A Meditation for Easing Pain and Inviting Joy with Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely
Release Date: 12/05/2025
A Meditation for Resting in the Flow of Experience
12 Minute Meditation
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: , and (as co-author) 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 , which is supporting the...
info_outline
A Grounding Practice to Focus Your Busy Mind
12 Minute Meditation
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....
info_outline
Laughter Yoga: A Gentle Movement Practice to Get the Giggles Going
12 Minute Meditation
Beyond just feeling good, laughter releases , 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...
info_outline
A 12 Minute Meditation to Unhook from Negativity and Savor Joy
12 Minute Meditation
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...
info_outline
A Meditation to Rest Your Attention
12 Minute Meditation
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...
info_outline
Embodied Compassion for Difficult Emotions
12 Minute Meditation
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...
info_outline
A 12 Minute Meditation to Make Movement Mindful
12 Minute Meditation
Our bodies come in all varieties, and we all have different interests, skills, and abilities. As today's teacher Cara Bradley observes, movement of any kind—from the slightest stretch to the most intense exercise—can be mindful. This simple meditation helps you celebrate your physicality with practices to connect with your breath and your body, expand your awareness, and appreciate the gift of being alive. Cara Bradley is a seasoned mind-body expert dedicated to advancing mind-body education through movement, mindfulness and the science of human performance. She provides...
info_outline
A Mindfulness Meditation for Beginners
12 Minute Meditation
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...
info_outline
A Meditation to Bring Comfort and Kindness to Pain and Illness
12 Minute Meditation
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,...
info_outline
A Meditation on the Art of Stopping (Extended Version)
12 Minute Meditation
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...
info_outlineSometimes seasons of intense suffering show up in our lives—no warning, no easy answers.
This week, mindfulness teacher Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely shares a tender meditation for those in the middle of pain. Based on her own experience with an extended episode of chronic back pain, she offers a moment of reprieve and caring attention to release tension and open to the possibility of joy.
Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely is a California-French educator, writer and mindfulness advocate. As the founder of “Big Belly Breathing,” including a podcast and YouTube channel, she offers mindfulness joy resources in English and French for kids and adults alike. Vanessa writes regularly, recently authored the Joy Burst journal, and teaches yoga throughout The City, bringing her passion for well-being to diverse communities. Feel free to connect with her for inquiries or discussions; she’s eager to engage with fellow health enthusiasts and life lovers. Find her at www.bigbellybreathing.com.
The transcription of this guided meditation will be online at Mindful.org next week.
Stay curious, stay inspired. Join our community by signing up for our free newsletter: mindful.org/signup
Show Notes
Find more from Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely here.
Go Deeper
For additional resources on finding moments of calm in the midst of suffering, check out these articles on Mindful.org:
And for another meditation you can use when pain flares, try this practice: Filling the Body With Light: 12 Minute 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.