Sometimes seasons of intense suffering show up in our lives—no warning, no easy answers.

This week, mindfulness teacher Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely shares a tender meditation for those in the middle of pain. Based on her own experience with an extended episode of chronic back pain, she offers a moment of reprieve and caring attention to release tension and open to the possibility of joy.

Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely is a California-French educator, writer and mindfulness advocate. As the founder of “Big Belly Breathing,” including a podcast and YouTube channel, she offers mindfulness joy resources in English and French for kids and adults alike. Vanessa writes regularly, recently authored the Joy Burst journal, and teaches yoga throughout The City, bringing her passion for well-being to diverse communities. Feel free to connect with her for inquiries or discussions; she’s eager to engage with fellow health enthusiasts and life lovers. Find her at www.bigbellybreathing.com.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online at Mindful.org next week.

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Show Notes

Find more from Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely here.

Go Deeper

For additional resources on finding moments of calm in the midst of suffering, check out these articles on Mindful.org:

• Let Your Pain Be a River: Vidyamala Burch on Living and Teaching With Chronic Pain

• Where To Start When There Is So Much Suffering

• Breaking Generational Patterns of Suffering

• Study: Mindfulness reduces suffering associated with pain

• How Mindfulness Provides Relief from Chronic Pain

And for another meditation you can use when pain flares, try this practice: Filling the Body With Light: 12 Minute Meditation

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.

The start of the holiday season can be amazing: festive energy, time with loved ones, and delicious food. But it can also be super stressful.

This week, we’re offering a quick practice from Shamash Alidina that you can turn to when you’re in the thick of it. It’s not the usual 12 minutes, but it’s perfect for when you’re running errands, preparing for visitors, or just need a moment to gather yourself.

Shamash Alidina is best known as the internationally bestselling author of 10 books including Mindfulness For Dummies and The Mindful Way through Stress. He frequently pops up in newspapers, magazines, and on radio shows. Based in London, he runs online trainings and speaks at conferences all over the world. He’s been teaching mindfulness full-time since 2010.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Join our community by signing up for our free newsletter: mindful.org/signup

Show Notes

Find more from Shamash Alidina here.

Go Deeper

For additional resources on how to manage the stress of the Holiday season (or anytime), check out these articles on Mindful.org:

• A Simple Practice for Regulating Stress in the Body

• A Steady Heart: A Cardiologist’s Advice for Lowering Stress

• Break the Cycle of Stress and Social Media: Learn a 3-step process that builds healthy habits

• Let Go of Stress and Welcome Wisdom

• How to Manage Stress with Mindfulness and Meditation

And for another meditation you can use when Holiday stress shows up, try this practice: A 12 Minute Meditation to Defuse Holiday Stress

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.

As today’s teacher notes, self-compassion is different from self-esteem. Relying on building up our self-esteem tends to lead us to need a lot of external validation in order to feel ok. Instead, self-compassion is the idea that even with all of our flaws, we can still care about ourselves and see ourselves as infinitely worthy of love and belonging.

In this extended 30-minute practice, mindfulness teacher Diana Winston guides us through a process to get familiar with our self-judging voice and how we relate to our flaws, so that we can nurture compassion and recognize our own worthiness.

Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center and author of several books including The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering your Natural Awareness.

Note that there is an extended silent pause in the middle of this recording to give extra time to practice.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online at Mindful.org next week.

Stay curious, stay inspired. Join our community by signing up for our free newsletter: mindful.org/signup

Show Notes

Find more from Diana Winston here.

Go Deeper

We all have an interior voice that keeps a running commentary on everything we do. Occasionally that voice is encouraging or kind, but often it isn’t. The thing is, most of us aren’t even consciously aware of this constant internal chatter. We just think it’s reality. Mindfulness gives us the tools to notice, recognize, and work with this mental monologue in ways that improve our ability to learn from mistakes, be accountable, make amends, and grow as people. To learn more about the Inner Critic and how to tame it, check out these resources from the website:

• Mindful Parenting: Meet Your Inner Critic with Self-Compassion

• How to Teach Your Kids About Their Inner Critic

• How to Recognize Your Inner Critic

• How to Be Kind to Your Inner Critic

And for more ways to work with that pesky internal voice, try this practice: A Basic Meditation to Tame Your Inner Critic.

And more from Mindful here:

More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation

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