A gentle, brain-based meditation for cultivating steady presence—helping you stay grounded in awareness, anchored in the breath and heart, and less carried away by passing thoughts and feelings.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-compassionate-action-for-upstream-sources-of-suffering/

When the mind is restless, leaning into the future or caught in subtle striving, it can feel like something is always missing. In this meditation, we gently come home to the breath and the body, letting go of effort, settling into a growing sense of enough-ness, and discovering a peaceful, spacious way of simply being—right here, already complete.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-wise-and-courageous-compassion-for-others-and-yourself/

In this meditation, you’re invited to gently settle your attention into feelings of peace and open-heartedness. As the mind grows more concentrated, these qualities can gradually expand, pervading the body and filling awareness with a quiet sense of ease. Resting in this open, peaceful presence, you allow calm and warmth to deepen naturally.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-the-personal-benefits-of-empathy-for-them/

A gentle meditation inviting you to rest in the heart, soften into trust, and practice letting go into the natural flow of experience.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-exploring-radical-helplessness-radical-trust-and-radical-acceptance/

When life pulls you in many directions, it’s easy to stay tense or distracted, never quite at ease in your own being. This meditation invites you to settle where you are, release what’s not needed, and rest your attention on something steady—like the breath, a kind feeling, or simple presence itself. As you soften and widen awareness, the sense of separateness begins to dissolve, revealing a peaceful wholeness where all parts of you—and the world around you—move together in harmony.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/meditation-talk-you-are-whole-and-complete-and-there-is-nothing-to-add/

This meditation is a journey from the "trance of knowing"—that tight, anxious habit of trying to figure everything out—into the liberating space of presence.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/meditation-talk-what-matters-and-what-doesnt-2/

When you’ve been bracing against stress, holding tension in your body, or feeling like you always have to stay on guard, it can be hard to truly relax or feel safe inside yourself. This meditation helps you gently lower your defenses by recognizing that you’re okay in this moment, softening the body, and allowing the mind to settle into a sense of openness and ease. As you rest in spacious awareness, you may discover a quiet peacefulness—and even a natural sense of warmth and lovingness—that was there all along.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-accepting-your-vulnerabilities-including-from-early-childhood/

Many of us move through our days with a background sense of tension—bracing against uncertainty, aging, illness, or what might be coming next. This guided meditation offers a chance to pause that effort. You’re invited to settle into stillness, sense the quiet beneath mental activity, and recognize moments of peace and contentment that are already present. As the mind softens, identity can gently loosen—from being caught in worries and stories to resting as spaciousness, stillness, and simple being.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-welcoming-the-messengers-of-aging-illness-death-and-awakening/