Resources for Mindfulness
Listening, reading, and watching help us remember. Here are some of my favs.
Podcasts!
Lying in bed, walking in the park, or folding laundry, podcast are a lovely way to bring ideas and mindsets into your life. My top 5!
Tara Brach: A DC-based teacher and director of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, her podcast features talks with reflections woven in and heaps of self compassion. Episode to try: Beyond the Controlling Self, on letting go of a narrow sense of things need to be.
Being Well with Rick and Forrest Hanson: mixing science with mindfulness and meditation, this podcast explore the practical side of well being with an earnest father/son duo. Episode to try: Connecting with Your Best Parts, which reminds us most of what we’ll find within us is beautiful.
Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield: Based at Spirit Rock meditation center, his talks seethe with his deep sense of empathy and clear insights into what truly matters. Episode to try: A Peaceful Heart, on how to respond within to war and suffering of our planet
Meditative Story: first person stories overlayed with mindfulness themes and meditation prompts. Episode to try: Finding a Way in by Sinead Burke, an elementary school teacher who uses her unique gifts to help her students believe in themselves.
Jonathan Foust: this podcast is focused on some of the techniques and tools that meditation can help us cultivate, as well as support to build your own practice. Episode to try: What if the Obstacles are Your Path, on how “problems” can also be our greatest source of growth.
Guided Meditations
Guided meditations to…
Get in touch with breath: Diana Winston breathing meditation (6 mins)
Connect with body: Sharon Salzberg body scan (8 mins)
Surrender: Sarah Blondin on learning to surrender (8 mins)
Relax: Tara Brach on relaxing into presence (12 mins)
Cultivate self compassion: Tara Brach on the RAIN framework (21 mins)
Return to the present: Jack Kornfield on the here and now (28 mins)
Letting go: Jonathan Foust on letting go with a body scan (26 mins)
Printable signs!
Office kitchen sign: “if you don’t do your dishes, someone else will”
Books
How to Meditate
Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation by Sharon Salzberg Structured as a 28-day introduction to meditation, covers the basics, from technique to science, and has great practical tips, too.
Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana. Clear, simple writing on the "how" of mindfulness and meditation.
How to Train a Wild Elephant: And Other Adventures in Mindfulness by Jan Chozen Bays. A book of short exercises to try with explanation about how they connect to mindfulness.
Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness by Susan L Smalley and Diana Winston. A more robust gateway to mindfulness with science, practice, and jumping off points to deepen your exploration.
Not quite sold on mindfulness, but want to learn more?
Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics by Dan Harris. This books is written for people with the eponymous skepticism but who are also open. Focuses on his personal story and how meditation has changed his life.
Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris. Completely secular lens on the power of mindfulness for those less interested in the “woo-woo.”
Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright. The title is a bit deceiving - it doesn't say Buddhism is the definitive way to be, but rather that tenets, including meditation, target the human foibles evolution has built into us.