12 Minute Meditation

Take a guided walk to help savor your day. This walking practice isn't about where you go or how fast you go. It's about staying consistently in the present moment and embracing mindfulness with each step.

Show notes: This meditation is adapted from Jon Kabat-Zinn's Guided Mindfulness Meditation Series 3, available here. These guided meditations are designed to accompany Jon Kabat-Zinn's book Meditation is Not What You Think and the other three volumes based on Coming to Our Senses.

Jon Kabat-Zinn is the founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as well as the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

This guided meditation cultivates the ability to calm and focus the mind with mindfulness. There's no need to panic if your thoughts are racing, that's natural. Instead, Rich Fernandez asks you to focus your attention on a single object.

Show notes: Meditation by Rich Fernandez.

Rich Fernandez is the CEO of Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI). He was previously the director of executive education and people development at Google, where he was also one of the first SIY teachers.

Take a break and boost your mood with this 10-minute walking meditation.

This guided meditation helps open your heart to both giving and receiving love. You'll begin by imagining yourself surrounded by a circle loving beings. Offer love and goodwill to them and they'll do the same for you.

Show notes: Meditation by Sharon Salzberg

Sharon Salzberg is a meditation teacher and New York Times best-selling author. She is also the cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society.

This practice uses counting breaths to cultivate mindful awareness. This practice can be done before bedtime, activity changes such as homework time or whenever it's needed

Show notes: Adapted from Mindful Parenting for ADHD by Mark Bertin.

Mark Bertin, MD, is a pediatrician, author, professor, and mindfulness teacher specializing in neurodevelopmental behavioral pediatrics.

You can be mindful even when life gets noisy. Bring mindfulness to the soundscape around you including the most annoying ones you encounter daily. This guided meditation helps your awareness switch from aversion to curiosity which lessens the negative impact you feel when you hear irritating sounds.

Show notes: Adapted from MBSR Every Day by Bob Stahl PhD and Elisha

Goldstein.Bob Stahl, PhD, has founded eight Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs in medical centers in the San Francisco Bay Area and is currently offering programs at Dominican Hospital and El Camino Hospitals in Los Gatos and Mt. View.

Take some time out of your day to send kindness to yourself and others. This nurturing guided meditation helps you breathe compassion in and out. You'll end the practice by soaking up all the compassion you've brought into your space.

Show notes: Adapted from The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristin Neff and Chris Germer.

Kristin Neff, PhD is an associate professor in Human Development and Culture in the Educational Psychology Department, at the University of Texas at Austin.

Once you're familiar with basic breath awareness practices, another powerful sitting meditation practice involves expanding the field of awareness to include sensations within the body. Notice sensations as they arise to ground yourself in the here and now.

Show notes: This meditation is adapted from Jon Kabat-Zinn's Guided Mindfulness Meditation Series 3, available here. These guided meditations are designed to accompany Jon Kabat-Zinn's book Meditation is Not What You Think and the other three volumes based on Coming to Our Senses.

Jon Kabat-Zinn is the founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as well as the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

You can use guided meditation before having conversations about money. The body check-in helps you find balance and support before broaching the subject with another. This practice helps you realize what your thoughts around money are which can be used to foster understanding and forgiveness.

Show notes: Meditation by Bari Tessler.

Bari Tessler is a financial therapist, author, and creator of the online Art of Money program.