12 Minute Meditation

Our guest this week is Shamash Alidina. He offers a guided practice to invite us to consider how feeling smaller can actually be a big relief. It's not that we diminish our value, but rather that we take a moment to feel that the world is bigger than our worries, and that we are held and surrounded by immense beauty, wonder, and support. In this meditation, you'll:

• Connect with and ground in your body and your senses

• Widen your perspective

• Open yourself to the experience of awe

Shamash Alidina has been practising mindfulness since 1998 and runs his own successful training organisation. He is the author of Mindfulness For Dummies and the forthcoming Breathing Exercises for Dummies. He frequently pops up in newspapers, magazines and on radio shows. Based in London, he runs online trainings and speaks at conferences all over the world. He's been teaching mindfulness full-time since 2010.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Sign up for our free newsletter mindful.org/signup or download the app for free at mindful.org/app.

Show Notes

Find more from Shamash Alidina here.

Go Deeper

Awe is a fundamental and essential human emotion, but it's one we get a lot less of these days. To intentionally reconnect with awe and experience the emotional, physical, and relational benefits, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• Why Do We Feel Awe?

• How to Take An Awe Walk

• The Joy of Feeling Small

• Eight Ways Awe Boosts Your Well-Being

• How Awe Brings People Together

For more practice opening to awe in simple things, try: Jörg Sprave: A Guided Forest Bathing Meditation

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Our guest this week is Dr. Diana Hill. She brings a guided practice to be with, care for, and notice the story that we bring to our emotional and physical pain. In this meditation, you'll:

• Identify a specific area of emotional or physical discomfort

• Name the story underneath that pain, without judgment or the need to "fix"

• Notice how the story points to what you care about, and what's most important to you

• Consider how you can act on that care

Diana Hill, PhD is a clinical psychologist, international trainer, and sought-out speaker on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and compassion. She is host of the Wise Effort podcast, author of The Self-Compassion Daily Journal, and co-author of the ACT Daily Journal. @drdianahill

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Sign up for our free newsletter mindful.org/signup or download the app for free at mindful.org/app.

Show Notes

Find more from Diana Hill here.

Go Deeper

Living with pain, whether it's emotional, mental, or physical, is an immense challenge. The process of finding meaning is not about trying to spin a story that forces a positive interpretation of struggle. Mindfulness does not position itself as a "fix" to suffering. Rather, it is a practice of attending to ourselves in these seasons, without judgement, forced positivity, numbing, or distraction. For more support in living with chronic conditions, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• Embracing Discomfort: The Surprising Path to a Meaningful Life

• What Unexpected Chronic Back Pain Taught Me: 4 Takeaways That Matter

• Let Your Pain Be a River: Vidyamala Burch on Living and Teaching With Chronic Pain

• How We Can Thrive Within Discomfort

• The Ultimate Quest to Find Meaning

For more practice meeting pain with compassion, try: A Meditation to Bring Comfort and Kindness to Pain and Illness

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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].

Our guest this week is Thaddaeus Washington, Mindful's featured Teacher of the Month for October.

He brings a new experience to our meditation lineup: a music-based meditation entitled "Vapour," where sound is the anchor for our attention. In this guided practice, you're invited to simply rest, bring your whole self, and allow the music to unwind the worries of the day.

Thaddaeus Washington is a musician, singer, songwriter, and founder of Mind Music—a company dedicated to making mindfulness accessible through music and immersive experiences. Thaddaeus has generously shared music from his Common Ground albums with us, which will be available as a full playlist inside the app starting in early November.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Sign up for our free newsletter mindful.org/signup or download the app for free at mindful.org/app.

Show Notes

Find more from Thaddaeus Washington here.

Go Deeper

Music has long been a part of mindfulness tradition. From singing, dancing, and chanting to simply allowing ourselves to be caught up in wonder and beauty, music has a unique ability to work in us as whole human beings, body, mind, and heart. To learn more about the benefits of incorporating music into your mindfulness practices, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• Where Music and Meditation Meet

• How Empathy Changes the Way We Process Music

• Why Music Strikes a Chord

For a different take on a music-based practice, sample the new Desert Pulse playlist on Mindful's YouTube Channel (now available inside the app, as well).

And more from Mindful here:

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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].

Our guest this week is teacher Jörg Sprave.

He leads a guided meditation called "I Am Nature." Designed to be done outdoors, this meditation is based on the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, also known as "forest bathing." In this session, you'll:

• Learn a bit about the ancient practice forest bathing

• Consider your intimate connection to the natural world

• Experience the deep calm, rest, and awe of meditating in nature

Jörg Sprave is the founder of and lead instructor at Treeming.org, an international forest therapy education organization based in Zurich. He believes in the transformative power of nature to heal, inspire and unite, and works with his colleagues to build a worldwide community rooted in harmony with the Earth.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Sign up for our free newsletter mindful.org/signup or download the app for free at mindful.org/app.

Show Notes

Find more from Jörg Sprave here.

Go Deeper

Most of us live our daily lives in environments that are disconnected from nature. We are surrounded by steel, concrete, screens, and the endless noise of modern life. But our minds and bodies long for the rest and awe that can only come from connection with wild, natural spaces—even if those spaces are small, simple, and undramatic. To learn more about the benefits of being outdoors and how to extend your practice to include time in nature, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• 3 Simple Ways to Reconnect With Nature (Even If You Live in the City)

• Nature-Based Mindfulness Practices for Families

• What Happens When We Reconnect With Nature

• What Green Spaces Can Do For Your Body, Your Mind & Your Practice

• 7 Reasons to Go Outside (According to Science)

For another nature-based practice, try: A Guided Meditation to Awaken the Flow of Gratitude in Nature

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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].

Our guest this week is teacher Caverly Morgan.

She offers a sturdy, grounded place to come home to when we're struggling with feelings of failure, inadequacy, or insecurity. This meditation:

• Offers a steadier alternative to bypassing difficult emotions with positive mantras

• Gives us a more expansive perspective on our value

• Allows us to be with what's painful, and still return to a place of unconditional love

Caverly Morgan is a meditation teacher, author, and visionary who founded Peace in Schools, a nonprofit that created the nation's first for-credit mindfulness class in public high schools. She is also the founder of Presence Collective, a community of cross-cultural contemplatives committed to personal and collective transformation.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Sign up for our free newsletter mindful.org/signup or download the app for free at mindful.org/app.

Show Notes

Find more from Caverly Morgan here.

Go Deeper

When we're wrestling with experiences that challenge our identities or our confidence, it can be tempting to reach for positive self-talk that pushes back against the difficult feelings we might be having. Unconditional self-love is different. To learn more about how to build this skill, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• Building Self-Compassion for Failure in the Creative Process

• Radical Love for Troubled Times

• Field Notes on Radical Self Compassion

• It's Selfish, It's Hokey, and I'll Lose My Edge: 3 Half-Truths About Self-Compassion

• This Is What Fierce Self-Compassion Looks Like

For more practice working with unconditional self-acceptance, try: Self-Compassion for Nervous System Reset

And more from Mindful here:

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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].

Our guest this week is teacher Shamash Alidina.

He shares a simple technique for opening and strengthening your awareness and curiosity about everyday things. This walking meditation is designed to help you:

• Practice seeing the world with a "beginner's mind"

• Get outside, move, breathe, and give your churning mind a break

• Notice things in a new way through your senses

Shamash Alidina has been practising mindfulness since 1998 and runs his own successful training organisation. He is the author of Mindfulness For Dummies and the forthcoming Breathing Exercises for Dummies. He frequently pops up in newspapers, magazines and on radio shows. Based in London, he runs online trainings and speaks at conferences all over the world. He's been teaching mindfulness full-time since 2010.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Sign up for our free newsletter mindful.org/signup or download the app for free at mindful.org/app.

Show Notes

Find more from Shamash Alidina here.

Go Deeper

Nurturing a beginner's mind doesn't mean we pretend we don't know stuff. It just means we get more intentional about pausing to ask if our assumptions about people and the world are always correct. To learn more about building this mindful skill, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• Beginner's Mind Q&A With Anu Gupta

• Navigating the Path to Fulfillment: Embrace Psychological Flexibility with ACT for Beginners

• Don't Be So Sure

• Want in-person practice with cultivating a more open mind? Here's a retreat you can attend in Garrison, NY, this October 28-31. Skymind: Resting in Our Natural State

For a different approach to meditating with beginner's mind, try: A 12-Minute Meditation to Approach the World With a "Don't-Know Mind"

And more from Mindful here:

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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].

Our guest this week is teacher Vinny Ferraro.

He shares a beginner's metta or loving-kindness meditation that offers practice for the most common first step of metta: giving compassion to ourselves. This meditation is designed to help you:

• Meet yourself with care, whatever you're experiencing

• Practice being with your own imperfection without slipping into shame or harsh self-criticism

• Notice where there is room to learn and develop wisdom

Vinny Ferraro has been a practitioner of insight meditation (vipassanā) since the early 1990s. He is a co-Founder of the Dharma Punx and co-Guiding Teacher of Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. He is also a nationally recognized leader in designing and implementing interventions for at-risk adolescents and is currently Senior Trainer for Mindful Schools.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Sign up for our free newsletter mindful.org/signup or download the app for free at mindful.org/app.

Show Notes

Find more from Vinny Ferraro here.

Go Deeper

We are often our own worst critics, treating ourselves and speaking to ourselves with a level of cruelty that we'd never bring to others. Self-compassion isn't indulgence. It's learning to treat yourself the way you would anyone you love. To learn more about how to build this skill and the benefits it holds, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• How Practicing Loving-Kindness Helped Me Find My Place in the World

• The Gift of Loving-Kindness

• Loving-Kindness Meditation May Protect Your Genes and Slow Aging

• Why Loving-Kindness Takes Time: Sharon Salzberg

• 18 Science-Based Reasons to Try Loving-Kindness Meditation

For more practice working with loving-kindness meditation, try: Loving-Kindness Meditation with Sharon Salzberg

And more from Mindful here:

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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].

Our guest this week is also September's Teacher of the Month, Dr. Mark Bertin.

He offers a unique practice that uses sensory awareness and gentle movement to help meet moments of uncertainty. This meditation is designed to help you:

• Practice meeting yourself with patience and attentive care

• Connect with your body as both a way to calm yourself and as a way to get clarifying information about the situation you're facing

• Engage skillfully with the discomfort of uncertainty, rather than defaulting to reactivity, anger, or fear

Mark Bertin, MD., is a pediatrician, author, professor, and mindfulness teacher specializing in neurodevelopmental behavioral pediatrics. He's a regular contributor to Mindful.org and Psychology Today. He is the author of How Children Thrive: The Practical Science of Raising Independent, Resilient, and Happy Kids (Sounds True, 2018). Dr. Bertin resides in Pleasantville, New York. For more, visit developmentaldoctor.com.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Sign up for our free newsletter mindful.org/signup or download the app for free at mindful.org/app.

Show Notes

Find more from Mark Bertin here.

Go Deeper

Life is inherently changeable and uncertain, and our resilience relies on how we relate to that fact. The good news is that these are skills we can build. To learn more, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• Why Uncertainty Is Good for Us

• How Embracing Uncertainty Leads To Fulfillment

• New Life, Who's This? Rediscovering Who You Are When Everything Has Changed

• Navigating Change is Hard. Here's How it Makes Us Better Leaders

• Finding Peace in Challenging Times with Sharon Salzberg

For more practice working with uncertainty, try: A Meditation to Create Inner Balance in the Face of Change

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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].

Our guest this week is Janice Martellucci, Executive Director of Peace in Schools. As millions of students get ready to head back to school in the Northern Hemisphere, she brings us a meditation to meet transitions and new places with courage and curiosity.

Regardless of the type of transition you might be facing, this meditation is designed to help you:

• Notice the emotions that arise as you approach this change

• Stay present to what you're experiencing with care, especially if you're feeling fear or resistance

• Offer support to yourself and others

Janice Martellucci is the Executive Director of Peace in Schools and an educator focused on uplifting the agency and wellbeing of young people. Since 2015, she's been an influencer and change-maker in mindfulness education, playing an integral role in designing and implementing the nation's first, for-credit, semester-long mindfulness course in public high schools. Her work brings transformative mindfulness education to thousands of teens and educators every year.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Sign up for our free newsletter mindful.org/signup or download the app for free at mindful.org/app.

Show Notes

Find more from Janice Martellucci here.

Go Deeper

Change is inevitable, but being with change, without trying to grasp or control the outcome, can be a huge challenge. Mindfulness can help. To learn more, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• Back-to-School Mindfulness Toolkit for Parents, Kids, and Educators

• Finding Your Way Forward When the Path Is Not Clear

• New Life, Who's This? Rediscovering Who You Are When Everything Has Changed

• Embracing Change: What Nanalan' Teaches Us About Saying Goodbye

• Navigating Menopause: A Mindful Approach to Managing Symptoms and Embracing Change

• The Only Constant Is Change

For another approach to working with transition, try: A Meditation to Help You Let Go and Accept Change

And more from Mindful here:

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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].

Our guest this week is Jeneé Johnson. She brings us a meditation based on what she calls "staying on the spot." This meditation is designed to help you:

• Notice when your thoughts wander

• Come back to the moment without judgment or anxiety

• Practice training your attention in meditation so you can carry that skill over into daily life

Jenée Johnson is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, Racial Healing, Emotional Intelligence Educator, and HeartMath facilitator. Jenée initiated and led the unique effort to bring mindfulness into San Francisco's public health programs and practices through the Trauma Informed Systems Initiative. She is on the advisory board of Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI) and is certified to teach mindfulness and emotional intelligence based on the latest neuroscience. She is also the founder and curator of The Right Within Experience, a day-long program for people of African ancestry that teaches practical mindfulness to overcome the diminishing impact of racism and open a portal to a liberatory lifestyle.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Sign up for our free newsletter mindful.org/signup or download the app for free at mindful.org/app.

Show Notes

Find more from Jeneé Johnson here.

Go Deeper

For more information on how mindfulness practice can help you train your focus and attention, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• Attention! How Mindfulness Training Is Helping People Reclaim Their Ability to Focus

• Paying Attention to the Space In Between

• Finding a Way to Measure and Study Our Internal Attention

• The Brain Science of Attention with Amishi Jha

• Find Your Focus: Own Your Attention in 12 Minutes a Day

For another approach to attention-strengthening meditation, try: A Breathing Meditation to Gently Bring Your Attention Back with Awareness

And more from Mindful here:

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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].