The Peace Project | Meditations for inner peace and a healthier world
By Dave Winnyk
The Peace Project | Meditations for inner peace and a healthier worldOct 01, 2022
Meditation After a Bad Day | Letting go of stress, expectations, and negative thoughts
What makes a day a "bad day"? Often we are consumed with stress or worries when days do not go our way. In this meditation, we focus on letting of our expectations and negative emotions, and welcoming the everchanging and impartial nature of existence.
Thank you to a long time friend and fan of the podcast, Michelle G, for suggesting this topic. If you have a suggestion, please send it to thepeaceprojectmeditations@gmail.com (subject "PPM - Meditation Suggestion") or by sending a comment or question through the Anchor.fm platform.
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/ambient-boy/blurry-dreams
License code: UCLVJ668YBMDSWP1
The photo was generated by my computer using a fork of Stable Diffusion AI. https://github.com/basujindal/stable-diffusion
Relieving Overwhelming Emotions | Meditation for relieving stress, anxiety, and depression
We often are confronted with overwhelming negative emotions throughout life. In the space of meditation, we can explore these emotions and learn to allow them to pass by or sit with us. Are these emotions there for any reason, or do they simply arise?
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/ambient-boy/mindfulness-journey
License code: K5HVSA7DCKCJNBJC
Photo by allele93 https://www.reshot.com/free-stock-photos/photo/free-people-photo-from-reshot-aO9ld6/
Exploration of the Breath | Meditation on Breathing
The breath is often the anchor of meditation processes. It keeps us alive from birth until death, yet often we do not give it much attention. In this meditation, we focus on the breath and what it can reveal to us in meditation.
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/ambient-boy/essential-mind
License code: YGQ8JNV1UXSKQRZS
Photo by rosario janza on Unsplash
Tao Meditation | Selections from the Tao Te Ching
The Tao Te Ching is a collection of writings from Lao Tzu. It describes a nameless way of existence that leads to peace. In this meditation, I read some of my favorite verses from the Tao to give an introduction to my interpretation of it.
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/ambient-boy/wonders-of-life
License code: KKZRCPRMPUKGJO93
Translation from https://taoism.net/tao-te-ching-online-translation/ along with my own interpretations
Episode photo by https://unsplash.com/@bradley_prentice?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText
Open Serenity | Meditation for Acceptance of your Experience
Often we are caught up in our own state in life or consumed by dreams and desires. In the space of meditation it is possible to let go of these and feel true serenity and acceptance of the most basic level of your existence.
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/ambient-boy/afterlife
License code: CIPNQFT0OO0BHOCJ
Episode Photo by Margit Bantowsky https://unsplash.com/photos/P0dO8dyvBIE?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink
Feeling More than Your Body | Meditation for feeling awareness
We look and feel the sensations of our body to go about our normal life. In the space of meditation we can begin to feel the true size of our bodily sensations and how we can expand our feelings to the size of our awareness
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/ambient-boy/linear-circle
License code: VAIHATYWTQCFUVYL
Discovering Awareness | Meditation for becoming aware of your awareness
When you are meditating, do you ever wonder where your awareness comes from? In this meditation, we explore how to become aware of your awareness. Reflecting on who is aware and where that awareness comes from can help you discover the depths of sensation and conscious expansion that is possible in each moment. Join me in discovering our awareness.
Music by WorldMusicLabs For 7Waves Prod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nPGUdqqlY
Check out their Mediation Music and Nature Sounds playlist at https://goo.gl/9LNPRc
Episode Photo from https://unsplash.com/photos/45sFSKai4Q4?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink
Expanding Your Awareness | Meditation for exploring consciousness
How big is the space of your awareness? In this meditation, we focus on the breath and how we can experience it's sensations as immensely as our universe. Join me as we open our awareness together.
Music by WorldMusicLabs For 7Waves Prod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nPGUdqqlY
Check out their Mediation Music and Nature Sounds playlist at https://goo.gl/9LNPRc
Episode Photo from https://www.reshot.com/
Meditation for Gratitude for the World | Feel the power of the interconnectedness of our universe
My favorite part of meditation is the immensity of awareness that can be found through contemplating the elegance of the breath. Join me in finding enormous gratitude and other awe-inspiring emotions in this meditation.
Music by WorldMusicLabs For 7Waves Prod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nPGUdqqlY
Check out their Mediation Music and Nature Sounds playlist at https://goo.gl/9LNPRc
Meditation for Dealing with Distractions
It is human nature to become distracted and our awareness can seem out of our control. This meditation helps you to be aware of distractions and to learn to be patient and sit with your distractions. Is it possible for distractions to make you more focused? This meditation explores this possibility.
10 Minute Meditation for When You Are Stressed
We all feel stress, anxiety, and overwhelming sensations at times. This quick 10 minute meditation will help you to manage and sit with your stress and learn to be at peace with it.
Music by WorldMusicLabs For 7Waves Prod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nPGUdqqlY
Check out their Mediation Music and Nature Sounds playlist at https://goo.gl/9LNPRc
Where is our Awareness?
During our normal day-to-day experience it's easy to get caught up in the world around us. This meditation asks you to explore where your awareness is.
Music by WorldMusicLabs For 7Waves Prod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nPGUdqqlY
Check out their Mediation Music and Nature Sounds playlist at https://goo.gl/9LNPRc
Visualizing Harmony | Meditation to visualize the space of awareness
It is often hard to grasp the entirety of the space of awareness. This can lead to our thoughts and emotions taking up space without us even realizing. This meditation helps you visualize the whole of your awareness through imagining a place of calm and harmonizing it with your breath.
Music by WorldMusicLabs For 7Waves Prod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nPGUdqqlY
Check out their Mediation Music and Nature Sounds playlist at https://goo.gl/9LNPRc
Absolving Yourself of Ego | a meditation to explore our self-centered nature
We can often feel like the world is on our shoulders or that we are responsible for everything that has happened to us. This meditation focuses on your breath to explore our own egos and determine what we are in control of.
Music by WorldMusicLabs For 7Waves Prod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nPGUdqqlY
Check out their Mediation Music and Nature Sounds playlist at https://goo.gl/9LNPRc
Greeting All as Your Friend | Meditation for feeling in harmony with the world
We have the oppurtunity in each moment to greet our hopes, fears, desires, and sensations. This meditation helps you see these as friends and welcome them into your life.
Music by WorldMusicLabs For 7Waves Prod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nPGUdqqlY
Check out their Mediation Music and Nature Sounds playlist at https://goo.gl/9LNPRc
Examining Sensation | a meditation for feeling
As we grow, we learn about the material facts of sensations. This can often block our mind from truly engaging with the sensation itself and feeling it as we experience it. This meditation will help you examine your feelings and sensations to experience them more fully.
Music by WorldMusicLabs For 7Waves Prod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nPGUdqqlY
Check out their Mediation Music and Nature Sounds playlist at https://goo.gl/9LNPRc
How Long is your Breath | Meditation for when you are impatient
Often we are impatient or anxious and time gets distorted. The seconds pass like minutes or the hours fly away like seconds. Sitting with your breath and experiencing time as the passing of your breath can give you a more real grasp on the passage of time and allow to better move into the moment of now.
Music by WorldMusicLabs For 7Waves Prod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nPGUdqqlY
Check out their Mediation Music and Nature Sounds playlist at https://goo.gl/9LNPRc
Living Breath to Breath | Meditation for living in the moment
Every moment of our lives we are breathing. Join me in breathing and living breath to breath in today's meditation.
Music by WorldMusicLabs For 7Waves Prod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nPGUdqqlY
Check out their Mediation Music and Nature Sounds playlist at https://goo.gl/9LNPRc
Meditation for When You're Feeling Existential After Midnight
Meditating throughout your day
Daily meditation 10-06-2020
The Space of Awareness | Daily Meditation
Daily Meditation 9/27/2020
Daily meditation 9/25/2020
Daily meditation - 9/24/2020
Quick Anxiety Relief Practice | racing thoughts, stress, overwhelming sensation relief practice through greeting, sitting, and allowing
Often when we are anxious, overwhelmed, stressed, or fraught with racing thoughts; we may find ourselves stuck. If we feel we are unable to leave, these negative feelings can overstay their welcome. This practice helps you greet these feelings without self-judgment, sit with them without harm, and allow them to leave you in peace and freedom. This 9 minute exercise should be practiced and repeated to help train your mind to deal with anxious and overwhelming thoughts as they appear throughout your life. This is not a quick fix, and should not be used as such. Doing this once or twice will at best have minor results. With continued practice, this exercise has brought me peace, freedom, and control over the time I spend with my anxiety.
Relieving Negative Feelings | replace stress, anger, depression, and other negative emotions with freedom from suffering
Negative emotions will arise in our minds and bodies and can cause us suffering. Often we continue to focus and give attention to this emotion, or we add self-judgement on top of it. This only feeds the fire of suffering that is burning in our awareness. In this meditation, allow yourself to sit near the fire without it consuming you. Allow yourself to snuff it out and feel the cool space of peace and freedom from suffering.
Unity Through Breath | how to feel the world breath
Every living organism breathes from the same air. Allow yourself to fully experience the unity held in this simple truth. This meditation explores how breath units the planet and that we are all breathing together as one being.
Feeling the Desire for Peace | How to feel peace, joy, and freedom for the world
It is easy to say you want peace, or that you love another. But what does this feeling actually entail? The meditation guides you to examine how you feel about your own peace, along with that of your friends and enemies. It asks you to explore the peace, joy, and freedom you feel and to extend it out to the rest of the world.
Where Thoughts Happen | Experiencing the reality of your mind
Everything we experience passes through our mind. The world we see and interact with exists in two places: outside and inside. This meditation guides your attention to find the place where thoughts and sensations take place.
Feeling Raw Sensations | allowing the purity of sensory input to be revealed
To function in society, we need language, customs, rituals, and systems to allow us to be productive. However, when we come to the space of meditation, we can allow ourselves to let go of these thoughts that overlay our direct sensations and feelings. In this space, much like a newborn who does not yet understand their surroundings, we can truly feel and experience raw sensations without letting them become attached to ourselves.
If you’d like to support the peace project, have questions about meditation, or would like to schedule a private mediation session, please email thepeaceprojectmediations@gmail.com.
Towards Self Practice | How to meditate without a guide
While guided meditation is a great way to learn new practices and introduce yourself to new meditation concepts; your meditation practice should be your own. This guided meditation helps you learn what to look for and how to grow in the silence of your own time spent experiencing the gifts of consciousness. Repeat this and other practices with and without the guides, and soon you will be able to meditate and gain spiritual and emotional insights of your own.
Universal perspective | Relieve anxiety, stress, and depression by focusing on the universe
This quick meditation will help expand your awareness to the universe and out of your day to day perspective. Often we can let fears and pressure of failure to hold us back from living true to ourselves. Focusing on the epic size and lifespan of the universe can allow you to break through these barriers to realize that your life is truly yours to live as you want.
Inspired by Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Cosmic Perspective.
Relieving Negativity by Focusing on Humanity | Stress, Anxiety, and Depression meditation
Often our stress, anxiety, and depression can come from a misunderstanding of our place in the world. We can feel grave responsibility, impending doom, or insignificance when we are overwhelmed by the pressing concerns of our world or it's vast size and complexity. This meditation will help you find exhilaration and freedom in these awe inspiring feelings.
Self Guided 20 Minute Meditation | Meditate by yourself with music and check ins
If you have trouble with guided meditations or want to explore your personal meditation journey, this is a meditation for you. After a brief intro, this meditations gives you 20 minutes of music to meditate by yourself with a guide.
Thought Clearing Meditation | A quick practice for clearing racing thoughts and overwhelming sensations
Racing thoughts can distract us from being in the moment and even hold us in negative patterns or unable to make choices. This meditation practice can help you clear racing thoughts or overwhelming feelings by focusing on one thought or aspect of the feeling and noticing where the others go as you focus.
Do it once for a quick refresh or repeat it multiple time to relax when you're feeling really overwhelmed.
If you're having harmful thoughts or feeling in danger for yourself or someone else, please contact The National Suicide Help Line 1-800-273-8255 or the National Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Helpline 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for referral to a specialist near you. Or search online for "mental health help now" to get sources for immediate help specific to your location.
5 Minute Meditation - Self Love Booster | Recognize the love and care you deserve in each moment
If you're feeling down and need a pick up, this quick meditation will help you focus your mind on the love and care you deserve instead of the negativity you may be experiencing. Once your mind is focused on love, you will be in a better headspace to deal with whatever is upsetting you or stressing you out.
Finding Peace | discovering inner peace and spreading it to the world
Have you ever asked yourself "what is peace?"
In this meditation, Dave guides you to find and discover inner peace and practices fostering it in your daily life. This meditation will help you learn what peace feels like and how you can discover and grow in peace every day.
5 Minute Distraction Relief Meditation | Increase your focus by accepting and acknowledging distractions
Throughout life it is inevitable that we will lose focus on our goals. By taking time to focus and acknowledge this truth, we can prepare for and better accept distraction when it finds us. This quick meditation will give you insight and peace when you are upset over being distracted.
Meditation to Slow Time | Manage anxiety and stress through focusing on the passage of time
Self Love and Gratitude Meditation | Learn to love your body and share that love with others
Self Guided 30 Minute Meditation | Meditation without guide
Learn to meditate by practicing your own meditation. Use this space of thirty minutes (with check ins every ten minutes) to guide yourself on a meditation. This can be used for any sort of meditation, relaxation, stress relief, or other exercise that lasts thirty minutes.
Selflessness Meditation | Looking at the Bigger Picture and Separating Yourself from the moment.
Today's meditation focuses on selflessness and realizing your place in the universe. Often we can feel like the world is out to get us, or that bad luck is controlling our lives. When you step outside of yourself and look at the bigger picture, these stresses can often be relieved.
5 Minute Breath Awareness Meditation | Slow down your mind and racing thoughts
The Rhythms of Nature | Outdoor Meditation
Self Love and Compassion Quick Meditation / Empathy and Compassion for the Stranger Full Meditation
Today's 5 minute meditation focuses on self love and compassion. Relieve yourself of negative thought patterns by focusing on the whole picture of you.
Our full meditation focuses on having empathy and compassion for people you do not know by recognizing that all humans deserve the same dignity and respect for our one and only human bodies.
Thank you for listening. I'll be hosting a meditation class in Logan Square Chicago in the coming months. Stay tuned for more information.
Anger Relief / Beach Visualization
Our Quick Meditation today will help you find relief in situations where you find yourself getting angry, overly stressed, or frustrated.
Today's meditation is a beach visualization that will help you learn to separate your conscious mind from unconscious experience and raw sensory input.
Thank you and let me know what you think of the new format with a review or by emailing thepeaceprojectmeditations@gmail.com
Visualizing 11 Dimensions | A Creative Visual and Mind Expanding Exercise based on Simple Geometry
Today's podcast is not a meditation. This is instead a walk through of visualizing what higher dimensions may look like. This is a creative visual exercise conceived by Rob Bryanton. This is not meant to be taken as science fact or to be an explanation of our universe. It is merely a way to imagine what is outside of our normal 4-dimensional (3 space, 1 time) reality.
If you enjoy this thought experiment, you can find more in depth exploration at
Overcoming Obsessive Thoughts and Negative Thought Patterns | Using Simple Rational Acts to Find Peace
Today’s meditation is about using simple truths and rational actions to overcome obsessive thoughts and/or negative thought patterns. Our minds are constantly seeking stasis in a harsh world and many times our negative racing thoughts are simply this act of finding a balance expressed through a mental illness. If you can accept this and see through the pattern to a concrete rational action that will bring you stasis, hope, and/or joy; you can find peace and break through the obsessive negative thoughts.
If you're feeling in danger for yourself or someone else, please contact The National Suicide Help Line 1-800-273-8255 or the National Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Helpline 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for referral to a specialist near you. Or search online for "mental health help now" to get sources for immediate help specific to your location.
5 Minute Anxiety Relief Meditation
If you're feeling anxious, it can be a combination of overwhelming physical sensations and fearful thoughts. In this quick meditation, Dave helps you to slow down your anxiety and begin to separate the sensations from the negativity attached to them.
If you're feeling in danger for yourself or someone else, please contact The National Suicide Help Line 1-800-273-8255 or the National Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Helpline 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for referral to a specialist near you.
Zen Counting Breaths | Learn to relax and focus your mind
This is a brief introduction to the Zen style of meditation known as counting breaths. This is an extremely simple meditation technique practiced for centuries will help you relieve stress, focus your mind, and center your awareness.
5 Minute Stress Relief Through Breathing | Learn to relax through a simple and effective breathing exercise
Dave walks you through a proven stress relief breathing technique 8,4,7. When you are stressed, breathing in for 8 counts (as much you can) holding your breath for 4 counts, and then exhaling for 7 counts (as much as you can). Practicing this breathing pattern will help increase oxygen levels in your body and slow speeding thought patterns.
Processing Grief | Allowing yourself to feel grief, trauma, and sadness while maintaining an anchor
Life brings grief, trauma, and sadness. Whether it's the loss of a loved one, life not working out the way you expected, or something else, this meditation will help you give space to feel your grief and then move on from it to get through your day. If you're feeling really down or an overwhelming sense of malaise, talk to a friend or seek counseling. If you are in a place of grief that feels dangerous to you or others, please contact the national suicide hotline. They can be reached at 1-800-273-8255. You can also find more specific hotlines for non-suicidal grief at https://griefresourcenetwork.com/crisis-center/hotlines/
Dealing with External Distractions 1 | Outdoor Meditation
A guided meditation to help you focus on your experience even in a noisy environment. This was originally going to be a nature meditation; however, the park was busier and louder than usual. I took this as an opportunity to focus on dealing with distractions during meditations and in everyday life.
Self Love and Compassion Meditation | Focus your love and compassion where it is lacking
Learn to focus your love and compassion on those who need it or on your self.
5 Minute Stress Relief Meditation | Quickly release stress or overwhelming anxiety
If you're feeling stressed this quick meditation will help calm your mind and anchor you to world.
Silence and Stillness 1 | Learn to enjoy and find peace in silence
Do you have trouble sitting in silence? Find yourself always needing background noise? This meditation will help you learn to appreciate the world around you and quiet your mind to listen.
Sleep Meditation 2 | Learn to eliminate distractions and fall asleep faster
Ever have something (a ticking clock, noise from an outside room, a pet, etc) keeping you awake at night? This meditation focuses on learning to be at peace with distractions and annoyances and allowing them to lead you to a restful and restorative night's sleep.
Visual Meditation 1 | Meditation on sight and the visual field
We see every day, but do we take the time to examine and truly experience all our visual sensation has to offer? Take 15 minutes to meditate and explore your vision.
Music used
Aurora by Jonny Easton
Link: https://youtu.be/Ct44WnxlPC0
Check out his channel
Gratitude Meditation 1 | Feel grateful for life and foster hope
This meditation explores feeling gratitude for the basic facts of life. Gratitude is an emotional sensation of feeling grateful. More of it in your life can help you feel better, happier, and more satisfied with your life.
Meditation on Time 1
A meditation focused on time and breathing.
Music used
Aurora by Jonny Easton
Link: https://youtu.be/Ct44WnxlPC0
Check out his channel
Sleep Meditation 1 | Fall asleep faster
A quick sleep meditation to listen to before bed to help you drift off to a pleasant and relaxing dream.
Breath Awareness Meditation
A meditation centered on becoming aware of your breathing. Cultivate inner peace through meditation with The Peace Project.
Episode 1 - Basic Breath Meditation
Get in a comfortable place and focus on your breath in this meditation