10 Guided Meditations for Tough Times

These guided meditations can help us ease stress, get rest, and stay present when current events feel like too much to bear.

By Mindful Staff
February 28, 2025
Anxiety

When the world feels unpredictable and out of our control, our natural response can be to try to shut it out. For example, it’s not uncommon to hear caring, thoughtful people admit that they no longer read or watch the news. It’s just too overwhelming, too dark, and they need to protect their mental health in order to be able to show up for day-to-day life with their families, their friends, and at work. That’s valid. No one can withstand a constant barrage of bad news. It’s essential to take breaks when you need them and to make sure that your life has pockets of joy, calm, and ease.

At the same time, tuning out completely isn’t the only answer. Practicing mindfulness and meditation can be a helpful framework to explore and work with our thoughts and emotions when hard things are happening to us and around us. It can also offer opportunities for deep rest and relaxation that give us the bandwidth to stay engaged. As mindfulness teacher Georgina Miranda says, just because there’s chaos around us doesn’t mean that there must be chaos within us. From a place of calm and groundedness, we’re better prepared to meet whatever comes next.

Here are 10 guided meditations from some of today’s leading mindfulness teachers to support you when current events feel like too much to bear.

While these meditations are divided into steps to offer a pathway, your path may look different and that’s OK. Take what you need when you need it.