''Meditative Story'' is a podcast that combines first-person stories with meditation prompts and original music, to create a mindfulness experience in audio.

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

describes Meditative Story as “part first-person narrative podcast and part guided meditation.” The podcast is hosted by Rohan Gunatillake and has featured stories from

Krista Tippett Krista Tippett ( née Weedman; born November 9, 1960) is an American journalist, author, and entrepreneur. She created and hosts the public radio program and podcast ''On Being''. In 2014, Tippett was awarded the National Humanities Medal by U.S. ...

(host of the radio show

On Being ''On Being'' is a podcast and a former public radio program. Hosted by Krista Tippett, it examines what it calls the "animating questions at the center of human life: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live?" Radio program and p ...

), NPR Host

Peter Sagal Peter Daniel Sagal (born January 31, 1965) is an American humorist, writer, and host of the National Public Radio game show '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' and the PBS special ''Constitution USA with Peter Sagal''. __TOC__ Early life, fami ...

, travel writer

Pico Iyer Siddharth Pico Raghavan Iyer (born 11 February 1957), known as Pico Iyer, is a British-born essayist and novelist known chiefly for his travel writing. He is the author of numerous books on crossing cultures including ''Video Night in Kathmandu ...

, restaurateur

Danny Meyer Daniel Meyer (born March 14, 1958) is a New York City restaurateur and the Founder & Executive Chairman of the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). Background and early career Meyer was born and raised in a reform Jewish family in St. Louis, M ...

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

cofounder

Reid Hoffman Reid Garrett Hoffman (born August 5, 1967) is an American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. Hoffman was the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily for prof ...

, author

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, Beautycon Media's Moj Mahdara, actor

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, actor

Catherine Reitman Catherine Marcelle Reitman (; born April 28, 1981) is a Canadian-American actress, producer, and writer. She is the creator, executive producer, writer, and star of the CBC comedy series ''Workin' Moms''. Early life Reitman was born in Los An ...

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astronomer

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and

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curator

Paola Antonelli Paola Antonelli (born 1963 in Sassari, Sardinia, Italy) is an Italian author, editor, architect, and curator. She is currently the Senior Curator of the Department of Architecture & Design as well as the Director of R&D at the Museum of Modern ...

, among others. ''Meditative Story'' is created by WaitWhat, the media company led by former TED executives Deron Triff and

June Cohen June Cohen is an American producer and entrepreneur. She is the CEO of WaitWhat, a media company she co-founded with Deron Triff. WaitWhat creates the podcasts Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman, Should This Exist?, Meditative Story, and Spark & ...

, and

Thrive Global Thrive Global is an American company that provides behavior change technology. It was founded by Arianna Huffington in August 2016. The company is based in New York City. In 2017, Thrive Global raised $30 million in a new funding round that v ...

, a behavior change company led by

Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of ''Th ...

History

The idea for ''Meditative Story'' originated with the show's executive producer Deron Triff, who told ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' “ e'rebig 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'' aired on July 29, 2019. Its first season ran through January 2020 and consisted of 26 weekly episodes,. Its second season ran from March 2020 to October 2020. From 2022, the show is distributed by public media organization PRX's Dovetail publishing platform; PRX also provides sponsorship and promotional support.

Format

Each episode of Meditative Story is narrated by a different well-known cultural figure, telling a personal story. Many of the stories center on a moment in time when everything changed for the storyteller; others reflect on a broad theme, like friendship, discovery or loss. The stories are set to original music, and punctuated by meditation prompts from the host Rohan Gunatillake, who also ends each episode with a guided meditation.

Episodes

Reception & Awards

''Meditative Story'' has received strong praise from Variety, Forbes, Wired, The Today Show, CBC Radio and others.

describes it as "a completely new kind of listening experience that blends intimate first-person stories with mindfulness prompts, enveloped in beautiful music composition.” ''Meditative Story'' has made 38 appearances on the US Podcasts Chart, and was ranked #7 in August 2019. It was named one of the Top Podcasts of 2019 by Canada's CBC Radio

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://podcast.meditativestory.com/ Audio podcasts 2019 podcast debuts