Mindfulness Practices
“Mindfulness” – being aware and present in the moment – can help us take care of ourselves and lower our stress.
Being mindful increases our ability to pay attention, lowers our blood pressure, improves our mental health, and makes it less likely that we will get sick. Practicing mindfulness also helps calm our brain and body when stressful things happen in our life.
It can be hard to find time in our busy lives to be mindful. The good news is that even 2 to 10 minutes per day of a mindfulness activity can help. It is never too late to start.
Resources for Professionals
Looking for resources to help patients and clients with a Mindfulness Practice? See Professional Resources within the Stress Busters for Community-Based Organizations toolkit.
Resources for Everyone
Want tips and tools to help you practice mindfulness? The following articles, videos, and audio tools can help.
General
- DID YOU KNOW? Being Mindful Can Prevent and Manage Stress (ACEs Aware)
- Mindfulness Stress Buster Video (California Virtual Training Academy Resources)
- Mindfulness Exercises (Mayo Clinic)
- Meditation: A simple, fast way to reduce stress (Mayo Clinic)
- Why Mindfulness Is a Superpower Video (3-minutes)
- Trauma-Informed Mindfulness: A Guide (Psych Central)
- Trauma-Informed Mindfulness (Psychology Today)
Things You Can Do Right Now
- Guided Audio Meditations by Dora Kamau, psychiatric nurse and certified meditation and mindfulness teacher.
- Free YouTube videos with Dora Kamau and Headspace:
- Calming Meditation for Identifying Feelings: Shape Sorter Visualization Video (3 minutes)
- Grounding Exercise for Racing Minds: Calming Meditation Video (3 minutes)
- Learn Breathing Technique Box Breathing: Practice Breathwork for Focus and Anxiety Video (3 minutes)
- Belly Breathing Video (3 minutes)
- Guided Audio & Video (UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness)
- Guided audio meditations by Tara Brach, a psychologist and mindfulness/meditation expert providing free audio meditations.
- Guided audio mindfulness practices from The Free Mindfulness Project (from 3 to 45 minutes)
- Guided audio mindfulness practices by Jon Kabat Zinn, the founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program.
- Breath Meditation Audio (6 minutes or 15 minutes)
- Body Scan Audio (20, 40, or 15 minutes)
- Loving-Kindness Meditation Audio (Greater Good in Action)
Age-Specific
- Breathe Think Do Mindfulness App for Kids (Sesame Street Workshop)
- Calming Strategies (Sesame Street Workshop)
- Videos and audios of guided relaxation exercises for children (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)
- Stress Health: Mindfulness (Center for Youth Wellness)
- Using Mindfulness English, Spanish, Portuguese (Center for Youth Wellness)
- Try a mindful body shake for kids and adults (Insight Timer)
- Guided relaxation exercise for kids (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)
- Live Beyond Campaign: Be Mindful and Centered (Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI))
- Five Ways Mindfulness Helps You Age Better (Greater Good in Action)
Free Apps
- Insight Timer library of free, guided meditations
- UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center guided audio meditations and UCLA Mindful App
- Mindfulness Coach (US Department of Veterans Affairs)
- Kaiser Permanente: Offers some members the Calm app and Headspace at no cost
MINDFULNESS BOOKS
- Full Catastrophe Living, Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness (John Kabat-Zinn)
- The Miracle of Mindfulness (Thich Nhat Hanh)
- Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: Practices for Safe and Transformative Healing (David Treleaven)
- Buddha’s Brain:The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom (Rick Hansen)
- When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Pema Chödrön)
For Parents:
- The Whole Brain Child (Dan Seigel and Tina Payne Bryson)
For Children:
- What Does It Mean to Be Present (Rana DiOrio)
- Sitting Still Like a Frog (mindfulness exercises for children by Eline Snel)
- Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda (Lauren Alderfer)
- Moody Cow Meditates (Kerry Lee MacLean)
Download the complete set of Stress Busters handouts. English and Spanish included.
