this. Begin to notice sound. We’re now going to add auditory perception. Just notice sounds that are close by from this open, receptive, relaxed state. You might even notice the sound of each breath. And now allow the scope of your hearing to expand. Noticing sounds in the room. Maybe there’s the sound of ventilation. 
    6. And now in a relaxed and gentle way, allowing yourself to notice sounds even further off into the distance. Maybe the sound of the breeze outside, the sound of birds, just relaxing into this wide, big view. Eyes relaxed and open. Ears relaxed and open. And now we might add one more sense. As you hold this wide open gaze and you hear the sounds you might also notice that sensation is happening in the body. That’s also part of this view. 
    7. Now see what happens when you just allow the sensations of the body to be part of this view. Noticing that your awareness, the scope of your mind, keeps getting bigger, broader, wider, vast. Noticing the visual field. Noticing sounds. Noticing sensations. No attempt to change. Relaxing into things as they are. Seeing this moment with this totally fresh, wide open view. 
    8. Chances are, if you’re new to a practice like this, it takes a little bit of effort and concentration to stay with this kind of a wide open perspective. So the invitation for the next minute or two is to drop that effort. Don’t try. But see if you can still stay connected in some way to this wide open view. If you feel even the slightest part of yourself wanting to push your eyes open or your ears open, or expand the size of your mind, let that go. No effort, but staying in this relaxed, receptive view. Now see if you can just stay in this effortless open view for the next 30 seconds or so. And now, before we come back, I want to give you a few moments just to explore and investigate this bigger perspective.
    9. Staying where you are, just noticing any differences between the way you ordinarily see life or the world, and the way you’re seeing it now. Comparing and contrasting the big mind that we’ve been trying to cultivate to the small mind, which, for most of us, is our home base. 
    10. Now you can bring yourself here. We never really left. For me, when I enter that state of mind, or that mindfulness practice around opening awareness, the scope of the mind, it often feels like my mind becomes almost like a security camera, that I’m just watching the feed of this camera, listening to the feed of the microphones, watching whatever’s happening. It tends to be really boring and not very interesting, but it starts to become incredibly interesting the more my perspective widens. 
    11. One of the things I’d like to do before you go is to give you a practice that you can take with you for the rest of the day, a way of integrating this shift from the small mind to the big mind into your everyday life. The way to do this is really quite simple. It’s to imagine several times throughout the rest of the day that you’re seeing whatever it is that you’re seeing from the perspective of a mountain top. Or maybe it’s the perspective of a beach. Pick your favorite natural metaphor. The basic idea is that if you catch yourself feeling stressed out, or if you notice that you’ve spent the last 45 minutes scrolling Instagram on your phone with a tight-gripped stare, just take 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, to see whatever’s happening from the mountain top. In fact, it can be quite interesting to bring this big perspective into something like email, or the document you’re working on, or surfing the news, or whatever it is. It’s actually so radically different that it can change your entire perspective of some of these things that make up a big part of our day. So that’s the homework for the rest of the day: three moments where you are seeing whatever’s happening in life from the mountaintop, and then see what happens.

    Never Miss a Meditation

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  • A 12 Minute Meditation to Come Home to Your Heart

    A 12 Minute Meditation to Come Home to Your Heart

    Jenée Johnson welcomes us home to our hearts with a guided meditation to rest, replenish, and renew.

    This is a practice to usher us home for the holidays—“home” meaning to our inner selves, with love and care. In her book, Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection, Sharon Salzberg says, “awareness and love are qualities we can rely on moment to moment…They protect us during whatever storms or blow outs we undergo.” 

    Awareness and love are qualities we can rely on moment to moment

    Jenée Johnson, mindfulness, health, and racial healing innovator, and the founder of the Right Within Experience, guides us in this seven-minute meditation. We will explore a HeartMath practice called Quick Coherence that helps to synchronize the heart, mind, emotions, and body. This practice can help us work on being present with ourselves in an aware, kind, and loving way to take respite from the storms and renew strength and resilience. 

    A 12-Minute Guided Meditation to Come Home to Your Heart

    1. Please be seated in a relaxed, upright position. Drop your gaze or close your eyes and sit with ease. Take a deep breath in and an audible sigh out.

    2. I invite you to come home to yourself, come home to your own heart. I invite you to acknowledge any sadness, loss, or uncertainty you may be experiencing. Hold it gently, and hold it tenderly. I invite you to acknowledge your discoveries, your hopes and passions. Hold them lightly and with kindness as well. 

    Welcome home. Welcome to our hearts to heal, replenish, rest, and renew.

    3. Focus your attention on the area of the heart. Imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your heart and chest area a little slower and deeper than usual. Inhale to the count of five and exhale to the count of five, or find a rhythm that is comfortable.  If you would like, you can place a hand gently over your heart. This can help you center and invite inner ease and coherence.

    4. Meet yourself in a compassionate and easy way with language like, “I’m so glad you’re here,” “It’s good to be with you.” Stay with slow, deep breaths through the heart or chest area. Rest here.

    5. Now, let’s create an experience of renewal. On the next breath, make a sincere attempt to experience a renewing feeling such as appreciation or care for something or someone in your life. Re-experience the feeling you have for someone you love, a pet, a special place, or an accomplishment.

    6. Simply focus on a feeling of calm or ease. Stay with calm easy breaths through the heart and chest area.

    Welcome home for the holidays. May you have calm in the storms, ease, and grace.

    A Guide to Practicing Self-Care with Mindfulness 

    Making sure our own needs are met is as important as taking care of those we love most. When turning your attention toward yourself feels challenging, there are simple ways to move through the discomfort. Explore our new guide for tips, practices, and reminders on how to engage in self-care.
    Read More 

    • Mindful Staff
    • December 18, 2020



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  • A 12-Minute Meditation for Tuning Into the Present Soundscape

    A 12-Minute Meditation for Tuning Into the Present Soundscape

    This week, Melli O’Brien guides us in a practice that invites us to pause and reconnect with the simplicity of being.

    In the midst of life’s noise and distractions, this soundscape meditation creates space to step back and truly listen. By exploring the sensations of the body, the natural rhythm of the breath, and the sounds surrounding us, we’re reminded that peace is found in awareness, not in controlling what’s around us.

    A Guided Meditation for Tuning Into the Present Soundscape

    1. Prepare for this practice by settling into as comfortable a position as you can find. Allow the body to be settled and as relaxed as possible here and at the same time seeing if you can remain upright rather than slouching. Let the way that you place your physical body reflect your intention to be alert and engaged in the practice for the next ten minutes. 
    2. Allow your eyes to lightly close now, if that feels okay for you, or simply lower your gaze. Then bring awareness into the physical body and into the sensations at the contact points between your body and the surface beneath you. Move awareness in close and explore those sensations at the contact point. Then shift the focus to just feeling that gentle rhythm of the breath moving in the body and how the body is being gently rocked and cradled by the natural breath. 
    3. Now, expand your attention out from the breath and bring the focus to the sounds all around you in this particular moment. Take in the sounds in all directions. Sounds in front. Sounds behind. To the sides. Above and below. Take in the whole surrounding soundscape at once.
    4. As the sounds continue to unfold and change, notice if there’s any tendency to mentally label the sounds as they come, or to judge whether you like them or not. Notice how easily sounds can create a story. If you notice this, see if it’s possible to drop any mental commentary and come back to listening to the sounds themselves. Listen as if hearing for the first time, as if each sound was totally new to you. Observe how each sound arises out of stillness. It unfolds and then dissipates back into stillness. Coming and going, constantly changing. Notice the transient nature of sounds. 
    5. Now let go of listening to sounds and bring awareness to your internal world of thoughts. No need to try and control your thoughts in any way. Just let them come and go on their own, just as you did with sounds. Thoughts coming and going, like clouds passing across the sky of your awareness. Thoughts arising, unfolding, and dissipating back into stillness. 
    6. As you continue to be aware of these mental events, notice that these thoughts are coming and going in your awareness. You are the observer, not the thoughts. You can even say that: Here I am watching. I am not the thoughts. I am not the mind. 
    7. Now see if you can withdraw attention from observing the thoughts and simply sense into the awareness of the silent field in which all things come and go. The awareness that you are. This is not something you can grasp with the mind. You’re sensing into that silent beingness, that silent awareness that’s at the very core of all experience. 
    8. Now, let yourself relax back into this silent center of your being. Drop into that still, unchanging depth of being. Allow everything else to arise and pass. Let life flow through you. Rest in the depths of being. It’s like you’re way down deep at the bottom of the ocean in this timeless space, and all that’s coming and going is surface phenomena. Things arising and passing, arising in passing.
    9. In these last few moments of practice, come back to gently focus on your breathing. Take a long, slow, deep breath in. As you breathe out, begin to wriggle the fingers and toes. Take a moment to notice how you feel after making this time for meditation. When you’re ready, open your eyes. 
    10. Remember that no matter what happens today, you can always reconnect to the stillness and peace within by just taking a moment of mindfulness. Wishing you a great day.  



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  • Celebrate the Power of Pausing Together With A Meditation

    Celebrate the Power of Pausing Together With A Meditation

    In this practice framework, each letter of the word “breath” serves to remind us of our responsibility to honor and promote equity.

    To begin this practice, let’s ground ourselves in deep gratitude. Gratitude for all those who have come before us and those who have paved the way for us to sit in this moment with a sense of relative safety. Whose tireless efforts allow us to be and move within the spaces we navigate each day. Acknowledging the responsibility we also share in making the world a better place than we found it. In this way, we can recognize our own sense of belonging as we take time now at the start of our practice to breathe for belonging.

    In this mindfulness framework, each letter of the word “breath” serves to remind us of our responsibility to ourselves and to others to honor and promote equity. “B” invites us to breathe for belonging. “R” for restoration and renewal. “E” to exercise equity. “A” to activate and advocate. “T” asks us to trust the power. “H” is for healing. 

    A Guided Meditation to Celebrate the Power of Pausing Together

    1. Let’s pause for a few breaths to allow us to focus on our breathing for belonging. As we focus on the positive elements of belonging and our gratitude for all that has made this possible, begin to feel a sense of restoration and renewal.
    2. Belonging. Restoration and renewal. The first two letters of our equity breath will prepare us to receive the world with as much positivity and energy as we can. With this in mind, take some time to breathe for belonging as well as our collective restoration and renewal.
    3. Allow a welcome pause. For several breaths focus on restoration and renewal. Take some time to turn inward and focus on a sense of belonging, restoration, and renewal.
    4. Let’s turn our attention outward to the rich diversity of people in our lives and everyday interactions. With that, we will begin to reflect on how we exercise equity as well as activate and advocate for that equity—the “E” and “A” in our equity breath. 
    5. Now we can turn our attention to opening our hearts and minds to the vast intersectionality of our world in ways that cause us to examine things like: Who holds power across our communities and across facets of our society? What is grounded in the ways that we live, work, and play? 
    6. In our collective efforts to advance intersectional equity, may we take the necessary steps to recognize and value each of our many identities. May we exercise equity through our genuine care and concern for one another. Through sharing, openness, and curiosity. Through open invitations to participate, broadening access and opportunity, and through collaboration and co-creation with those impacted by institutions, systems, and communities. Holding those most affected in our hearts and directing this practice toward justice. May we breathe for safety for ourselves and one another. May we breathe together for justice, for the positive change we see each day in the march toward social justice. May we honor and nourish the relationships so necessary in advancing equity in our world as this cannot be done alone.
    7. Let’s pause again and enjoy a few deep breaths to focus on our vast potential to exercise equity. To activate and advocate. Anchoring ourselves in our equity breath as we now turn ourselves to the end of our practice. We use the breath as a tool to focus on breathing for belonging, restoration, and renewal, exercising equity, activating and advocating, trusting the power, and healing through hope. 
    8. Holding ourselves with the utmost compassion, we move into the last two elements of our equity breath, allowing ourselves to trust the past and heal through hope. Anchoring our awareness on the breath; focusing on simply breathing in and breathing out. Aware of our body, let us release all of the tension and pain.
    9. Now, let’s bring our awareness to our hearts. Welcome tenderness to our hearts, bringing our awareness to our emotions. Holding in compassion. Smiling. Easing and releasing with the breath. As we notice our own suffering, notice how it manifests in the body, in our emotions, in our tone, and in our words and actions. Try to hold the suffering with deep compassion. Easing suffering with the beautiful power of our breath. Being aware of suffering as a pattern in the world. Visualizing how it affects so many. As we take in this pattern of suffering, hold it in compassion, and send ease with each out-breath.
    10. As we notice the suffering of others, what are you aware of? What do you feel in your body? What emotions? Hold it all with compassion, sending ease and relief to your mind.
    11. Now slowly return awareness to the breath. Welcome ease and with each out-breath, release any tension. Notice the suffering of those that hold privilege. Recognize guilt and disconnection. Feel this energy and hold it with deep passion as we release it with ease and send relief.
    12. Return awareness to the entire body. Our heads, our hearts, our hands, and our feet. From this awareness, honor your deepest intentions to address suffering and what we need to do in order to create conditions to thrive. Strengthening and bringing into awareness the steps we take next. How does this feel in your body, in your head, in your heart? Hands and feet? What are you? What are we? Carrying forth from today may we keep the flames of determination, courage, and conviction burning no matter what difficulty or odds arise.
    How We Heal Together 

    Change ripples out from the places we heal ourselves, writes editor-in-chief Heather Hurlock. And when we connect, we’re capable of great things.
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    • Heather Hurlock
    • May 26, 2022

    When Mindfulness and Racism Intersect 

    Point of View Podcast Episode 7: Exploring how we’re missing out on the joys of our rich human community, and how mindfulness can help us dismantle the subtle patterns and habits that separate us from each other.
    Read More 

    • Barry Boyce
    • March 21, 2018



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  • Making Space: A Mindful Guide to Processing Post-Election Emotions

    Making Space: A Mindful Guide to Processing Post-Election Emotions

    In times of deep division and uncertainty, many of us feel pressure to “move on” or “come together” quickly, before we’ve properly processed our feelings. This tendency to rush past our emotions can lead to superficial healing at best, and deeper wounds at worst. True healing—whether personal or collective—begins with creating space to process post-election emotions by feeling what we feel without judgment.

    1. Notice Your Protective Patterns

    Before we can heal, we need to recognize how we might be bypassing our emotions. Which of these patterns feel familiar?

    • Keeping Busy: Immediately jumping into “fix-it” mode or taking on extra projects when feeling vulnerable, using constant activity as a way to avoid sitting with uncomfortable feelings
    • Pretending: Maintaining a polished exterior while internally struggling, especially in professional settings or with family—often, it’s saying “I’m fine” when you’re actually not
    • Analyzing: Analyzing feelings from a safe mental distance rather than experiencing them, turning emotional experiences into problems to be solved rather than feelings to be felt
    • Distracting: Using endless scrolling, excessive exercise, or other activities that serve to redirect our attention away from our emotions
    • Numbing: Coping with alcohol or other substances, comfort eating, to dull difficult emotions and temporarily escape discomfort
    • Caretaking: Over-focusing on others’ needs while neglecting our own emotional landscape, using service to others as a way to avoid our own inner work
    • Spiritual Bypassing: Using spiritual practices or positive thinking as an escape route rather than as genuine tools for processing, rushing to “transcend” difficult emotions before fully acknowledging them

    True healing—whether personal or collective—begins with creating space to feel what we feel without judgment.

    2. Give Yourself Permission to Pause

    Now that you’ve recognized your patterns of avoiding discomfort, the next step is simple but powerful: pause. This means temporarily stepping away from our habits of constant doing, fixing, and analyzing.

    Consider this an invitation to:

    • Step away from the constant barrage of news and social media. (If you want to stay informed, set specific times to check the news.)
    • For a few moments, let go of striving to “fix” anything. Notice how this feels in your body and your mind.
    • Give yourself and others grace during this emotional time. Remember that everyone processes differently and at their own pace.
    • Trust that understanding and connection will come, but they can’t be forced.

    While pausing is essential, healing also requires active practices that engage our body and senses. Research offers clear guidance on what works.

    3. Create Space to Feel and Heal

    Find your own ways to intentionally create spaces for healing with activities that engage your sensory awareness—for example, cooking, making and listening to music, painting, writing, and other art forms. You may enjoy these activities on your own or in community.

    In particular, two evidence-based strategies to heal and manage stress are being in nature and moving our body.

    The Science of Nature and Healing

    Research shows our innate connection to nature (biophilia) has real healing effects. A landmark study found that hospital patients with views of nature recovered faster and needed less pain medication than those facing brick walls. Even brief nature encounters can reduce stress hormones and improve well-being.

    Try these science-backed nature practices:

    • Mindful Window Moments: Take 3-5 minutes to observe nature outside your window—notice the movement of leaves, birds, or clouds. Studies show even brief nature views can lower heart rate and blood pressure.
    • Nature Walking: Find a green space for a 15-minute walk. Notice the touch of the air on your face, the sound of leaves or gravel under your feet, the rhythm of your steps. Research shows walking in nature reduces rumination and anxiety more effectively than urban walks.

    Movement as Medicine

    If running, yoga, or other sports don’t speak to you, try dancing. Dance therapy research shows movement helps process emotions trapped in our bodies. Dance is known to promote emotional, social, cognitive, physical, and spiritual integration leading to improved health and well-being.

    When we feel stuck, simple movement can shift our state:

    • Kitchen Dancing: Put on an inspiring song and let your body move freely. Notice how different parts of your body want to express themselves.
    • Gentle Shaking: Stand comfortably and gently shake your body for 1-2 minutes, letting tension release. Notice areas that feel tight or free.

    Now that we’ve explored ways to pause and engage in healing practices, let’s bring it all together with a guided meditation that helps us return to ourselves, listen deeply, and begin taking mindful action.

    A Healing Meditation to Process Post-Election Emotions

    Too often, we finish a meditation session and then rush back into life without taking time to reflect and listen to our needs. Not taking this time means we’re more likely to default to our usual ways of thinking and reacting in the real world, despite our best intentions. Before we begin our interactions, it’s important to remember to return to our intentions and insights.

    Healing can’t be rushed. By creating space for our emotions now, we build a stronger foundation for whatever comes next.

    Let’s practice together, with three steps: return, listen, and begin.

    1. Return to our present moment experience (3-5 minutes)

    The first step in mindfulness meditation is to stabilize the mind by returning to an anchor, whether it’s the feeling or sound of your breath, body sensations, or sounds in the environment. For a few minutes let go of any rushing, judging, or striving. 

    Take a few deep breaths, letting your exhales be slow and complete. Now let your breath find its natural rhythm. Notice the sensation of breathing—perhaps the slight coolness of air at your nostrils, or the gentle rise and fall of your chest.

    As you sit here, become aware of the points of contact between your body and your seat, your feet and the floor. Feel the support beneath you. When your mind wanders to election concerns or other thoughts, gently acknowledge them and return to these sensations of support and breathing.

    Now scan your body slowly, noticing any areas of tension. Are your shoulders raised? Is your jaw clenched? Without trying to change anything, simply notice what’s here. Let each exhale invite a tiny bit more softening. Once you feel centered in your body, shift to the next step of listening within.

    1. Listen within and ask what you need (3-5 minutes)

    Once you feel connected with yourself, you can start to inwardly listen, becoming aware of your thoughts and emotions. What feelings are present? Perhaps anxiety, anger, fear, hope, or numbness. Make room for all you are feeling without needing to fix or change anything. 

    Notice where these emotions live in your body. Does anxiety swirl in your stomach? Does fear create tightness in the chest? Does sadness feel heavy in your shoulders? Let each feeling have space to be felt and heard.

    Now gently ask yourself: “What do I need in this moment?” Maybe it’s rest, connection, movement, or quiet. Let the answer emerge naturally from your body’s wisdom rather than your thinking mind. Trust your inner knowing. 

    1. Begin to take actions that nurture you (5-7 minutes)

    As this practice draws to a close, consider one small way to care for yourself today. Perhaps it’s taking a walk at lunch, calling a supportive friend, or setting a boundary with news consumption.

    Choose something specific and achievable. Rather than “I should exercise more,” perhaps you decide, “I’ll step outside for five minutes at lunch.” Rather than “I need to stay informed,” maybe your intention is “I’ll check news once in the evening for 15 minutes.”

    Take a moment to imagine yourself doing this one small thing. See the details—where you’ll be, what time of day, what it will feel like in your body.

    Before opening your eyes, take three slow breaths, feeling the support beneath you and your own capacity for self-care and healing.

    Remember, you can return to any part of this practice throughout your day—a few conscious breaths, a moment of listening to your needs or recommitting to one small caring action.

    Healing can’t be rushed. By creating space to process our post-election emotions now, we build a stronger foundation for whatever comes next. Start small, be gentle with yourself, and trust your path to genuine healing. From this place of inner calm and clarity we can begin the work of understanding and bridging our differences.

    The original version of this article was published at knowyourmind.training.



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  • Meet Uncertainty with Compassion With Walking Meditation

    Meet Uncertainty with Compassion With Walking Meditation

    Life is inherently changeable and uncertain, and our resilience relies on how we relate to that fact. Mindfulness doesn’t mean everything’s fine or that we’re calm all the time. We aim for patience, clarity, and then—when it’s time—skillful action. 

    Whatever we face, we can meet uncertainty with compassion. This might look like carving out a moment to settle before deciding what comes next. Instead of remaining caught up in reactivity, anger, and fear, it takes effort and training to find a balance between accepting what we cannot change and seeking out where to actively put our effort. 

    The heart of mindfulness means doing our best to navigate our experience, even our crises, with both precision and compassion.

    Take a moment when you’re able to explore that balance. The heart of mindfulness means doing our best to navigate our experience, even our crises, with both precision and compassion. 

    A Mindful Walking Practice to Meet Uncertainty with Compassion

    1. So as you start, focus on what it feels like to walk. Notice the physical sensation of each step. Notice your foot rising, the shift of weight in your body, and then your foot returning to the ground. 

    2. You might label each step as step. Or you might count small runs of steps, perhaps up to 10, and then start again. 

    3. Note your mind’s tendency to add on to your experience, often in ways that complicate even the most challenging moments. Your mind may already be wandering into the future or the past. When you catch yourself lost in thoughts like that, come back again to one step. 

    4. And now, if you’d like, expand your awareness. Notice sounds around you. With a sense of unforced and balanced effort, notice smells, touch, and sights. 

    5. With a sense of strength and perhaps appreciation, immerse yourself in the physical sensation of the walk that you’re taking. 

    6. If a thought or a feeling holds your awareness or becomes a distraction, see if you’re able to practice letting go a little. Notice that sense of getting hooked or tied up in your thoughts and then come back again to that immediate physical sensation of each step. 

    7. Noticing those thoughts, return your attention again to the physical sensation of taking your walk. 

    8. For the last few minutes of the practice, if you’d like, focus on a sense of kindness and compassion. You’re not alone right now. Everyone around the world is struggling to get by. 

    You’re not alone right now. Everyone around the world is struggling to get by. 

    9. So as you walk, taking in your reality, remind yourself: This is what is right now for me. This is where I am—observing my emotional state, my state of mind, and thoughts. 

    10. And then as you walk, wish yourself whatever you would wish for your closest friends right now. 

    May I be happy and at ease. 

    May I recover my sense of resolve and strength. 

    11. If it feels comfortable, you might also expand that. Picture your family and friends in the same way. 

    May we all find our sense of resolve and ease.

    May we all stay healthy and safe.

     12. And if, while you’re walking, you encounter other people or even pass other houses, you may take a moment to offer those strangers the same wishes. Whoever they are, whatever their life experience, everyone has their struggles. So as you pass these other people, or their homes, wish them well.

    May you find health and happiness. 

    13. As we end the formal mindfulness practice, expand your awareness to all beings everywhere—even the ones you find most difficult and challenging. Everyone in some way is driven by a motivation to be free of suffering, to be free of stress, to be healthy, to be happy. 

    May everyone everywhere throughout the world find a sense of resilience, stay healthy, and find happiness. 

    An Election Day Meditation 

    Follow along as Rhonda Magee guides us through a S.T.O.P. practice for focused awareness. The invitation is to be kind to yourself, take a conscious breath, and gently relate to thoughts, emotions, and sensations that arise.
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    • Rhonda Magee
    • November 5, 2024



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  • A 12-Minute Meditation for Sending Compassion to a Difficult Person

    A 12-Minute Meditation for Sending Compassion to a Difficult Person

    When we dislike someone, it’s much harder to recognize their humanity. This guided meditation supports us in releasing tension in the body and cultivating compassion, even for a difficult person.

    No matter whether we seek to get along with everyone, or have been known to cherish a grudge or two, we all know of a person whom we disagree with or who challenges us in some way. When you bring this person to mind, what do you notice? You may feel physical tension, anxiety, or other unpleasant sensations in the body.

    In this meditation, Anu Gupta guides us in simple phrases of compassion and loving-kindness that allow us to remember: Just like me, this person is also human. Just like me, they have their own joys, desires, and struggles. Offering kind wishes to someone difficult is a powerful way to expand our circle of compassion. We don’t have to like them, but we can cultivate compassion for them by softening our resistance and acknowledging their humanity.

    A Guided Meditation for Sending Compassion to a Difficult Person

    1. Begin by settling into a comfortable seated posture, either on a cushion or a chair. Rest your feet on the ground below you. Place your hands on your knees or in your lap. Let your shoulders relax, your spine straight and relaxed, keep your chin parallel to the ground below you, and bring your eyes to a gentle close. 
    2. Bring your attention to your breath. Notice your inhales and your exhales. The breath is oftentimes a reflection of the mind. It’s just bringing awareness to the breath to settle the mind. 
    3. Notice if you’re holding any tension in any part of the body. Bring that to awareness and gently ask that body part to relax. Whether it’s your tongue, your shoulders, or your feet. Relax. Relax. Relax.
    4. As you breathe in and you breathe out, bring to mind a person you’ve had some difficulty with. It doesn’t have to be the worst person you know, or someone who’s caused you a lot of harm, but someone you dislike. Someone who’s challenging. Someone that brings up some sort of resistance in your body. It could be a public figure. It could be someone you know. 
    5. Let yourself feel what it’s like to be in that person’s presence. Bring to attention any tension, dislike, or disgust that may arise because you’ve brought this person’s image in your mind. Just notice it, noticing these unpleasant sensations. But also remember that just like you, this person is also a human. Just like you, this person was also a baby at some point. Just like you, this person is also subject to sickness, to old age and to death. 
    6. Now, imagine this person as a baby. And now offer this difficult person some words of kindness. Just like me, you’re human. May you be safe. May you be peaceful. May you be healthy. May you live with ease. May you be safe. May you be peaceful. May you be healthy. May you live with ease. May you be safe. May you be peaceful. May you be healthy. May you live with ease.
    7. Repeat these phrases of compassion for this difficult person over and over again. Notice the discomfort if it arises. Notice the resistance. And then say to the resistance, Just like me, you’re human. Just like me, you’re human. May you be safe. May you be peaceful. May you be healthy. May you live with ease. Keep repeating these phrases for as long as you like. 
    8. After your next exhale, bring your chin to your chest, stretching the back of your neck. Thank you for your practice today.



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  • A 12-Minute Meditation to Relax Into Your Skin

    A 12-Minute Meditation to Relax Into Your Skin

    This week, Anu Gupta leads us through a detailed body scan, guiding us to relax, release, and shift our energy back to the present moment, coming back from any distracting thoughts and worries.

    Here and now, we can return to our breath. Take this time to feel wonder and gratitude for every part of your physical body, from head to toe, just the way you are today. Relax and release. With this practice, you’ll cultivate a sense of grounding and openness as you let this energy of relaxation soothe your whole body.

    1. Come to a comfortable seated position. As much as you can without creating tension, keep your spine long, feet planted on the ground, hands resting on your knees. Relax your shoulders, neck, and jaw, opening up your chest. Bring your eyes to a gentle close or place your gaze at a stationary point in front of you. 
    2. Bring your attention to your forehead. Do you notice any sensations in the forehead? Perhaps some holding, some tightness. See if you can relax and release. Consciously repeat those phrases: Relax. Release. 
    3. Now bring your attention to your jaw and your tongue. This is often a place we collect a lot of tension, a lot of tightness. So see if you can relax and release. 
    4. If the mind has begun to drift again, notice what it’s doing. Perhaps it’s thinking, or planning. Whatever it is, it’s just a habit. See if you can bring your awareness back to your jaw. This is the practice that we’re developing, the practice of returning to the present moment and bringing mindfulness to our body. Relax, release. 
    5. Now move your attention to your chest, releasing any holding. Feel a sense of expansion and openness. Relax. Release. Come down to your belly, noticing the expansion of the belly out on your inhales and the way it comes back in on your exhales. See if you can relax and release, refocusing your attention on your body in the now. 
    6. Now bring your attention to your arms. Your left arm. Your right arm. Your left hand. Your right hand. Notice if there’s any holding there. Notice the sensations of holding. Perhaps a tightness, some tingling. Be with your mind, and see if you can loosen, relax, release. We have the most nerve endings here, so often we feel a “doing” energy in our hands. But in this moment, we have nowhere to be, nowhere to go. Nothing to do, but just being aware, being mindful of what’s always here: our bodies. Relax. Release. 
    7. Bring your attention to your legs. Your thighs. Your knees. Notice any holding, any tension. Move down to your feet. Your left foot. Your right foot. Notice any contraction, any tension there. Gently focus on surrendering, releasing all that energy. Relax. Release. 
    8. Now take that energy of relaxation to all other parts of your body. See if there’s any other body part that’s holding some tension, some tightness. Right now, there is nowhere to go, no place to be but here. Savor the ease and openness of being here in your body. 
    9. Now bring your attention to your skin, the largest organ in our body. Notice what the skin feels like, this covering that really keeps the entirety of our body together. It regulates our body temperature, maintains homeostasis. In this moment, you’re just feeling the skin across your face, your scalp, your torso, your chest, your arms, your legs. Notice any sensations. What do they feel like? There’s no need to change them, just observe them.  
    10. You can bring this energy of release of relaxation to your body any time you notice holding or tension. This is the practice we’re cultivating, the practice of mindfulness. Notice if the mind has drifted. What is it doing? And see if you can bring it back to your body. Just for these last few moments, take these last few seconds to savor the openness you may feel in your body. This is available to you at any time, anywhere. By bringing awareness to your inner experience and to your body, you’ll be better able to make decisions that align with your purpose and values. 
    11. After your next exhale, bring your chin to your chest. If your eyes were closed, gently open them. Thank you for practicing today. Have a wonderful day ahead. 



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  • 12 Minute Meditation: A Guided Practice to Focus the Mind

    12 Minute Meditation: A Guided Practice to Focus the Mind

    Meditation practice often feels like something to get through, something good for us, like medicine. But 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 focus the mind on being wherever we are, without having to do anything in particular.

    Obviously there’s nothing wrong with “doing” things—we have to do things. Doing things is great, but doing things is also challenging. Having some time when we can just be is refreshing.

    No question that simply being is equally as challenging because some scary thoughts might crop up. But as we become more familiar with the process, we realize we can focus the mind and we don’t have to fully engage those thoughts or get caught up in them.

    If it’s a particularly painful time, the meditation practice will be about being with that pain. We can allow it to be a bit “discontinuous,” that is, we see little gaps in the pain where bits of relaxation, and joy even, can poke through.

    So, in this longer meditation practice, let’s take the time to enjoy being here.

    A Guided Meditation to Focus the Mind

    12 Minute Meditation: A Meditation to Focus the Mind with Barry Boyce

    1. The first place to start is with spending a short period of time, in a relaxed way, on the posture. We begin with our seat. The point about our seat and our legs is just to have a base, to be supported. Nothing special about it.
    • If you’re on a chair: bottoms of the feet are touching the ground.
    • If you’re on a cushion: Legs can be simply crossed in front of you or they could be in a lotus posture or half-lotus posture.
    • The upper body is upright but not stiff.
    • Our hands can rest on our thighs in front of us with our upper arms parallel to our upper body.
    • Our eyes can be open or closed, and our gaze is slightly down. Just a slight feeling of humbleness about that. And with the gaze down we’re slightly focussed inward. Our mouth can be just slightly open or closed.

    That’s a practice in itself: just taking the time, taking the luxury, to establish our posture. If you have various bodily issues you just need to make adjustments for those.

    That’s a practice in itself: just taking the time, taking the luxury, to establish our posture

    2. Now, simply pay attention to your breathing. Now we pay attention to the breath as it comes in and goes out. The nice thing about the breath is that it’s reliable. It’s always going to be there if we’re alive. Sharon Salzberg talks about the importance of faith, and many people talk about trust. It’s a very simple type of faith or trust that something is going to continue to be there. As you find yourself lost in thought and you notice that because you have trust in the breath, you know that it will be there when you bounce off that thought and come back to the breath.

    3. Pay attention to body and breath together. As we come back to and notice our breath, we’re also noticing our body, so it’s a kind of a whole body experience, resting our attention on the breath. We can also feel the temperature in the room and appreciate our ability to sense the world—that we are a sensory mechanism. The world touches us. We have an interplay going on with the world. That’s something we can appreciate. Pleasure and pain come from that sensing of the world.

    4. For a little while, practice returning to the breath when the mind wanders. We’re taking time to simply be present and to develop presence. Presence meaning: able to be present for whatever comes up—up or down, could be very intense thoughts. How did the world begin. Why are we still driving so many cars? Who invented the car anyway? How do cars work? Can be cognitive, random thoughts like that. Or, could be intense emotional thoughts. Emotional thoughts carry with them a lot of “color,” and a lot of energy, and a lot of feeling of movement in the body: “I hate that,” ” love that,”—lots feeling tone to those thoughts. They can be persistent. They keep coming up, no matter how many times we go back to the breath. Or, thoughts could be just about simple sensation it’s an itch in your toe.

    5. Mindfulness is an equal opportunity process: whatever comes up, we just notice it and come back. If it comes up again in another shape or form, you know to sit and come back. There’s a certain amount of simplicity and dullness about that, but over time that dullness becomes natural relaxation. There’s a feeling of strength that comes from being able to be present with whatever arises and not being so inclined to run from it.

    6. Some people like to use the slogan “The present is pleasant,” but that’s not really true, necessarily. The present can contain whatever is present in that moment. If a family member has just died, it’s not going to be particularly pleasant. Taking a moment to meditate and focus the mind will be about being with that, not trying to create a pleasant experience for yourself. Usually, we’re trying to get something out of an experience. In this case, paradoxically, we are just trying to be with, rather than trying to get something out of it.

    7. As we notice thoughts again and again in meditation practice, the thoughts begin to have less solid substance to them. They can feel less like something we have to fight with. We can have an appreciation that they are not facts, they’re just formulations that emerge in the mind and that beneath them is some kind of presence and awareness that continues, whatever thoughts may arise and dwell for a while and then go.



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  • A 12-Minute Meditation to Embrace All Your Parts

    A 12-Minute Meditation to Embrace All Your Parts

    This week, Carley Hauck guides us to embrace all parts of ourselves—what isn’t serving us, as well as what we see as our positive attributes.

    Carley Hauck guides us to embrace all parts of ourselves—those qualities we see as our “shadow,” or what isn’t serving us, as well as the light, or what we see as our positive attributes. Especially as leaders (including any person who shows leadership in their life), working with both our “dark” and “light” parts allows us to shine our full potential out into the world.

    If you feel like it’s often too difficult or painful to acknowledge some aspects of who you are, this is a powerful practice for developing greater self-acceptance and self-love. As Carley reminds us, “The more you acknowledge the shadow, the more you will integrate and embrace it.” In this meditation, we’ll use a visualization technique, along with movement and sound, to support us in truly embracing every aspect of who we are.

    A Guided Meditation to Embrace All Your Parts

    1. Find a space where you can be quiet for several minutes. Take a few deep breaths in and out of your belly. Breathing in, allowing the belly to rise. Breathing out, allowing the belly to fall. 
    2. When you are relaxed, imagine yourself standing in the center of a circle of supportive people: Your family, friends, colleagues, pets, or guides. Close your eyes and soak up the feelings of love and acceptance. 
    3. Now acknowledge one or two parts of yourself that you struggle with or have disowned—perhaps your impatience, arrogance, shyness, fear of being unlovable. Anything you have a little shame around. These are the dark parts of you are the shadow. 
    4. Just a side note to say: we all have shadow aspects of our personalities. An easy way to identify your dark parts is to bring to mind a person in your life who triggers you. What do you not like about them? What do you struggle with when you’re with them? What is the trait or quality that is challenging about this person? For example, you might have a colleague who always turns in their reports late. And this elicits feelings of anger or discomfort. You feel the judgment about their lack of accountability. Now turn the mirror towards yourself and ask: In what ways am I like this? Or in the example above, you could ask, In what ways am I not accountable? When you see this behavior in yourself, you will likely feel discomfort in your body, or even a feeling of ouch. 
    5. I invite you to be with all that arises with a loving awareness. Wherever you look and whatever is brought into presence, shine love and awareness there. Take a few minutes to invite it in. And allow these dark parts, acknowledging them one by one, aloud or silently with love and presence. Try saying, I can be selfish, I can be arrogant, I can be impatient. The more you acknowledge the shadow, the more you will integrate and embrace it. 
    6. The truth is that leaders need all of our parts to shine our greatest light and potential in the world. Take another round of deep breaths in and deep breaths out. 
    7. Now let’s move to the light parts. These are the qualities you identify in yourself as positives or strengths. Say the list out loud or silently for a few minutes as mantras. For example: I am strong. I am smart. I am compassionate. I am resilient. Invite these parts into your awareness with love and presence. Allow all of these parts to be seen and embraced by your circle of supportive beings. 
    8. As you acknowledge each of these life parts, you can also invite in the dark. This is how we integrate and bring forward our whole self to work in the world. You can further support this integration by chanting one of these loving mantras: I embrace all of you. I love and accept all of you. I choose all of me. I am loving awareness. 
    9. As you repeat the mantra and notice how you feel in your mind, heart and body. Repeat your favorite mantras, especially when you aren’t being compassionate or kind to yourself, until you truly believe the message. Our thoughts become our beliefs. And they become patterns in our neural networks and our minds. 
    10. A profound way to bring your whole self to work and into daily life is to get into your body. For this exercise, you might choose to play with the movement piece and notice what kind of motion helps you embody the polarity of your dark and light parts. Try different stances, postures, gestures, or vocal sounds. The movements and sounds can then be integrated into your outer game of leadership by how you walk and talk and show up in the world. 
    11. Remember that developing any new pattern requires patience, practice, and persistence. But if you do this, you will be able to shine your greatest light. Thank you for your practice today.



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