Taming The Wandering Mind
Your mind drifts the moment you sit to breathe, and that’s not a problem to fix—it’s the raw material of practice. We unpack why a healthy brain loves to roam, how the default mode network fuels both distraction and creativity, and why chasing an empty mind sets you up for frustration. Instead of fighting thoughts, we show you how to work with them using a simple cycle: notice, note, and return. We walk through grounded metaphors that make mindfulness feel tangible: watching thoughts float p...
21 Nov 202516min
Mindful Creativity, Unlocked
Anne Cushman explores how mindfulness and creativity feed each other through guided practices, research insights, and lived stories. We trade perfection for presence, play with color and movement, and learn to follow the thread of aliveness into honest work. • opening space through breath and softening • honoring life as inherently creative • reconciling the teacher and the artist selves • lessons from Spirit Rock creativity retreats • research on focus, divergence and resilience • embodimen...
19 Nov 20251h 22min
McMindfulness, Money, and Meaning: Critiques of Today's Mindfulness Movement
We explore a nuanced look at mindfulness: its benefits, the ethics behind how it is taught, and the critiques around commercialization and depoliticisation. William Edelglass helps us test the line between personal practice and social change with clear questions, research, and examples. • Angela Davis’s question about mindfulness and injustice • critiques of commodification and the mindfulness industrial complex • instrumental use versus ethically grounded practice • popularity of apps, corp...
17 Nov 202522min
Principles For A Planet-Wide Wake-Up
The ground keeps moving, but our old habits try to pretend nothing has changed. In this mini episode, James Baraz talks honestly about what this moment is saying to us: we’re not separate, our choices echo, and we can learn to respond with more care than fear. James Baraz's website: https://www.awakeningjoy.info/ Starting with a simple practice—paying attention—we trace how mindfulness exposes the threads that bind our lives together, from family routines to global supply chains.&n...
15 Nov 20253min
Discipline That Feels Like Freedom
We explore mindful self-discipline as a blueprint for freedom, not a joyless grind. Through aspiration, awareness, and action, we show how to beat engineered distraction, strengthen willpower, and make steady progress without shame. https://mindfulnessexercises.com/podcast • self-discipline linked to higher happiness and smoother daily life • attention economy pressures and engineered distraction • definitions of self-discipline, willpower, habits, motivation • decision fatigue evidence and ...
13 Nov 202514min
How Acceptance Builds Safety and Deepens Your Mindfulness Practice
Former Buddhist monk and Mindfulness Exercises founder Sean Fargo explores what full acceptance really means in mindfulness and meditation—meeting fear, anxiety, judgment, and resistance with embodied awareness and self-compassion. Drawing on years of teaching across prisons, hospitals, classrooms, and companies, Sean translates Buddhist psychology, trauma-sensitive mindfulness, and practical nervous system regulation into simple moves you can use today—without turning practice into performan...
10 Nov 20251h 20min
From Imposter to Impact: 8 Keys to Teaching Mindfulness
Former Buddhist monk and Mindfulness Exercises founder Sean Fargo lays out a clear, compassionate roadmap for teaching mindfulness and meditation — with confidence, credibility, and heart. Drawing from his journey (from cloistered practice to prisons, clinics, classrooms, and companies), Sean distills what actually works so you can help others be more present, resilient, and self‑compassionate—without overcomplicating the practice. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why compassion is the foundati...
4 Nov 20251h 44min
The Hidden Truth I Learned as a Monk About Teaching Mindfulness
When I first started teaching mindfulness, I thought I had to sound wise, calm, and enlightened — like a “real” teacher. But one unexpected moment — in a tiny community room in Berkeley — changed everything I thought I knew about guiding others in mindfulness. In this episode, I share the hidden truth I discovered after years living as a Buddhist monk in Thailand and training more than 30,000 mindfulness teachers around the world:that teaching mindfulness is actually much simpler than most of...
31 Okt 202510min
