Meditative Story is a podcast that combines first-person storytelling, mindfulness prompts and original cinematic music, to create a unique listening experience. 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.” 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.
History 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.
Format 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.
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.
Episodes +Season 1 Episode Storyteller Title Airdate 1 Lucy Kalanithi Learning to see things as they are 7/30/2019 2 Pico Iyer A home that had been waiting for me forever 8/2/2019 3 Arianna Huffington Life and love and the moment 8/6/2019 4 Larry Jackson To visualize ... and then make it so 8/13/2019 5 Michelle Thaller Finding meaning in the vastness of the universe 8/20/2019 6 Dan Harris 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 Krista Tippett What we discover when we're not looking 9/10/2019 9 John Moore The perfect photograph I never took 9/17/2019 10 Danny Meyer How to find – and feed – your passion 9/24/2019 11 Jane McGonigal Finding my own reflection 10/1/2019 12 Peter Sagal Hitting the open road to find my way home 10/8/2019 13 Josh Radnor 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 Stephen Kuusisto Allowing sound to reveal life's wonder 11/5/2019 17 Catherine Reitman Surrendering my old identity — and finding myself 11/14/2019 18 Keith Yamashita Starting the story of my life again 11/19/2019 19 Moj Mahdara Standing in my own truth 11/26/2019 20 Siri Hustvedt 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 A.J. Jacobs Acting as if you are bold 12/17/2019 23 Sinéad Burke Finding a way in 1/7/2020 24 Reid Hoffman Through friendship, a better version of myself 1/13/2020 25 DeRay Mckesson Making humanity appear, magically 1/20/2020 26 Paola Antonelli Riding waves 1/27/2020
+Season Two Episode Storyteller Title Airdate 27 Jay Shetty Learn to see the layers in everyone 3/2/2020 28 Lindsey Stirling Stories my father told me 3/10/2020 29 Forrest Galante Adapting to life's unexpected nature 3/17/2020 30 Shea Hembrey Trust the world to show its goodness 4/4/2020 31 Carl Safina Loving our living world 4/14/2020 32 Jule Hall Changing the soundtrack of our lives 4/22/2020 33 Thomas Chatterton Williams When words fail 4/28/2020 34 Lehua Kamalu Tracking the path of the sun 5/13/2020 35 Andrew Bird Listening to the space around you 5/20/2020 36 Elizabeth Lesser Giving birth to a wiser self 5/27/2020 37 Gretchen Rubin It's ok to be wrong 6/10/2020 38 Judith Grisel A more spacious response to life 6/17/2020 39 Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III Finding unity, through our differences 6/24/2020 40 Angela Ahrendts Creating my own sanctuary 7/8/2020 41 Donald Miralle Where the water takes me 7/15/2020 42 Shawn Colvin What my father gave me 7/22/2020 43 Wajahat Ali Have faith, but tie your camel first 7/29/2020 44 Lang Lang Lang Lang: The teacher who asked a new question 8/19/2020 45 Jennifer 8. Lee That thing I'm missing is what makes me happy 9/2/2020 46 Mickey Guyton Lean into your uniqueness 9/9/2020 47 Waddie Mitchell A cowboy's rules for living 9/16/2020 48 Ghuan Featherstone Discovering the path to honor 9/23/2020 49 Cal Ripken Jr. Showing up is never an end in itself 10/7/2020 50 Ginger Zee I'm not just observing the winds, I'm riding them 10/14/2020
+Season Three Episode Storyteller Title Airdate 51 Stephen Wilkes What's most vital is right in front of me 12/9/2020 52 Nadia Owusu Home will be with me wherever I go 12/16/2020 53 Kaya Henderson Nothing beats a failure but a try 12/23/2020 54 Diana Nyad 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 Nalini Nadkarni The stuff I'm here to study: Life on life on life 1/20/2021 57 David Duchovny Some lessons take years to sink in 1/27/2021 58 Aasif Mandvi Getting out of my own head 2/10/2021 59 Sam Harris Finding happiness amid the ordinary collisions of life 2/17/2021 60 Adam Grant The fear never goes away. But it can be tamed. 2/24/2021 61 Nate Berkus Designing your space in the world 3/10/2021 62 Florence Williams To chase the sunset 3/24/2021 63 Franklin Leonard Writing the main character 4/2/2021 64 Majora Carter Do great things – and take your flowers 4/8/2021 65 Michael Imperioli Having the courage to create 4/15/2021 66 David Whyte We become the places we love 4/22/2021 67 Omar Wasow 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 Max Richter Music, memory, moments 5/27/2021 71 Tri Robinson To walk the Earth 6/2/2021 72 Robert Reich The accounting of this parenting business 6/17/2021 73 S.G. Goodman What holds the world together 6/24/2021 74 Wayne Little A nurse's story 6/30/2021
+Season Four Episode Storyteller Title Airdate 75 Joel McHale Appreciating life's random miracles 8/18/2021 76 Laurie R. Santos My monkey teacher 8/25/2021 77 Kaywin Feldman Derailed by beauty 9/1/2021 78 Robin Arzón Do big things one step at a time 9/8/2021 79 Randall Park The Hollywood version doesn't go like this 9/15/2021 80 Mariann Budde 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 Andrew Rea Living into my true self 10/4/2021 83 Milana Vayntrub Learning to love my long-distance dad 10/6/2021 84 Dr. Marla Spivak How the bees saved me 10/13/2021 85 Rev. Monique Ortiz The heart comes out at night 10/28/2021 86 Steve Almond My roads diverging 11/3/2021 87 Meredith Arthur Ignoring inner me 11/12/2021 88 Courtney E. Martin Finding her to find me 12/1/2021 89 Austin Mao Peeling back these layers of my inner truth 12/14/2021 90 Beth Lisick Who is leading who? 12/23/2021 91 Vanessa Hua From dark times come new discoveries 1/5/2022 92 Gracia Maria Magic is a serious business 1/28/2022 93 Keith Ferrazzi The human truth underneath our armor 2/3/2022
+Season Five Episode Storyteller Title Airdate 94 Jacob Sartorius I take a breath. I buy myself a moment. 3/9/2022 95 Fred Minnick Experiencing the world through my senses 3/16/2022 96 Morgan Saylor Trusting love's infinite possibilities 3/23/2022 97 Al Harris Celebrating a life beyond the score 3/30/2022 98 Silvia Vasquez-Lavado 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 Matthew Mercer The magic that ripples out when we share our passions with others 5/12/2022 102 Isha Sesay 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 Sharon Salzberg How I found kindness as my compass 6/24/2022 106 Hrishikesh Hirway Giving myself permission to create 6/30/2022 107 Maya Shankar The joy of being an unwilling traveler through life 7/14/2022 108 Morgan Harper Nichols Belonging can be found far from home 7/23/2022 109 Steven Ho The magic beyond our boundaries 7/29/2022 110 Henry Shukman What deep listening unlocks for me 8/19/2022 111 Nataly Dawn My battle as a beginner opens up a world of wonder 8/26/2022 112 Lex Gillette To be seen on my own terms 9/1/2022 113 Joe Wicks Racing toward passion and away from fear 9/8/2022 114 Carla Hall My year of play 9/15/2022 115 Mark Nepo On board with my dad 9/22/2022 116 Kino MacGregor My grandfather the Aikido master 9/29/2022 117 Shani Tran Mud, sweat, and tears 10/13/2022 118 Rachel Cargle My side hustle to a better life 11/3/2022 119 Alex Morris Dancing on my own 11/10/2022