Our culture tells us to pain is “bad”, and should be masked with medication or avoidance. What avoidance ends up doing is getting greater power to the pain, as it becomes scarier and more mysterious. With this mindfulness meditation, you are invited to move towards your pain, to investigate it with a scientific objectivity. Perhaps removing the mystery can make it a bit more bearable.

Ever notice that the Buddha always seems to have a small, peaceful smile on his face? Neuroscience points to how smiling spurs a chemical reaction in the brain, that releases certain hormones that can increase feelings of happiness and reduced stress. Let’s practice using this small, Buddha-like smile in a challenging moment to trick our brain into feeling more easeful.

Research consistently points to how gratitude goes hand-in-hand with mindfulness. Not only can formal meditations on gratitude improve your outlook, but the science also indicates that it can increase our resilience and improve our relationships. As we move into the holiday season- a time that for many evokes stress- let’s practice evoking gratitude.

The body is always in contact with something, whether it is a chair, the ground, your bed… and even the air around you. This is a powerful practice that helps beginner and experienced meditators alike come back to the present moment, without judgment.

Paying attention to your breath is a foundational mindfulness practice. Whole Body Breathing Invites you to notice your breath, and its gentle impact on your entire body.

Many of you have reached out to me sharing your experiences with trauma over the past year and a half. Try this Body + Mind autogenic practice which has the power to calm a dysregulated nervous system.

As we all worry about what a “Delta Variant Winter” will look like, our minds can become distracted, reactive and anxious. Bringing attention to parts of our body, called “interoception”, is a powerful way to train the brain to relax into the present moment’s experience.

When we’re stressed, it can feel like we are experiencing decision overload. Try this meditation that shows us that a simple, gentle acknowledgement of “thinking” when a thought is swirling can be a gentle way to decrease its power.

You have a simple mindfulness superpower at your disposal- new knowledge of your vagus nerve, and its role in modulating stress. Use this mindfulness practice to capitalize on your feet, hands and belly to kickstart the vagal nerve!

Hundreds of athletes are gathered in Tokyo for the 2021 Olympics, with many employing a specialized breathing technique that helps maximize performance. Recent research confirms that a longer exhale can not only improve physical performance and calm the mind, but this simple breathing hack can also improve decision making capabilities.