Michelle Maldonado on Mindful Leadership in a Divided World
This episode is sponsored by our Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification. Register today for 80% off at https://mindfulnessexercises.com/certify/ In this episode of the Mindfulness Exercises Podcast, Sean Fargo speaks with Michelle Maldonado—founder of Lucenscia, leadership coach, Virginia state legislator, and author of The Conscious Mind. Michelle’s path from the corporate world to public service was shaped by a deep desire to bring compassion, clarity, and trauma-awareness into systems that often overlook them. Learning breath awareness as a child to help manage fear and anxiety, she would bring those same tools to her son, helping him navigate stress and emotional overwhelm with presence and compassion and into a political system often driven by reactivity and disconnection. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✔ How Michelle first learned mindfulness as a child—and how it shaped her early emotional awareness✔ Practical ways she’s taught mindfulness to her son (and how to help children regulate stress with breath)✔ Why she entered politics—and how mindfulness helps her stay grounded while legislating✔ How to spot signs of reactivity in your own body and choose how to respond✔ Why trauma-informed mindfulness is essential for leadership, parenting, and teaching✔ The difference between bypassing discomfort vs. holding it with care✔ How to create psychologically safe spaces at home, at work, and in communities✔ What it looks like to lead from wholeness in real-world, high-stress environments Connect with Michelle: 🔗 Website: https://www.lucenscia.com/ 🏢 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellelmaldonado/ 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelle4va Enjoyed this episode? ⭐ Leave us a review and share how mindfulness enhances your personal or professional practice! 🔗 Join our community to connect with other mindfulness professionals: Mindfulness Exercises Website: mindfulnessexercises.com Connect Community for Mindfulness Teachers: mindfulnessexercises.com/connect-mindfulness-community Instagram: @Mindfulness.Exercises LinkedIn: Mindfulness Exercises Facebook: Exercising Mindfulness 🎧 Explore more guided meditations and mindfulness resources at Mindfulness Exercises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20 Kesä 47min
Breath as Medicine: Anthony Abbagnano on Healing Through the Breath
Discover how conscious connected breathing can guide us from trauma to presence, from chaos to calm. In this episode of the Mindfulness Exercises Podcast, Sean Fargo sits down with Anthony Abbagnano—visionary breathwork pioneer, founder of Alchemy of Breath, and author of the upcoming book Outer Chaos, Inner Calm. Together, they explore the profound potential of conscious, connected breathwork to support healing, trauma integration, self-awareness, and spiritual growth. Anthony shares his remarkable journey—from a painful childhood experience in a British boarding school to becoming a global leader in trauma-informed breathwork. Through moving stories, practical insights, and embodied wisdom, Anthony offers a compelling case for why the breath may be the most accessible and transformative tool we have. This is an inspiring conversation for anyone curious about how breath can be used not just to calm the nervous system, but to catalyze deep emotional and spiritual shifts. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✔ What conscious, connected breath really means and why it’s different from other breathwork✔ How early trauma shaped Anthony’s path to healing through breath✔ The role of breath in navigating grief, anxiety, disconnection, and spiritual reconnection ✔ How breath becomes a mirror and a bridge for the parts of us we forget ✔ Why breathwork can sometimes accelerate healing faster than talk therapy✔ How Anthony trains facilitators through Alchemy of Breath to hold space with depth and integrity Connect with Anthony Abbagnano: 🔗 Website: https://alchemyofbreath.com/ 📘 His New Book: https://alchemyofbreath.com/outer-chaos-inner-calm/ 📦 Media Kit: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/jcirdmjuj8neqxuuhn0tg/ANCqVbDwuO0wzVCPNFccnNA?rlkey=ogggp1j5px8t4r0vv05pyshxd&e=2&st=h8u5iif3&dl=0 📱 Instagram: @alchemyofbreath Enjoyed this episode? ⭐ Leave us a review and share how mindfulness enhances your personal or professional practice! 🔗 Join our community to connect with other mindfulness professionals: Mindfulness Exercises Website: mindfulnessexercises.com Connect Community for Mindfulness Teachers: mindfulnessexercises.com/connect-mindfulness-community Instagram: @Mindfulness.Exercises LinkedIn: Mindfulness Exercises Facebook: Exercising Mindfulness 🎧 Explore more guided meditations and mindfulness resources at Mindfulness Exercises. In this heart-centered conversation, Sean Fargo speaks with visionary breathwork teacher Anthony Abbagnano—founder of Alchemy of Breath and ASHA retreat center in Italy. Together they explore how breath connects us to our past, our presence, and the power to transform suffering into resilience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
13 Kesä 1h 10min
Dr. Judson Brewer on Using Mindfulness to Break Bad Habits for Good
This episode is sponsored by our Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification. Register today for 80% off at https://mindfulnessexercises.com/certify/ In this episode of the Mindfulness Exercises Podcast, Sean Fargo sits down with Dr. Judson Brewer—New York Times bestselling author, neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and Director of Research at Brown University's Mindfulness Center. Widely known as “Dr. Jud,” he’s one of the most influential voices in the science of mindfulness-based habit change and anxiety relief. Together, they explore the personal and clinical applications of mindfulness, from Dr. Judd’s early struggles with stress and his first meditation retreat, to groundbreaking research on how informal mindfulness practices can help break cycles of addiction and anxiety. With warmth and insight, Dr. Judd shares real stories from his patients and how practices like breath awareness, RAIN, and noting can rewire the brain toward greater ease and self-regulation. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✔ The role of informal vs. formal meditation in healing addiction and anxiety ✔ Why “short moments, many times” is more effective than long, infrequent practice ✔ How noting practice interrupts cravings and fosters non-identification ✔ The neuroscience behind habit loops and mindfulness-based behavior change ✔ Ways to bring mindfulness into clinical, secular, and real-life settings Dr. Judd brings both scientific rigor and compassionate wisdom to this conversation, making it a must-listen for mindfulness teachers, healthcare professionals, and anyone who wants to understand how mindfulness rewires the brain for freedom. 🌿 Tune in for an inspiring journey from stress and skepticism to clarity and change. Connect with Dr. Judson Brewer: 🔗 Website: drjud.com 📘 Books: Unwinding Anxiety, The Craving Mind, The Hunger Habit 🎥 TED Talk: A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit 📱 Instagram: @dr.jud Enjoyed this episode? ⭐ Leave us a review and share how mindfulness enhances your personal or professional practice! 🔗 Join our community to connect with other mindfulness professionals: Mindfulness Exercises Website: mindfulnessexercises.com Connect Community for Mindfulness Teachers: mindfulnessexercises.com/connect-mindfulness-community Instagram: @Mindfulness.Exercises LinkedIn: Mindfulness Exercises Facebook: Exercising Mindfulness 🎧 Explore more guided meditations and mindfulness resources at Mindfulness Exercises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
6 Kesä 42min
Sophie Chiche on How to Do More of What Matters
This episode is sponsored by our Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification. Register today for 80% off at https://mindfulnessexercises.com/certify/ In this episode of the Mindfulness Exercises Podcast, Sean Fargo sits down with Sophie Chiche—life strategist, therapist, author, TEDx speaker, and founder of several impactful ventures dedicated to helping people live with more purpose and play. Sophie shares her path from trading pencils in the sandbox as a child to building multi-million dollar businesses and facilitating sessions alongside global icons like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. With humor and raw honesty, she dives into what it really means to do “more of what matters” in a world filled with distraction and pressure. Sean and Sophie explore how mindfulness intersects with accountability, creativity, and emotional awareness and why giving yourself permission to rest is more than just a luxury. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✔ Why doing “more of what matters” requires inner alignment, not just better productivity ✔ How mindfulness supports radical personal accountability ✔ The difference between “mental health” and true inner freedom ✔ What it means to show up in the world as your whole self ✔ How play and joy can be integrated into meaningful work Sophie brings fierce intelligence and lighthearted wisdom to this conversation, reminding us that the deepest healing often begins with being radically honest with ourselves, and each other. 🌿 Tune in for a refreshing take on presence, purpose, and play. Connect with Sophie: Website - sophiechiche.com Podcast - beplaylove.com LinkedIn - Sophie Chiche Instagram - @sophiechiche Media kit Enjoyed this episode? ⭐ Leave us a review and share how mindfulness enhances your personal or professional practice! 🔗 Join our community to connect with other mindfulness professionals: Mindfulness Exercises Website: mindfulnessexercises.com Connect Community for Mindfulness Teachers: mindfulnessexercises.com/connect-mindfulness-community Instagram: @Mindfulness.Exercises LinkedIn: Mindfulness Exercises Facebook: Mindfulness Exercises 🎧 Explore more guided meditations and mindfulness resources at Mindfulness Exercises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
31 Touko 53min
A Deep Dive into the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: The Buddha's Teachings on Mindfulness
This episode is sponsored by our Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification. Register today for 80% off at https://mindfulnessexercises.com/certify/ A deep dive into one of the most essential Buddhist texts on mindfulness—The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, often referred to as The Direct Path to Realization. This episode's guest hosts explore its foundational teachings as presented in Venerable Anālayo’s book, offering a clear, contemporary lens through which mindfulness teachers and practitioners can engage with this timeless wisdom. You will be guided through the Four Foundations of Mindfulness—contemplation of the body, feelings, mind, and dharmas—with a strong emphasis on direct experience over intellectual understanding. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✔ A clear breakdown of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness ✔ How to contemplate the body through breath, posture, and impermanence ✔ What it means to observe feeling tone, mental states, and dharmas with non-reactivity ✔ The role of diligence, clear knowing (sampajañña), and mindfulness (sati) ✔ How these teachings support inner stability and confidence in guiding others ✔ Why direct experience, not theory, is the foundation of authentic mindfulness teaching This episode is especially helpful for mindfulness and meditation teachers, as well as committed practitioners looking to root their practice in traditional teachings while maintaining relevance in today’s world. 🌿 Explore how the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta can serve as a living guide for your own journey—and your teaching path. Enjoyed this episode? ⭐ Leave us a review and share how mindfulness enhances your personal or professional practice! 🔗 Join our community to connect with other mindfulness professionals: Mindfulness Exercises Website: mindfulnessexercises.com Connect Community for Mindfulness Teachers: mindfulnessexercises.com/connect-mindfulness-community Instagram: @Mindfulness.Exercises LinkedIn: Mindfulness Exercises Facebook: Exercising Mindfulness 🎧 Explore more guided meditations and mindfulness resources at Mindfulness Exercises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
27 Touko 17min
Leon Logothetis on His Epic Journey To Freedom Documented on Netflix & Amazon Prime
This episode is sponsored by our Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification. Register today for 80% off at https://mindfulnessexercises.com/certify/ In this episode of the Mindfulness Exercises Podcast, Sean Fargo sits down with global adventurer, bestselling author, and filmmaker Leon Logothetis—widely known as The Kindness Guy. You may know Leon from his hit shows The Kindness Diaries (on Discovery+ and Roku) or his new documentary The Kindness Within: A Journey to Freedom (now on Amazon Prime). But before inspiring millions, Leon was a finance professional living with deep depression and disconnection. He shares the raw and powerful story of how a movie, a motorcycle, and a radical choice to live from the heart led him on an around-the-world journey—relying solely on the kindness of strangers. This is more than an interview. It’s a personal update and spiritual reflection on what it means to be seen, to keep walking through pain, and to live in service to love. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✔ Why Leon walked away from a high-paying career to pursue kindness ✔ How deep pain led to a life-changing global journey ✔ What it means to “burn your ships” and surrender to the unknown ✔ The spiritual awakening that came from a sunset in Nepal ✔ How vulnerability, therapy, and tiny moments can shift your life ✔ The emotional power behind The Kindness Within documentary ✔ Simple daily practices Leon uses to reconnect with self and spirit ✔ Why your scars are not your shame—they are your story Leon’s story is an inspiring reminder that we all have a choice: to live from fear, or to live from love. His path through darkness, and the strangers who helped him along the way, show us that there is always another way to live—one that begins within. 🌿 Stream The Kindness Within on Amazon Prime. 🌐 Learn more at: leonlogothetis.com Enjoyed this episode? ⭐ Leave us a review and share how mindfulness enhances your personal or professional practice! 🔗 Join our community to connect with other mindfulness professionals: Mindfulness Exercises Website: mindfulnessexercises.com Connect Community for Mindfulness Teachers: mindfulnessexercises.com/connect-mindfulness-community Instagram: @Mindfulness.Exercises LinkedIn: Mindfulness Exercises Facebook: Exercising Mindfulness 🎧 Explore more guided meditations and mindfulness resources at Mindfulness Exercises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
23 Touko 44min
A Personal Update from Sean Fargo on Self-Love, Purpose, and Conscious Breathing
This episode is sponsored by our Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification. Register today for 80% off at https://mindfulnessexercises.com/certify/ In this deeply personal solo episode of the Mindfulness Exercises Podcast, Sean Fargo, founder of Mindfulness Exercises and former Buddhist monk, shares a vulnerable update on his own mindfulness journey. Set against the quiet backdrop of a rainy day in Berkeley, Sean opens up about his recent conversations with Sophie McLean and Anthony Abbagnano—two teachers whose work has helped him reconnect to the power of self-love, purpose, and conscious connected breathing. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✔ How self-love and purpose are intertwined in the mindfulness path ✔ The role of conscious, connected breathing in healing and transformation ✔ Why even experienced teachers still wrestle with imposter syndrome ✔ A gentle practice to work with your past and envision your future This episode is an invitation to pause, breathe, and reconnect with the deeper “why” behind your practice. Whether you’re a seasoned mindfulness teacher or simply finding your footing, Sean’s reflections offer a spacious reminder that self-love is not a luxury—it’s the foundation. Liked this episode? ⭐ Leave us a review and share how mindfulness enhances your professional practice! 🔗 Join our community to connect with other mindfulness professionals: Mindfulness Exercises Website: http://mindfulnessexercises.com/ Connect Community for Mindfulness Teachers: https://mindfulnessexercises.com/connect-mindfulness-community/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Mindfulness.Exercises/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindfulness-exercises/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/exercising.mindfulness 🎧 Explore more guided meditations and mindfulness resources at Mindfulness Exercises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
21 Touko 30min
Tending to the Body, A Guided Meditation with Sean Fargo
This episode is sponsored by our Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification. Register today for 80% off at https://mindfulnessexercises.com/certify/ The body is our home. It carries us through our days and nights, collecting information along the way. Our bodies tell the story of past pleasure and pain, and hold the energy of our thoughts and emotions. Offering our bodies our tender, caring presence can help make this home a more comfortable place. In this guided meditation with Sean Fargo, we’re invited to stand, sit or lie down with the body, to explore the sensation that is present and offer it our supportive, loving attention. We do so not to reach a specific end goal, but simply to practice accepting and being with what is here. Please listen in a safe, quiet place where you can be relatively free from distraction. Find a posture that balances comfort with alertness. May this meditation be of benefit to you in your mindfulness journey. Enjoyed this meditation? ⭐ Leave us a review and share how mindfulness enhances your professional practice! 🔗 Join our community to connect with other mindfulness professionals: Mindfulness Exercises Website: http://mindfulnessexercises.com/ Connect Community for Mindfulness Teachers: https://mindfulnessexercises.com/connect-mindfulness-community/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Mindfulness.Exercises/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindfulness-exercises/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/exercising.mindfulness 🎧 Explore more guided meditations and mindfulness resources at Mindfulness Exercises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
16 Touko 22min
