12 Minute Meditation
The latest scientific research reveals that 12 minutes of meditation a day yields benefits like increased attention, focus, creativity, calm, resilience and compassion. Start your 12-minute sit with guided meditations from today’s leading mindfulness experts, brought to you by Mindful. With a new mindfulness meditation each week, 12 Minute Meditation invites you to bring the benefits of mindfulness to daily life.
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A Meditation to Bring Comfort and Kindness to Pain and Illness
05/29/2026
A Meditation to Bring Comfort and Kindness to Pain and Illness
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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Juliana Sloane . You can 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: For more practice creating a sense of safety inside your own body, try: And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation on the Art of Stopping (Extended Version)
05/22/2026
A Meditation on the Art of Stopping (Extended Version)
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 that’s all about the power of micro-practices to affect our daily choices. Shalini Bahl, PhD, is the award-winning author of and founder of , 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Shalini Bahl . Go Deeper For more resources on the power of the pause, check out these resources on Mindful.org: For more practice pausing before making choices by compassionately interrupting patterns, try: And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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The Art of Stopping (Micro-Practice Version)
05/22/2026
The Art of Stopping (Micro-Practice Version)
You can find the extended 20-minute version of this meditation . 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, .
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A Meditation on Working With Our Fear And Parenting From Love
05/15/2026
A Meditation on Working With Our Fear And Parenting From Love
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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Wendy O’Leary . Go Deeper For more resources to support mindful parenting, check out these resources on Mindful.org: For more practice with meditations to meet your worry, anxiety, fear, or other difficult emotions, try: And more from Mindful here: If you’d like to pre-order lifetime access to The Seven Strengths event recording, go to 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 .
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A 12-Minute Meditation to Rest Your Body in Gratitude
05/08/2026
A 12-Minute Meditation to Rest Your Body in Gratitude
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, instructor and a restorative justice facilitator. He is the co-founder of the , 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Rashid Hughes . 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 . Go Deeper For more resources to grow compassion and appreciation for the body, check out these articles on Mindful: For more practice with meditations to help you befriend and feel at home in your body, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Light, Slow, Deep (LSD) Breathing Meditation
05/01/2026
A Light, Slow, Deep (LSD) Breathing Meditation
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, . 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Shamash Alidina . 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 . Go Deeper Breathing mediations have many mental and physical benefits, and you can find dozens of resources on our site. Start here: For more practice with breathing meditation, try or . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Guided Walking Meditation to Notice the Beauty Around Us—Even in the City
04/24/2026
A Guided Walking Meditation to Notice the Beauty Around Us—Even in the City
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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Kazumi Igus . 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 . Go Deeper Looking for more reasons to head outside? Here are some additional resources to help you build a stronger relationship with Mama Nature: For more practice being intentionally mindful outside, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation to Meet Yourself Where You Are—No Matter What
04/17/2026
A Meditation to Meet Yourself Where You Are—No Matter What
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 . 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Cheryl Jones . 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 . Go Deeper Healing from perfectionism isn’t easy. It takes time and practice. Here are some additional resources to help you build a stronger sense of self-acceptance: Want to try more practices that foster self-compassion? Start here: And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation to Create Inner Balance in the Face of Change
04/10/2026
A Meditation to Create Inner Balance in the Face of Change
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 . 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Susan Bauer-Wu . 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 . 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 : To get more practice dealing with the reality of change, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation to Approach the World With a “Don’t-Know Mind”
04/03/2026
A Meditation to Approach the World With a “Don’t-Know Mind”
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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Sará King . 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 . Go Deeper Looking for ways to engage your beginner’s mind? Check out these resources from : To get more practice meeting uncertainty, try And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .Why do women love reading The Pipeline? It's data with perspective. Get free, thoughtful takes on navigating our messy world. .
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A Meditation to Allow Genuine Happiness, Even In Hard Times
03/27/2026
A Meditation to Allow Genuine Happiness, Even In Hard Times
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 . 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Wendy O’Leary . 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 . 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 : To get more practice noticing and connecting with happiness, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation to Settle Mind & Body for Sleep
03/20/2026
A Meditation to Settle Mind & Body for Sleep
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 (Sounds True, 2018). Dr. Bertin resides in Pleasantville, New York. For more, visit . 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Dr. Mark Bertin . Go Deeper For help understanding how mindfulness can make sleep better and more restorative, check out these resources from : Mindful has a wonderful collection of sleep meditations. If you want to try another version of a body scan, is a great place to start. And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation to (Gently) Interrupt Habitual Reactions
03/13/2026
A Meditation to (Gently) Interrupt Habitual Reactions
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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Patricia Rockman . Go Deeper For more resources to explore reactivity and choice, check out these resources from : For more practice with compassionately looking at and interrupting unconscious reactivity, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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Self Compassion for Nervous System Reset
03/06/2026
Self Compassion for Nervous System Reset
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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Shamash Alidina . Go Deeper For more resources to help meet stress, balance your nervous system, and tap into resilience, check out these resources from : For more practice tending to your nervous system with self-compassion, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation to Nourish an Undefended Heart
02/27/2026
A Meditation to Nourish an Undefended Heart
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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Vinny Ferraro . Go Deeper For more resources on wise boundaries and how to stay open when you want to shut down, check out these resources from : (a mini-course) To try another meditation to help lower defenses and break down armor, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation to Help You Let Go and Accept Change
02/20/2026
A Meditation to Help You Let Go and Accept Change
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, , was recently released by Prometheus Books. You can learn more about Kimberly on her website, . 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Kimberly Brown . Go Deeper For more resources on navigating the unsteady waters of change, check out these resources from : To try another meditation about accepting life on life’s terms, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation to Return to Ourselves When Practicing Feels Impossible
02/13/2026
A Meditation to Return to Ourselves When Practicing Feels Impossible
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 and founder of , 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Shalini Bahl . Go Deeper For more resources on regulating your nervous system in times of crisis, check out these resources from : To try another meditation focused on pausing for clarity, try these . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation to Tap Into Your Agency When Things Are Chaotic & Uncertain
02/06/2026
A Meditation to Tap Into Your Agency When Things Are Chaotic & Uncertain
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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Cheryl Vigder Brause . Go Deeper For more resources on tapping into the power of the pause, check out these articles on : To try another version of a pause practice, join Rhonda Magee for And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing . The DONUT brings you free daily news without the extra noise—stay informed in under 5 mins, and feel good doing it. .
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A Meditation to Connect With Loving-Kindness (Even When It's Hard)
01/30/2026
A Meditation to Connect With Loving-Kindness (Even When It's Hard)
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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Sharon Salzberg . Go Deeper For more resources on accessing and practicing loving-kindness, check out these articles on : We have dozens of metta or loving-kindness meditations available for free on our site. Here’s a good place to start: And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing . The DONUT brings you free daily news without the extra noise—stay informed in under 5 mins, and feel good doing it. .
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A Meditation to Skillfully Connect With Your Anger
01/23/2026
A Meditation to Skillfully Connect With Your Anger
As today’s teacher Jessica Morey says, “Anger’s fundamental role is to protect us and protect what we care about in the world. It lets us know when a limit of ours, or a boundary, has been crossed.” But because of its power and volatility, anger can be a troubling emotion to be with and a difficult one to work with. Today’s practice is aimed at gaining insight into our anger so that we can respond skillfully in any given situation. Jessica Morey is a meditation teacher and coach. She has been practicing meditation for almost three 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Jessica Morey . Go Deeper For more resources on meeting and working with anger, check out these articles on : And to get more practice understanding powerful emotions like anger, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing . The DONUT brings you free daily news without the extra noise—stay informed in under 5 mins, and feel good doing it. .
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A Meditation For When Suffering In the World Feels Heavy
01/16/2026
A Meditation For When Suffering In the World Feels Heavy
Many of us are carrying the weight of the world’s suffering right now. How can we acknowledge the immense suffering around us, and our own—and still tend to our hearts, minds, and bodies in a way that keeps us grounded and able to take compassionate action? This week, mindfulness teacher and author Wendy O’Leary shares a guided practice that offers refuge and reminds us of our real and loving connection to one another. 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. Wendy has expertise in teaching skills for emotional resilience to children and adults. Wendy’s next publication, a card deck for children titled "Let’s Grow Happiness," is scheduled for release in April 2026. 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Wendy O’Leary . Go Deeper For more guidance on how to hold and respond to suffering, check out these articles on : And to get more practice being with difficult emotions and returning to connection, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing . The DONUT brings you free daily news without the extra noise—stay informed in under 5 mins, and feel good doing it. .
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A Meditation for Compassionately Noticing Food Cravings and Triggers
01/09/2026
A Meditation for Compassionately Noticing Food Cravings and Triggers
Our brains learn through a process that has three components: trigger, behavior, reward. Together these behaviors form what is known as a habit loop. In today’s meditation, Dr. Brewer walks us through a practice to notice triggers—when they’re happening and how they make us feel. When we pay attention to these triggers, we can respond to ourselves with more compassion and make choices with a lot more clarity. Jud Brewer, MD, Ph.D. (“Dr. Jud”) is a New York Times best-selling author and thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery,” who blends over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training and a career in scientific research. He is passionate about understanding how our brains work, and how to use that knowledge to help people make deep, permanent change in their lives — with the goal of reducing suffering in the world at large. Dr. Jud is the director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, where he also serves as a professor in Behavioral and Social Sciences at the School of Public Health and Psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University. Previously, Dr. Jud held research and teaching positions at Yale University, and the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Mindfulness and was a research affiliate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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 or download the app for free at . Show Notes Find more from Judson Brewer . Go Deeper Being with cravings with the intention of shifting our response, is one of the most challenging parts of mindful living. For more support with understanding craving, addiction, and presence, check out these articles on : And to experience another meditation from Dr. Brewer that guides you through how to be with cravings to facilitate habit change, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation on Endings with Frank Ostaseski
01/02/2026
A Meditation on Endings with Frank Ostaseski
Even if they aren't particularly into making resolutions, for many people the New Year still feels like a fresh start: a time for taking stock, for reviewing what's passed, for turning the page on one chapter and starting another. In today’s meditation, teacher Frank Ostaseski asks: How do you meet endings? We can learn a lot about how we face the new by looking at how we let go of the old, and here Ostaseski offers a practice to surrender with curiosity and gratitude. Frank Ostaseski is a meditation teacher who cofounded the Zen Hospice Project. In 2004, he went on to create the Metta Institute to provide innovative educational programs and professional training to foster compassionate, mindfulness-based care. 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: Show Notes Find more from Frank Ostaseski . Go Deeper If you're facing a big change, even if it's completely unrelated to the New Year, mindfulness can help support your well-being as you consider options, make choices, and step into a new season. Check out these articles for more information: And to experience another approach to intention-setting, try . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation to Set an Intention for Your Future with Rich Fernandez
12/26/2025
A Meditation to Set an Intention for Your Future with Rich Fernandez
If you’ve grown weary of traditional resolutions, but you still carry a glimmer of hope that positive change is possible for us imperfect humans—then you’ll love mindful intention-setting. In this practice from his , mindful leadership trainer Rich Fernandez shows us how to vividly envision the “imagine if” possibilities. When we tap into meaning, passion, and a felt sense of welcoming what we long for, it’s easier to get clear on the purpose behind our pursuits. Rich Fernandez is the former CEO of Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI). He was previously the director of executive education and people development at Google, where he was also one of the first SIY teachers. Rich previously co-founded Wisdom Labs and has also served in senior roles at eBay, J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America. 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: Show Notes Find more from Rich Fernandez . Go Deeper There are subtle but crucial differences between making traditional New Year’s resolutions and setting intentions for the future—because in mindfulness, everything is anchored in self-acceptance and self-love, rather than a quest for endless self-improvement. To learn more and start practicing a gentler, more sustainable way to change and growth, check out these articles on Mindful.org: You can access all modules of Rich's mini-course on Mindful.org . And to experience another approach to intention-setting, try And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation to Release & Ease Holiday Stress with Christiane Wolf
12/19/2025
A Meditation to Release & Ease Holiday Stress with Christiane Wolf
The holiday season can be a time full of commitments, planning, and (pleasant or unpleasant) anticipation. This extended guided practice with Dr. Christiane Wolf offers a quiet respite that can help you identify what you need, move to care for yourself, and navigate stress that may arise. Christiane Wolf, MD, PhD is a former physician, internationally known mindfulness and Insight (Vipassana) meditation teacher. She is passionate about translating ancient wisdom teachings into accessible and applicable modern-day language. She is the author of Outsmart Your Pain – Mindfulness and Self-Compassion to Help You Leave Chronic Pain Behind and the co-author of the classic training manual for mindfulness teachers, A Clinician's Guide To Teaching Mindfulness. Christiane is the lead-consultant and teacher trainer for the VA’s (US Department of Veteran Affairs) National Mindfulness Facilitator Training and a senior teacher at InsightLA. She is the mom of three amazing humans and can usually be found in the Los Angeles area training for ultramarathons and triathlons. 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: Show Notes Find more from Christiane Wolf . Go Deeper If the Holidays aren’t always merry and bright for you, please know you’re not alone. For support, check out these articles on Mindful.org: And for more practices to help you find calm in the chaos, check out: And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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Gratitude Practice: Savor the Moment by Tapping into Your Senses with Elaine Smookler
12/12/2025
Gratitude Practice: Savor the Moment by Tapping into Your Senses with Elaine Smookler
Savoring is a practice of intentionally slowing way down and paying attention to what’s right in front of us—whether that’s a conversation, an unexpected moment of connection, or a favorite dessert. Savoring is also a natural way to balance the frenetic pace of the Holiday season. In this meditation, Elaine Smookler shows us how to pause and tune into our senses as a way to notice and appreciate what’s happening in and around us. Elaine Smookler has been a mindful practitioner for over 20 years and is a mindfulness teacher and registered psychotherapist to individuals and corporate clients. 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: Show Notes Find more from Elaine Smookler . Go Deeper Savoring is a quality that we can nurture in our whole lives. It makes good moments sweeter, and it helps us through seasons that feel strained or uncertain. For more on how to take time to appreciate each moment more, check out these articles on : And for another way to practice what it feels like to savor, try this walking meditation: And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation for Easing Pain and Inviting Joy with Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely
12/05/2025
A Meditation for Easing Pain and Inviting Joy with Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely
Sometimes 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: Show Notes Find more from Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely . 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: And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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Stress SOS: A Quick Practice When You Need It Most with Shamash Alidina
11/28/2025
Stress SOS: A Quick Practice When You Need It Most with Shamash Alidina
The start of the holiday season can be amazing: festive energy, time with loved ones, and delicious food. But it can also be super stressful. This week, we’re offering a quick practice from Shamash Alidina that you can turn to when you’re in the thick of it. It’s not the usual 12 minutes, but it’s perfect for when you’re running errands, preparing for visitors, or just need a moment to gather yourself. Shamash Alidina is best known as the internationally bestselling author of 10 books including Mindfulness For Dummies and 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 at Mindful.org next week. Stay curious, stay inspired. Join our community by signing up for our free newsletter: Show Notes Find more from Shamash Alidina . Go Deeper For additional resources on how to manage the stress of the Holiday season (or anytime), check out these articles on Mindful.org: And for another meditation you can use when Holiday stress shows up, try this practice: And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Meditation for Working With Our Self-Judging Voice with Diana Winston
11/21/2025
A Meditation for Working With Our Self-Judging Voice with Diana Winston
As today’s teacher notes, self-compassion is different from self-esteem. Relying on building up our self-esteem tends to lead us to need a lot of external validation in order to feel ok. Instead, self-compassion is the idea that even with all of our flaws, we can still care about ourselves and see ourselves as infinitely worthy of love and belonging. In this extended 30-minute practice, mindfulness teacher Diana Winston guides us through a process to get familiar with our self-judging voice and how we relate to our flaws, so that we can nurture compassion and recognize our own worthiness. Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center and author of several books including The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering your Natural Awareness. Note that there is an extended silent pause in the middle of this recording to give extra time to practice. 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: Show Notes Find more from Diana Winston . Go Deeper We all have an interior voice that keeps a running commentary on everything we do. Occasionally that voice is encouraging or kind, but often it isn’t. The thing is, most of us aren’t even consciously aware of this constant internal chatter. We just think it’s reality. Mindfulness gives us the tools to notice, recognize, and work with this mental monologue in ways that improve our ability to learn from mistakes, be accountable, make amends, and grow as people. To learn more about the Inner Critic and how to tame it, check out these resources from the website: And for more ways to work with that pesky internal voice, try this practice: . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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A Forgiveness Meditation to Let Go of Added Suffering with Mark Bertin
11/14/2025
A Forgiveness Meditation to Let Go of Added Suffering with Mark Bertin
Forgiveness is almost never a one-and-done action. Whether what we’re forgiving is big or small, our own error or someone else’s—most often, there are residual feelings of anger, hurt, or resentment to contend with. In this guided practice, Mark Bertin addresses this tendency to compound our suffering when we hang onto these difficult emotions. He offers a way to gently surrender this extra emotional baggage so that we can fully experience the healing that forgiveness offers. 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 (Sounds True, 2018). Dr. Bertin resides in Pleasantville, New York. For more, visit . 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: Show Notes Find more from Dr. Mark Bertin . Go Deeper Forgiveness is one of the most challenging mindful qualities to develop. Understandably, we want to feel seen and heard in our pain, and we don’t want to feel like we’re being walked over or making excuses for harmful behavior. From a mindfulness perspective, forgiveness holds all of these experiences in a kind of loving tension, allowing the complexities to surface. To learn more about what forgiveness is (and isn’t) and how to nurture it in your daily life, check out these resources from the website: If you’re at the very beginning of the process and want help getting started on your forgiveness journey, try this practice: . And more from Mindful here: Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing .
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