How Acceptance Builds Safety and Deepens Your Mindfulness Practice

Former Buddhist monk and Mindfulness Exercises founder Sean Fargo explores what full acceptance really means in mindfulness and meditation—meeting fear, anxiety, judgment, and resistance with embodied awareness and self-compassion.

Drawing on years of teaching across prisons, hospitals, classrooms, and companies, Sean translates Buddhist psychology, trauma-sensitive mindfulness, and practical nervous system regulation into simple moves you can use today—without turning practice into performance.

Expect a grounded look at acceptance vs. resignation, how to work inside your window of tolerance, and ways to steady attention with noting and breath awareness. You’ll hear how body-based mindfulness (skin, flesh, blood, air, bone) restores safety, how to soften striving and “fixing,” and how fierce compassion supports wise action. Ideal for mindfulness teachers, therapists, coaches, and dedicated practitioners who want real tools for emotional regulation, resilience, and teaching with integrity.

✨ In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• What “acceptance” means (and what it doesn’t) in mindfulness practice • How acceptance creates space before reaction or change • Why gentle awareness and fierce compassion go hand in hand • A guided meditation on sensing the layers of the body — skin, flesh, blood, air, bone • How to bring mindfulness to worry, fear, and feelings of unsafety • Practical tools like noting practice and embodied grounding • Insights from Sean’s live Q&A on anxiety, safety, and the breath • How acceptance connects with teachings from Byron Katie and Nonviolent Communication

Chapters

00:00 – Opening reflections on the word “acceptance”

02:00 – Why we resist acceptance and what it really means

04:00 – The practice of full acceptance

07:00 – Guided Meditation about Acceptance

56:11 – Working with worry, fear, and uncertainty (Leslie’s question)

01:02:31 – Using noting and embodiment to balance thought-based worry

01:08:38 – Working with shortness of breath and striving (Jean’s question)

01:10:10 – Creative ways to connect with the breath

01:15:51 – Byron Katie’s “The Work” and fierce compassion

01:19:00 – Closing reflections

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Add your 5‑star review — this really helps others find us. Free Mindfulness Exercises: MindfulnessExercises.com 200 Guided Meditation Scripts: Scripts.MindfulnessExercises.com Certify To Teach Mindfulness: Certify.MindfulnessExercises.com Work with Sean Fargo: Sean.MindfulnessExercises.com/ Reduce Chronic Pain: Pain.MindfulnessExercises.com Email: Sean@MindfulnessExercises.com