The Art of Stopping (Micro-Practice Version)

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 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 Jessica Morey here. Go Deeper Understanding our built-in negativity bias is the first step to balancing it with practices that hone our attention and strengthen our genuine appreciation for the good things in life. You can learn more from these resources on Mindful.org:  Seven Strengths for an Uncertain World  Halting the Spiral: Navigating Repetitive Thought Patterns  3 Mindful Ways to Transform Negative Thoughts  Turn Negative Emotions into Your Greatest Source of Strength  How Happy Brains Respond to Negative Things  For another approach to unhooking from negativity, try: Peace Begins With Me: A Meditation for When You Feel Overwhelmed By Negative Thoughts   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 [email protected].

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 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 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 Our attention—where we give it and why—is one of our most powerful assets. Learning how to train our awareness to rest in the present moment is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and others. To learn more about how mindfulness can help you build your attentional strength, check out these resources from Mindful.org:   3 Simple Ways to Pay Attention  Get It Done With Mindfulness: How to Be Productive with Attention, Kindness, and Wisdom  Attention! How Mindfulness Training Is Helping People Reclaim Their Ability to Focus  How to Give Your Full Attention  At the very heart of mindfulness is the practice of training your attention, moment by moment, with compassion and care. For more practice, try A 12-Minute Breathing Meditation to Cultivate Attention. 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 [email protected].

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 Processing (EP) practitioner, and recovery coach with a background in social work. She's been in recovery for over eight years, following two decades of active addiction, and her lived experience now fuels her passion for helping others heal. Emily is also the author of Beyond Addiction: A Mindful Guide to Recovery, where she shares her trauma-informed, compassionate approach to healing. Her work integrates mindfulness, coaching, trauma therapy, and somatic tools to help people reconnect with their bodies and find safety, peace, and empowerment on their recovery journey. Connect with Emily Jane online at Holistic Recovery. 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 Emily Jane here. Go Deeper Being able to notice and be in our bodies is one of the core skills of mindfulness. In a world that is designed for distraction and disembodiment, this can be a challenging skill to cultivate. If you want to learn more, start with these resources from Mindful.org: Addiction, Trauma, and the Problem of Being Present  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 another take on a meditation for body awareness, try:  A 10-Minute Meditation to Cultivate Embodied Awareness  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 [email protected].

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 evidence-based mind-body approaches to global wellness brands, Fortune 100 companies and top-ranked sports teams, is the author of On The Verge: Wake Up, Show Up, and Shine and the Founder of Verge Yoga and Meditation Center. Cara was voted a "Top 12 Most Powerful Women in the Mindfulness Movement" by Mindful.org.   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 Cara Bradley here. Go Deeper Mindful movement comes in all varieties and can be a wonderful way to calm both body and mind. If you want to learn more, start with these resources from Mindful.org: Join the Nanalympics! 6 Ways to Get Playful with Mindful Movement 7 Mindful Movement Practices for Daily Life  Swimming, Walking, Running—Why Mindful Movement Can Boost Resilience   This Kind of Movement Can Be the Key to Healing Burnout  Easy Ways to Make Mindful Movement Part of Your Day   For a creative and whimsical way to combine movement and meditation, try: Laughter Yoga: A Gentle Movement Practice to Get the Giggles Going  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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].

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. 

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].