Mindfulness Exercises, with 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.
Episodes
243 episodes
Feeling Competent - Dealing With The Inner Critic (Day 2)
Ever catch your mind declaring you incompetent after a single slip. We go straight to the heart of that voice and gently dismantle its all or nothing rules with a short, steadying practice you can repeat anytime. Instead of debating the critic,...
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4:57
Dealing With The Inner Critic (Day 1)
Ever notice how the harshest voice in the room lives in your own head? We kick off a seven-day journey to name that voice, understand what it targets, and learn how to meet it with mindfulness instead of fear. Drawing on years of teaching and m...
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4:50
From Fear Of AI To Finding Community Through Mindfulness
We explore how to stay human amid fast tech change through the voice of a 75-year-old practitioner who turns doubt into community practice. We share practical mindfulness tools for ADHD and point to resources and teachers who make presence feel...
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20:22
Breath That Changes Everything
Breath is the first thing we reach for in crisis and the last thing we notice in the rush of daily life. This conversation dives into a living lineage of breathwork—from the roots of Anapanasati to the modern, transformative practice of conscio...
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36:02
Integrating Mindfulness And Wild Creativity For A Braver Artistic Life
We explore how contemplative practice and bold artistic expression strengthen each other, using Anne Cushman’s story to map a path from silence to color and back again. Six shared principles offer practical tools to make space, feel more, and c...
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15:35
Facing Feelings Without Fear
If “good vibes only” has ever left you feeling worse, you’re not alone. We dig into spiritual bypass—the habit of reaching for positivity to avoid discomfort—and show how it quietly amplifies stress, anger, and grief. Instead of shoving hard fe...
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11:01
Certified Human: Now Hiring Walk Buddies And Cuddle Couches
We share why real human presence matters more than yet another guided track and how embodiment turns mindfulness from a script into a living practice. We also explore signals of rising demand, from global mental health needs to local community ...
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15:19
Your Boss Has An AI Girlfriend; Your Heart Still Wants A Hug
We weigh how AI can support mindfulness while naming what it cannot replace: human presence, shared reality, and the heart’s wisdom. Practical boundaries, ethical concerns, and community care guide a nuanced path between helpful tools and hollo...
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13:55
Mindful Micro-Steps For Big Feelings
What if fear, grief, anger, and old hurts didn’t run the show anymore? We share a gentle way to build real emotional capacity without white-knuckling your way through pain. Instead of diving into the deep end, we map a clear, safe progression—s...
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9:10
How Conscious Breathing Transforms Anxiety, with Anthony Abbagnano
What if the safest place you can find is the breath you’re already taking? We sit down with Anthony Abbagnano — founder of Alchemy of Breath and author of Outer Chaos, Inner Calm — to explore how conscious breathing can shift anxiety, resolve t...
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21:25
Restorative Justice Meets Mindfulness: National Center for Restorative Justice
What if discipline wasn’t something we do to students, but a skill we help them build? We sit down with Nicholas Bradford, founder of the National Center for Restorative Justice...
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29:38
Reclaiming Capability: Why Mindfulness Works When Life Feels Too Much
When life speeds up and practice slips, it’s easy to believe mindfulness stopped working or was never yours to begin with. We challenge that story by centering a quieter truth: capability. Not a slogan, not toxic positivity—just the lived sense...
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7:29
Interpersonal Neurobiology: How Relationships Shape The Brain
What if your mind isn’t confined to your skull but lives in the space between us? We dig into interpersonal neurobiology to show how mind, brain, and relationships form a single, living system—and why integration is the hidden thread behind res...
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16:59
Breath As Home Base (with Sharon Salzberg)
You don’t need a perfect mind to meditate; you need a simple place to return to. We guide a clear, down-to-earth practice for resting attention on a home base—often the breath, but just as easily a body sensation or the flow of sound—so you can...
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10:15
From Monastery To Mindful Government
A couch, a non-alcoholic hazy IPA, and a confession: leaving the monastery wasn’t just about tacos and rules—it was about hugging family again and answering a call to serve a world on edge. What followed is a surprising arc from Spirit Rock to ...
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11:29
Body Scan Basics
When your mind won’t slow down, the fastest way out is often through the body. We lead a steady, grounded body scan that starts at the feet and moves through contact points, face, breath, and belly—simple cues that unwind hidden effort and rest...
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17:59
Guided Meditation For Sensing Body, Breath, And Gentle Energy
Need a reset that actually sticks? We guide a calm, clear meditation that helps you settle your body, soothe your nerves, and steady your mind—without forcing the breath or chasing silence. Starting with simple grounding, we let the body meet t...
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20:53
DNA, Consciousness, And Your Hidden Map
What if your attitude is not just a mood but a biological instruction set? We take a bold tour through the Gene Keys, the system that links the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching to the 64 codons of DNA and frames your inner state as a frequency that ...
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13:27
Mindfulness, Integrity, And Joy With James Baraz
What if the most important moment in meditation is not the breath you follow, but the instant you notice you’ve wandered—and choose to return with love? James Baraz joins us to unpack that gentle pivot, showing how a kind return trains patience...
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1:31:18
Roots And Breath Outdoors
A simple wooden bench beneath redwoods can teach more about mindfulness than a stack of books. Sean Fargo shares how years as a Buddhist monk distilled into one essential practice: sit at the base of a tree, feel your breath, and let nature lea...
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7:10
Home Wherever You Are
What if home isn’t a location but a feeling you can access anywhere? On a quiet stretch of California’s Central Valley, we explore how mindfulness turns a long drive into a place of safety, gratitude, and deep belonging. Instead of rushing from...
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5:48
Forgiveness Means Letting Go, Not Pretending It Didn’t Hurt (with Sharon Salzberg)
What if forgiveness didn’t ask you to forget, pretend, or minimize? We open a kinder door: releasing the grip of the past without erasing it, and training attention so old stories don’t run the show. Through a grounded, step-by-step loving-kind...
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10:56
Happiness, Made Human (with Austin Hill Shaw)
Happiness often feels slippery—too abstract to hold, too dependent on luck or perfect circumstances. We take a different path and lay out a grounded map you can actually use. The conversation with Austin Hill Shaw centers on three core human ne...
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4:40
How To Find Peace When The Holidays Feel Heavy
The holidays can be dazzling and demanding at the same time—lights and laughter on the outside, pressure and mixed emotions on the inside. We tackle that paradox head-on with simple, compassionate mindfulness tools you can use in real time to s...
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9:02
How Self-Compassion Turns Perfectionism Into Presence
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 turn...
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5:24