We are witnessing suffering, fear, anxiety as well as compassion, kindness, and support. We are being asked to  wash our hands often, not touch our faces, stay home, practice social distancing. I created a series of six free guided meditations to help you in this crisis.

When you cant go outside, go inside

Nature Walk While Staying Home

This is a guided nature walk from the Hoyt Arboretum to the Pittock Mansion. Accompanied by nature sounds with visual imagery, a bamboo flute – played by Srikanth Dakshinamoorthy – is also in the background. Bird and Nature Sounds from Freesound under Creative Commons. Script created by Suresh Srinivas and edited by Ruth Berkowitz and Tonya Harding

Breath of Resilience

Resilience is the ability to mentally and emotionally cope with a crisis. Since breathing is something you can control and regulate it is a valuable tool for deepening your resilience. In this meditation, I will guide you to enhance the four qualities of the breath. The background sound is of the Tampura a drone instrument in E recorded by Kapila Chandramouli a musician. The image is a photograph of embroidery by Padma Desikan of Meera with a Tampura.

Building Gratitude through Hope

The crisis makes the world seem pretty dark and hopeless. Still, countless acts of kindness, goodness, and heroism are happening every day in your community, and there is much to be grateful for and hope for. In this Naikan meditation, you will build hope through gratitude. The flower is at the Hoyt Arboretum taken by Bindu Malini. The drone instrument is the Tambura and is recorded in D, also by Bindu Malini.

Deep Sleep with Yoga Nidra

Learn to harness the power of deep resting while not being asleep. In Yoga Nidra, you are in the state between wakefulness and sleep. Through this meditation, you will create a relaxation response in the body and achieve a deep state of rest.

Deep Connection while Social Distancing

This is a meditation to help you connect deeply as you practice social distancing There is a wonderful meditation we can practice to cultivate our connection just by mentally sending your goodwill, kindness and warmth. . It also features a background bird sounds next to the river in the springtime in Scotland. ​

Awareness of Touch 

With this crisis, we have to build two new habits, first to wash our hands frequently, and second to not touch our face. In this meditation you will practice being more mindful of what your hands touch and engage your awareness of touch. In addition to the guiding voice, the recording features a four-string tanpura / tampura droning.