Show Notes
When we talk about attention, we often use active and extractive verbs: pay, give, court, leverage. In mindfulness, attention isn't a commodity to be used; it's a gift to be nurtured. What might it feel like to rest our attention? This week, teacher Sharon Salzberg offers a guided meditation that's down-to-earth and deeply restorative as we practice holding our awareness with the lightest touch possible. 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 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 Our attention—where we give it and why—is one of our most powerful assets. Learning how to train our awareness to rest in the present moment is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and others. To learn more about how mindfulness can help you build your attentional strength, check out these resources from Mindful.org: 3 Simple Ways to Pay Attention
Get It Done With Mindfulness: How to Be Productive with Attention, Kindness, and Wisdom
Attention! How Mindfulness Training Is Helping People Reclaim Their Ability to Focus
How to Give Your Full Attention
At the very heart of mindfulness is the practice of training your attention, moment by moment, with compassion and care. For more practice, try A 12-Minute Breathing Meditation to Cultivate Attention. 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 [email protected].
More from 12 Minute Meditation
Our guest this week is Dr. Diana Hill. She brings a guided practice to be with, care for, and notice the story that we bring to our emotional and physical pain. In this meditation, you'll: Identify a specific area of emotional or physical discomfort
Our guest this week is Thaddaeus Washington, Mindful's featured Teacher of the Month for October. He brings a new experience to our meditation lineup: a music-based meditation entitled "Vapour," where sound is the anchor for our attention. In this guided practice, you're invited to simply rest, bring your whole self, and allow the music to unwind the worries of the day. Thaddaeus Washington is a musician, singer, songwriter, and founder of Mind Music—a company dedicated to making mindfulness accessible through music and immersive experiences. Thaddaeus has generously shared music from his Common Ground albums with us, which will be available as a full playlist inside the app starting in early November. 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 Thaddaeus Washington here. Go Deeper Music has long been a part of mindfulness tradition. From singing, dancing, and chanting to simply allowing ourselves to be caught up in wonder and beauty, music has a unique ability to work in us as whole human beings, body, mind, and heart. To learn more about the benefits of incorporating music into your mindfulness practices, check out these resources from Mindful.org: Where Music and Meditation Meet
Our guest this week is teacher Jörg Sprave. He leads a guided meditation called "I Am Nature." Designed to be done outdoors, this meditation is based on the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, also known as "forest bathing." In this session, you'll: Learn a bit about the ancient practice forest bathing
Our guest this week is teacher Caverly Morgan. She offers a sturdy, grounded place to come home to when we're struggling with feelings of failure, inadequacy, or insecurity. This meditation: Offers a steadier alternative to bypassing difficult emotions with positive mantras
Our guest this week is teacher Shamash Alidina. He shares a simple technique for opening and strengthening your awareness and curiosity about everyday things. This walking meditation is designed to help you: Practice seeing the world with a "beginner's mind"