Podcast · Health

12 Minute Meditation

by Mindful.org · English · Health

The latest scientific research reveals that 12 minutes of meditation a day yields benefits like increased attention, focus, creativity, calm, resilience and compassion. Start your 12-minute sit with guided meditations from today's leading mindfulness experts, brought to you by Mindful. With a new mi

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 15 min
Latest: 9 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

9 Oct 2026 · 14 min

Jörg Sprave: A Guided Forest Bathing Meditation

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 Consider your intimate connection to the natural world Experience the deep calm, rest, and awe of meditating in nature Jörg Sprave is the founder of and lead instructor at Treeming.org , an international forest therapy education organization based in Zurich. He believes in the transformative…

Play episodeWhatsApp Download

Earlier episodes 29 most recent

2 Oct 2026 · 18 min
Caverly Morgan: A Meditation for Unconditional Love When You're Struggling
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 Gives us a more expansive perspective on our value Allows us to be with what's painful, and still return to a place of unconditional love Caverly Morgan is a meditation teacher, author, and visionary who founded Peace in Schools, a nonprofit that created the nation's first for-credit mindfulness class in public high…
25 Sep 2026 · 14 min
Shamash Alidina: "Beginner's Mind" Walking Meditation
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" Get outside, move, breathe, and give your churning mind a break Notice things in a new way through your senses Shamash Alidina has been practising mindfulness since 1998 and runs his own successful training organisation. He is the author of Mindfulness For Dummies and the forthcoming Breathing Exercises for Dummies. He frequently pops up…
18 Sep 2026 · 10 min
Vinny Ferraro: Directing Compassion Toward Ourselves
Our guest this week is teacher Vinny Ferraro. He shares a beginner's metta or loving-kindness meditation that offers practice for the most common first step of metta: giving compassion to ourselves. This meditation is designed to help you: Meet yourself with care, whatever you're experiencing Practice being with your own imperfection without slipping into shame or harsh self-criticism Notice where there is room to learn and develop wisdom Vinny Ferraro has been a practitioner of insight meditation (vipassanā) since the early 1990s. He is a co-Founder of the Dharma Punx and co-Guiding Teacher…
11 Sep 2026 · 16 min
Mark Bertin: A Guided Walking Meditation to Meet Uncertainty with Compassion
Our guest this week is also September's Teacher of the Month, Dr. Mark Bertin. He offers a unique practice that uses sensory awareness and gentle movement to help meet moments of uncertainty. This meditation is designed to help you: Practice meeting yourself with patience and attentive care Connect with your body as both a way to calm yourself and as a way to get clarifying information about the situation you're facing Engage skillfully with the discomfort of uncertainty, rather than defaulting to reactivity, anger, or fear Mark Bertin, MD., is a pediatrician, author, professor, and…
E426 · 4 Sep 2026 · 22 min
Janice Martellucci: Meditation for Transitions
Our guest this week is Janice Martellucci, Executive Director of Peace in Schools. As millions of students get ready to head back to school in the Northern Hemisphere, she brings us a meditation to meet transitions and new places with courage and curiosity. Regardless of the type of transition you might be facing, this meditation is designed to help you: Notice the emotions that arise as you approach this change Stay present to what you're experiencing with care, especially if you're feeling fear or resistance Offer support to yourself and others Janice Martellucci is the Executive Director…
28 Aug 2026 · 7 min
Jeneé Johnson: Build Resilience by Staying in the Moment
Our guest this week is J eneé Johnson . She brings us a meditation based on what she calls "staying on the spot." This meditation is designed to help you: Notice when your thoughts wander Come back to the moment without judgment or anxiety Practice training your attention in meditation so you can carry that skill over into daily life Jenée Johnson is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, Racial Healing, Emotional Intelligence Educator, and HeartMath facilitator. Jenée initiated and led the unique effort to bring mindfulness into San Francisco's public health programs and practices…
21 Aug 2026 · 21 min
Jon Kabat-Zinn: A Breathscape Practice for Cultivating Mindfulness
It is natural as finite human beings to want to feel certain. To our brains, certainty equals safety. It's normal to wish we could control the future, because uncertainty can be unsettling and scary. But as today's teacher observes, as difficult as it is, the only real leverage we have to positively influence the future is to learn to inhabit the present moment fully, without trying to fix it or manage it. This is the most challenging aspect of mindfulness, and its core principle. This 20-minute guided meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn is practice for simply being awake and aware in the moment…
14 Aug 2026 · 16 min
Kelly Boys: A 12-Minute Body Scan Meditation for Letting Go of Stress and Falling Asleep
Stress and tension can easily build up in our bodies during busy days or weeks, and often we don't even realize how much that is affecting our ability to let go and fall asleep at night. In this guided practice, teacher Kelly Boys offers a simple body scan meditation that uses sensory awareness and intentional breathing to invite a sense of lovely heaviness and relaxation. Kelly Boys is a mindfulness trainer, coach, author, and speaker, specializing in teaching the NSDR (non sleep deep rest) practice of yoga nidra. She is the author of The Blind Spot Effect and as a trainer has created…
7 Aug 2026 · 18 min
Rich Fernandez: A Meditation to Help Build Your Capacity to Navigate Difficulty
When we're facing disappointment or challenge, it's easy to default to negative narratives about who we are inherently: I'm a failure. What's wrong with me? I never do anything right. This week, teacher Rich Fernandez invites a different perspective: When we shift from naming an existential trait (like, I must be a loser) to naming a temporary experiential state (like, I'm experiencing a setback that's discouraging), then we can actually return awareness and agency to ourselves and navigate a way through the challenge. Rich Fernandez has dedicated his career to building more purposeful,…
31 Jul 2026 · 12 min
Stacee Reicherzer: A Meditation to Befriend Vulnerability
By definition, to feel vulnerable is to feel exposed and undefended. It's natural, in moments of emotional risk or tenderness, to feel the urge to pull back from vulnerability, to deny it or dismiss it as weak or needy. But decades of research have also revealed that we can't really form strong bonds with others if we're unwilling to take the risk of being our true selves. This week, Dr. Stacee Reicherzer guides us through a practice that can help us soften to this oh-so-human experience so that we can truly know healing, connection, and vitality. Dr. Stacee L. Reicherzer, PhD, LPC-S is the…
24 Jul 2026 · 18 min
Ed Halliwell: A Meditation for Resting in the Flow of Experience
This week, Ed Halliwell guides us through a practice to be with the inevitable moment-to-moment uncertainty of life. We can't control what's happening around us, but we can practice letting go of the stories we create about uncertainty that add unnecessary stress and pain. Ed Halliwell is a mindfulness teacher and writer, based in Sussex and London, UK. He is author of three books: Into The Heart of Mindfulness , How To Live Well By Paying Attention and (as co-author) The Mindful Manifesto and teaches courses and retreats to public groups, in organizations and to individuals, face-to-face…
17 Jul 2026 · 13 min
Mark Coleman: A Grounding Practice to Focus Your Busy Mind
There are times when we're so busy thinking, planning, worrying, stressing that it's really hard to focus on the breath or the body, or whatever particular meditation object we're using. This practice with Mark Coleman offers an alternative that's helpful when we feel like we're going a million miles an hour. It uses soft, focused attention: relaxed eyes, soft gaze, and just being aware of the visual stimuli—like color, light, form, shape—to settle our focus. Mark Coleman is a Dharma teacher at Spirit Rock and has taught Insight Meditation retreats since 1997 worldwide. Mark is passionate…
10 Jul 2026 · 6 min
Elaine Smookler Laughter Yoga: A Gentle Movement Practice to Get the Giggles Going
Beyond just feeling good, laughter releases dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins , and also works on our heart, our lungs, our muscles, our thoughts, our behaviors. In short: laughter actually is good medicine. And here's a funny thing: whether we laugh in response to something, or we create a situation that gets laughter going, the body will still release the same endorphins. Try this quick, goofy yoga exercise to discover a foolproof way to induce laughter. It is based on the Hawaiian word "Aloha," a nice vowel-y word that opens the mouth and throat just by saying it. Elaine…
3 Jul 2026 · 12 min
Jessica Morey: A 12 Minute Meditation to Unhook from Negativity and Savor Joy
Joy aids us in waking up to our lives, and savoring is a practice that allows us to slow down, immerse ourselves in experience, and deeply appreciate the moment we're inhabiting. These two together are a powerful antidote to the gravitational pull of negativity, doomscrolling, and despair. Jessica Morey is a meditation teacher and coach. She has been practicing meditation for almost 3 decades. She is also the co-founder and former executive director of Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, a nonprofit organization bringing in-depth mindfulness and compassion training to youth. The…
26 Jun 2026 · 9 min
Sharon Salzberg: A Meditation to Rest Your Attention
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…
19 Jun 2026 · 16 min
Emily Jane: Embodied Compassion for Difficult Emotions
One of the core principles of mindfulness practice that can be a challenge for people is the notion that it actually makes more sense to accept our emotions rather than resist them. Especially when it comes to painful, confusing, or frightening emotions, this move towards ourselves in compassion can feel incredibly counterintuitive. This week, author and recovery coach Emily Jane guides us through a practice you can use anytime you need support bringing curiosity, courage, and compassion to difficult experiences. Emily Jane is a mindfulness teacher, certified Embodied Processing (EP)…
12 Jun 2026 · 15 min
Cara Bradley: A 12 Minute Meditation to Make Movement Mindful
Our bodies come in all varieties, and we all have different interests, skills, and abilities. As today's teacher Cara Bradley observes, movement of any kind—from the slightest stretch to the most intense exercise—can be mindful. This simple meditation helps you celebrate your physicality with practices to connect with your breath and your body, expand your awareness, and appreciate the gift of being alive. Cara Bradley is a seasoned mind-body expert dedicated to advancing mind-body education through movement, mindfulness and the science of human performance. She provides evidence-based…
5 Jun 2026 · 10 min
Barry Boyce: A Mindfulness Meditation for Beginners
This week, Mindful founding editor Barry Boyce reminds us of the basic why behind mindfulness meditation: We get off-kilter at various times throughout the day, and we need a way to pause and reconnect—with reality, with our senses, with our steady center. That's what meditation helps us do. This practice is called "Taking Your Seat," and it's perfect if you're getting started with meditation, or if you just need a touchpoint during your day. Barry Boyce is Founding Editor of Mindful and Mindful.org. He is a longtime meditation practitioner and teacher, as well as a professional writer and…
29 May 2026 · 15 min
Juliana Sloane: A Meditation to Bring Comfort and Kindness to Pain and Illness
Learning to live with pain and illness is challenging, arduous work. Often, people can go for months or even years without sufficient answers. Life gets turned completely upside down. The body you thought you had suddenly becomes something you don't recognize or know how to work with. This week, meditation teacher and hypnotherapist Juliana Sloane offers an imaginative meditation that invites softness and self-compassion in the midst of discomfort. Juliana Sloane is a Buddhist teacher, hypnotherapist, and coach specializing in Depth Hypnosis, applied shamanic counseling, and client-centered…
22 May 2026 · 21 min
Shalini Bahl: A Meditation on the Art of Stopping (Extended Version)
We often think of mindfulness and meditation as sustained states—when in reality, it's just a collection of micro-moments of stopping, breathing, really noticing our own bodies and our own lives, getting distracted, and then coming back again. Over and over. As this week's teacher Shalini Bahl puts it, today's guided practice is about the art of stopping: letting go of our regular habits of the mind—the pushing, pulling, running in circles— and instead just being for a moment. This is an extended practice, but as a bonus, we're also sharing a micro-practice version of The Art of Stopping…
22 May 2026 · 6 min
Shalini Bahl: The Art of Stopping (Micro-Practice Version)
You can find the extended 20-minute version of this meditation here . Want to explore how micro-practices can help shift your patterns in your real everyday life when you're off the meditation mat? Check out Shalini's article, How Micro-Practices Can Be the Bridge Between Your Meditation and Your Choices .
15 May 2026 · 13 min
Wendy O'Leary: A Meditation on Working With Our Fear And Parenting From Love
In our concern for our children, sometimes we respond from a place of fear and worry. From time to time, we can even lose touch with the love that lies beneath that concern. Reconnecting with the ground of our love and the wish for our children to be happy and well, especially in moments of difficulty, can be incredibly beneficial. This practice from Wendy O'Leary offers a pause of support and encouragement that can help you come back to that core of compassionate wisdom. Wendy O'Leary, M.Ed., author and health educator, has three children's books and an adult book on self-compassion in…
8 May 2026 · 15 min
Rashid Hughes: A 12-Minute Meditation to Rest Your Body in Gratitude
Our bodies are so overworked and often ignored. This guided awareness practice offers space to feel a sense of gratitude for our body, in all of its beauty and mystery. Rashid Hughes (he/him) is a writer, meditation teacher, yoga instructor and a restorative justice facilitator. He is the co-founder of the Heart Refuge Mindfulness Community , a mindfulness community in Washington, DC that is dedicated to inspiring Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to live with love and courage. Rashid is an Affiliate Teacher for the Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC and is also a teacher of…
1 May 2026 · 15 min
Shamash Alidina: A Light, Slow, Deep (LSD) Breathing Meditation
Thanks to our autonomic nervous system, life-sustaining processes like our heartbeat, digestion, and breathing all happen without us even having to pay attention. But our environments, stress levels, and other factors can definitely affect the health and efficiency of these processes. For example, sitting hunched at our desks and staring at screens often means that our breathing gets shallow and irregular—which of course affects things like focus, energy, cognition, and attention. This week, Shamash Alidina leads a guided breathing exercise called Light, Slow, and Deep (or LSD), designed to…
24 Apr 2026 · 17 min
Kazumi Igus: A Guided Walking Meditation to Notice the Beauty Around Us—Even in the City
City life can often feel frantic, loud, and cut off from natural beauty. It's not often we slow down and take in all there is to experience. But even in urban areas, if you pay attention, you can hear the call of a bird, notice your favorite color in shop windows, and look up at the vast sky above. In this guided meditation, we slow our roll and take in the beauty of our surroundings, no matter where we find ourselves. Kazumi Igus is a Los Angeles native, science teacher, and trained meditation facilitator through UCLA's Mindful Awareness Center. She currently serves as a WholeSchool…
17 Apr 2026 · 16 min
Cheryl Jones: A Meditation to Meet Yourself Where You Are—No Matter What
Mindfulness meditation involves a willingness to be with ourselves as we are. It offers a way of learning to work with ourselves, and not on ourselves, especially if we are healing from perfectionism. Mindfulness reminds us that not everything has to be "fixed"—and very often, our movement back to wellness starts when we stop trying to change ourselves and simply accept where we are with care and attention. Cheryl Jones is a mindfulness teacher, health and wellness coach, and author of two books, Thriving When Your Cosmic Egg Is Cracked: A Mindful Journey and Mindful Exercise: A Bridge…
10 Apr 2026 · 12 min
Susan Bauer-Wu: A Meditation to Create Inner Balance in the Face of Change
Change of any kind—whether it's small, momentous, expected or unexpected—can make us feel so vulnerable and unsteady. This week, Susan Bauer-Wu offers a guided meditation to invite and nourish inner strength in the face of change. Susan Bauer-Wu, PhD, is a registered nurse and nursing educator, as well as a mindfulness teacher and researcher. She is president of the Mind & Life Institute and author of Leaves Falling Gently: Living Fully with Serious & Life-Limiting Illness through Mindfulness, Compassion & Connectedness . The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our…
3 Apr 2026 · 18 min
Sará King: A Meditation to Approach the World With a "Don't-Know Mind"
Our culture prizes certainty and tends to regard not-knowing as weakness or failure. But research has shown that uncertainty is a quality that we're meant to engage, not reject. Not only does it spark curiosity and help us learn, but it also strengthens confidence and resilience. This week, Dr. Sará King offers a practice to help us build comfort with our "don't-know mind" so that we can stay courageous and open to the world around us. Dr. Sará King is a mother, a neuroscientist, political and learning scientist, medical anthropologist, social entrepreneur, public speaker, and certified yoga…
27 Mar 2026 · 14 min
A Meditation to Allow Genuine Happiness, Even In Hard Times
When we are going through a difficult season personally, or we are bearing witness to the pain of others, our relationship to genuine joy or happiness can get complicated and confusing. Happiness can feel out of reach, or it can feel like a betrayal, like it's something we don't "deserve" in hard times. But strengthening our ability to notice and soak in moments of beauty, tenderness, connection, and gratitude can actually have a fortifying effect on us. It can help us build resilience and fill our empty emotional tanks—which can foster our own healing and make it possible for us to show up…

About 12 Minute Meditation

12 Minute Meditation is a English health podcast from Mindful.org. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Mindful.org
Language: English
Category: Health
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 15 min
Latest episode: 9 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1068281273
Rights: Mindful 2019

RSS feed Apple Podcasts

More English health

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.