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Sean Fargo

Practical, trauma‑sensitive mindfulness 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.

Mindfulness Exercises

Perfectionism says mindfulness must be done “right.” We flip that script. In this conversation, we share an everyday approach to mindfulness designed for overwhelmed and neurodivergent brains—one that starts with safety, honors choice, and turns presence into something you can actually enjoy.

We begin by grounding in self-compassion and a simple reframe: rather than labeling thoughts and feelings as right or wrong, notice whether they feel pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. That shift softens inner criticism and reveals the body-level signatures of judgment—tightness, holding, disconnection—so you can meet them with care. From there, we build a practical toolkit: mindful walking to anchor attention in the feet, mindful standing to steady posture and breath, and short breath check-ins you can use while moving, working, or speaking.

Because novelty and play boost engagement, we add choice-based micro-practices: spot five colors, listen for five sounds, or savor a quick tasting of chocolate or different waters, paying attention to texture, aroma, and aftertaste. These pleasant, low-stakes exercises train present-moment awareness without triggering the pressure to “meditate perfectly.” For days that can hold more intensity, we fold in compassionate phrases and gentle touch, always letting you opt out, scale down, or switch anchors.

Throughout, we emphasize trauma-sensitive mindfulness: consent, titration, and external anchoring before deep internal focus when needed. We highlight resources from leaders like David Treleaven, Christopher Germer, and Willoughby Britton to help coaches and practitioners stay attuned to safety. By the end, you’ll have a flexible menu to reduce overwhelm, loosen perfectionism, and make mindfulness a supportive part of daily life—no incense, cushions, or hour-long sits required.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with someone who could use gentler tools, and leave a review with the micro-practice you’ll try this week.

Support the show

Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. 
 
Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com
 
200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/
 
Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com

How Self-Compassion Turns Perfectionism Into Presence

Start at the only place that never lies: the body. We open with a simple grounding—seat, feet, contact with the earth—and follow a thread of curiosity through head, chest, and belly to discover what the moment actually needs. Instead of forcing a schedule or chasing a perfect state, we let the felt sense choose the next step, whether that’s steadying with the breath, offering loving-kindness, or naming a few real things to be grateful for.

Across the conversation, we get practical about working with planning mind and emotional heaviness by sensing energy rather than wrestling with thoughts. You’ll hear how mindfulness of the body becomes the stable spine of practice: listening to sounds, noticing temperature shifts, tracking movement and stillness, and recognizing how pleasant and unpleasant tones color experience. We also explore a quiet but powerful intention—opening to more joy—without denying discomfort or papering over pain. Joy shows up in small, honest ways when we stop bracing and start noticing.

We contrast organic practice with rigid routines, acknowledging that some thrive on structure while others need flexibility. The throughline is integrity: begin with direct sensation, meet it without judgment, and let that guide what you do next. If the mind is busy, we gather attention. If the heart is tight, we offer warmth. If the moment is simple, we rest with the breath. By training this responsiveness, practice becomes sustainable and personal, a skillful way to meet change in real time.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who could use a gentler approach to mindfulness, and leave a quick review to help others find it. Your notes and stories shape future episodes—tell us where your practice led you today.

Support the show

Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. 
 
Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com
 
200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/
 
Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com

Listening To The Body

Healing isn’t a checkbox; it’s a way of relating to what hurts. We sit down with Insight Meditation teacher and author Justin Michelson to explore a grounded path through stress, pain, and trauma that begins with self-compassion and widens into nature, lineage, and something larger than ourselves. 

Justin's website: JustinMichelsonDharma.com

Justin's book: The Dharma of Healing

From his first teen meditation class to hard-won lessons with overwhelming energies, Justin shares how he moved from striving to surrender—trading the warrior stance for a bow that restores safety and connection.

We dive into a powerful framework he calls the four turnings of the wheel of healing: surface compassion for daily frictions, depth compassion for buried fear and grief, collective compassion for what family and culture seeded in us, and universal compassion that lets us rest in a benevolent field. Along the way, we unpack his striking metaphor of self-aversion as psychological autoimmunity—how our ancient impulse to pull away from pain turns inward and keeps wounds stuck—and how kind attention unwinds that loop. For listeners far from forests, Justin offers simple, sensory ways to let nature be a teacher: a patch of sun, a street tree, the feel of wind as a reminder that we’re held by more than our thoughts.

Justin also opens a window into his Native Foods Nursery, where tending edible native plants becomes a living practice of reciprocity and belonging. Teaching, for him, is shared practice—not perfection—where the goal is to help people remember their own inner wisdom and build resilience that can meet a turbulent world. If you’ve been craving practices that are practical, humane, and spacious enough for real life, this conversation offers a map and the companionship to walk it.

If the episode resonates, share it with a friend who could use a gentler path forward, and leave a review so more people can find these practices. Subscribe for future conversations on mindfulness, compassion, and healing.

Support the show

Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. 
 
Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com
 
200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/
 
Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com

The Dharma of Healing, with Justin Michelson

Ever notice how your day turns into one long, uninterrupted scroll? We leave work on a call, weave through traffic still mid-story, and step into the kitchen without ever really arriving. We wanted to break that blur, so we dug into a simple framework: use the day’s natural hinge points—dawn, noon, midafternoon, dusk, and night—as scheduled pauses to reset attention and rebuild a sense of home.

This is an excerpt of an interview with Austin Hill Shaw: AustinHillShaw.com

Together we explore how technology stretches a single narrative across every context and what it does to the nervous system. Then we offer small, repeatable rituals that mark thresholds with care: end the call before you park, pause at the door with one conscious breath, remove your shoes as a deliberate handoff from “out there” to “in here,” and place your keys down with attention. We talk about how these gestures turn rooms into relationships and why nothing is inherently sacred until we treat it that way. That shift—treating space as worthy of care—changes how your home holds you, softens reactivity, and lets the next hour unfold with less friction.

We also lean into gratitude as the quiet engine of a grounded day. Not performative positivity, but a steady appreciation for heat and chill, ease and challenge, the small textures that prove we are alive and participating. By pairing gratitude with time anchors, you create clear chapter breaks that help the body settle and the mind reset. Start with one anchor—two minutes at dusk or a doorway pause—and notice how meals taste richer, conversations feel cleaner, and sleep lands sooner.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who lives on their phone, and leave a quick review telling us which daily anchor you’re claiming next.

Support the show

Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. 
 
Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com
 
200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/
 
Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com

Reset Your Day With Sacred Transitions

You can feel when a class lands: the room gets quiet, the body softens, and attention holds steady even as movement continues. That shift is not magic; it’s method. We sat down with senior teacher and writer Sara-Mai Conway to unpack a practical, human way to make yoga and meditation one continuous experience rather than two separate boxes on a schedule.

Sara-Mai's website: https://www.iwriteaboutwellness.com/

We start by redefining yoga as skillful energy movement using both outer and inner methods. Ethics calm mental noise, asana prepares the body for stillness, pranayama bridges body and mind, and focused attention matures into insight and, at times, a taste of samadhi. From there, we build a class like a guided sit: set a clear intention, select poses that serve it, and let every cue point back to the thread. 

Breath-focused flows become fluid and repetitive to highlight inhale and exhale. Gratitude takes shape in bows and forward folds. Grounding becomes literal through contact with the earth. Working with non-harming or self-compassion invites challenge while naming the inner talk that shows up.

Silence becomes a teacher rather than an absence. We share how to frame quiet as safe and time-bound, when to place formal meditation inside a flow, and how to ask simple, embodied questions that turn effort into awareness. Savasana shifts from background music to true stillness, and closing with a brief dedication helps wire benefits into daily life. Along the way, we talk about teaching with authenticity, trusting students with depth, and avoiding the “spiritual sandwich” where mindfulness appears only at the beginning and end.

If you’ve ever wondered how to keep presence alive between the opening sit and the final rest, this conversation offers a clear structure, real-world cues, and permission to do less so students can feel more. Subscribe, share with a fellow teacher, and leave a review telling us the intention you’re bringing to your next class.

Support the show

Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. 
 
Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com
 
200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/
 
Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com

Integrating Mindfulness, Movement, And Meaning In Your Yoga Class

We turn a slow line into a short mindfulness practice that eases tension and reshapes impatience into patience and kindness. We ground in breath, relax the body, and extend compassion to strangers and staff who share the same wish to be happy.

• naming impatience as normal and common
• breath work with nose inhales and mouth exhales
• scanning and softening jaw, shoulders and belly
• grounding through feet, posture and relaxed face
• wishing yourself ease, patience and kindness
• sensing others’ shared purpose and humanity
• extending compassion to staff doing their best

Support the show

Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. 
 
Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com
 
200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/
 
Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com

Mindfulness For Long Lines And Short Tempers

When does being “nice” start hurting your health? We explore the surprising science that links suppressed emotions—especially healthy anger and buried grief—to immune function, inflammation, and long-term disease risk. Drawing on affective neuroscience, we break down the core mammalian systems wired for rage, fear, panic and grief, care, seeking, and play, and explain why these circuits exist to protect boundaries and connection, not to create chaos.

Gabor Maté's website: https://drgabormate.com/

I share how anger operates as a boundary-setting signal that says something vital: this is not okay. When that signal gets muted to keep relationships intact, the immune system can mirror the shutdown. You’ll hear clear, practical language for telling the difference between healthy and unhealthy anger, plus simple steps to honor your limits without escalating conflict—naming the feeling, identifying the crossed boundary, and choosing proportionate action. We also unpack how childhood survival strategies, like staying quiet to preserve attachment, can turn into adult patterns of chronic niceness, migraines, flares, and burnout.

We look at striking research: longer survival among people with ALS who expressed anger, and a large study of women showing higher mortality when marital unhappiness stayed unspoken. The takeaway is not to explode; it’s to listen to the body’s early alarms and speak plain truths before stress hardens into illness. If you’ve ever wondered why “the good die young,” this conversation reframes goodness as self-respect, not self-erasure.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with someone who needs better boundaries, and leave a quick review so more listeners can find these tools. Your story matters—what boundary will you protect today?

Support the show

Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. 
 
Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com
 
200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/
 
Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com

Healthy Anger, Healthy Body - with Dr. Gabor Maté

We map a three-stage approach to using mindfulness for PTSD: immediate self-soothing, reconnecting with emotions, and long-term integration. A short guided practice shows how breath, grounding, and softening cues can create ease while we set clear safety guardrails.

• framing mindfulness for PTSD and its stages
• self-soothing practices for the immediate aftermath
• reconnecting with emotions with courage and choice
• integrating trauma healing over the long term
• simple guided breathing and body softening
• safety boundaries, when to pause, and support options
• rebuilding confidence, self-esteem, and relationships

If you experience a psychiatric emergency, please call your doctor and call 911 to get some support

Support the show

Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. 
 
Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com
 
200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/
 
Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com

Mindfulness Tools For Healing PTSD Across Three Stages

Clarity gets practical when you treat attention like a craft. We open the pages of Joseph Goldstein’s The Experience of Insight and translate retreat-honed wisdom into tools you can actually use: breath you don’t control, movement you feel from the inside, and the quiet power of seeing intention before action. No mystique, no shortcuts—just a clean method for meeting each moment without the usual tug of wanting and resisting.

Joseph's book: https://a.co/d/bsVOXoU

We start with the mental frame that steadies practice: the three refuges as psychological anchors and ethical precepts as the simplest way to clear noise from the mind. From there we build the engine of bare attention—observation without judgment, comparison, or prediction—using two precise breath anchors (abdomen or nostrils), then carry mindfulness into walking and eating. Catching the urge before the move creates a tiny but decisive gap, where choice appears and the story of “me” loosens. Along the way we lean on the Noble Eightfold Path, balancing right effort like a guitar string, and unpack how impermanence reframes identity from a solid self into a flowing process.

We also face the classic obstacles head on. The five hindrances—sense desire, aversion, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, doubt—arrive for everyone. The antidote is immediate mindfulness: notice the visitor, feel its texture, and refrain from feeding it. We explore ultimate realities—material qualities, consciousness, mental factors, and the unconditioned—and examine how concepts like time and ownership can be useful yet blinding. Finally, we talk integration: daily sitting that actually happens, a silent meal to restore sensitivity, returning to the breath in stress, and remembering death as an advisor that sharpens meaning. The monkey trap offers a closing image: the fist that won’t let go keeps us stuck; the open hand walks free.

If this lands, subscribe, share with a friend who loves clear practice, and leave a short review telling us where you first notice intention—breath, step, or spoon?

Support the show

Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. 
 
Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com
 
200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/
 
Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com

From Silence To Seeing: Joseph Goldstein’s Training For The Mind

A stressful morning, a deep tissue reset, and a simple lesson that changes how we teach: relevance beats routine. Sean shares how tuning into the body can open the door to smarter, kinder mindfulness instruction, especially when life is messy and attention is thin. We walk through a practical approach to choosing what to teach by asking short, respectful questions, listening for needs, and then adapting practices so they fit real people and real constraints.

You’ll hear why a trauma‑informed stance matters, how to phrase cues that feel human rather than clinical, and where short, concrete practices outperform long, abstract scripts. We unpack ways to tailor mindfulness for healthcare workers, corporate teams, caregivers, and teens, adjusting length, tone, and focus so the work actually helps. Along the way, Sean introduces a plug‑and‑teach curriculum: 900 minutes of modular lessons with hundreds of slides, teacher deep dives for nuance, guidebooks to scaffold delivery, and student handbooks to support learning beyond the session. It’s flexible by design, so you can brand it, adapt it, and bring it to groups without starting from scratch.

If you’re a new or seasoned teacher who’s ever wondered, “What should I teach this group, right now?” this conversation offers a clear path: assess, adapt, and keep it practical. Expect tangible prompts, language tweaks, and ideas you can use today to create safer, more relevant experiences. If this resonates, subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a quick review so more teachers can find these tools—and tell us: which audience are you tailoring for next?

Support the show

Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. 
 
Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com
 
200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/
 
Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com

Why Tailored Teaching Beats Cookie Cutter Mindfulness

feeling overwhelmed or stuck in challenging situations? In this episode, discover how to practice mindfulness even when life gets tough.

Through real-life experiences from a hiking journey, Sean Fargo, founder of Mindfulness Exercises and a former Buddhist monk, teaches practical techniques to release resistance, embrace the moment, and find peace.

With Sean’s wisdom and gentle guidance, you'll learn how to turn to mindfulness as a source of strength and resilience, no matter how difficult life becomes. This can help you in softening resistance and finding ease in life's toughest moments.

Support the show

Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. 
 
Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com
 
200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/
 
Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com
 
Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com

Finding Calm in Challenging Times | Mindfulness Hiking with Sean Fargo

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