Guided imagery can be a useful adjunct to a mindfulness practice although it is not usually included in typical mindfulness-based programs. This handout explains the difference between using guided imagery for a specific result and using it as part of a mindfulness practice. There are also plenty of links to recordings that you can try!

This is a practice inspired by a soft landing offered by the amazing CMSC teacher Sydney Spears. It invites you to create your own movement practice and then settles into an exploration of your highest intentions. You are then invited to draw support around your intention through the presence of a being that is important to you. It is both a meditative, movement and embodiment practice. 23 min.

This is a breath-based practice built on an idea offered by my mentor Stan Eisenstein. It helps you build the skill of being with what is difficult in a way that is just right for you, so you can be challenged but not overwhelmed. That way you can cultivate the ability to learn from, care for, and integrate anything that is difficult as you also practice recognizing and listening to your inner guide about how deep and how fast to go. This can be a helpful practice if you are feeling somewhat overwhelmed, but you still feel safe enough to try to work with an issue from a meditative standpoint. 20 min.

I've never quite been sure what this thing we call mindfulness actually is. So this is (an entirely too long) collection of various short descriptions and definitions that I've come across over the years. You might enjoy seeing the vast array of ways to describe mindfulness, and maybe even want to add your own! 

Jeff Warren is one of my fave teachers. Here are a couple of shorter practices based on some of his ideas. The first is about opening to the space around you and seeing what you find (11 min). The second is a meditative pep talk about the value of following an anchor while cultivating equanimity, and how doing so pays off big time in how you live your life (12 min). Really, it is a reminder that  in meditation you are giving yourself the gift of building the skill of being who you want to be out in life!

One gift of meditation is that we can cultivate valuable qualities, like compassion, so they are more available in life. One way to do that is to look at times in our life where that quality was present, and savor that experience. But sometimes it can feel like our lives are filled with difficulty--there are no such times. This practice invites you to go back to before you existed to sense the natural part of yourself that is unscathed--your original blueprint. And then draw on that to support yourself in the present. 19 minutes.

This is a handout that explores ways to use mindfulness and embodiment to help with making decisions. There are links to audio practices as well as a discussion of the process of examining possibilities from a place that invites in both conscious and subconscious input. 

This practice is designed to help you examine your relationship to caregiving. to help you get a sense of how much of your caregiving flows from your highest aspiration to help others versus from messages and roles you have taken on that can wear you out. It is based on a practice offered by the late Cynthia Wilcox, one of my valued mentors. 19 minutes.

This is based on a practice offered by one of my fave teachers, Jeff Warren. If you are not familiar with him, please immediately click on that link--you will be glad you did. Anyway, this explores the value of having an anchor in our practice, and ways to work with whatever anchor you choose. 15 minutes.

This is a fave practice from Mindful Self-Compassion. It is a loving kindness practice that harnesses the mind's tendency to wander all over the place, so you can offer kindness and compassion to whatever and whoever arises in your mind. 18 min.

This is a foundational practice from the Mindful Self-Compassion program around remembering to support ourselves as we support those around us. It is offered as an extended practice, but it is really designed to be used right in the middle of challenging caregiving situations once you have practiced it. (Or for any difficult situation for that matter.) The link is to a handout on the practice so you have more background--there are audio links on the handout.

This body scan recognizes that sometimes our bodies can be difficult to be with. So it invites in plenty of compassion and kindness for whatever arises as you bring awareness to various parts of the body. 38 min.

Awe awakens us to the truth that we are part of something larger than ourselves. Research suggests that cultivating qualities like awe, amazement and wonder can enhance well-being and expand our perspective. This handout reviews awe and has a link to a recording of a practice to cultivate it. 

These are brief practices that let you know when 1 minute, 5 minutes and 10 minutes have passed. You can use them as a springboard if you have little time--you can just do a minute, but stay longer if you wish. They focus on different aspects of experience, and there is even one for those times when you don't want to meditate (but still think it would be a good idea)!

There is a lot going on in any given moment. This practice explores the many things within our awareness with curiosity and a chance to release unhelpful judgements. 23 min. And here is a longer version that spends some time exploring mindfulness of thoughts. 33 min.

The mountain guided visualization is a classic practice that builds a sense of your inner strength and equanimity. Or it can just be a cool way to chill out with some soothing mental imagery. 22 min.

A guided imagery practice from the Mindful Self-Compassion course that invites a visit from a wise being. 15 min.

A concentration practice builds the skill of focusing on that which you consider important. And also builds the skill of gently releasing that which you decide is unimportant. This practice takes a deep look at the experience of the breath as an anchor to build those skills. 25 min.

This goes on a journey that starts with a practice focused on an anchor of your choosing, with the emphasis being more about how you work with the thoughts that inevitably arise. And then we settle on an exploration of what emotions may be here, and meeting that with kindness regardless of what is here. 30 min.

This is a practice that looks at different frameworks around feeling grounded. Most people recognize the value of pausing to, for instance, sense into the soles of your feet to resource yourself. This practice offers a number of additional things you can try to enhance that feeling of support and stability that is so valuable in the midst of a crazy day. 18 min. 

This is a guided imagery practice that draws on ideas offered by Belleruth Naparstek—an absolute master of this type of mindfulness practice. It is offered as a way to support you if you need to have a medical procedure—you can use it in the preoperative area or, if possible, during your procedure if it is done under local anesthesia. The above link is voice only; here is a version with soothing background music. 22 min.

This is an open awareness, non-dual practice based on an idea offered by the profound teacher Adyashanti. It invites you to explore how any experience that arises in consciousness is inherently blended in with everything that is not that experience. Which is one of those things that meditators say that can leaving you going, “I don’t even know what that means!” Sorry. But, really, it is just another way to explore your natural awareness that is always there but usually overlooked. And how resting in that awareness may give you more perspective about working with anything within yourself or in the world that you find challenging. 29 min.

This is an interesting practice around what it feels like when we don't feel seen and heard, and what we can do to be less dependent on the actions of others is such settings. So we can regain our power and state our concerns from a place of deep self support. This is drawn from a practice by the late Cynthia Wilcox, Ph.D. 20 min.

Most people are familiar with the traditional loving-kindness practice and how it uses phrases to cultivate kindness towards ourselves and others. But sometimes offering kindness to ourselves can be tricky. This practice offers a different way of doing that; it is based on one offered by Stan Eisenstein. 17 min.

This is a mix of practices offered for a Circle of Practice around the idea of coming to presence. There is an opening practice, then some compassionate movement, then a longer ending practice. 42 minutes.

This is a Dropbox folder that contains the topics, exercises and practices I offer when I do a 1-hour introduction to self-compassion for organizations. There are audio and video files along with handouts that review everything. I hope you find it valuable, and let me know if you have any questions. 

People commonly have a sense of a core of their being--a central energy channel related to the idea of chakras. This handout offers some background on this, along with suggestions for further reading and exploration. There are also 4 practices that you can try ranging from 10 to 30 minutes. 

This is a meditative exploration of the idea that we each have a "still point" around which our energy and all of life flows. The idea of a still point originated with the poet T. S. Eliot, and this practice is drawn from the work of Cynthia Wilcox, Ph.D. It is offered as a tribute to an amazing teacher who left us all too soon. 23 minutes.

This is a gentle practice that offers different ways to center yourself in your own compassionate refuge. I am grateful to the Mindful Self-Compassion teachers Tina Gibson and David Teitelman, from whom this practice is adapted. 24 min.

Equanimity is about having a sense of balance around our reactivity to life's experiences. Kind of a spacious non-reactivity. This meditation offers various ways to cultivate this valuable heart quality. (That never seems to be around when you need it!) For more info on equanimity, you can check out this handout in addition to the meditation at the above link. 25 min.

The RAIN practice is an invaluable way to work difficult emotions so you can learn from them rather than fight them. This handout reviews RAIN (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture), and has 3 recordings of various lengths so you can see for yourself how it works. The longest practice is designed to be a very deep dive into the layers of an emotion. 

This video explores the reasons why we forget that we can be kind to ourselves, and then looks at the consequences of that as far as how we live our lives. This may help you understand why it is so crucial to take the time to relearn how to be kind to ourselves if we want to act in this world with wisdom and compassion. 10 min.

This practice is a journey from the largest to the smallest aspects of existence. It is a way to build perspective around our experience, perhaps getting a sense that we are part of something much larger than our thinking minds realize. Deep gratitude to Stan Eisenstein who taught me this type of practice. 30 min.

This practice invites a sense of ease as well as offering a way to offer a sense of healing and support for physical difficulties. It is adapted from some of the wonderful offerings at Inner Health Studio. 25 min.

This meditation allows you to explore gratitude from different perspectives, ultimately moving towards unconditional gratitude and the sense of interconnectedness to be found in that quality of the heart. 26 min. And here is a handout that explores this valuable quality of the heart. 

This practice offers a host of ways to resource yourself, ranging from feeling grounded to appreciating your heart's deepest values. It is offered as a way to explore building the ability to be with what is difficult. 32 min.

This meditation allows you to try different anchors in one practice. The breath doesn't always work for folks, and this gives you a chance to practice with other objects of focus. And also see what heart qualities, like gratitude and compassion, that can be found in any anchor. 26 min.