Mindful Meditations with Dr. Rick Hanson

This meditation invites you to settle into a comfortable, kind presence with your body and breath, easing around tension and quieting inner speech so you can rest in simple, open awareness. 

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/meditation-talk-how-not-knowing-dissolves-suffering/

This meditation is an invitation to come home — to step out of busyness, worry, and striving, and rest in the present moment. Through open awareness, you’ll soften around thoughts and sensations, widen attention, and settle into a deep sense of ease, spaciousness, and simply being, with nothing to fix or manage.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-finding-a-way-forward-through-grief/

When your mind feels busy, self-critical, or weighed down by worry, pain, or unrealistic expectations, it can help to settle the nervous system and come home to your body – which this meditation is designed to do. Through gentle awareness and self-compassion, you’re invited to lay down inner pressure and reconnect with a felt sense of steadiness, kindness, and your own innate goodness.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-wisdom-for-aging-illness-and-mortality/

When life feels unsteady — when anxiety pulls you into the future, when you feel unsupported, or when you’re carrying everything on your own shoulders — it becomes hard to recognize the real stability that’s already here for you. This meditation gently helps you shift out of worry and into the lived, felt experience of being supported: by your breath, your body, the objects around you, and the wider natural world. Through simple awareness, soft thoughts, and heartfelt appreciation, you learn to let the knowing that you’re supported become a feeling that soothes, steadies, and reassures you in the present moment.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-science-says-you-need-social-support/

If you’ve been feeling tense, fearful, or disconnected from yourself, this practice guides you back into a grounded, calm, openhearted state, so you can rest in your own being with less anxiety and more peace.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-thankfulness-for-what-protects-and-nurtures-you/

If you often feel tense, unsettled, or caught in old patterns of fear, this practice helps you come home to your body, soften anxiety at its roots, and reconnect with your natural steadiness and kindness. We’ll move gently through grounding, releasing fear, and opening the heart so you can rest more fully in calm presence.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-releasing-anxiety-with-three-kinds-of-insights/

In this heart-centered meditation, I gently guide you to settle into your body, find your place, and rest in the simple rhythm of your breath. As attention gathers in the chest, you explore a steady concentration on breathing in the heart area—then gradually infuse it with warm-heartedness, kindness, and loving presence. The practice invites you to soften, receive the breath rather than chase it, and let a natural sweetness spread through awareness as you rest in a concentrated, heart-based lovingness.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-empathy-and-engaged-compassion/

When the mind won’t settle — when thoughts spin, tension lingers, or self-criticism keeps you restless — it’s hard to find any real peace. This meditation invites you to gently let go of everything that isn’t calm, open, and present, and to rest more and more fully in the simplicity of peaceful awareness itself. Over time, the noise quiets, and what remains is a steady, grounded presence you can return to anytime.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-letting-go-of-old-baggage-for-a-better-future/

When life feels busy or your mind won’t settle, it’s easy to lose touch with the simple goodness already inside you. This guided meditation helps you release tension, rest in calm awareness, and open your heart with kindness and compassion. Over time, it’s a gentle way to come home to yourself — peaceful, present, and already enough.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-appreciating-your-own-generosity-and-good-intentions/

A lot of life - and meditation - involves being patient. In this guided meditation, we focus on allowing thoughts and events to come and go without grasping or clinging... but just being, patiently.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/meditation-talk-making-your-own-life/