The Value of Mindfulness Practice: 13 Quotes from Women Leading the Movement

Published on December 2, 2024 by Amber Tucker, Ava Whitney-Coulter, and Siri Myhrom

Earlier this year, the Mindful editorial team had the pleasure of interviewing 10 women who are at the forefront of the mindfulness movement. These women are dedicated to making the world a kinder and more connected place. Despite our best efforts to condense their wisdom into short profiles, we found that there was so much valuable insight that we couldn’t include in the initial feature. Here, we share some of the inspiring quotes about mindfulness that didn’t make it into the article but are worth highlighting.

13 Quotes About Mindfulness and Meditation

1. 1. “I think the absolute superpower of mindfulness is that it’s always available. We can find mindfulness in any moment. We don’t need any equipment.” – Vidyamala Burch
2. 2. “If you put 50 different brains together in a circle and you look at all of them, they’re all going to be completely different. They’re all going to be thinking and perceiving their environment in individual and unique ways. And they’re all perfect exactly as they are. Same with mindfulness: Every single person who sits down to meditate is doing so through the fabric of their wiring and their brain structure, so it’s going to be different for every single solitary person.” – Sue Hutton
3. 3. “Mindfulness doesn’t have to be all serious, something we only do when we’re stuck or when there’s suffering. We can even play with mindfulness. When we are having a good time, a good conversation, in the good moments when everything is going well for us, we tend to forget about mindfulness.” – Shalini Bahl
4. 4. “What I understand, through my practice, is that we all get the journeys we’re meant to have.” – Nanea Reeves
5. 5. “As a pastor, I believe in this process of mindfulness meditation. You have to own your own space, and so it’s not one-size-fits-all. Everybody approaches it differently. Nevertheless, it’s still mindfulness. It’s still meditation, it’s still tuning in, and it’s still allowing yourself to be present with yourself in the moment. You’re not in control of externals, but you do own the process, your own reckoning, your body structure and system.” – Brenda K. Mitchell
6. 6. “The power of contemplative practice is that it makes us observe what we are bringing, and then question that. Not falling to the inflation of, like, ‘All of what we do is right,’ but rather like, ‘Wait a second, is this truly helpful?’ And if not, what needs to change?” – Yuria Celidwen
7. 7. “Be present. Let go of clinging. Release into flow and love. Breathe in, breathe out. And that’s kind of it, really.” – Vidyamala Burch
8. 8. “When we are disconnected from the humanity of ourselves, we behave in ways that are less humane, and that paves the way to see others not in their humanity.” – Shelly Harrell
9. 9. “The more we can bathe ourselves in self-compassion and realize we’re okay exactly as we are, then we can build that strength, and that gives us a little bit more of a foundation to handle the tough stuff.” – Sue Hutton
10. 10. “Just by sitting in the moment to connect to our breath, to try to shift our mindset to just being grateful for the gift of life—which, you know, a breathing practice will definitely connect you to—even if I don’t feel good about who I am in the world in that moment, the fact that I’m taking that time to approach self-care is an act of self-love.” – Nanea Reeves
11. 11. “What we long for is our very being. We are what we’ve been striving after. Who we truly are, what we truly are, has been calling us home. It’s possible, then, to rest in who you are rather than trying to become who you think you should be. So if you meditate to be a better person or to be more compassionate, you’ll always be busy trying to be a better person or trying to be more compassionate. But if you practice mindfulness because you’re just in love with resting in your own luminous, infinite being, you’ll always be in love.” – Caverly Morgan
12. 12. “Clearly, within mindfulness, if we really look at the teachings more deeply, interconnectedness is core, but a lot of the teaching front-facing is how it can help you with stress and be more happy and be more individually not attached to the world in some way…There’s a different vibe you can feel when you’re in spaces that are emphasizing things like detachment and bliss.” – Shelly Harrell
13. 13. “What we call pain is a mixture of all those factors: sensations, resistance, resentment, breath holding, tension, stress, anxiety, fear, all that. And what we can do with mindfulness is we can interrupt that cascade.” – Vidyamala Burch

To delve deeper into the wisdom shared by these remarkable women, check out the full feature article here. You can also explore guided meditations led by these women to enhance your mindfulness practice.