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.

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.

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

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.

The DONUT brings you free daily news without the extra noise—stay informed in under 5 mins, and feel good doing it. Subscribe here.

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

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.

The DONUT brings you free daily news without the extra noise—stay informed in under 5 mins, and feel good doing it. Subscribe here.