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Guided mindfulness and meditation practices and resources

On this page you can find recommended reading and guided mindfulness practices to support your discovery and practice of mindfulness.

Books

Here are some general introductory books on mindfulness.

  • Mindfulness for Beginners By Jon Kabat-Zinn. Boulder, Colorado: Sounds true, 2006.
  • Mindfulness. A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World. By Danny Penman & Mark Williams. London: Piatkus, 2011.

These books include mindfulness and compassion programmes.

  • Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). Full Catastrophe Living, revised edition: how to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation. Hachette UK.
  • Neff, K. & Germer, C. (2018). The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook. London: Guildford Press.
  • Teasdale, J., Williams, J.M.G., & Segal, Z. (2014). The Mindful Way Workbook. New York: Guilford Press.
  • Van den Brink, E. & Koster, F. (2018).  A Practical guide to Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living: Living with Heart.  London: Routledge.
  • Williams, J.M.G., Teasdale, J.D., Segal, Z.V. and Kabat-Zinn, J. (2007). The Mindful Way Through Depression. Guilford Press: New York.

Popular Apps

Mindfulness practices

Below you can find a range of mindfulness practices available freely online to accompany specific courses.

New to mindfulness? Proceed with caution

If you are new to mindfulness, and have not yet done an eight- week mindfulness course, like Mindfulness Based Cogntive Therapy, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction or Mindful Self-Compassion, then we suggest you go carefully with some of the practices, as they can occasionally trigger adverse reactions. 

It is always best to find a trained mindfulness teacher to work with you to advise on the best practices for you. If you are embarking on this alone, the safest practices to start with are usually the short ones (less than about ten minutes) and ones involving walking or movement.  Always feel free to stop a practice you are doing on your own if it feels uncomfortable.

Compassion based practices

Talks

A long talk with mindfulness practices by Jon Kabat-Zinn who founded this type of mindfulness approach

Mindfulness teachers

For more information about finding a mindfulness teacher, please have a look a the site listing of teachers approved by the British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA).

These practices below are intended as an accompaniment for participants doing a Sussex Mindfulness Centre course.

Sussex Mindfulness Centre practices

To download the audio files to your computer, right click or hold down the mouse to bring up the menu and select ‘Save Link As‘.

Robert Marx – practices for Mindful Self-Compassion

  • Compassionate Mindfulness of Breathing Listen (MP3)
  • Compassion for Self and Others Listen (MP3)
  • Compassionate Friend Listen (MP3)
  • Affectionate Breathing Listen (MP3)
  • Allow Soften Soothe Listen (MP3)
  • Giving and Receiving Compassion Listen (MP3)
  • Loving Kindness for a Loved One Listen (MP3)
  • Self Compassion Break Listen (MP3)
  • Loving Kindness for Self Listen (MP3)

Robert Marx – practices for Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy

  • Brief body scan Listen (MP3)
  • 21 min mindfulness of breathing Listen (MP3)
  • 30 minute mindful movement Listen (MP3)
  • 30 minute mindful walking Listen (MP3)
  • Four stage sitting practice Listen (MP3)
  • 38 min body scan Listen (MP3)
  • coping breathing space Listen (MP3)
  • loving kindness practice (30 mins) Listen (MP3)
  • mostly unguided 35 min sitting practice Listen (MP3)
  • mostly unguided body scan Listen (MP3)
  • mountain meditation 16 mins Listen (MP3)
  • prelims to body scan Listen (MP3)
  • prelims to movement Listen (MP3)
  • prelims to sitting Listen (MP3)

Robert Marx – short, trauma-sensitive introduction to mindfulness/MBCT practices

  • Breathing Space Listen (MP3)
  • Responsive breathing space with kindness Listen (MP3)
  • Mindful Breath and Body Listen (MP3)
  • Mindful Movement Listen (MP3)

Lana Jackson – Brighton Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services

  1. Body scan Listen (MP3)
  2. Three-minute Breathing Space Listen (MP3)
  3. Mindfulness of the Breath and Body Listen (MP3)
  4. Stage Sitting Practice Listen (MP3)
  5. Mountain Meditation Listen (MP3)
  6. Coping Breathing Space Listen (MP3)

Ruth Sequeira – East Sussex Brighton Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services

  • Body Scan for adolescents Listen (MP3)
  • Mindfulness of Breath and Body for adolescents Listen (MP3)
  • Sitting Practice for adolescents Listen (MP3)
  • Stretching Breathing Practice for adolescents Listen (MP3)
  • Three step breathing space Listen (MP3)
  • Turning Towards Difficult Experience – Sitting Practice Listen (MP3)

Nicky Mouat and Abbie Mead – Mindfulness practices for Recovery College

  • Week 1 (Body Sensations Practice) Listen (MP3)
  • Week 2 (Mindful Movement) Listen (MP3)
  • Week 3 (Breath Practice) Listen (MP3)
  • Short Grounding Practice Listen (MP3)
  • Sounds Practice Listen (MP3)

Clara Strauss – Four-session LiveMind mindfulness course

  • 1. Mindfulness of body and breath Listen (MP3)
  • 2. Mindful walking Listen (MP3)
  • 3. Mindfulness of sounds and thoughts Listen (MP3)
  • 4. Breathing space Listen (MP3)

Catherine Cameron – Mindful-Self Compassion practices

  • Affectionate Breathing Listen (MP3)
  • Soothing Touch Listen (MP3)
  • Soothing Touch 2 Listen (MP3)
  • Loving kindness for ourselves Listen (MP3)
  • Loving kindness for a loved one Listen (MP3)
  • Preparation for working with loving kindness phrases Listen (MP3)

Mindfulness practices for people with learning disabilities