This meditation uses sound as an anchor to the present moment. It may be a particularly useful alternative for those who find that focusing on the breath increases anxiety or tension. Opening to Sound (18 minutes) by Karen Schwisow...
Loving-kindness stengthens the natural human desire that you and others be well. A core part of our Mindful Self-Compassion program as well as other compassion cultivation programs, loving-kindness meditation uses a combination of imagery and language to open the...
Something that occurs to me regularly at our mindfulness retreats is: “I never would have thought of this!”It never would have occurred to me that being quiet and sitting still with a group of people for days at a time would bring so much benefit. That it would lead...
In strengthening the ability to be present and grounded, "anchoring" attention with felt present-moment experience is deeply helpful. While many practices do this using breath as the object of attention, the anchoring meditation helps you explore other options. These...
ABOUT LABELING The meditation called Labeling (also known as Noting) is a very helpful practice for getting to know patterns in our minds while at the same time starting to develop some space around them. This practice helps us see what our minds are up to without...
In this innovating 11 minute practice, Tim invites us to find stability in the context of dynamic energy and change using the imagery of sitting besides a mountain stream. The audio includes a “special guest” recording from nature. Sitting by a Stream - 11...
Meditations using imagery and symbols can be powerful. The Mountain Meditation envisions your experience as that of a mountain: stable and solid but also always changing. This classic practice, popularized by Jon Kabat-Zinn, is often included in our Mindfulness-Based...
The practice of forgiveness is both a practical and deep exploration in a world where we humans regularly cause each other harm, and can even harm ourselves. This practice is based on one described by American Insight Meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Gina...
Think of Mindful Movement as a "body scan in motion" where we practice deeply feeling the sensations in the body as we move it and as we hold different postures. We offer a few suggestions for getting started as well as diagrams of our standard full mindful movement...
In this video practice, Catherine walks us through the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) Gestures, which are positions and movements that can help us sense and physically embody the different qualities of Mindful Self-Compassion. The first three gestures correspond with...
Karen shares about the importance of this Self-Acceptance practice, which she learned from her mentor Pam Erdman: “Most of us have a tendency to be hard on ourselves. This practice is a way to counter that, to tame it, to help that harsh inner critic to relax...
A tonglen (“giving and receiving compassion”) meditation with an emphasis on being relaxed and alert in our practice. You can learn more about tonglen meditation at Tim’s introductory recording. Delivered at the Winter 2023 MSC II: Roots of...
