How to Meditate – Links for Guided Meditation Practice

A few links for Meditation practice

There are many types of meditation practice from many types of contemplative traditions. Some are rooted in the Buddhist contemplative tradition (Theravada or Mahayana) and others from traditions like Kabbalah in Judaism, and centering prayer originating in Christianity. There are many other contemplative practices, but it is those that stem from Buddhism that have been secularized and adapted into the Western medical model for a variety of clinical conditions and are simple enough for anyone who knows how to breathe.

For those interested in some simple guided meditations, there is a large selection of secular Buddhist instructors with different voices and styles, but all have similar basic approaches to helping you cultivate mindfulness, reduce suffering, and improve cognitive and emotional skills like attention regulation and emotion regulation. Keep in mind that meditative practices geared towards cultivating mindfulness are not typically intended for relaxation – they are intended to gain a sense of familiarity with one’s own mental landscape – what and where does one mind go when you let it just go. This requires a fair amount of effort, diligence, motivation, arousal (alert wakefulness), and good posture (Stephanie Nash on Good Posture [Link]) and WhatMeditationReallyIs [Link]. It is suggested that you attempt to experience these meditations in a comfortable, upright, seated position (at your desk or on the floor), but not in the supine position (because then you will simply fall asleep). Good Luck!

Mindfulness-based Meditations

caveat for dealing with difficult emotions that arise during meditation – see this excellent interview with Leigh Brasington by Dr. Willoughby Britton [Link]

Focused Attention Meditation

AUDIO

45 min – Seated Meditation – Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) – [Link] – narrated by UC San Diego Center for Integrative Medicine

30 min – Breath Awareness from Anapanasati Sutta – [Link] – narrated by Lisa Dale Miller

30 min – Breath Awareness – [Link] – narrated by Ronald Siegel

20 min – Breath Awareness – [Link] – narrated by Sharon Salzberg

20 min – Seated Meditation – Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) – [Link] – narrated by UC San Diego Center for Integrative Medicine

14 min – Mindfulness of Breathing – [Link] – narrated by Jon Kabat-Zinn

10 min – Breath Awareness – [Link] – narrated by Margaret Cullen

5 min – Breath Awareness – [Link] – narrated by Diana Winston – MARC at UCLA (UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center)

VIDEO

45 min – Breath Awareness; Insight Meditation Instruction – [Link] – narrated by Sharon Salzberg

15 min – Insight Meditation with Ambient music – [Link] – narrated by Tara Brach

10 min – Anapana Meditation [Link] – narrated by S.N. Goenka

10 min – Breath Awareness – [Link] – narrated by Rick Heller from the Secular Humanist Contemplative Group – Harvard University

3 min – Instructional video for beginners –  [Link] – narrated by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Body Scan Meditation

AUDIO

45 min – MBSR – [Link] – narrated by UC San Diego Center for Integrative Medicine and Department of Psychiatry

30 min version from MBCT course [Link] – narrated by Zindel Segal

25 min – Body Scan – [Link] – narrated by Sharon Salzberg

12 min  –  MARC  [Link]  –  narrated by Diana Winston

12 min – Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) guided meditation [Link]  – narrated by Jon Kabat-Zinn

VIDEO

60 min – Body Scan with nature sounds [Link] – narrated by Florence Meleo-Meyer

Open Monitoring (Insight meditation)

AUDIO

60 min – Vipassana – [Link] – narrated by S.N. Goenka

45 min – Vipassana – [Link] – narrated by Joseph Goldstein

20 min – Refuge in Awareness [Link] – narrated by Tara Brach

13 min – Insight [Link] – narrated by Peg Baim

VIDEO

45 min – Big Mind – [Link] – narrated by Joseph Goldstein

15 min – Meditation on Body, Space, and Awareness – [Link] – narrated by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

10 min – Just sitting (Zen Shikantaza) – [Link] – narrated by Shinzen Young

5 min – Mindfulness [Link] – Beautiful Bell for facilitating mindfulness practice

15 min – Do Nothing (similar to choiceless awareness described by Krishnamurti or open presence in Dzogchen) – [Link] – Technique explained by Shinzen Young

Metta – Loving Kindness Meditation

AUDIO

42 min – Loving Kindness for Self – [Link] – narrated by Sharon Salzberg

42 min – Loving Kindness towards others [Link] – Sharon Salzberg

30 min – Mindful Solutions [Link]  – narrated by Ronald Siegel

30 min – [Link] – narrated by Gil Fransdal

VIDEO

30 min – [Link] – narrated by Sharon Salzberg

Other Interesting guided meditations and Instructions

AUDIO

Insight Meditation Instruction – Ven. Pannyavaro (MP3 Files) [Link]

BUDDHANET – This is a collection of Meditation talks by Buddhist teachers of various traditions – [Link]

Insight LA – Founded by Trudy Goodman and affiliated with Spirit Rock [Link]

Audio Dharma – Links to guided meditation from top teachers [Link]

VIDEO

Using Panic attacks to guide meditation – [Link] – Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Vipassana Meditation 10-day retreat – Day 1 instructions – [Link] – narrated by S.N. Goenka (links to full 10 days are available)

UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center also has a few good links for guided meditation [Link]

If you have any links that you would like to add to this list, please pass them on – I am MORE than happy to share.