Mindfulness Exercises, with Sean Fargo

We talk with Scott Berman, founder of Sky Cave Retreats, about what extended time in complete darkness actually does to the body and mind when distractions, orientation, and performance all fall away. 

Sky Cave Retreats: https://www.skycaveretreats.com/

We focus on nervous system safety, permission to feel what is here, and why the “right” darkness retreat is less about endurance and more about how you relate...

We guide a calm, focused meditation to envision a positive future and connect it to simple, repeatable actions. Breath, imagery, and gentle prompts help shift from analysis to embodied clarity you can carry into the rest of your day.

• settling the body and softening tension
• anchoring attention with natural breath
• asking what future feels deeply moving
• noticing feelings that arise with the vision
• identify...

We talk with Taoist meditation and qigong teacher Solala Tauler about returning to the source through simple practices that fit into real life. We explore how slowing down, sensing the body, and learning from nature can restore steadiness, vitality, and meaning.

Returning To The Source: https://www.amazon.com/Returning-Source-Meditations-Rediscovering-Everyday/dp/1645475085/

To learn more about Solala’s books, ...

We explore mindful hunger, silent monastic meal rituals, and how attention shifts taste, mood, and choice. Practical tools include raisin and chocolate meditations, body-based regulation, and tea practices that turn comfort into conscious care.

• setting a clear intention for mindful eating and drinking
• monastic meal rituals as training for presence
• discerning hunger, thirst, emotion and habit
• raisin and choco...

What if the fastest path to feeling rich is learning to see what’s already here? We take a clear, grounded look at abundance as a felt experience and show how mindful acknowledgment—not accumulation—shifts your baseline from scarcity to sufficiency. Guided by a simple quote and a handful of precise prompts, we map the places where real wealth hides: in relationships that show up, routines that steady you, spaces t...

We guide a short loving‑kindness meditation that begins with softening the body and ends with offering yourself the same care you give others. Simple phrases and steady breath help shift tension into goodwill you can feel.

• settling the body with relaxed, alert posture
• softening shoulders, easing belly, limiting visual input
• finding a natural breath rhythm
• visualising loved ones and wishing them happiness
...

We explore equanimity as a heart practice that meets vulnerability without armor and shifts our relationship to identity, praise and blame, and social media reactivity. We offer practical steps to steady the nervous system and act with clarity in an age of fear.

• identity as a source of reactivity and friction
• the worldly winds of gain, loss, praise, blame
• equanimity as undefended openness across traditions
• t...

We talk with mindfulness teacher and technologist Jay Vidyarthi about rebuilding a healthier relationship with attention in a world engineered for distraction and speed.

Jay's Book: Reclaim Your Mind

We move from tech burnout and Zoom fatigue to practical strategies that replace guilt with choice, including a guided practice that makes the “pull” of the phone impossible to unsee. 

• noticing f...

We explore equanimity as the art of falling, learning how to stay steady and open when life feels uncertain. We share how caring perspective helps us face world news, strong emotions, and personal hardship without losing our heart. 
• equanimity as surrender to change and uncertainty 
• staying caring without getting overwhelmed by current events 
• why few teachers teach equanimity and what depth requires&n...

We explore how to receive sights and sounds instead of chasing them, and why “looking through” loosens labels and brings clarity. We share practical ways to work with music, nature sounds, and eyes open or closed, and why silence can be the most healing teacher.

• moving from grasping to receiving sense experience
• looking at vs looking through and deconstructing perception
• working with labels and memori...

Someone joins your group meditation, the room goes quiet, and you realise not everyone is okay. What do you do next without panicking or making it worse? We talk through the real-world side of teaching mindfulness, where compassion is not a vibe, it’s a leadership skill you practice moment by moment. 

I share how I think about guiding as a teacher: less “expert with answers” and more “steady pers...

We guide a short mindfulness practice to help you feel and define what purposeful leadership means in your body and choices. Through grounding, breath, and gentle inquiry, we explore clarity, values, and the sensations that signal true alignment.

• settling posture, breath and attention
• letting questions land without forcing answers
• noticing images, emotions and bodily cues
• asking what matters most as a leader...

We explore how to meet anxiety, overwhelm, and dissociation with gentle presence instead of force. We focus on finding safety through sensory anchors, kind inquiry, and practical tools that help us return to the moment.
• navigating difficulty by building a safe harbor for awareness
• responding to dissociation with curiosity and questions about safety
• choosing anchors that feel safe enough: sound, breath, touch, move...

We guide a short mindfulness meditation that trains gentle awareness and helps us soften into the present moment. We breathe with the body, notice how the heart responds, and practise accepting sensations and emotions with quiet peace. 
• setting an intention to soften into now 
• breathing with the whole body as an anchor 
• noticing sensations as they change moment to moment 
• sensing how the hear...

You can’t breathe in the past or the future, and you can’t switch off thinking on command. That’s where Susan Piver brings a refreshing kind of relief to meditation practice, especially if you’ve ever judged yourself for having a busy mind. We talk about Shamatha Vipassana, the mindfulness awareness approach she teaches, and why the real skill is not perfect focus but the simple act of noticing and returning...

The loudest voice in your head might not be telling the truth. When the world feels more divided and more cruel, it gets easier to assume other people are bad and to quietly suspect the same about ourselves. 

I sit down with Buddhist teacher and author Lodro Rinzler to challenge that reflex with a grounded idea that’s both ancient and deeply practical: basic goodness. Not as a slogan, but as something you can recognise in...

We explore how to stay human amid fast tech change, from analog memories to AI worries, through the lens of community practice and elder wisdom. We share ADHD-friendly mindfulness tools, invite simple neighborhood circles, and reflect on courage, tenderness, and what really matters.

• analog upbringing shaping views on tech and empathy
• fear of online teaching balanced by lifelong practice
• starting small neighborhoo...

We lead a short morning practice that wakes the body, settles the mind, and sets calm strong focused intentions for the day. We imagine small joys, plan simple acts of care, and choose one mindful moment to meet life with warmth.

• slow nasal inhales with open posture
• body scan from feet to head as aliveness
• calm strong focused mantra as embodied cues
• envision small moments of joy and meaning
• name one way...

We guide a step-by-step gratitude meditation that moves from a single present sensation to unseen helpers, essential tools, a beloved person, today’s small blessing, and even a challenging moment reframed with care. The session closes by thanking the body, the mind, and the chance to pause.

• noticing one simple present sensation
• gratitude for unseen helpers in daily life
• honoring the tools and places that su...