12 Minute Meditation

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• A Mindfulness Meditation for Beginners 05.06.2026 10dk

  This week, Mindful founding editor Barry Boyce reminds us of the basic why behind mindfulness meditation: We get off-kilter at various times throughout the day, and we need a way to pause and reconnect—with reality, with our senses, with our steady center. That's what meditation helps us do.  This practice is called "Taking Your Seat," and it's perfect if you're getting started with meditation, or if you just need a touchpoint during your day.  Barry Boyce is Founding Editor of Mindful and Mindful.org. He is a longtime meditation practitioner and teacher, as well as a professional writer and editor. Barry serves on the board of directors of the Foundation for a Mindful Society and the Centre for Mindfulness Studies in Toronto, as well as on the advisory board of Peace in Schools, in Portland, Oregon. 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 Barry Boyce here. Go Deeper Mindful.org has a wealth of articles, research, and guided practices that can help you start or grow your meditation practice. You can start here:  Connecting With Why You Meditate Can Fuel Your Motivation  Calm and Steady: Simple Ways to Create the Habit of Mindfulness  Do I Need to Meditate to Be Mindful?  Formal vs. Informal Mindfulness: 2 Ways to Practice  For another approach to a beginner's meditation, try: Beginner's Body Scan Meditation  And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A Meditation to Bring Comfort and Kindness to Pain and Illness 29.05.2026 14dk

  Learning to live with pain and illness is challenging, arduous work. Often, people can go for months or even years without sufficient answers. Life gets turned completely upside down. The body you thought you had suddenly becomes something you don't recognize or know how to work with.  This week, meditation teacher and hypnotherapist Juliana Sloane offers an imaginative meditation that invites softness and self-compassion in the midst of discomfort.   Juliana Sloane is a Buddhist teacher, hypnotherapist, and coach specializing in Depth Hypnosis, applied shamanic counseling, and client-centered neuroplasticity. She blends ancient wisdom traditions, hypnosis, and evidence-based approaches to help individuals create lasting transformation beyond the conscious mind. She helps clients transcend the limitations of talk therapy and achieve lasting transformation. Based in Santa Fe, NM, she teaches nationally and works one-on-one with clients worldwide. 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 Juliana Sloane here. You can read our recent interview with Juliana and learn more about her work combining mindfulness, meditation, and hypnosis for deeper healing and transformation with her clients.  Go Deeper For more resources on how mindfulness can help you live more fully with illness or pain, check out these resources on Mindful.org:  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  Pain Opens a Door  How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness  For more practice creating a sense of safety inside your own body, try:  A Meditation for Easing Pain and Inviting Joy  And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A Meditation on the Art of Stopping (Extended Version) 22.05.2026 20dk

  We often think of mindfulness and meditation as sustained states—when in reality, it's just a collection of micro-moments of stopping, breathing, really noticing our own bodies and our own lives, getting distracted, and then coming back again. Over and over.   As this week's teacher Shalini Bahl puts it, today's guided practice is about the art of stopping: letting go of our regular habits of the mind—the pushing, pulling, running in circles— and instead just being for a moment. This is an extended practice, but as a bonus, we're also sharing a micro-practice version of The Art of Stopping that you can take into busy days. And don't miss Shalini's new article on Mindful.org that's all about the power of micro-practices to affect our daily choices.  Shalini Bahl, PhD, is the award-winning author of Return to Mindfulness and founder of Sama Life, where she offers daily live micro-practices for real-world engagement. Through her teaching, writing, and TEDx talks, she focuses on building practical mindfulness skills that disrupt default patterns and restore clarity, integrity, and care.   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 Shalini Bahl here. Go Deeper For more resources on the power of the pause, check out these resources on Mindful.org:  How Micro-Practices Can Be the Bridge Between Your Meditation and Your Choices W.A.I.T. a Minute: A Practice to Pause Before You Post on Social Media  How to Get Good Pause  Waking Up to Your World: Using the Pause Practice to Break Habitual Patterns  For more practice pausing before making choices by compassionately interrupting patterns, try:  A 12-Minute Meditation to Get Curious About Your Cravings   And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• The Art of Stopping (Micro-Practice Version) 22.05.2026 5dk

  You can find the extended 20-minute version of this meditation here.  Want to explore how micro-practices can help shift your patterns in your real everyday life when you're off the meditation mat? Check out Shalini's article, How Micro-Practices Can Be the Bridge Between Your Meditation and Your Choices. 
• A Meditation on Working With Our Fear And Parenting From Love 15.05.2026 12dk

  In our concern for our children, sometimes we respond from a place of fear and worry. From time to time, we can even lose touch with the love that lies beneath that concern.  Reconnecting with the ground of our love and the wish for our children to be happy and well, especially in moments of difficulty, can be incredibly beneficial. This practice from Wendy O'Leary offers a pause of support and encouragement that can help you come back to that core of compassionate wisdom.  Wendy O'Leary, M.Ed., author and health educator, has three children's books and an adult book on self-compassion in families. She is a certified mindfulness teacher, parent educator, and self-compassion advocate with expertise in teaching emotional resilience to children and adults. Her card deck for children titled "Let's Grow Happiness," created in collaboration with her colleague Helen Maffini, is available for purchase at wendyoleary.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 Wendy O'Leary here. Go Deeper For more resources to support mindful parenting, check out these resources on Mindful.org:  Mindful Parenting Toolkit  Shifting Habits: Three Mindful Parenting Tips You Can Try Today  Mindful Parenting: Meet Your Inner Critic with Self-Compassion  Manage Big Parenting Feelings Before They Manage You  For more practice with meditations to meet your worry, anxiety, fear, or other difficult emotions, try: 12-Minute Meditation: A Grounding Practice to Create Space in a Storm of Emotions    And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation If you'd like to pre-order lifetime access to The Seven Strengths event recording, go to www.mindfulness.com/the-seven-strengths-hub to take advantage of our early bird pricing plus get a free bonus course from Melli O'Brien.  Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A 12-Minute Meditation to Rest Your Body in Gratitude 08.05.2026 14dk

  Our bodies are so overworked and often ignored. This guided awareness practice offers space to feel a sense of gratitude for our body, in all of its beauty and mystery. Rashid Hughes (he/him) is a writer, meditation teacher, yoga instructor and a restorative justice facilitator. He is the co-founder of the Heart Refuge Mindfulness Community, a mindfulness community in Washington, DC that is dedicated to inspiring Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to live with love and courage. Rashid is an Affiliate Teacher for the Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC and is also a teacher of the Presence Collective. He holds a Master of Divinity Degree from the Howard University School of Divinity. 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 Rashid Hughes here. If you are looking for an in-depth resource to help build essential skills to meet a changing and uncertain world with a core of inner strength, join Melli O'Brien and a host of other teachers for The Seven Strengths, a FREE 7-day online course happening this May 13-19. Learn more and register at www.mindfulness.com/the-seven-strengths.  Go Deeper For more resources to grow compassion and appreciation for the body, check out these articles on Mindful:  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 more practice with meditations to help you befriend and feel at home in your body, try A Meditation for Finding Safety in the Body.  And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A Light, Slow, Deep (LSD) Breathing Meditation 01.05.2026 14dk

  Thanks to our autonomic nervous system, life-sustaining processes like our heartbeat, digestion, and breathing all happen without us even having to pay attention. But our environments, stress levels, and other factors can definitely affect the health and efficiency of these processes.  For example, sitting hunched at our desks and staring at screens often means that our breathing gets shallow and irregular—which of course affects things like focus, energy, cognition, and attention.   This week, Shamash Alidina leads a guided breathing exercise called Light, Slow, and Deep (or LSD), designed to re-set the breath in a way that opens the chest, relaxes tension, and calms the nervous system.  Shamash Alidina has been practising mindfulness since 1998 and runs his own successful training organisation. He is the author of Mindfulness For Dummies, The Mindful Way Through Stress, and most recently, 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. If you are looking for an in-depth resource to help build essential skills to meet a changing and uncertain world with a core of inner strength, join Melli O'Brien and a host of other teachers for The Seven Strengths, a FREE 7-day online course happening this May 13-19. Learn more and register at www.mindfulness.com/the-seven-strengths.  Go Deeper Breathing mediations have many mental and physical benefits, and you can find dozens of resources on our site. Start here:  The Breath is Your Superpower: 3 Ways to Help Kids Reset  Email Apnea Is Real. Here's How to Breathe Better at Work  What Science Says About the Power of the Outbreath  Helping Black Women Take A Breath  How Your Breath Controls Your Mood and Attention   For more practice with breathing meditation, try 12-Minute Breathing Practice for Awareness: Sit and Know You're Sitting or A Guided Meditation to Encourage Deep Breathing.  And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A Guided Walking Meditation to Notice the Beauty Around Us—Even in the City 24.04.2026 16dk

  City life can often feel frantic, loud, and cut off from natural beauty. It's not often we slow down and take in all there is to experience. But even in urban areas, if you pay attention, you can hear the call of a bird, notice your favorite color in shop windows, and look up at the vast sky above.  In this guided meditation, we slow our roll and take in the beauty of our surroundings, no matter where we find ourselves. Kazumi Igus is a Los Angeles native, science teacher, and trained meditation facilitator through UCLA's Mindful Awareness Center. She currently serves as a WholeSchool Mindfulness Director at one of the few predominantly Black high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Her mission is to transform education into a system that is inherently responsive to students' social and emotional needs, explicitly fosters focus, and empowers students to develop emotional resilience in an increasingly challenging world.  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 Kazumi Igus here. If you are looking for an in-depth resource to help build essential skills to meet a changing and uncertain world with a core of inner strength, join Melli O'Brien and a host of other teachers for The Seven Strengths, a FREE 7-day online course happening this May 13-19. Learn more and register at www.mindfulness.com/the-seven-strengths.  Go Deeper Looking for more reasons to head outside? Here are some additional Mindful.org resources to help you build a stronger relationship with Mama Nature:  The Nature Remedy: Find Freedom from Tech Overload  Nature-Based Mindfulness Practices for Families  We're Hard-Wired to Crave Nature  Why Is Nature So Good for Your Mental Health?  What Nature Teaches Us About Well-Being  For more practice being intentionally mindful outside, try A 12-Minute Meditation to Rest in the Movement of Nature.  And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute MeditationLet us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A Meditation to Meet Yourself Where You Are—No Matter What 17.04.2026 15dk

  Mindfulness meditation involves a willingness to be with ourselves as we are. It offers a way of learning to work with ourselves, and not on ourselves, especially if we are healing from perfectionism. Mindfulness reminds us that not everything has to be "fixed"—and very often, our movement back to wellness starts when we stop trying to change ourselves and simply accept where we are with care and attention.  Cheryl Jones is a mindfulness teacher, health and wellness coach, and author of two books, Thriving When Your Cosmic Egg Is Cracked: A Mindful Journey and Mindful Exercise: A Bridge Between Yoga and Exercise. She was the recipient of the Chairman's Leadership Award and the Norman Vincent Peale Award for Positive Thinking for integrating mindfulness into corporate culture at Aetna. You can find her at www.linkedin.com/in/cherylljones/. 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 Cheryl Jones here. If you are looking for an in-depth resource to help build essential skills to meet a changing and uncertain world with a core of inner strength, join Melli O'Brien and a host of other teachers for The Seven Strengths, a FREE 7-day online course happening this May 13-19. Learn more and register at www.mindfulness.com/the-seven-strengths.  Go Deeper Healing from perfectionism isn't easy. It takes time and practice. Here are some additional Mindful.org resources to help you build a stronger sense of self-acceptance:  Awareness in Action: Rethinking ADHD Through Mindfulness  What Swimming Taught Me About Self-Compassion and Letting Go  It's Selfish, It's Hokey, and I'll Lose My Edge: 3 Half-Truths About Self-Compassion How Self-Compassion Can Improve Teen Mental Health  This Is What Fierce Self-Compassion Looks Like  Want to try more practices that foster self-compassion? Start here: A 12-Minute Meditation to Embrace All Your Parts  And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A Meditation to Create Inner Balance in the Face of Change 10.04.2026 11dk

  Change of any kind—whether it's small, momentous, expected or unexpected—can make us feel so vulnerable and unsteady.  This week, Susan Bauer-Wu offers a guided meditation to invite and nourish inner strength in the face of change.  Susan Bauer-Wu, PhD, is a registered nurse and nursing educator, as well as a mindfulness teacher and researcher. She is president of the Mind & Life Institute and author of Leaves Falling Gently: Living Fully with Serious & Life-Limiting Illness through Mindfulness, Compassion & Connectedness.  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 Susan Bauer-Wu here. FREE course! If you are looking for an in-depth resource to help build essential skills to meet a changing and uncertain world with a core of inner strength, join Melli O'Brien and a host of other teachers for The Seven Strengths, a FREE 7-day online course happening this May 13-19. Learn more and register at www.mindfulness.com/the-seven-strengths.  Go Deeper Want to learn more about how you can train to stay steady, even when everything around you feels uncertain and evolving? Check out these resources from Mindful.org:  New Life, Who's This? Rediscovering Who You Are When Everything Has Changed  Embracing Change: What Nanalan' Teaches Us About Saying Goodbye  The Only Constant Is Change  Navigating Change is Hard. Here's How it Makes Us Better Leaders   Rethinking Equanimity: Margaret Cullen on Equanimity and Quiet Strength  To get more practice dealing with the reality of change, try A Meditation to Help You Let Go and Accept Change.  And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A Meditation to Approach the World With a "Don't-Know Mind" 03.04.2026 17dk

  Our culture prizes certainty and tends to regard not-knowing as weakness or failure.  But research has shown that uncertainty is a quality that we're meant to engage, not reject. Not only does it spark curiosity and help us learn, but it also strengthens confidence and resilience.  This week, Dr. Sará King offers a practice to help us build comfort with our "don't-know mind" so that we can stay courageous and open to the world around us. Dr. Sará King is a mother, a neuroscientist, political and learning scientist, medical anthropologist, social entrepreneur, public speaker, and certified yoga and meditation instructor. Dr. King specializes in researching and teaching about the relationship between mindfulness, community alternative medicine, and social justice with an emphasis on examining the relationship between individual and collective awareness as it relates to well-being. 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 Sará King here. If you are looking for an in-depth resource to help build these essential skills of resilience, join Melli O'Brien and a host of other teachers for The Seven Strengths, a FREE 7-day online course happening this May 13-19. Learn more and register at www.mindfulness.com/the-seven-strengths.  Go Deeper Looking for ways to engage your beginner's mind? Check out these resources from Mindful.org:  Why Uncertainty Is Good for Us  How Embracing Uncertainty Leads To Fulfillment  Feeling Like a Fraud in Your Own Mindfulness Practice  Don't Be So Sure   To get more practice meeting uncertainty, try A Guided Walking Meditation to Meet Uncertainty with Compassion  And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.Why do women love reading The Pipeline? It's data with perspective. Get free, thoughtful takes on navigating our messy world. Subscribe today.
• A Meditation to Allow Genuine Happiness, Even In Hard Times 27.03.2026 14dk

  When we are going through a difficult season personally, or we are bearing witness to the pain of others, our relationship to genuine joy or happiness can get complicated and confusing. Happiness can feel out of reach, or it can feel like a betrayal, like it's something we don't "deserve" in hard times.  But strengthening our ability to notice and soak in moments of beauty, tenderness, connection, and gratitude can actually have a fortifying effect on us. It can help us build resilience and fill our empty emotional tanks—which can foster our own healing and make it possible for us to show up in healing ways for others.  This week, teacher Wendy O'Leary shares a guided practice to tune our attention to the reality that shimmers right alongside our genuine seasons of struggle.  Wendy O'Leary, M.Ed., author and health educator, has three children's books and an adult book on self-compassion in families. She is a certified mindfulness teacher, parent educator, and self-compassion advocate with expertise in teaching emotional resilience to children and adults. Her next publication is a card deck for children titled "Let's Grow Happiness," created in collaboration with her colleague Helen Maffini. It is scheduled for release on April 21, 2026 and can be preordered at www.wendyoleary.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 Wendy O'Leary here. If you are looking for an in-depth resource to help build these essential skills of resilience, join Melli O'Brien and a host of other teachers for The Seven Strengths, a FREE 7-day online course happening this May 13-19. Learn more and register at www.mindfulness.com/the-seven-strengths.  Go Deeper To explore more about how happiness is not just something we get when things are going well, but an essential human experience, check out these resources from Mindful.org:  What We Know (Or Think We Know) About Happiness  Three Emerging Pathways to Happiness  Find Happiness by Embracing All of Your Emotions  Searching for Happiness and Finding Yard Work  Why Happiness Isn't Always Comfortable To get more practice noticing and connecting with happiness, try 3 Guided Meditations to Open Up to Happiness. And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute MeditationLet us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A Meditation to Settle Mind & Body for Sleep 20.03.2026 23dk

  There are so many reasons why we might be struggling to get to sleep and stay asleep. Work or relationship stress, health concerns, hormonal changes, the state of the world—there's plenty to keep us awake at night.  This week, Mark Bertin offers a soothing sleep practice to help settle our restlessness, using the breath as a calming anchor to gently coax our busy minds and tense bodies into rest.  Because this is a sleep meditation, there won't be the usual recorded outro, so you can just drift off in silence.  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 Dr. Mark Bertin here. Go Deeper For help understanding how mindfulness can make sleep better and more restorative, check out these resources from Mindful.org:  The Ultimate Guide to Mindfulness for Sleep  Why We Wake Up At Night and How Mindfulness Helps Us Sleep Again  The Science of Deep Sleep  8 Tips for Better Sleep at Night  Mindful has a wonderful collection of sleep meditations. If you want to try another version of a body scan, A 12-Minute Body Scan Meditation for Letting Go of Stress and Falling Asleep is a great place to start.   And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.  
• A Meditation to (Gently) Interrupt Habitual Reactions 13.03.2026 16dk

  Daily life is full of irritations: moments of inconvenience, situations where we don't get what we were hoping for, delays, disappointments, prickly interactions that can leave us confused and exasperated.  If we're honest, we can probably admit that sometimes our reactions in those moments tend to be reflexive rather than intentional. We feel our anger or annoyance rise, and we react almost as though we're reading a script. Can we explore these habitual reactions in a way that gives us enough space to respond differently? In today's practice, teacher Patricia Rockman guides us through a meditation to help us meet whatever is arising, so that we have more agency when the next moment arises.  Patricia Rockman, MD, CCFP, FCFP is a family physician with a focused practice in mental health. She is the senior director of Education and Clinical Services at the Centre for Mindfulness Studies, Toronto. Rockman is also an associate professor at the University of Toronto, Department of Family Medicine, cross appointed to Psychiatry. She has extensive experience practicing individual psychotherapy, leading therapy groups, and training healthcare providers in mindfulness-based interventions, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and change management for stress reduction. She is a freelance writer, yoga teacher, and meditation practitioner. 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 Patricia Rockman here. Go Deeper For more resources to explore reactivity and choice, check out these resources from Mindful.org:  The "About To" Moment: Teaching and Modeling Response vs. Reaction   Emotional Rescue: Using Mindfulness to Reset Your Reactions  You Can Investigate Your Emotions Without Suppressing Them  Tame Reactive Emotions by Naming Them  For more practice with compassionately looking at and interrupting unconscious reactivity, try The S.T.O.P. Practice: Creating Space Around Automatic Reactions.   And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute MeditationLet us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• Self Compassion for Nervous System Reset 06.03.2026 13dk

  It's not always an instinctual go-to for us, but self-compassion is one of the most powerful forms of healing and restoration for our mental and physical well-being.  In this meditation, mindfulness teacher Shamash Alidina offers three ways to show compassion for yourself when you're stressed and need a reset.  Shamash Alidina has been practising mindfulness since 1998 and runs his own successful training organisation. He is the author of Mindfulness For Dummies and most recently, The Mindful Way Through Stress. 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 For more resources to help meet stress, balance your nervous system, and tap into resilience, check out these resources from Mindful.org:  Deep Resilience: The Wisdom of Making Friends with Your Mind  Swimming, Walking, Running—Why Mindful Movement Can Boost Resilience   Why Your Outbreath is Connected to Your Well-Being  You Don't Have to Shut Down or Burn Out When You Care This Much. Do This Instead.    For more practice tending to your nervous system with self-compassion, try A 12-Minute Body Scan Meditation for Self-Compassion and Presence.  And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.  
• A Meditation to Nourish an Undefended Heart 27.02.2026 11dk

  There's a paradox inside mindfulness practice: When we want to heal something, we move toward what hurts, not away from it. It's not easy to keep our hearts soft or open, and a mindful practice doesn't change the inherent risks in being a human in a world of other humans.  This week, as part of his mini-course Opening Ourselves Up to Compassion, Vinny Ferraro shares a practice to meet our pain and uncertainty, to recognize our inherent connection, and to summon the courage to lower our defenses.  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 For more resources on wise boundaries and how to stay open when you want to shut down, check out these resources from Mindful.org:  How Writing Three Lines of Poetry Can Open Your Heart  Why We're Hardwired to Armor Our Hearts  Fearless Open-Hearted Awareness with Frank Ostaseski (a mini-course) How to Show Up With Your Whole Heart  Compassionate Boundaries: How to Say No with Heart  To try another meditation to help lower defenses and break down armor, try A 12-Minute Meditation to Cultivate an Open Heart.  And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A Meditation to Help You Let Go and Accept Change 20.02.2026 13dk

  Everything is impermanent. It's always changing, coming together and falling apart. This, of course, includes small daily things and massive, disruptive, and life-shattering things.  It's frustrating to not be able to control these movements and outcomes. But paradoxically, when we can accept that everything is not up to us, and we stop trying to control what we can't change or trying to predict what we can't predict, then we can feel a lot more at ease and more open to the moment-to-moment unfolding of our lives.  This week, Kimberly Brown shares a practice to loosen our grip and be at peace, even when the change isn't one we'd choose.  Kimberly Brown is a meditation teacher and author. She leads classes and retreats that emphasize the power of compassion and kindness meditation to reconnect us to ourselves and others. She studies in both the Tibetan and Insight schools of Buddhism and is a certified mindfulness instructor. Her latest book, Happy Relationships: 25 Buddhist Practices to Transform Your Connection with Your Partner, Family, and Friends, was recently released by Prometheus Books. You can learn more about Kimberly on her website, www.meditationwithheart.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 Kimberly Brown here. Go Deeper For more resources on navigating the unsteady waters of change, check out these resources from Mindful.org:  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  To try another meditation about accepting life on life's terms, try A 12-Minute Meditation to Create Inner Balance in the Face of Change.   And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A Meditation to Return to Ourselves When Practicing Feels Impossible 13.02.2026 25dk

  Many of us are bearing witness daily to suffering all over the planet. We care about others, and we want desperately to be of use—and seeing the horrors in images and videos and stories every day can be deeply dysregulating to our nervous systems.  When we get overwhelmed by this vicarious trauma, we tend to shut down. We disconnect from ourselves and each other. We're so spun out in our anxiety, anger, or overwhelm that it can feel impossible to engage in any kind of mindfulness or meditation practice.  This week, Shalini Bahl offers tender and practical guidance for how to pause, reconnect, and return to ourselves—and our essential practice—in times of intense internal and external upheaval. Shalini Bahl, PhD, is the award-winning author of Return to Mindfulness and founder of Sama Life, where she offers daily live micro-practices for real-world engagement. A certified MBSR and Search Inside Yourself teacher with pioneering research in mindfulness and consumer well-being recognized by the American Marketing Association, she brings contemplative practice into complex real-world contexts—from Town Council chambers to corporate boardrooms. Through her teaching, writing, and TEDx talks, she focuses on building practical mindfulness skills that disrupt default patterns and restore clarity, integrity, and care. Her guided meditations have reached over 80,000 listeners worldwide. 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 Shalini Bahl here. Go Deeper For more resources on regulating your nervous system in times of crisis, check out these resources from Mindful.org:  Why Your Outbreath is Connected to Your Well-Being  How Tuning Into Your Body Can Make You More Resilient  Addiction, Trauma, and the Problem of Being Present  The Science and Practice of Staying Present Through Difficult Times  To try another meditation focused on pausing for clarity, try these 3 Guided Meditations to Find Balance During Moments of Panic. And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.
• A Meditation to Tap Into Your Agency When Things Are Chaotic & Uncertain 06.02.2026 19dk

  We often treat experiences like restlessness, uncertainty, or the overwhelm of difficult emotions as a problem to be solved. And of course, it's normal to want relief.  Today, teacher Cherl Vigder Brause leads a guided practice that's centered around meeting ourselves exactly where we are. In that pause, where we encounter ourselves without trying to fix anything, even if just for a moment, we actually create a space where we can get clarity on how to respond to ourselves, others, and the world.  Cheryl Vigder Brause is a nationally recognized mindfulness and meditation teacher, writer and speaker, specializing in leading corporate clients, schools, and individuals across the country in programs and meditations on stress management, boosting happiness, and living their best lives. She is the Co-Founder of Pause to be Present, a mindfulness and meditation studio.  To learn more about Pause to be Present's programs, visit www.pausetobepresent.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 Cheryl Vigder Brause here. Go Deeper For more resources on tapping into the power of the pause, check out these articles on Mindful.org:  How to Get Good Pause  The Three-Second Pause In the Classroom Waking Up to Your World: Using the Pause Practice to Break Habitual Patterns  How to Feel Present, and Stay Present  To try another version of a pause practice, join Rhonda Magee for The S.T.O.P. Practice: Creating Space Around Automatic Reactions  And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org. The DONUT brings you free daily news without the extra noise—stay informed in under 5 mins, and feel good doing it. Subscribe here.
• A Meditation to Connect With Loving-Kindness (Even When It's Hard) 30.01.2026 12dk

  Loving-kindness seems like a practice that would feel good—but in times of tension, uncertainty, pain, or anger, it can be one of the most challenging mindfulness tools to apply. How do we love when it is most difficult to love?   This week, renowned teacher Sharon Salzberg offers a guided practice to connect us to the deep heart and transformative courage of metta or loving-kindness meditation.   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 weekly 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 For more resources on accessing and practicing loving-kindness, check out these articles on Mindful.org:   How Practicing Loving-Kindness Helped Me Find My Place in the World  12 Minute Meditation: A Loving-Kindness Practice to Anchor in Compassion  The Gift of Loving-Kindness  Why Loving-Kindness Takes Time: Sharon Salzberg  Wise Engagement with the World: What to Do When You Wish Things Were Different  We have dozens of metta or loving-kindness meditations available for free on our site. Here's a good place to start: 3 Guided Meditations to Deepen Into Loving-Kindness   And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org. The DONUT brings you free daily news without the extra noise—stay informed in under 5 mins, and feel good doing it. Subscribe here.