The anxiety, worry and many other emotions resulting from uncertainty and isolation we live in are tough to cope with. Now more than ever, we come to seek resources to manage our lives and our mental health. Below is a list of free and easy to access online meditation and mindfulness resources for maintaining resilience during these uncertain times. The resources are from well-known teachers and can benefit anyone regardless of previous experience in practicing meditation.
The list is by no means comprehensive but includes some of the teachers, who have stepped forward during this crisis to offer their service freely. I am not affiliated with any of these organisations or teachers and don’t gain anything from sharing these. However, I do listen to them regularly and find wisdom and insight very grounding.
I encourage you to explore the links and trial one or two of them if you have time. If you find something that you like, perhaps schedule to listen to one guided meditation every day.
Plant a seed and see how it starts growing in your life. What do you have to lose?
Photo by Johann Siemens on Unsplash
1. Jon Kabat-Zinn – a pioneer on the field of mindfulness and the founder of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Programme, offers free guided meditation and Q&A every weekday online 8 PM UK time. You can subscribe to the sessions that have so far been joined by people all over the world here. The page also includes recordings of the previous sessions.
It has been very interesting to listen to the views of a person who has created the groundbreaking 8-week Mindfulness programme, that has helped thousands of people all over the world to cope with stress and anxiety, about coping in the current climate.
2. Ten Percent Happier offers free live guided meditation every weekday at 8PM UK time with some of the world-renowned meditation teachers and health professionals. You find recordings of all their sessions on the page, so you don’t need to make the live session to benefit from the guidance.
Coronavirus Sanity Guide on the same portal combines resources like podcasts, meditation talks and blog posts. Listening to a talk or a podcast can offer lots of perspective on things when the topic is discussed deeper.
3. Sharon Salzberg is an author and one of the most well-known meditation teachers in the West. Sharon’s COVID-19 Resources brings together support from different practitioners and organisations of which a couple of them below:
Mindful Online offers live guided meditation several times a week, and you can find recordings of each session on their page.
Tricycle Magazine hosts guided meditation bi-weekly, and you can find all the sessions as recordings on their page.
4. Jack Kornfield is a former Buddhist monk, an author and an internationally acclaimed meditation teacher. With Tara Brach he has compiled a guide on handling forced isolation by creating a simple home meditation retreat and provides plenty of guided mindfulness-based meditation resources suitable for everyone.
Creating a Home Retreat – a guide and a list of audio meditations and talks especially suitable to manage thoughts and emotions linked to life’s difficulties. You can pick one meditation from the list or put aside a few hours to create space for a home meditation retreat:
Pandemic Resources by Jack Kornfield
5. Tara Brach is an accomplished meditation teacher, an author, and a psychotherapist. Her website offers a wide range of options from guided audio meditations, audio and video talks, and articles for dealing with stress and challenging experiences. Some examples of what is on offer:
Pandemic Care Resources – Full list of resources to choose from
Ten Minute Basic Meditation Practice – one of the short easy-to-follow meditations
Meeting Fear with Healing Breath – a guided 22-minute meditation
6. Not just a mindfulness resource but The Mental Health Foundation has compiled a guide on how to look after your mental health during the pandemic. The guide offers plenty of well-grounded advice on how to cope with fear, what resources to use for information, and most importantly, where to contact for further support.
Looking after your mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak
Getting Help during Mental Health Crisis - direct contact numbers to mental health crisis/talk lines.
Author: Elisa Riutta
Editing: Anna-Mari Jappinen