Equanimity Meditation for Balance and Rest with Margaret Cullen #218Equanimity Meditation for Balance and Rest with Margaret Cullen #218
A Skeptic's Path to Enlightenment
Margaret Cullen guides a structured equanimity meditation using breath, reflection, and phrases to foster balance, acceptance, and care for self, loved ones, and all beings. The session highlights personal responsibility for happiness while keeping the heart open and kind.
15:17•31 Mar 2026
Equanimity for a Rested Heart with Margaret Cullen
Episode Overview
- Use simple breath awareness and the natural pause between breaths to touch a sense of inner balance.
- Repeat grounding phrases such as "Things are just as they are" and "All things are impermanent" to relate more calmly to difficulties.
- Recognise that each person’s happiness and suffering depend largely on their own thoughts, actions, and circumstances.
- Hold loved ones with care while accepting "I will care for you, but I can’t keep you from suffering."
- Extend wishes such as "May all beings flourish" to widen equanimity and goodwill beyond yourself and those closest to you.
“Equanimity practice recognises this reality without forsaking any of the love that you feel.”
What happens when a meditation is designed to give your nervous system a genuine breather and your heart a bit of perspective? This session with mindfulness teacher Margaret Cullen focuses on equanimity – "the steady, balanced heart that can remain open in the midst of life’s constant change." Recorded as a guided practice, the episode gently leads you through posture, three deep diaphragmatic breaths, and then a softer, natural rhythm of breathing.
Margaret keeps things kind and down-to-earth, suggesting you bring "an attitude of patience, kindness, and even amusement to the wandering mind" rather than fighting it. You’ll be invited to notice the pauses between breaths, that "moment of perfect equipoise" that happens all by itself, and rest in this tiny, repeatable taste of balance. From there, the meditation opens into reflections on equanimity: the wish to stay open and caring without pretending you can control everything.
Phrases like "Things are just as they are. All things are impermanent. Feelings arise and pass away" are used as anchors to help you relate differently to whatever is going on in your life right now. A key part of the practice looks at relationships. Margaret reminds you that "we’re responsible for our own happiness and well-being" and that this is also true for those you love.
You’re guided to hold someone dear in mind and repeat phrases such as "I will care for you, but I can’t keep you from suffering" and "May you be happy and have access to the deepest causes of your own happiness." The session closes by widening the circle to all beings: "May all beings flourish.
May all beings live in balance and in peace." It’s a calm, structured practice for anyone drawn to Buddhist-inspired meditation, looking to rest the mind and soften the grip of worry. Could this be the pause your day has been missing?
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