Practice Suggestions

Welcome to our growing library of free practice suggestions. Experience the benefits of working with your mind to gain greater resiliency through the ups and downs of life. These practice suggestions include basic mindfulness instructions, ACT exercises, and thought experiments that deepen your understanding of yourself and others.

Practice Suggestion of the Month

Try this exercise...

In order to make “towards” moves that lead to a full and meaningful life, we need to have some idea of what values give our life direction. One of the free resources offered by Russ Harris is a values exercise. You can access the exercise by clicking the button below to open the Values Exercise PDF. The exercise provides a list of 40 common values and invites you to add any additional values important to you. Then, it guides you through a 3-step process.

Click to open the Values Exercise PDF

You can then use the "Values Square" to reflect on how well you are living by your values and what you could say or do to put them more effectively into play. You can access the exercise by clicking the button below to open the Values Square PDF. The document includes instructions for clarifying how you want to live your values, reviewing last week, and planning the week ahead.

Click to open the Values Square PDF

This kind of reflection makes us more aware of whether what we are saying or doing in the moment is leading us AWAY from or TOWARDS the life we want to live and the way we want to be. The challenge is to develop the skills to unhook from the thoughts, emotions, and urges that pull us away from our desired direction. If you would like to learn those skills, The Happiness Trap will give you the support you need to do the work.

Russ Harris. The Happiness Trap (2nd edition).

How to Use Our Practice Suggestions Library

These practice suggestions are intended to augment and deepen your practice. Some will resonate with you more than others. Please take what you like and leave the rest. We recommend using these practice suggestions in a safe location, free from distractions, where you may give your full attention to the instructions.

The practice suggestions are offered to you at no charge. Pathways to Mindfulness welcomes donations to support our work.

Featured Meditations

Dropping Anchor

Use this short exercise to step out of your habitual thought patterns and refocus your attention on your here-and-now experience. Dropping anchor increases your ability to respond rather than react to what is happening in the moment.

Four Liberating Attitudes for the Holidays (short version)

Practicing the four liberating attitudes - equanimity, good will, compassion, and appreciative joy - improves our ability to navigate the ups and downs of holidays and life in general.

Opening in Gratitude

Gratitude is a fundamental principle. This meditation guides you through opening in gratitude to the breath, body, and other gifts. Breathing in gifts. Breathing out gratitude.

Additional Guided Meditations

Mindfulness of the Senses

Moment-to-moment awareness of the body is a foundational mindfulness practice. The body and its senses are always in the present moment and serve to anchor us here and now.

Mountain Meditation

The guided imagery meditation begins with relaxing the body. Then, the guidance invites the meditator to tap into the centered, grounded, and unmoving nature of the mountain.

Trusting in the Difficult

We all know that life can be difficult. Rather than fighting against what we cannot control, we can choose to embrace the difficulties in our lives. This meditation shows you how to transform difficulties into valued friends and experience greater peace.

Generosity - Good Before, During, and After Giving

Explore the value of generosity. We can often see the good gained by the receiver of our generosity. This meditation guides you through the stages of giving - before, during, and after - to experience how generosity impacts you.

Willing to Be with What Is

Body scan meditations direct our attention to bodily sensations to help anchor us in the present moment. Cultivating the willingness to be with what is present, whether pleasant or unpleasant. Acceptance of what is allows us to respond with presence rather than react from our conditioning.

Exploring the Rooms of the House

Body scan meditations direct our attention to bodily sensations to help anchor us in the present moment. Repeated practice leads to a greater ability to anchor into the present moment.

Want More Meditation Guidance?

Join one or more of our ongoing online groups to connect with others as you practice mindfulness and deepen your understanding. Click below to explore our group topics and meeting times.

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