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 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 
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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 
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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.

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 

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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.

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:
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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.

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.