"Balance" and "ease" are words used interchangeably to mean equanimity, while equanimity itself can be defined as a steadiness of the heart and mind. In other words, it is the groundwork for freedom and compassion through wisdom. Like many parts of mindfulness practice, discomfort can't be bypassed to an equanimous state, however, practice helps to cultivate the conditions for equanimity to arise naturally. In this meditation, you'll be guided into cultivating a balanced heart and mind.

A natural human reaction is to avoid that which is unpleasant, especially anything painful. Like so much of mindfulness practice, the most immediate way in which we can find any sort of freedom is by moving toward it. Beware, though, because jumping into feeling pain without first establishing a foundation could alter your relationship to what you’re feeling but not for the better. This meditation invites you to gently lean into pain so that you can eventually establish a new relationship to it.

Mindfulness can be integrated into anything we do, which allows us never to stray too far from our practice. Even when we don't have time or space to practice regularly for extended periods of time, we can still find countless opportunities throughout the day in which to be mindful. This practice explores eating mindfully. This grants you at least a few opportunities each day to practice! Best to have some food in front of you for this practice, whether it's a small snack or a whole meal.

As humans, we have become really good at avoiding what we don’t want to feel or experience, especially if it's painful or unpleasant, resulting in us (consciously or unconsciously) spending a lot of our time running away from perceived or future pain. What then happens is our past pains start to dictate our future. Although that might be true in many circumstances, we can learn how to cultivate a skillful relationship to pain and discomfort through self-compassion.