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Our Guided Meditation Recordings

Below are recordings from the monthly Guided Meditation Sessions facilitated by the Mindfulness Working Group. We encourage people to use them in your personal practice, and feel free to share the link to this page with others. These recordings do not include anything participants shared during the calls, as the intention is to create a safe space for people to practice together in confidence and privacy. We trust these sessions will contribute to your own practice, your own well-being, and the well-being of others through you. Simply click on the arrow on the left side of recording you would like to access…

Tools for navigating difficult waters

by Lynda Davis | This meditation includes the five anchors practice that Resmaa Menakem has recommended in his books, including: “The Quaking of America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating Our Nation’s Upheaval and Racial Reckoning.”

Giving and Receiving Compassion Meditation

by Jennifer Stanley | Because all beings struggle in their lives from time to time, everyone needs compassion, kindness, and care. Sometimes what is needed is soothing and comforting compassion. Other times, what is needed is the providing, protecting, or motivating dimension of compassion. Often, we overlook or dismiss our own needs when the needs around us are great—particularly for those who are caregivers or those who work for justice. However, it is important to meet our own needs—fill our own cup—before we can help others. Ultimately, we can create a balance that allows us to meet the needs of the world while also caring for ourselves. This meditation uses the sensations of breathing in and out as a skillful means for offering ourselves compassion (or something good), as well as extending compassion, goodness, etc. to other beings. Meditators are invited to send compassion to themselves with each in breath, and then send out compassion to a dear one, or beings in general with each out breath.

Right now…It’s like this

by Devin Berry | Explore how a simple phrase can become wisdom for well being. This guided meditation is an invitation into our direct experience and the nature of reality. A simple truth that we can carry into the day.

The Three Dimensions and the Four Pillars

by Lynda Davis | This is a somatic centering practice which was adapted from presentations given by Prentis Hemphill and Desiree Hammond. It is an exploration of three dimensions of our bodies: length, width and depth and the four pillars of Coming to the Table: facing and uncovering history, making connections, working toward healing, and taking action.

Body Scan and Breath Work

by Venetia Bailey | The body scan is a mindfulness meditation practice allowing you to become more mindful of your bodily sensations in different parts of the body. The meditation involves mindful breathing and scanning the body for pain, stiffness, tension, or anything out of the ordinary. With this knowledge it is easier to address where you notice resistance in the body (physically, mentally and emotionally), leading the self to improved wellness in the body and mind. It assists in feeling more connected to the physical, mental and emotional self.

The 4 Pivots and the 4 Pillars

by Lynda Davis | a guided journey through the four pivots from Dr. Shawn Ginwright’s book The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves and the Four Pillars of Coming to the Table using box breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and loving kindness.

eARTh Day Meditation Dedicated to Dr. Arthur Carter aka “Art.”

by Lynda Davis | This meditation includes a dedication to Dr. Carter and Tortuguita, a call to action, and a body scan that prioritizes rest and gratitude. The call to action is to find out more about and join the effort to Stop Cop City at https://www.stopcopcitysolidarity.org/. The focus on rest in the meditation was inspired by Tricia Hersey’s book entitled Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto (see https://thenapministry.com/). The invocation to rest is from pages 40-41 of Hersey’s book.

Calling the Earth to Witness

by Angela Dickey | Meditating on the Fires in Maui, based upon principles taught by Roshi Joan Halifax

Touching the Earth

by Devin Berry | An adaptation of Thich Nhat Hanh’s original touching the earth practice and Larry Ward’s adaptation from the book We Are One. (Note: Click Here for the text Devin used) It is based on the loving kindness and compassion meditation of the Lotus Sutra. This transformative practice supports us in renewing faith and developing compassion. It is an opportunity to heal our relationships with self and others through mindfulness, forgiveness and bearing witness and ancestry.

Compassionate Friend

by Hayat Bain | Find peace and self-compassion through visiting with a compassionate, loving being of your choice, in a setting of your choice. Hear wisdom that is just what you need to hear right now in your life and be given an object of special meaning to inspire or comfort you as you go forward. (Adapted from the work of Jack Kornfield and Paul Gilbert. The meditation is preceded by the words of law professor Rhonda Magee, author of the book The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness, and by two short poems - Belonging by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and Blessing in the Chaos by Jan L. Richardson.)

Healing and Knowing Our Worth

by Hayat Bain | We are guided through a brief grounding exercise and work with the K27 acupressure points, elemental healing breaths, poetry and silence for the purpose of healing and being reminded of our worth. The poem referenced is "The Life Slow and Precious" from the book, "Spilling the light: Meditations on Hope and Resilience" by Theresa I. Soto.

Home

by Lynda Davis | This meditation is about Humanizing Ourselves and Maximizing our Equanimity (HOME), reminding ourselves that “home is where the heart is,” turning on our “Heartlights,” and letting our “Heartlights” Shine. In this meditation, we use the Seven Homecomings practice from Lama Rod Owens’ book Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger.

Explore Your Inner Smile

by Angela Dickey | Adapted from the book "Awaken Healing Energy through the Tao" by Mantak Chia. In this session, we practice smiling at ourselves, something we don't think of enough in daily life. A practical method of self-care.

The Well of Still Water

by Ann Reeves | In honor of Thich Nhat Hanh, and inspired by his writing, we explore through meditation and visualization the possibility of a sacred well within us, a hidden resource from which we might draw healing and wisdom to carry on with our justice work that is so important.

We Make the Road by Walking

by Jennifer Stanley | We will make a world with more justice and equity by walking the road together. This guided meditation is a support to tapping into mindfulness, calm, and connection with others walking the road to racial healing.

Explore Your Inner Smile

by Angela Dickey | Adapted from the book "Awaken Healing Energy through the Tao" by Mantak Chia. In this session, we practice smiling at ourselves, something we don't think of enough in daily life. A practical method of self-care.

Finding Equanimity in Challenging Times

by Hayat Bain | The heart of this guided meditation experience is inspired by Buddhis meditation teacher and author, Ruth King, who writes, "Imagine the power of this inner resource [equanimity] as we engage with the messy world in which we live." May you find the inner peace you seek among the "intentions of equanimity" offered as a practice, as well as the offerings of readings, a breath practice, a releasing of tension from the body....and concluding with a short song about breathing in peace and breathing out love.

We Are Each Other’s Bond: Meditation on the Four Elements

by Jennifer Stanley | Attuning to the four elements in meditation—earth, water, air, fire—helps us connect with an embodied knowing that we are nature, that we belong to our ancestors, the planet, and the universe. This meditation uses the four elements as meditation anchors, and invites us to use mindfulness to explore how these elements are found and expressed in our human bodies. This exploration can help us to know that we are bonded to the earth and to each other. "We are each other's harvest, We are each other's business, We are each other's magnitude and bond." —Gwendolyn Brooks

Meditations of the Heart

by Ann Reeves | Based on the words, work, and life of Dr. Howard Thurman, spiritual friend and advisor to Dr. King and spiritual advisor to the Civil Rights Movement

Compassion for suffering from racial injustice

by Tom DeWolf | with a focus on our bodies, our hearts, and our breath as mindfulness tools. (with gratitude to, and inspiration from, Ruth King, Susal Stebbins Collins, Jason McGrice, and others*)

“But Still, Like the Dust, I Rise” - Coming Home to Ourselves

by Ann Reeves | A meditation to soothe the mind and soul through mindfulness meditation and breathing practice so as to strengthen our resolve to keep on keeping on.

Mountain Meditation

by Bill Brooks | Mountain meditation is an adaptation of Jon Kabat-Zinn's classic meditation that incorporates the visualization of a mountain, an architype of equanimity. It aims to ground us in the present moment. The meditation guides us to seek inner stability and peace, even in the face of unpredictable change and chaos. With an upright and dignified posture, reminiscent of a mountain’s enduring presence, we practice embodying the mountain’s steadfast calm amidst the swirling winds and shifting clouds of life.

And Still I Rise

by Fran Sutton-Williams | How do we keep going when the systems we depend on are falling apart, when we've fought hard for so long that we're exhausted, when we've given until our cups are empty? This meditation focuses on how we return to center and rise again. (inspired by Maya Angelou's poem)

Expanding Compassion: Guided Meditation for Peace and Healing

by Devin Berry | Embark on a journey of empathy and solidarity as we gather to widen the circles of compassion, encompassing all those affected by the scars of war across the world. Through our mindfulness practice we'll extend our heartfelt intentions to embrace and heal communities torn apart by conflict. Join us in sowing the seeds for a more compassionate world.

The Great Bell Chant

by Jennifer Stanley | This meditation is an adaption of The Great Bell Chant (the end of suffering) by Thích Nhất Hạnh. The invitation is to send out lovingkindness and compassion into the cosmos with the sound of the bell, and during the quieter moments, sending these energies to oneself.

Turning Awareness into Action

by Venetia Bailey | This guided meditation focuses on strengthening our ability to be self-aware, self-actualized, and self -determined as we co-create our emerging new reality and world together. Adapted from “Meditation Practice for Wise Action” by Michelle Maldonado.

Compassion Fatigue, Frustration and Anger: Coming Home to Ourselves in the Way of Thich Nhat Hanh

by Ann Reeves | At a time when events are unfolding so fast, the growing polarization, continued injustices on all front, increased suffering from weather crises, the closing down of human rights, COVID growing and more, many of us may be experiencing compassion fatigue and/or anger that things are not moving fast enough in the direction we want. Through the lens of mindfulness, two questions are raised: Is our passion for justice and the outcomes we seek a kind of attachment, and what are some ways to neutralize these powerful feelings in order to enable us to be more effective in our quest for justice?

Running the RACE for Racial Justice and Equity

by Lynda Davis | In this meditation we use acronyms as portable mindfulness meditation practices, two of which come from Rhonda V. Magee's book, The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness. We will also be doing an “embodied racial awareness practice” from Magee’s book. It is my hope that this mindfulness meditation will illustrate how these practices can help us stay in and win the RACE for racial justice and equity.

The Radiance Within

by Lucia King | In our polarized and divided world, it is easy to disconnect from the Refuge of love and compassion inherent in who we are. This meditation explores the radiance of light, the boundless spectrum of loving and compassionate energy uniquely, and yet, universally available within each of us.

Butterflies and Bees

by Lynda Davis | These practices come from Resmaa Menakem’s book My Grandmother's Hands: How to Heal Racialized Trauma in our Minds and our Bodies (pages 53, 143, 146). I hope they remind you of the inner wisdom that you have you to float like a butterfly (to settle your body when you need to) and to sting like a bee (activate your body when you need to). NOTE: content warning: If you have a negative association with bees, in particular hornets, this meditation might not be for you.

The Door of Our Bodies

by Lucia King | This meditation guides us to become aware of the body, the deep groundedness and openness we can experience when we breathe into and rest in the support of the stillness of our bodies. It helps us to experience our bodies as a place of Refuge.

Love is a verb.

by Fran Sutton-Williams | This meditation is intended to awaken awareness of loving yourself and loving others, what that means to you and how love works in your life.

Compassion and Gratitude

by Lucia King | In this CTTT meditation practice we rest in stillness, silence and spaciousness and focus on the compassion and gratitude available to us when we rest in the spaciousness of an open heart.

RAIN and the STAR Healing Journey

by Lynda Davis | This meditation guides people through the RAIN (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Not-Identify, and Nurture) exercise and shows how it parallels the three parts of the STAR healing journey: breaking free, acknowledgement, and reconnection.

Mindful Body Scan

by Fran Sutton-Williams | The body is always in the present moment so being aware of the arising, changing, and fading away of sensations in the body can be a helpful aid to anchor our minds in the present moment. The body scan helps us to establish a relaxed and alert embodied awareness so we can train ourselves to be more mindful both while practicing sitting meditation, and very importantly, in daily life. Meditation practice such as this helps us to train our minds to stay in the present moment, discover our mental habits, cultivate skillful and wholesome mind states, and ultimately liberate ourselves from unskillful conditioning— e.g. oppression in it’s many forms—racism, white privilege, etc.

Colors of the Rainbow

by Angela Dickey | A meditation using the colors associated with the chakra energy points of the body. Adapted from "Meditations for Tranquility" by Suzanne Marbrook.***

Compassionate Friend Meditation

by Helen Farrar | A self-compassion practice to bring kindness to our own hearts in responding to suffering. Adapted from Paul Gilbert

Kaleidoscope Meditation

by Fran Sutton-Williams | Like the shifting patterns in a kaleidoscope, times of chaos can be viewed as times of transition to a new pattern of being

Relating to the many expressions of energy

by Jennifer Stanley | In this guided meditation we focus on the vital energies in the body and heart-mind. Tuning into our energy can be both relaxing, and when done with mindful investigation, energizing. Particularly for those involved in racial justice and healing, it’s important to be aware of energy levels and needs so that we can balance our energies and care for ourselves in a wholesome way.

Compassion For All Beings

by Jennifer Stanley | A guided meditation that helps us hold the suffering in the world with compassion. Adapted from Zenju Earthlyn Manuel’s For all Beings

Heart Light

by Fran Sutton-Williams | A meditation on the truth that we are all Beings of Light and the affect this has on the world

I Am Sending You Light: Healing Racialized Trauma

by Hayat Bain | This healing guided meditation begins with Sufi elemental breaths for balancing, and then weaves soul soothing alto vocal music (I Am Sending You Light by Melanie DeMore) with time for reflection on quotes from Resmaa Menakem's book, My Grandmother's Hands.

The Great Sun of Lovingkindness and Compassion

by Jennifer Stanley | Service to the Beloved Community includes caring for our own selves as well as those around us so we can heal what needs healing, and also speak up and out with fierce compassion for justice. One of the greatest services we can render is to be fiercely compassionate and loving—offering protection and action, and also creating space for cultivating a world where we all can flourish. Lovingkindness—also sometimes referred to as benevolence, goodwill, or lovingingfriendliness, or the Pali word “metta”—is both healing and protective. This meditation focuses on radiating lovingkindness and compassion to all beings (including oneself) just as the sun in our solar system radiates its light in all directions.

River of Healing and Action

by Ann Reeves | In honor of Black History Month, this meditation consists of mindfulness meditation, a body scan, an opportunity to contemplate our journey with CTTT through perusing our own relationship to healing from racial wounds, and a guided meditation using a river as a metaphor to symbolically let go of what no longer serves us and inviting in change.

Mindfulness of Breathing

by Bill Brooks | A guided practice on being mindful of the breath breathing the body. This meditation is focused on the felt sense of the breath in the body. Breathing in knowing we are breathing in. Breathing out knowing we are breathing out. All the while resting in the calming refuge of the breath in the body.

Equanimity

by Ann Reeves | A mindfulness-based meditation to promote equanimity, based on the words and teaching examples of the highly beloved meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg.

The Four Elements

by Devin Berry | Click anywhere on this description and a new window will open with a silent video that beautifully sets the context for this session. We encourage you to watch it prior to listening to this meditation, which supports us in remembering that we are connected to everything and everyone in a very real way; and of the power of connecting to the body. It helps us to connect to nature by connecting us to our own nature as we are in fact nature.ture.

Growing Compassion for Suffering from Racial Injustice

by Tom DeWolf | Inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh, this meditation invites awareness of the suffering of marginalized people and of privileged people, and being mindful of the commitment we make to acknowledge and help heal the suffering from racial injustice.

Breath Awareness and Release

by Venetia Bailey | This meditation brings awareness to the importance of breath. Breathing becomes so automatic for most of us that we are unaware when we are breathing shallow, deep or somewhere in between unless we are faced with a breathing challenge. Taking in intentional breaths whenever we feel that we are getting wrapped up in the drama of the moment whether the drama seems to be on the inside as thoughts, head games, feelings and emotions, or a drama that appears to be on the outside in the happenings of the world around us, whenever we find ourselves getting caught up in the drama, simply allow the self to re-anchor in the awareness of the breath (conscious breathing) that is freeing, expansive, and infinite and supports our overall well-being.

Sit and know you're sitting

by Devin Berry | Mindful of body and sensations, ending with metta prayer

Affectionate Breathing

by Bill Brooks | The brief retreat is focused on appreciative breathing as a channel for touching self-compassion.

Antidotes to Ill Will And Cruelty

by Jennifer Stanley | Kabir, the 15th-century Indian saint and mystical poet said, "Lift the veil that obscures the heart, and there you will find what you are looking for.” Ill will and cruelty are veils that obstruct our view of reality. When we use mindfulness and meditation to increase our ability to see what is happening in the world, we begin to lift these veils and open our hearts to real freedom. This guided meditation emphasizes two practices that are considered antidotes to ill will and cruelty: good will and compassion. These practices include accountability for historical harms while also making it harder for future harms to occur.

Cultivating Balance and Healing Within and Without

by Hayat Bain | 12th century Sufi mystic and poet Jalaladdin Rumi said, “Life is a balance between holding on and letting go.” As we work with the Sufi Elemental Healing Breaths there is a balance between holding on and letting go in the rhythm of the breath. The purpose of this guided meditation is to bring balance and healing to the elements of our being and those of the being that is Gaia, taking in what serves that purpose and letting go of what doesn't. The breath practice is interwoven with an embodied practice of tuning into and working with the energy centers of the body. When we become balanced and healthy, we can be more loving and compassionate with ourselves and others, and we can BE the LOVE that we ARE as we do our racial and other healing work in the world.

Neti Neti (Not This, Not This)

by Venetia Bailey | This meditation is a very ancient practice and is about learning how to de-stress and find inner harmony and peace by peeling away all that we are not to get to the truth of our soul. Through the practice of knowing what we are not, we come into the true experience of what and who we really are, a pathway to self-realization. Meditation adapted from spiritual leader and humanitarian Sadhviji Bhagawati.

Rest

by Fran Sutton-Williams | Warriors in the anti-racism struggle take a needed break in a pool of scented water in a forest clearing...

Sensing our Values

by Angela Dickey | In this meditation we practice sensing what it feels like when we are bringing our values to the moment at hand.

A Brief Inner Exploration of Resilience, Resistance & Transformation

by Hayat Bain | Usual definitions of "resilience" suggest a springing back to the way we were. What if we don't want everything to return to "normal" within ourselves and our world? What does your reimagined self and world look like and what resistance or other obstacles do you need to become aware of and let go of in order to experience real transformation in the direction of your dreams?

Practice & Meditation for Emotional Regulation & Contacting Inner Strength

by Jennifer Stanley | If we are to work for racial justice and healing, we have to take care of ourselves so that we are strong enough for the struggles we encounter. Tending our emotional health is essential. Emotions and moods are information about our inner state. They can help us answer the question,“What do I need?” During challenging times it can be especially important to recognize the emotions we are feeling. By paying attention to our moods and emotions, we can learn about our tendencies and develop skillful ways to respond no matter the context.

Self-Compassion

by Lucia King | Allowing pain to become a presence and a light; a door into a deeper part of your authentic self

Strong Back, Soft Front

by Angela Dickey | This meditation is based on “Strong Back, Soft Front,” pp 14-16 in Being with Dying by Joan Halifax**

Loving Kindness

by Lynda Davis | for descendants of people who were enslaved and people who were enslavers

*With gratitude to, and inspiration from, Ruth King, Susal Stebbins Collins, Jason McGrice, and others.

**Based on “Strong Back, Soft Front,” pp 14-16 in Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death, by Joan Halifax (Shambala, 2008).

***Adapted from “Seven Color Spectrum Visual Aid” in Meditations for Tranquility: A Practical Guide to Spiritual First Aid by Suzanne Marbrook (facilitated by Angela Dickey)

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