12 Minute Meditation

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. 
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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.  
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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.
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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 
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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  
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Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].
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