| Meditative Story | |
| Host: | Rohan Gunatillake |
| Began: | July 2019 |
| Genre: | Meditation / Society & Culture |
| Provider: | WaitWhat |
| Language: | English |
| Updates: | Weekly |
| Num Seasons: | 6 (as of August 9, 2023) |
| Num Episodes: | 100+ |
Meditative Story is a podcast that combines first-person storytelling, mindfulness prompts and original cinematic music, to create a unique listening experience.[1] [2] [3] It is owned and produced by WaitWhat, the media company founded and led by former TED executives, Deron Triff and June Cohen. The first three seasons were created in partnership with Thrive Global, a behavior change technology company led by Arianna Huffington and Dan Katz. Variety describes Meditative Story as “part first-person narrative podcast and part guided meditation.” [4] The podcast is hosted by Rohan Gunatillake and has featured guests such as On Being’s Krista Tippett, A Slight Change of Plans’ Maya Shankar, travel writer Pico Iyer, Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Jason Mraz, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, journalist and amateur boxer Thomas Page McBee, award-winning writer Isabel Allende, comedian Tig Notaro, Grammy award-winning composer and musician Terence Blanchard, actor Randall Park, musician and Leinster Rugby player Niall Breslin, NASA astronomer Michelle Thaller, Peloton exercise instructor Robin Arzón, and MOMA curator Paola Antonelli, among others.[5]
The idea for Meditative Story originated with the show's executive producer Deron Triff, who told Forbes “[We're] big believers in storytelling as a vehicle to transform people’s lives... We wanted to blend the storytelling experience with tools and strategies for mindfulness and wellness. Our first call went to Arianna and her team, and we embarked on this venture together." Huffington described the series as “a response to a deep cultural need in our hyper sped up world to have a moment to recharge."
The first episode of Meditative Story, featuring author and surgeon Lucy Kalanithi, aired on July 29, 2019.
In 2021, the team behind Meditative Story launched a spinoff audio series, Meditative Story: Sleep Song, which is available in the Meditative Story podcast feed.
In 2022, the show was distributed by public media organization PRX's Dovetail publishing platform; PRX also provided sponsorship and promotional support.[6]
In each classic episode of Meditative Story a different guest narrates a personal story about a time and place where everything changed for them. All of the stories reflect on a broad theme, like friendship, discovery or loss. The stories are scored with original music, and punctuated by mindfullness prompts from the host Rohan Gunatillake, who also ends each episode with a guided meditation.[7]
The brief mindfulness prompts, which are inserted directly into the narrative, invite listeners to observe and reflect on the details of the scenes and moments the storyteller is describing. And the original sound design for each episode is composed to complement the storyteller’s narrative.
There are also meditation episodes which solely feature host Rohan Gunatillake, who walks listeners through a meditation centered on a specific theme, topic or event.
Meditative Story: Sleep Song was created as a “dream score” - a bedtime experience born out of the positive feedback from listeners about the original music composed for the podcast. The immersive melodies from each Meditative Story episode are used to create these custom music-only soundtracks, which are available on the Meditative Story podcast feed.
| 1 | Lucy Kalanithi | Learning to see things as they are | 7/30/2019 | |
| 2 | A home that had been waiting for me forever | 8/2/2019 | ||
| 3 | Life and love and the moment | 8/6/2019 | ||
| 4 | Larry Jackson | To visualize ... and then make it so | 8/13/2019 | |
| 5 | Finding meaning in the vastness of the universe | 8/20/2019 | ||
| 6 | Building a bond with my son | 8/27/2019 | ||
| 7 | Thomas Page McBee | Fighting my fears – and winning in spite of losing | 9/3/2019 | |
| 8 | What we discover when we're not looking | 9/10/2019 | ||
| 9 | John Moore | The perfect photograph I never took | 9/17/2019 | |
| 10 | How to find – and feed – your passion | 9/24/2019 | ||
| 11 | Finding my own reflection | 10/1/2019 | ||
| 12 | Hitting the open road to find my way home | 10/8/2019 | ||
| 13 | Finding permission to pursue my own dreams | 10/15/2019 | ||
| 14 | Zenju Earthlyn Manuel | Navigating life in my own skin | 10/22/2019 | |
| 15 | Hannah Brencher | One envelope at a time | 10/29/2019 | |
| 16 | Allowing sound to reveal life’s wonder | 11/5/2019 | ||
| 17 | Surrendering my old identity — and finding myself | 11/14/2019 | ||
| 18 | Keith Yamashita | Starting the story of my life again | 11/19/2019 | |
| 19 | Standing in my own truth | 11/26/2019 | ||
| 20 | Learning to see what is in front of me | 12/3/2019 | ||
| 21 | Susan David | Creating space to stand in truth | 12/10/2019 | |
| 22 | Acting as if you are bold | 12/17/2019 | ||
| 23 | Finding a way in | 1/7/2020 | ||
| 24 | Through friendship, a better version of myself | 1/13/2020 | ||
| 25 | Making humanity appear, magically | 1/20/2020 | ||
| 26 | Riding waves | 1/27/2020 |
| 27 | Learn to see the layers in everyone | 3/2/2020 | ||
| 28 | Stories my father told me | 3/10/2020 | ||
| 29 | Adapting to life's unexpected nature | 3/17/2020 | ||
| 30 | Trust the world to show its goodness | 4/4/2020 | ||
| 31 | Loving our living world | 4/14/2020 | ||
| 32 | Jule Hall | Changing the soundtrack of our lives | 4/22/2020 | |
| 33 | When words fail | 4/28/2020 | ||
| 34 | Lehua Kamalu | Tracking the path of the sun | 5/13/2020 | |
| 35 | Listening to the space around you | 5/20/2020 | ||
| 36 | Giving birth to a wiser self | 5/27/2020 | ||
| 37 | It's ok to be wrong | 6/10/2020 | ||
| 38 | Judith Grisel | A more spacious response to life | 6/17/2020 | |
| 39 | Finding unity, through our differences | 6/24/2020 | ||
| 40 | Creating my own sanctuary | 7/8/2020 | ||
| 41 | Where the water takes me | 7/15/2020 | ||
| 42 | What my father gave me | 7/22/2020 | ||
| 43 | Wajahat Ali | Have faith, but tie your camel first | 7/29/2020 | |
| 44 | Lang Lang: The teacher who asked a new question | 8/19/2020 | ||
| 45 | That thing I'm missing is what makes me happy | 9/2/2020 | ||
| 46 | Lean into your uniqueness | 9/9/2020 | ||
| 47 | A cowboy’s rules for living | 9/16/2020 | ||
| 48 | Ghuan Featherstone | Discovering the path to honor | 9/23/2020 | |
| 49 | Showing up is never an end in itself | 10/7/2020 | ||
| 50 | I'm not just observing the winds, I'm riding them | 10/14/2020 |
| 51 | What's most vital is right in front of me | 12/9/2020 | ||
| 52 | Home will be with me wherever I go | 12/16/2020 | ||
| 53 | Nothing beats a failure but a try | 12/23/2020 | ||
| 54 | I couldn't have done it a fingernail better | 1/6/2021 | ||
| 55 | Jai Punjabi | Twenty-one meals with my family, in seven days | 1/14/2021 | |
| 56 | The stuff I'm here to study: Life on life on life | 1/20/2021 | ||
| 57 | Some lessons take years to sink in | 1/27/2021 | ||
| 58 | Getting out of my own head | 2/10/2021 | ||
| 59 | Finding happiness amid the ordinary collisions of life | 2/17/2021 | ||
| 60 | The fear never goes away. But it can be tamed. | 2/24/2021 | ||
| 61 | Designing your space in the world | 3/10/2021 | ||
| 62 | To chase the sunset | 3/24/2021 | ||
| 63 | Writing the main character | 4/2/2021 | ||
| 64 | Do great things – and take your flowers | 4/8/2021 | ||
| 65 | Having the courage to create | 4/15/2021 | ||
| 66 | We become the places we love | 4/22/2021 | ||
| 67 | Getting unstuck, reframing the question | 5/6/2021 | ||
| 68 | Tony Tjan | Learning resilience from earth's edge | 5/13/2021 | |
| 69 | Scott Nicholson | Alright after a fateful night | 5/19/2021 | |
| 70 | Music, memory, moments | 5/27/2021 | ||
| 71 | Tri Robinson | To walk the Earth | 6/2/2021 | |
| 72 | The accounting of this parenting business | 6/17/2021 | ||
| 73 | What holds the world together | 6/24/2021 | ||
| 74 | Wayne Little | A nurse's story | 6/30/2021 |
| 75 | Appreciating life's random miracles | 8/18/2021 | ||
| 76 | My monkey teacher | 8/25/2021 | ||
| 77 | Derailed by beauty | 9/1/2021 | ||
| 78 | Do big things one step at a time | 9/8/2021 | ||
| 79 | The Hollywood version doesn't go like this | 9/15/2021 | ||
| 80 | It doesn't have to be this hard | 9/22/2021 | ||
| 81 | Russ Ellis | The call of the life that wasn't | 9/29/2021 | |
| 82 | Living into my true self | 10/4/2021 | ||
| 83 | Learning to love my long-distance dad | 10/6/2021 | ||
| 84 | How the bees saved me | 10/13/2021 | ||
| 85 | Rev. Monique Ortiz | The heart comes out at night | 10/28/2021 | |
| 86 | My roads diverging | 11/3/2021 | ||
| 87 | Meredith Arthur | Ignoring inner me | 11/12/2021 | |
| 88 | Finding her to find me | 12/1/2021 | ||
| 89 | Austin Mao | Peeling back these layers of my inner truth | 12/14/2021 | |
| 90 | Who is leading who? | 12/23/2021 | ||
| 91 | From dark times come new discoveries | 1/5/2022 | ||
| 92 | Gracia Maria | Magic is a serious business | 1/28/2022 | |
| 93 | The human truth underneath our armor | 2/3/2022 |
| 94 | I take a breath. I buy myself a moment. | 3/9/2022 | ||
| 95 | Experiencing the world through my senses | 3/16/2022 | ||
| 96 | Trusting love’s infinite possibilities | 3/23/2022 | ||
| 97 | Celebrating a life beyond the score | 3/30/2022 | ||
| 98 | Discover the power of self-compassion | 4/6/2022 | ||
| 99 | Kristin Windbigler | We're doing this thing together | 4/22/2022 | |
| 100 | Chad Sanders | Finding my flow state | 4/28/2022 | |
| 101 | The magic that ripples out when we share our passions with others | 5/12/2022 | ||
| 102 | Forging my own path | 5/19/2022 | ||
| 103 | Dallas Taylor | I focus on sensations that ground me | 5/28/2022 | |
| 104 | Gordana Biernat | A funny rush of surprise | 6/8/2022 | |
| 105 | How I found kindness as my compass | 6/24/2022 | ||
| 106 | Giving myself permission to create | 6/30/2022 | ||
| 107 | The joy of being an unwilling traveler through life | 7/14/2022 | ||
| 108 | Belonging can be found far from home | 7/23/2022 | ||
| 109 | Steven Ho | The magic beyond our boundaries | 7/29/2022 | |
| 110 | What deep listening unlocks for me | 8/19/2022 | ||
| 111 | My battle as a beginner opens up a world of wonder | 8/26/2022 | ||
| 112 | To be seen on my own terms | 9/1/2022 | ||
| 113 | Racing toward passion and away from fear | 9/8/2022 | ||
| 114 | My year of play | 9/15/2022 | ||
| 115 | On board with my dad | 9/22/2022 | ||
| 116 | My grandfather the Aikido master | 9/29/2022 | ||
| 117 | Shani Tran | Mud, sweat, and tears | 10/13/2022 | |
| 118 | My side hustle to a better life | 11/3/2022 | ||
| 119 | Alex Morris | Dancing on my own | 11/10/2022 |
| 120 | Case Kenny | Notes to self | 11/17/2022 | |
| 121 | The last laugh | 12/1/2022 | ||
| 122 | The beetle and the whale | 12/8/2022 | ||
| 123 | When the sharks start to circle | 12/22/2022 | ||
| 124 | Changing the game | 1/5/2023 | ||
| 125 | To swim in a sea of stars | 1/12/2023 | ||
| 126 | Finding magic in the quiet moments | 1/26/2023 | ||
| 127 | Hannah Cross | The power of a simple loving presence | 2/9/2023 | |
| 128 | Making adjustments in free fall | 2/16/2023 | ||
| 129 | From great loss, a great freedom | 3/2/2023 | ||
| 130 | Finding possibility in life’s forced pauses | 3/9/2023 | ||
| 131 | Together, we move from fear to hope | 3/23/2023 | ||
| 132 | Zuri Adele | How I connect to my unique place in history | 3/30/2023 | |
| 133 | Reducing anxiety 24 hours at a time | 4/6/2023 | ||
| 134 | The secret to aging well | 4/18/2023 | ||
| 135 | There’s beauty in breaking the rules | 5/3/2023 | ||
| 136 | Reaching our full potential is not a solo act | 5/9/2023 | ||
| 137 | Learning to heal by learning to feel | 5/16/2023 | ||
| 138 | There’s more than one way to get there | 5/23/2023 | ||
| 139 | Embracing everything life has to offer | 6/6/2023 | ||
| 140 | Finding the energy we need, all around us | 6/13/2023 | ||
| 141 | Speaking without words | 6/20/2023 | ||
| 142 | Letting go of the need to do it all | 7/5/2023 | ||
| 143 | Seeing the potential in others and ourselves | 7/11/2023 | ||
| 144 | Leila Day | Learning to share our honest, imperfect stories | 7/20/2023 | |
| 144 | Finding your voice when you need it the most | 8/8/2023 |
| 145 | Eddie Huang | There’s nobody like you | 8/15/2023 |
| 146 | Rohan Gunatillake | The spaces that give our lives meaning | 8/17/2023 |
| 147 | Kathryn Nicolai | Asking for what we need | 8/22/2023 |
| 148 | Rohan Gunatillake | Getting curious about how we learn | 8/24/2023 |
| 149 | Andrea Gibson | Let your body be the guide | 8/29/2023 |
| 150 | Adam Grant | Practice taming your fear | 9/5/2023 |
| 151 | Tamron Hall | Give yourself permission to believe | 9/12/2023 |
| 152 | Martha Beck | Letting our hearts take the lead | 9/19/2023 |
| 153 | Jessamyn Stanley | You are enough, messiness and all | 9/26/2023 |
| 154 | Rohan Gunatillake | Calming the mind and body for sleep | 9/28/2023 |
| 155 | Joseph Goldstein | It's ok not to know | 10/3/2023 |
| 156 | Carla Hall | The power of play | 10/10/2023 |
| 157 | Rohan Gunatillake | Embrace a life full of possibility | 10/17/2023 |
| 158 | Indy Officinalis | How the natural world connects us all | 10/19/2023 |
| 159 | Louie Schwartzberg | Cherishing every moment in time | 10/25/2023 |
| 160 | Rohan Gunatillake | A trick for finding warmth and comfort | 10/30/2023 |
| 161 | Mirna Valerio | The strength we seek is all around us | 11/7/2023 |
| 162 | Rohan Gunatillake | Small acts of kindness for ourselves and others | 11/9/2023 |
| 163 | Kim Fields | Rewrite your inner monologue | 11/14/2023 |
| 164 | Diana Nyad | Giving life everything we’ve got | 11/21/2023 |
| 165 | What kindness means to us | - | 11/28/2023 |
| 166 | Suneel Gupta | Embrace every part of yourself | 12/5/2023 |
| 167 | Matthieu Ricard | Let the symphony of life unfold all around you | 12/12/2023 |
| 168 | Rohan Gunatillake | Feeling safe, sound, and at peace while you travel | 12/14/2023 | |
| 169 | Rohan Gunatillake | New beginnings, endless possibilities | 12/28/2023 | |
| 170 | Jon Foreman | Creative potential is everywhere | 1/9/2024 | |
| 171 | Dr. Kwane Stewart | Rediscover the roots of your joy | 1/16/2024 |
Meditative Story has received strong praise from Variety, Forbes, Wired, The Today Show, CBC Radio[8] and others. Forbes describes it as "a completely new kind of listening experience that blends intimate first-person stories with mindfulness prompts, enveloped in beautiful music composition.” It was named one of the Top Podcasts of 2019 by Canada's CBC Radio
| Webby | 2024 | Best Original Music Score / Sound Design | Ep: "From great loss, a great freedom" by Isabel Allende | Won | [9] |
| Webby | 2024 | Best Featured Guest | Ep: "From great loss, a great freedom" by Isabel Allende | Honoree | |
| Webby | 2023 | Best Episode, Health & Wellness | [10] | ||
| Best Individual Episode | Honoree | ||||
| Best Episode, Health, Wellness, and Lifestyle | [11] | ||||
| Best Episode, Lifestyle | Honoree | [12] | |||
| Signal | Best Bedtime Podcast | Ep: "Finding My Flow State", by Chad Sanders | |||
| Best Driveway Moment Podcast | |||||
| Best Health & Wellness Podcast | Meditative Story: Learning to heal by learning to feel, By Niall Breslin | [13] | |||
| Best Self-Improvement & Self-Help Podcast | From great loss, a great freedom by Isabel Allende | [14] | |||
| 2022 | Best Individual Episode: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | [15] | |||
| Best Individual Episode: Religion & Spirituality | Sharon Salzberg: How I Found Kindness as My Compass | [16] | |||
| Best Commute Podcast | Robert Reich: The Accounting of This Parenting Business | [17] | |||
| Best Individual Episode: Health & Wellness | I Focus on Sensations That Ground Me, by Dallas Taylor | [18] | |||
| Most Inspirational Podcast | Meditative Story | ||||
| Most Innovative Audio Experience | |||||
| Best Religion & Spirituality Podcast | [19] | ||||
| Best Episode, Health and Wellness | Ep: "Finding My Flow State", by Chad Sanders | [20] | |||
| Webby | Best Episode in Television and Film | [21] | |||
| Best Episode in Health & Wellness | |||||
| Best Individual Episode | Honoree | [22] | |||
| Best Health, Wellness & Lifestyle Podcast | Robin Arzón on Meditative Story: Even a superhero starts with small steps | Honoree | [23] | ||
| Best Individual Episode - Television & Film | Meditative Story | ||||
| Ambie | Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast | [24] | |||
| 2021 | Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast | [25] | |||
| Webby | Best Health, Wellness & Lifestyle Podcast | Honoree | [26] | ||
| Best Individual Episode, Arts and Culture | Honoree | Cite | |||
| Best Individual Episode, DEI | Ep: "Discovering the path to honor" by Ghuan Featherstone | Honoree | Cite | ||
| Best Arts & Culture Podcast | Pastor Otis Moss | Honoree | [27] | ||
| 2020 | Best Health, Wellness, & Lifestyle podcast | Meditative Story | Honoree | [28] |