Mindfulness Exercises, with Sean Fargo
Self-Improvement
About
Mindfulness and meditation for everyday life — and for the people who teach it. Expect grounded guided meditations, evidence‑informed tools, and candid conversations with leading voices in the field. Hosted by Sean Fargo — former Buddhist monk, founder of MindfulnessExercises.com , and a certified Search Inside Yourself instructor—each episode blends compassion, clarity, and real‑world application for practitioners, therapists, coaches, educators, and wellness professionals. What you’ll find: • Guided practices: breath awareness, body scans, self‑compassion, sleep, and nervous‑system regulation • Teacher tools: trauma‑sensitive language, sequencing, and ethical foundations for safe, inclusive mindfulness • Expert interviews with renowned teachers and researchers (e.g., Sharon Salzberg, Gabor Maté, Byron Katie, Rick Hanson, Ellen Langer, Judson Brewer) • Clear takeaways you can use today—in sessions, classrooms, workplaces, and at home Updated 2-3x weekly. Follow the show, try this week’s practice, and share one insight in a review to help others discover the podcast. Explore more resources and training at MindfulnessExercises.com and the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification .
Episodes
- How To Lead A Group Meditation With Safety And Choice
This episode discusses leading group meditations with safety and choice. It covers practical approaches to trauma-sensitive mindfulness, supporting participants, and effectively managing situations where individuals may experience discomfo…
- How To Lead With Purpose When It Matters Most
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises with Sean Fargo focuses on purposeful leadership. It offers a short mindfulness practice to help listeners explore and define what purposeful leadership means in their body and choices, through groundi…
- Grounding Through Anxiety With Senses
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises explores meeting anxiety and dissociation with gentle presence, focusing on sensory anchors like sound and breath, and practical tools for returning to the moment. It discusses navigating difficulty, r…
- A Guided Mindfulness Meditation For Softening Into Now
This episode features a guided mindfulness meditation designed to cultivate gentle awareness and acceptance of present moment experiences, including sensations and emotions. The meditation uses body breathing as an anchor and offers techni…
- Shamatha Vipassana Explained For Modern Minds
This episode explains Shamatha Vipassana, a mindfulness approach taught by Susan Piver, emphasizing the skill of noticing and returning attention rather than achieving perfect focus. The conversation covers practical aspects of mindfulness…
- How To Stop Believing You Are Not Enough
This episode discusses challenging the feeling of "not enoughness" by recognizing basic goodness, using mindfulness and meditation practices to observe thoughts and reduce self-judgment, and exploring how acceptance can lead to skillful ac…
- Staying Human In A Digital Age
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises discusses how to remain human in a rapidly changing digital world, touching on topics like analog memories, AI concerns, community building, and mindfulness techniques suitable for ADHD.
- Breath, Intention, And A Warmer Morning
This episode guides listeners through a short morning mindfulness practice designed to awaken the body, calm the mind, and set focused intentions for the day using techniques like breathwork, body scans, and mindful reflection.
- Simple Moments, Deep Gratitude
In this episode of Mindfulness Exercises with Sean Fargo, listeners are guided through a step-by-step gratitude meditation. The session covers practices such as noticing present sensations, appreciating unseen helpers, reflecting on daily…
- You Are Good. You Are Enough. My Interview with Lodro Rinzler
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises features an interview with Lodro Rinzler about his book "You Are Good. You Are Enough." They discuss Buddhist teachings on basic goodness, meditation tools for shame and self-doubt, and navigating self…
- Loving Kindness, Made Simple
This episode features a guided loving kindness meditation led by Sean Fargo, starting with grounding and breathwork, then extending goodwill from self to all beings. It emphasizes practical application and gentle consistency in mindfulness…
- Joy Anyway, with Jan Hoath
Sean Fargo and leadership coach Jan Hoath discuss the nature of joy as a steady state, differentiating it from happiness. They cover practical mindfulness techniques, resilience-building strategies inspired by personal experiences, and the…
- Mindfulness vs. Awareness - with Susan Piver
Sean Fargo and Susan Piver discuss the distinctions between mindfulness as attention training and awareness as insight. They explore how meditation affects the heart and mind, offering simpler techniques and a more realistic view of practi…
- A Guided Journey Into Compassion And Calm
This episode guides listeners through a loving kindness meditation, beginning with body relaxation and breath work. It uses simple phrases to foster self-kindness, then expands wishes of well-being to others, ultimately aiming to cultivate…
- Mindful Movement, Somatic Presence, And Compassionate Practice
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises discusses mindful movement, somatic awareness, and compassionate practice, challenging the 'statue myth' in meditation. It offers a slow, heart-forward approach to loving-kindness and practical techniq…
- Turning Restless Thoughts Into Restful Breath
This episode guides listeners through a mindful gratitude ritual designed to address sleeplessness caused by restless thoughts. It explains common culprits of bedtime worry and offers a practical, specific gratitude exercise paired with br…
- Gratitude Beyond Words
This episode explores the practice of feeling and expressing gratitude beyond verbal communication. Listeners are guided through meditation and prompts focused on how non-verbal actions and heartfelt appreciation can deepen love and trust.
- Kindness Begins With A Breath
This guided meditation, "Kindness Begins With A Breath," from Mindfulness Exercises with Sean Fargo, focuses on expanding compassion. It begins with self-kindness using phrases like "may I be well" and progresses to extending care to loved…
- Experience of Gratitude
This episode features a guided gratitude meditation focusing on body awareness, health, relationships, finances, and safety. It concludes by addressing mixed emotions and promoting nonjudgmental awareness to foster gratitude.
- Why Calm Doesn’t Mean Boring (And How Your Passion Can Stay)
This episode redefines equanimity, explaining how it can hold intensity without reducing passion. It discusses Vedana, the feeling tone of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral sensations, as a direct path to balance, emotional recovery, and a…
- The Freedom Of Letting Go Of Rescue
This episode explores equanimity as open-handed love for parents and caregivers, focusing on moving from control to clear, steady presence. It covers boundary-setting phrases, vulnerability, and tools for compassionate self-care to prevent…
- A Guided Practice To Feel Grateful In Ordinary Moments
This episode features a guided gratitude practice focusing on appreciating simple details, everyday helpers, and the breath. It aims to help listeners feel more grounded, connected, and present by shifting their mindset from scarcity to su…
- Following The Lights That Make You Shine
This episode guides listeners through a meditation based on Howard Thurman's idea of identifying what makes you come alive. It uses reflective questions and a poem to help find and apply energizing patterns to daily life.
- Mindfulness Of Death Helps You Live More Fully
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises with Sean Fargo discusses mindfulness of death, a practice using breath awareness to focus on what truly matters. It covers practical applications, safety considerations, and how to integrate this pers…
- Softening & Steering (A Guided Meditation)
This guided meditation, part of the Mindfulness Exercises podcast, helps listeners soften bodily tension and resistance. It then guides attention toward personal values and aspirations, fostering a kinder presence through mindful awareness…
- Mindful Grief
This episode discusses mindful grief, reframing sadness as a natural energy. It covers how grief moves through the body, practices for emotional acceptance, and ways to support grieving individuals, emphasizing truth and care over 'getting…
- How Self-Compassion Softens Meditation Resistance And Fear
This episode covers using self-compassion to address meditation resistance and fear. It offers practical guidance on helping clients feel safe during mindfulness practices and managing feelings of apprehension.
- Overnight Meditation, Self-Compassion, And The Honest Work Of Letting Go
This episode details an overnight meditation experience that led to insights on pain, compassion, and balance. It covers techniques for managing physical discomfort, mindful eating, and using relaxation methods for ease, all within the con…
- Resting With Breath: A Guided Practice For Gentle Presence
This guided meditation from Mindfulness Exercises focuses on gentle presence using breath, body, and emotion as anchors. It explores how awareness can help manage chaos, restore balance, and connect to values, incorporating practices like…
- 'Just Like Me' Meditation (one of my personal favorites)
This episode features a guided "Just Like Me" meditation practice designed to foster compassion by recognizing shared emotions and experiences. It also touches on teaching mindfulness authentically and its applications in daily life.
- Realizing Your Best Moments Almost Never Happened
This episode introduces mental subtraction, a mindfulness practice where you imagine a treasured moment never occurred to increase appreciation. It guides listeners through recalling a meaningful event, considering the unlikely factors tha…
- How A Three-Minute Gratitude Practice Can Rewire Your Day
This episode features a guided three-minute gratitude practice, progressing from simple sensations to broader concepts like unseen helpers and challenges, before concluding with thanks for body, mind, and the practice itself. The podcast a…
- How To Meet Pain, Sit With Temptation, And Practice Self-Compassion
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises explores meeting physical pain, temptation, and tension with gentle awareness, offering a middle way between forcing and avoiding. It includes practical tools like mindful eating, progressive muscle re…
- Quiet Strength: The Power of Equanimity (with Margaret Cullen & Sean Fargo)
This episode with Margaret Cullen and Sean Fargo explores equanimity as a practical, heart-based steadiness. They discuss how to cultivate caring presence, manage burnout, and apply equanimity in activism, parenting, and caregiving.
- From Monastic Bowls To Kitchen Tables: How Food Shapes Awareness
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises explores mindful eating, discussing its roots in monastic traditions and practical applications like raisin and chocolate exercises. It delves into how intention influences food's impact on the mind an…
- One Minute To Settle The Mind
This episode introduces a simple, one-minute mindfulness practice designed to help settle the mind and shift mood. The technique involves noticing the present state, softening the breath, unhooking from anxious thoughts, and cultivating fe…
- Feeling More Gratitude And Gladness :)
This episode guides a short mindfulness practice to cultivate gratitude and gladness, explaining their benefits for mood, satisfaction, and resilience. It covers defining these feelings, noticing moments of appreciation, creating cues for…
- Loving Kindness Before Sleep
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises explores why minds race at night and introduces a four-phrase practice focusing on kind wishes to build calm and focus, aiding natural sleep. It covers the purpose of the phrases, practice instructions…
- Morning Mindfulness For A Brighter Day
This episode guides a short morning mindfulness practice using breathwork and visualization to cultivate calm, focus, and purpose. It encourages setting intentions for self-care and contributing to others, while returning to non-judgmental…
- Daily Practice for Love & Happiness (Meditation)
This episode guides a short mindfulness practice focused on the shared human needs for happiness, love, and connection. It offers techniques to soften judgments, cultivate self-kindness and care for others, and integrate appreciation into…
- People Crave Presence, Not More Content
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises with Sean Fargo discusses the growing human desire for presence, contrasting embodied connection with AI. It explores practical mindfulness techniques and the value of human teachers.
- Mindfulness of Eating
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises with Sean Fargo focuses on teaching mindfulness without self-doubt. The podcast provides practical teachings and insights for meditation to help in real life, covering topics like mental health, emotio…
- Beauty Of Your Breath
In this episode of Mindfulness Exercises with Sean Fargo, listeners are guided through a gentle meditation practice focused on using the breath as a grounding tool to increase presence and ease anxiety. The practice emphasizes softening th…
- Manifesting Intention
This episode features a one-minute guided practice for setting intentions, aiming to shape the day with kindness and presence. Hosted by Sean Fargo, the podcast explores practical mindfulness for real life, including mental health, emotion…
- Affirmations of Gratitude
This episode features a guided gratitude practice that uses sevenfold repetition to foster self-compassion, openness to love, and release of hurts. It closes with appreciation for health and the present moment.
- Wishing Care For Self & Others - Dealing With The Inner Critic (Day 7 / Last Day)
Sean Fargo guides a practice to replace self-attack with compassion, starting with others and turning phrases inward, even towards the inner critic. This loving-kindness practice reshapes the brain and nervous system, offering a tool to so…
- How To Stop Ruminating - Dealing With The Inner Critic (Day 6)
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises with Sean Fargo guides listeners on how to stop rumination by using mindfulness to disengage from repetitive negative thoughts. It explains the brain's tendency to confuse looping with problem-solving…
- The Voice of a Good Friend - Dealing With The Inner Critic (Day 5)
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises with Sean Fargo introduces a method for dealing with the inner critic. It suggests responding to negative self-talk by imagining what a supportive friend would say, shifting harsh judgments into more c…
- Feeling Acceptance - Dealing With The Inner Critic (Day 4)
This episode, "Feeling Acceptance - Dealing With The Inner Critic (Day 4)" from Mindfulness Exercises with Sean Fargo, offers a practical approach to managing the inner critic by focusing on acceptance and likability. It guides listeners t…
- Feeling Worthy - Dealing With The Inner Critic (Day 3)
This episode of Mindfulness Exercises focuses on confronting the inner critic's narrative of unworthiness. It guides listeners through a mindfulness practice to observe self-criticism without shame, acknowledge complex intentions, and refr…