One Mind

A New York Times reporter reveals what business leaders around the country are already discovering: meditation may be the key to fostering a happier, more productive workplace.

Guided Meditation For Stress Relief This episode of the OneMind Meditation Podcast is an abbreviated version of our last episode which addressed the stress associated with the US presidential election. Several of you requested an abbreviated version of that guided meditation, without the prelude and commentary. So this guided meditation for stress and relaxation will ground […]

Does the election cycle stress you out? The other day, I was scrolling through social media, and every other post was about the U.S. presidential election. And as you can imagine, most of it was polarizing and vitriolic. The deeper I got into it, the more angry and stressed out I felt. It seemed to […]

Practice makes perfect. It’s an old adage we all know too well. But what does it mean in the context of meditation? If you pan back and look at all the major breakthroughs in art, science, spirituality, and other fields, you’ll discover practitioners who’ve invested thousands of hours of hard work. Often that work is […]

Can technology really help you meditate? What if there was a piece of hardware that actually let you know when you’re mind is wandering? And in doing so, helped you bring it back to center. Well, it’s not sci-fi and you don’t have to wait. The technology to do this exists. In fact, it’s been around for […]

Do you ever struggle to get to sleep? Finding the right guided meditation for deep sleep isn’t always easy. In this guided meditation—designed to help you fall into a refreshing slumber—we focus on relaxing and letting go of the past. Is Insomnia An Epidemic? If you struggle with insomnia or just logging a sound night of […]

How do you nurture mindful relationships? And what is a mindful relationship anyways? Every adult who’s had an intimate partner knows that healthy relationships take work and a lot of practice. They’re like a a garden. You can’t take it for granted. If you tend it carefully, mind the bad weather, and nurture it over […]

Middle school and meditation. Sounds a little like oil and water to me. Focus, stillness, relaxation, and equanimity aren’t the first things that spring to mind when you think of adolescents launching into puberty. It is, after all, the greatest physical, mental, and emotional transformation of their young lives. But maybe we need to look at it differently? Maybe […]

How often do you need to meditate? To advance in your practice, should you meditate every day? This is the question that we explore in this episode of the OneMind Meditation podcast. Why We Struggle With A Daily Practice Let’s start with the perennial problem. A lot of people feel guilty because they start meditating and then […]

What happens when you find that you aren’t actually living your own life? When you’re there, but not there? When the perfect Molotov cocktail of stress, ambition, and an ego-infused corporate culture drive you to physical breakdown. Because, it happens more than you might think. In this episode of the OneMind Meditation podcast, we explore […]

What are affirmations and how do they work? Can a daily meditation practice compliment your affirmations? In this episode of The OneMind Meditation podcast, I explore these questions about meditation and affirmations with Harry Duran. I met Harry on a 10-day silent retreat. He’s a long-time meditator and the host of a popular podcast called Podcast Junkies. In […]

What is the relationship between menopause and meditation? Can meditation help during this significant life transition? According to holistic health coach Katherine Miller, yes it can. Meditation And Menopause Katherine Miller is a holistic health coach and former meditation teacher and yoga instructor. Recently, she finished hosting a successful global tele-summit called Menopause Is A Trip. […]

How do you practice mindfulness during your day? What are some mindfulness exercises that can connect us more deeply to ourselves and to the world and people around us? In this short audio, we explore two mindfulness tips that will ground and deepen your connection to life. Two Mindfulness Tips First, we explore the power of […]

What is the relationship between meditation and healing? Can meditation heal trauma? That’s a question we get asked a lot here at About Meditation. That makes sense, because these days, many people embrace meditation as a way to heal from different kinds of trauma. I came to meditation over twenty years ago on a quest for meaning. I […]

For this holiday week we are replaying the episode on How To Turn Meditation Into A Keystone Habit. This is one of the most popular episodes of the OneMind Meditation Podcast. If you’d like to learn more about how to turn meditation into a habit, here’s a list of resources. Listen & Read: Listen to: OM 006: Build […]

Recently I was interviewed by meditator and entrepreneur Sonia Thompson on the subject of meditation. Sonia is a good friend and she asked some very insightful questions. In fact, Sonia’s questions were so closely aligned with the most popular questions we receive here at AboutMeditation.com that I decided to dedicate this episode of the podcast to answering […]

Meditation and productivity. They certainly make for strange bedfellows. How, after all, can an ancient esoteric practice focused on “non-doing” help you to do more in less time with less wear on your system? This is the question I set out to answer in this episode of The OneMind Meditation Podcast. At the end of […]

What is brainwave entrainment and what does it have to do with meditation? Often referred to as binaural meditation, many people claim this technology can enhance your meditation practice and actually accelerate your mental, emotional, and spiritual growth. In fact, there’s a body of research which supports these claims. Brainwave entrainment has even proved effective in helping […]

What is tai chi? Is it true that this ancient martial art, often referred to as a form of moving meditation, can impact the health of your mind, heart, bones, nerves, muscles, and immune system? In fact, the latest research out of Harvard supports these claims and more. Of course, Tai Chi masters have known this […]

Be grateful for adversity, for it forces the human spirit to grow. For surely the human character is formed not in the absence of difficulty but in our response to difficulty. ~Jim Rohn Have you ever come back from death? There aren’t a lot of people on earth who can say they’ve died and come […]

I have come to feel that nothing is more tonic—more urgent, in fact—than simply doing nothing. ~Pico Iyer What is the art of doing nothing? Is it just a fancy spin on lazy navel gazing? Or is it, like many suggest, an important refresher for your brain and a profound contemplative practice? These days “doing nothing” is […]

There are a lot of evergreen meditation tips. There are techniques and tricks you can learn along the way. But I’ve found that one lesson stands above the rest. After meditating for more than two decades, I’ve come to call it the Golden Rule of meditation. The Golden Rule is simple. In essence, it tells […]

Be aware of yourself and know yourself. No matter how much you have learned and how much you know, if you don’t know yourself you don’t know anything. ~Zen Master Shosan What does a modern-day warrior look like? Does being a warrior have anything to do with meditation? And when was the last time you […]

We’re fascinated by the words. But where we meet is in the silence behind them. ~Ram Dass Why do we need silence? That disarming question launched a recent conversation I had with a health reporter. The answer to that question has many parts. Why? Because there’s inner silence and there’s outer silence. They’re related, but they’re […]

Where do meditation and psychology intersect? For several decades, these two models of self-understanding—one based in religion and the other in science—have started to mingle and merge. As mindfulness steadily develops a body of research to support it’s efficacy in treating stress, depression, anxiety, and emotional trauma, we’ve seen the simultaneous rise of mindfulness-based psychotherapy. In this […]

Meditation can be challenging. That’s especially true when you’re starting out. It’s easy to get lost, confused, frustrated, or just bored. As you wade into the deeper waters of contemplative arts like meditation, it’s important to understand the terrain. For example, it’s helpful to know where you can expect challenges. Where (and when) are you going to have […]

Do you have a clear way to manage your stress? When your stomach drops out and your adrenaline kicks in, what do you do? According to a mountain of scientific evidence, stress erodes nearly every significant system in our body. That’s why it’s important to develop some conscious tools to help you mitigate the effects of stress […]

Can meditation make you 10% happier than you already are? According to Dan Harris, the co-anchor of ABC News’ “Nightline” and the weekend edition of “Good Morning America,” the answer is unequivocally “Yes.” After covering the religion beat for ABC News, Dan discovered meditation and wrote the bestselling book 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice […]

What can you learn from the practice of mindfulness? Why has this ancient practice exploded into the mainstream? You may have noticed the long-time meditators among us looking bewildered but happy about this geek-to-chic transition. One definition of mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment with nonjudgmental awareness. That sounds simple, but it’s endlessly subtle. The truth […]

Awakening self compassion is often the greatest challenge people face on the spiritual path. ~Tara Brach What’s the right way to deal with emotional pain during meditation? Often, difficult emotions arise in meditation when we least expect it. We don’t tend to welcome those feelings with open arms. For most of us, the natural response to any sort of uncomfortable feelings is to tuck tail and move […]

What if you had a map of everything? I don’t mean the kind of map that gets you from London to Sydney. I’m talking about one that leads you from the befuddled state of confusion to the great state of clarity. From the lowlands of lagging inertia to the summit of inspiring insight? What if this map […]

You are not separate from the whole. You are one with the sun, the earth, the air. You don’t have a life. You are life. ~Eckhart Tolle Is your world big or small? Because, often that’s a matter of perspective. For example, do you feel like your entire being is trapped sometimes behind the cartesian grid of […]

Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness. ~Eckhart Tolle Do you struggle to be still? I don’t just mean in meditation. I’m talking all the time. Maybe if you’re like me, you experience impatience […]

Meditation isn’t about what’s happening, it’s about how you relate to what’s happening. ~Sharon Salzberg What does success in meditation look like? Does it mean that you’re suddenly as serene as the Buddha? Does it mean the end of your anger, fear, doubt, and other unpleasant feelings? This is a subtle and interesting question. Why? Because success […]

There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life. ~Tara Brach Do you listen to what your mind tells you? Or do you step back and observe it cooly, knowing that you aren’t what you think? Because, there is a world of difference between those two positions. […]

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Is everything ok? I mean right now, independent of whatever is happening in your life, do you think life itself is a positive event? Stop for a second and think about it. Sure, […]

How do you learn compassion? Can meditation teach you? Or does it have to come from your own suffering? Maybe a combination of both? I know well how my own experiences of a broken heart have pierced the veil of selfishness and opened me to the needs, pain, and suffering others. But do we have to live with a broken […]

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. ~Aldous Huxley What is silence? I’ve been chasing silence since I was 20 years old. But why is it important and what can you learn from it? Is it, as some research suggests, essential for our health? Many people think of silence as just the […]

Transcendental Meditation opens the awareness to the infinite reservoir of energy, creativity, and intelligence that lies deep within everyone. – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Have you ever wanted to learn more about Transcendental Meditation (TM)? Arguably one of the most popular forms of meditation on the planet, it’s ironically challenging to learn without spending lots of money […]

Begin with little things daily and one day you will be doing things that months back you would have thought impossible. ~Swami Satchidananda Meditation and yoga have gone hand in hand for millennia. It was only when yoga came to the West that it got reduced to the calming and healthy physical practice most of us […]

One does not practice meditation to become a great meditator. We meditate to wake up and live, to become skilled at the art of living. -Elizabeth Lesser Do you struggle with stress and anxiety? At times do you feel like you’re life is a little like a hamster wheel that you can’t get off? Many […]

What you seek is seeking you. ~Rumi What does it take to keep going when, as the saying goes, the going gets tough? Really tough. We all start on the path of meditation with high hopes, serious aspirations, or maybe just guarded optimism. We come to the practice suffering from stress, anxiety, and some form of overwhelm. Maybe […]

  By penetrating very deeply the present moment, the past and future fall away, and you become free. Fear is the demon that prevents us from letting go of the past and the future, that in turn, keeps us from spontaneously plunging into the present. ~ Joe Gifford Do you fear death? Does the promise and […]

Do you suffer from chronic pain? Did you know it’s possible to reduce your pain through meditation and mindfulness? Are you aware that meditation can help reduce the stress related to chronic pain? Now more than ever, clinical psychologists are using contemplative modalities like meditation and mindfulness to help their clients manage pain. Whether you suffer from physical, psychological, […]

To deal with things, knowledge of things is needed. To deal with people, you need insight and sympathy. To deal with yourself, you need nothing. Be what you are—conscious being—and don’t stray away from yourself. ~Sri Nisargadatta What is letting go? And what exactly are we letting go of during meditation? And…how deep does it […]

It was November 1970 when Richard Miller quietly stepped outside of the first yoga class he’d ever attended and looked up into the clear California night sky. Something was different. What was it? He was relaxed, at peace, and he felt connected to everything throughout the entire universe. He had just experienced a taste of something that would become his […]

  How would you like to do nothing for the whole year? That’s the very first question that high school teacher and long-time meditator Lawrence Carroll asked his students on opening day. That’s a good way to sell meditation in the math class, but little did his students know, just how transformative “doing nothing” would be. Lawrence […]

Why do you want to meditate? People meditate for different reasons. Some meditate to relieve anxiety and stress. Others meditate to connect with the nourishing and restorative silence within. But it’s rare to find someone who meditates for others. But that’s why my friend Erin Aquin meditates. As a clinical acupuncturist and long-time yoga teacher, […]

Did you know there is actually a science to making meditation a lasting habit? A lot of people struggle to be consistent with meditation. And that’s understandable, because meditation can be challenging. But we can actually make it easier on ourselves. One way to do that is to learn the science of habit formation. It’s […]

Imagine you are in a war zone. You’re squeezed, shoulder-to-shoulder, into an armored troupe carrier day after day in the arid Israeli desert with 15 other people. Mortar shells are exploding nearby. You’re sweaty and dust is everywhere. Now let me ask you a question. Would you choose to meditate at a time like this? I didn’t think […]