Mindfulness Meditation
Paying attention to our present moment experiences with openness and curiosity and a willingness to be with what is.
Smartphone Apps
You can also download an app for your phone - Calm is my favorite but Headspace is also very popular - both have a free 7 day course and with a subscription you get more variety. Insight Timer is a great app once your familiar with mindfulness meditation. Most meditations are free but there are more features with a paid subscription.
Calm
​
Calm combines rich features and a large library of guided meditations with a simple, clean interface. Guided meditations range in length from 3 to 25 minutes, so you can always find a meditation to fit your schedule. Like other subscription-based apps, Calm provides a basic course in meditation for FREE, with more advanced meditations requiring a subscription starting at $9.99 per month.
HeadSpace
​
Like Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, Headspace teaches less spiritual, more science-based meditation techniques, beginning with a FREE introductory course. You purchase a subscription to gain access to additional courses, as well as guided meditations. Headspace includes mood tracking features as well, and you can download guided meditations for offline use. A Headspace subscription is $12.99 per month, or $94.99 for a year.
Insight Timer
To maximize your options, Insight Timer is a popular choice. It features 3,000 FREE guided meditations as well as several hundred free music tracks to play while you’re meditating. You can also use a variety of timer options, such as those found in Equanimity and Bodhi Timer. It has a wealth of free content, including guided meditations for sleep, although there are upgrades that require a purchase. If you don’t value music or voice guidance, this app is likely to be overkill for you.
Websites and Resources
Once you feel more comfortable and if you find mindfulness meditation helpful you can visit one of the following websites. UCLA’s mindfulness podcast have a lot of meditation talks which are about 30 minutes each - you can stream them or download them for offline use. I really really like this site. The Tibetan singing bowl meditations are especially nice.
UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC)
​
For an introduction to mindfulness meditation that you can practice on your own, stream or download the guided meditations by following this link. Meditations recorded by UCLA MARC's Director of Mindfulness Education, Diana Winston.
UCLA Mindful Awareness Podcasts - 30 minute talks
​
Every Thursday at 12:30pm, MARC holds a free, drop-in, 30-minute guided meditation session at UCLA's Hammer Museum. You can download or stream* these podcasts here.
Each week has a different theme and usually includes introductory comments, guided meditation, silent practice time, and closing comments. Each also offers a new daily life practice for the week. Sessions are led by Diana Winston, Director of Mindfulness Education at MARC, and by guest leaders.
​
FREE Online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program
​
This online MBSR training course is 100% free, created by a fully certified MBSR instructor, and is modeled on the program founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Tara Brach
Meditation teacher, author, and clinical psychologist: Tara Brach has practiced and taught meditation for over 40 years, with an emphasis on vipassana (mindfulness or insight) meditation. Tara is the senior teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. A clinical psychologist, Tara is the author of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha and True Refuge: Finding Peace & Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart. Her podcasts are downloaded over 1 million times a month.
Research and Education
Once you feel more comfortable and if you find mindfulness meditation helpful you can visit one of the following websites. UCLA’s mindfulness podcast have a lot of meditation talks which are about 30 minutes each - you can stream them or download them for offline use. I really really like this site. The Tibetan singing bowl meditations are especially nice.
UCLA Mindful Awareness Podcasts - 30 minute talks
​
Every Thursday at 12:30pm, MARC holds a free, drop-in, 30-minute guided meditation session at UCLA's Hammer Museum. You can download or stream* these podcasts here.
Each week has a different theme and usually includes introductory comments, guided meditation, silent practice time, and closing comments. Each also offers a new daily life practice for the week. Sessions are led by Diana Winston, Director of Mindfulness Education at MARC, and by guest leaders.
​
FREE Online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program
​
This online MBSR training course is 100% free, created by a fully certified MBSR instructor, and is modeled on the program founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Tara Brach
Meditation teacher, author, and clinical psychologist: Tara Brach has practiced and taught meditation for over 40 years, with an emphasis on vipassana (mindfulness or insight) meditation. Tara is the senior teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. A clinical psychologist, Tara is the author of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha and True Refuge: Finding Peace & Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart. Her podcasts are downloaded over 1 million times a month.
UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC)
​
For an introduction to mindfulness meditation that you can practice on your own, stream or download the guided meditations by following this link. Meditations recorded by UCLA MARC's Director of Mindfulness Education, Diana Winston.