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The present moment is a gift

Mindfulness meditations for beginners


We invite you to listen to the following free mindfulness meditation audio.  The aim is to train your mind to reduce stress, ease struggles,  manage difficult emotions, as well as to increase resilience, well-being, peace and happiness. The following mindfulness meditation practices have been known to facilitate sleep, reduce anxiety, depression, pain and other health issues as well as promote better relationships with ourselves and others. The meditations are inspired by the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, Tara Brach, Elisha Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Mark Williams, Paul Gilbert, Kristin Neff, Thich Nhat Hanh, Chris Germer and others. 

Please Note: These meditations are psycho-educational and are not intended to replace therapy. Always seek the advice of a doctor or psychologist for any questions you may have regarding your own specific medical or mental health condition.  If emotional difficulties arise while listening to these meditations, please consult urgently a psychologist or other qualified health care professionals. Meditations has many benefits but it is not for everyone. 

Warning: please do not listen to the following audio while you are driving or operating machinery.

You can download the mp3 audio if you wish for your own personal use.

All the meditations are presented by Marie Bloomfield
 

1. Complete calming belly breathing (17 min)

In this guided relaxation exercise we stay longer with the practice of abdominal/diaphragm breathing to promote a deeper relaxation response.

2. Calming Belly Breathing (9 min)

In this short calming belly breathing practice we are introducing the abdominal or diaphragm breathing as a way of turning off stress to promote calm.

3. A "Quick Mindful Pause" (3 min)

This quick informal mindfulness exercise help us to become more aware and opt out of being on auto-pilot.

4. Three steps mindful breathing space (6 min)

This is a short three steps mindfulness breathing practice to be more present and conscious similar to the one used by the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy to let go of ruminations and unhelpful ways of thinking.

5. The Mini Mindfulness Practice (5min)

This is a mini mindfulness practice, where we take the time to be aware in a friendly way of our breath, body sensations, feelings and thoughts.

6. Soft Landing Meditation (7min)

In this short meditation we pause, to be present, to be aware of what is here now and to bring kindness to care for ourselves.

7. Mindful STOP Meditation (11min)

In this guided mindfulness meditation we present the STOP practice in 3 ways: first to step out of auto-pilot to gain perceptive, second to explore in hindsight skilful ways of responding and thirdly as a way to take in the good to promote positive emotions for better self-care and wellbeing.

8. Progressive Muscular Relaxation Exercise (16min)

8. Progressive Muscular Relaxation Exercise (16min) The Progressive Muscular Relaxation Exercise is a powerful relaxation exercise, well-known for reducing overall muscular tension and stress level.

9. Complete Mindfulness Meditation (32min)

This is a complete mindfulness meditation which includes breath awareness and body scan.

10. Body Scan (19 min)

The body scan is a classic mindfulness meditation, where we are inviting you to simply notice with kindness and curiosity different parts of your body to promote awareness and calm.

11. Breath awareness (12min)

Breath awareness deceptively simple, yet a profound practice to restore balance of body and mind as well as increase our ability to concentrate and focus.

12. Labelling thoughts, emotions and physical sensations (12 min)

The labelling mindfulness meditation enables you to observe your thoughts, emotions and physical sensations as a way to step back from them, to create a space as the observer, to gain detachment and perspectives.

13. Mindful Walking (14 min)

This guided mindful walking meditation promotes awareness and calm. The aim is to use the movement of walking to cultivate mindfulness and wakeful presence.

14. Mindful walking and labelling (13 min)

In this guided meditation we combine mindful walking with labelling. Here our wandering mind is welcome and is used to promote more mindfulness.

15. Mindfulness of Sounds (14 min)

This guided mindfulness meditation is another way to be present and to observe our surrounding in an accepting and non-judgmental way.

16. RAIN for difficult emotions (15 min)

This guided meditation aim to assist us to deal with difficult emotions by using 4 steps: recognizing, allowing, investigating and non-attachment while caring for ourselves.

17. Just like me (17 min)

This guided meditation aims to promote feelings of connection, understanding and tolerance with one another by reminding ourselves of our similarities rather than our differences.

18. Befriending ourselves and others (22 min)

In this guided meditation practice you are inviting you to cultivate friendship towards yourself and others to promote harmony in the heart and mind. Your most important relationship is with yourself!

19. Loving kindness for other and ourselves (20 min)

This guided meditation invite you to cultivate positive intentions by expressing good wishes for yourselves and a variety of people involved in your life such as a loved one, a neutral person, a difficult person and to everyone else.

20. Loving kindness for other and ourselves (13 min)

This is an abbreviated loving kindness meditation. If you are new to loving-kindness meditation please listen first to the previous 20-minute version.

21. Bubble Meditation (12 min)

In this “bubble” meditation the thoughts become the focus of our attention. But rather than engaging with them as we usually do, we practice noticing them and then letting them go, stepping out of thoughts!

22. Visualisation of mind like sky (14min)

In this guided visualisation inspired by Jack Kornfield, we imagine our mind expanding to become as large as the sky, allowing us to contain the clouds and yet not to be defined by them.

23. Friendly compassionate colour meditation (16 min)

This guided meditation was first presented by Paul Gilbert in the compassion mind training and Compassion focused therapy programs.

24. Easing Difficulties with a friendly help (18 min)

This guided meditation presents two ways of easing difficult emotions: labelling and the visualisation of a good wise friend to support us.

25. The mountain meditation (16 min)

This meditation was first introduced by Jon Kabat Zinn to develop a sense of equanimity. So like a mountain, despite the storms, we can steady our mind, knowing that all things pass.

26. Meeting your Future Best Compassionate Self (23min)

In this guided visualisation, you are invited to open to possible future options to reach out to your future self for support, comfort and wisdom.