12 Minute Meditation

It is natural as finite human beings to want to feel certain. To our brains, certainty equals safety. It's normal to wish we could control the future, because uncertainty can be unsettling and scary.

But as today's teacher observes, as difficult as it is, the only real leverage we have to positively influence the future is to learn to inhabit the present moment fully, without trying to fix it or manage it. This is the most challenging aspect of mindfulness, and its core principle.

This 20-minute guided meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn is practice for simply being awake and aware in the moment without agenda.

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. He is author of Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness; Wherever You Go, There You Are; Coming to Our Senses; and Mindfulness for Beginners. He trains, teaches, and lectures throughout the world on applications of mindfulness and is Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

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

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Show Notes

Find more from Jon Kabat Zinn here.

Go Deeper

Like any mindful skill, learning how to tune into and stay rooted in the present moment takes time and practice. Learn more with these resources on Mindful:

• How Present-Moment Awareness Can Make Life More Meaningful

• The Science and Practice of Staying Present Through Difficult Times

• Why It's Hard to Live in the Present Moment

• Before Fidget Toys, There Were Beads: The Latest Craze is Part of a Long Tradition of Keeping Your Hands Busy

• Being Present with Cancer

For another approach to practicing present moment awareness, try: A 10-Minute Practice to Fully Experience the Present

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Stress and tension can easily build up in our bodies during busy days or weeks, and often we don't even realize how much that is affecting our ability to let go and fall asleep at night.

In this guided practice, teacher Kelly Boys offers a simple body scan meditation that uses sensory awareness and intentional breathing to invite a sense of lovely heaviness and relaxation.

Kelly Boys is a mindfulness trainer, coach, author, and speaker, specializing in teaching the NSDR (non sleep deep rest) practice of yoga nidra. She is the author of The Blind Spot Effect and as a trainer has created mindfulness programs for UN humanitarians and veterans with PTSD.

Just a quick note: Since this is a sleep meditation, you won't be hearing a closing bell or the usual outro, so that you can drift off in silence.

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

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Show Notes

Find more from Kelly Boys here.

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It's not really possible to "get rid" of stress. In fact, the more we try to fight it, the worse it gets. What does work to ease stress is to meet it with compassion, and that can take on various forms: sensory awareness, body scans, deep breathing, mindful movement, journaling, and many other types of mindfulness practice. Here are just a few ways that you can learn to meet, process, and release stress:

• Make It Personal: How Mindfulness Can Support Highly Stressed People

• A Steady Heart: A Cardiologist's Advice for Lowering Stress

• A Simple Inquiry Practice to Unwind from Stress

• Mindfulness May be a Useful Tool for Dealing with Stress Associated with Autism

• The Power of Meeting Stress with Softness

For another guided meditation to help you get to sleep, try: Healthy Sleep Can't Be Forced. Try this Sleep Meditation Instead

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When we're facing disappointment or challenge, it's easy to default to negative narratives about who we are inherently: I'm a failure. What's wrong with me? I never do anything right.

This week, teacher Rich Fernandez invites a different perspective: When we shift from naming an existential trait (like, I must be a loser) to naming a temporary experiential state (like, I'm experiencing a setback that's discouraging), then we can actually return awareness and agency to ourselves and navigate a way through the challenge.

Rich Fernandez has dedicated his career to building more purposeful, mindful, and high-performing workplaces. He is the former CEO of Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI), co-founded Wisdom Labs, and has also served in senior roles at eBay, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Bank of America. Currently, he is the Head of Executive Development at Gap, Inc.

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 Rich Fernandez here.

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Learning how to navigate difficulty is a core human skill, and naturally one of the most challenging. For more resources on how mindfulness can help build resilience, compassion, and wisdom for the tougher seasons of life, check out these articles from Mindful:

• Why Imagination—Not Resilience—Might Help You Heal From Heartbreak

• Elaine Smookler on How Setbacks Can Breed Resilience

• Deep Resilience: The Wisdom of Making Friends with Your Mind

• Swimming, Walking, Running—Why Mindful Movement Can Boost Resilience

• Learning to Meditate Through Difficulty

For another guided practice on staying steady when things feel like they're falling apart, try: Staying Grounded through Difficulty

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By definition, to feel vulnerable is to feel exposed and undefended. It's natural, in moments of emotional risk or tenderness, to feel the urge to pull back from vulnerability, to deny it or dismiss it as weak or needy. But decades of research have also revealed that we can't really form strong bonds with others if we're unwilling to take the risk of being our true selves.

This week, Dr. Stacee Reicherzer guides us through a practice that can help us soften to this oh-so-human experience so that we can truly know healing, connection, and vitality.

Dr. Stacee L. Reicherzer, PhD, LPC-S is the Chicago-based transgender author of The Healing Otherness Handbook: Overcome the Trauma of Identity-Based Bullying and Find Power in Your Difference. The San Antonio, TX native serves as clinical faculty of counseling at Southern New Hampshire University, where she received the distinguished faculty award in 2018.

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 Stacee Reicherzer here.

As with any difficult emotion, learning to be with vulnerability is a skill that we can nurture. Here are more resources on this essential skill and how mindfulness can help you build and expand your capacity to be yourself in the world.

Go Deeper

• Gentle Men: The Healing Power of Vulnerability

• The Power of Vulnerability

• Why Vulnerability is Your Superpower

• Feeling Like a Fraud in Your Own Mindfulness Practice

• 4 Questions to Foster Your Authentic Self

For more practice leaning into genuine connection, try A 12-Minute Meditation for Cultivating Connection to Yourself and Beyond.

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This week, Ed Halliwell guides us through a practice to be with the inevitable moment-to-moment uncertainty of life. We can't control what's happening around us, but we can practice letting go of the stories we create about uncertainty that add unnecessary stress and pain.

Ed Halliwell is a mindfulness teacher and writer, based in Sussex and London, UK. He is author of three books: Into The Heart of Mindfulness, How To Live Well By Paying Attention and (as co-author)The Mindful Manifesto and teaches courses and retreats to public groups, in organizations and to individuals, face-to-face and online via Skype. He is also an advisor to The Mindfulness Initiative, which is supporting the Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group to develop mindfulness-based policies for the UK.

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 Ed Halliwell here.

Go Deeper

Learning that our thoughts and feelings are not "us"—meaning, they aren't our whole identity, but rather are part of a fluid experience that comes and goes—is a core element of mindfulness practice.

This does not mean that our thoughts or feelings don't matter, or that we need to fix or control them; it only means that we can have more freedom when we don't get too attached or mistake a moment or a season for who we are. For more support learning how to work with uncertainty, thoughts, and feelings, start with these resources from Mindful.org:

1. Why Uncertainty Is Good for Us

2. Seven Strengths for an Uncertain World

3. You Can Investigate Your Emotions Without Suppressing Them

4. Halting the Spiral: Navigating Repetitive Thought Patterns

For more practice noticing the temporary nature of thoughts and emotions, try: A Basic Mindfulness Meditation for Labeling Thoughts and Emotions

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There are times when we're so busy thinking, planning, worrying, stressing that it's really hard to focus on the breath or the body, or whatever particular meditation object we're using.

This practice with Mark Coleman offers an alternative that's helpful when we feel like we're going a million miles an hour. It uses soft, focused attention: relaxed eyes, soft gaze, and just being aware of the visual stimuli—like color, light, form, shape—to settle our focus.

Mark Coleman is a Dharma teacher at Spirit Rock and has taught Insight Meditation retreats since 1997 worldwide. Mark is passionate about integrating meditation and nature and leads wilderness retreats through his organization Awake in the Wild and runs annual Nature Meditation teacher trainings. Cofounder of the Mindfulness Training Institute, Mark coeads year-long mindfulness teacher trainings in Europe and the US. He is author of Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery and Make Peace With Your Mind and his recent book From Suffering to Peace. He lives in Sausalito, Marin and likes nothing more than hiking, biking, and kayaking in the outdoors. Find out more at markcoleman.org

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 Coleman here.

Go Deeper

For a variety of reasons, not every brain is well-suited to "traditional" meditation techniques. Here are ways to explore other alternative practices:

• Awareness in Action: Rethinking ADHD Through Mindfulness

• Guided Meditations for Working with ADHD and Anxiety

• Trusting Your Senses

• Mindfulness and Autism: Learning to Celebrate Neurodiversity

• Addiction, Trauma, and the Problem of Being Present

If you've even had the feeling that traditional meditation isn't for you because of how you're wired, try this neurodivergent-friendly approach: Dual Anchor: A Neurodiversity-Informed Meditation for Wandering Attention

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Beyond just feeling good, laughter releases dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins, and also works on our heart, our lungs, our muscles, our thoughts, our behaviors. In short: laughter actually is good medicine.

And here's a funny thing: whether we laugh in response to something, or we create a situation that gets laughter going, the body will still release the same endorphins.

Try this quick, goofy yoga exercise to discover a foolproof way to induce laughter. It is based on the Hawaiian word "Aloha," a nice vowel-y word that opens the mouth and throat just by saying it.

Elaine Smookler has been a mindful practitioner for over 20 years and is on the faculty at The Centre for Mindfulness Studies in Toronto. She is a Registered Psychotherapist and teaches mindfulness to corporate clients through eMindful. She's also a comedic writer and performer and is the singing host of Mindful Martinis, a cabaret/mindfulness class mash up.

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

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Show Notes

Find more from Elaine Smookler here.

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We tend to see play, joy, and levity as nice-to-haves, something we experience when things are going well. In reality they are all an essential part of building resilience and well-being, even when things aren't going well. To explore more ways to intentionally incorporate the lighter side, even in darker seasons, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• The Power of Play

• Play, SoulPancake, and Building Your Anti-Depressant Brain

• Join the Nanalympics! 6 Ways to Get Playful with Mindful Movement

• The Science of Wonder

• Find Your Way to Embodied Joy

For more practice noticing the good (even when things don't go according to plan), try: A 12-Minute Meditation to Rewire Your Brain for Optimism

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Joy aids us in waking up to our lives, and savoring is a practice that allows us to slow down, immerse ourselves in experience, and deeply appreciate the moment we're inhabiting. These two together are a powerful antidote to the gravitational pull of negativity, doomscrolling, and despair.

Jessica Morey is a meditation teacher and coach. She has been practicing meditation for almost 3 decades. She is also the co-founder and former executive director of Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, a nonprofit organization bringing in-depth mindfulness and compassion training to youth.

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 Jessica Morey here.

Go Deeper

Understanding our built-in negativity bias is the first step to balancing it with practices that hone our attention and strengthen our genuine appreciation for the good things in life. You can learn more from these resources on Mindful.org:

1. Seven Strengths for an Uncertain World

2. Halting the Spiral: Navigating Repetitive Thought Patterns

3. 3 Mindful Ways to Transform Negative Thoughts

4. Turn Negative Emotions into Your Greatest Source of Strength

5. How Happy Brains Respond to Negative Things

For another approach to unhooking from negativity, try: Peace Begins With Me: A Meditation for When You Feel Overwhelmed By Negative Thoughts

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When we talk about attention, we often use active and extractive verbs: pay, give, court, leverage. In mindfulness, attention isn't a commodity to be used; it's a gift to be nurtured. What might it feel like to rest our attention?

This week, teacher Sharon Salzberg offers a guided meditation that's down-to-earth and deeply restorative as we practice holding our awareness with the lightest touch possible.

Sharon Salzberg is a meditation teacher and New York Times best-selling author. She is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and has played a crucial role in bringing Asian meditation practices to the West. Sharon has been a student of meditation since 1971, guiding retreats worldwide since 1974. She is a columnist for On Being, a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and the author of many books including Real Happiness, Lovingkindness, and Real Change.

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 Sharon Salzberg here.

Go Deeper

Our attention—where we give it and why—is one of our most powerful assets. Learning how to train our awareness to rest in the present moment is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and others. To learn more about how mindfulness can help you build your attentional strength, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• 3 Simple Ways to Pay Attention

• Get It Done With Mindfulness: How to Be Productive with Attention, Kindness, and Wisdom

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

• How to Give Your Full Attention

At the very heart of mindfulness is the practice of training your attention, moment by moment, with compassion and care. For more practice, try A 12-Minute Breathing Meditation to Cultivate Attention.

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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].

One of the core principles of mindfulness practice that can be a challenge for people is the notion that it actually makes more sense to accept our emotions rather than resist them. Especially when it comes to painful, confusing, or frightening emotions, this move towards ourselves in compassion can feel incredibly counterintuitive.

This week, author and recovery coach Emily Jane guides us through a practice you can use anytime you need support bringing curiosity, courage, and compassion to difficult experiences.

Emily Jane is a mindfulness teacher, certified Embodied Processing (EP) practitioner, and recovery coach with a background in social work. She's been in recovery for over eight years, following two decades of active addiction, and her lived experience now fuels her passion for helping others heal. Emily is also the author of Beyond Addiction: A Mindful Guide to Recovery, where she shares her trauma-informed, compassionate approach to healing. Her work integrates mindfulness, coaching, trauma therapy, and somatic tools to help people reconnect with their bodies and find safety, peace, and empowerment on their recovery journey. Connect with Emily Jane online at Holistic Recovery.

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 Emily Jane here.

Go Deeper

Being able to notice and be in our bodies is one of the core skills of mindfulness. In a world that is designed for distraction and disembodiment, this can be a challenging skill to cultivate. If you want to learn more, start with these resources from Mindful.org:

• Addiction, Trauma, and the Problem of Being Present

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

• Mindfulness Practices to Get Back in Touch with Your Body

• How to Befriend Your Body

• The Science of Embodiment: Connect to Your Body's Wisdom

For another take on a meditation for body awareness, try: A 10-Minute Meditation to Cultivate Embodied Awareness

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