Welcome to this comprehensive guide on how to meditate.
We’ll cover the basics of what meditation is, the types of meditation techniques, meditation poses, breathing techniques, and much more.
Additionally, I’ve loaded this guide up with free guided meditation audios so you can experience a variety of meditation techniques, from mindfulness meditation to mantra meditation to loving-kindness meditation, right here on this page.
I’ve been practicing meditation since I was a child, training meditation facilitators since 2019, and more recently, running an online meditation community with the creator of Immersive Meditation, Heather Hayward (who is also my mom <3).
I mention this to say that I hope, by sharing the insights from my own experience, I can be of some assistance in helping you start your meditation practice.
I believe that learning to meditate is one of the most important things can do, so I am truly excited for you to experience it for yourself.
So, let’s get into it.
Here is what we will be covering:
- What Is Meditation?
How to Meditate for Beginners
The best way to learn how to meditate for beginners is through guided meditation experiences.
When you're a newbie, it can be hard to actually get into a meditative state just sitting in silence.
Guided meditations often provide the specific instructions needed to follow a particular meditation technique, so you can be more confident that you’re “doing it right.”
I’ve listed out a few different guided meditations of various time lengths and styles below, so you can try it out for yourself!
5 Minute Breathing Meditation for Beginners
5 Minute Breathing Meditation
Heather Hayward
This 5 minute breathing meditation is a fantastic starting point when you are learning how to meditate as a beginner.
Almost all meditation techniques begin by slowing the breath down and focusing on the sensation of the breath, and this is for two reasons:
- Focusing on the sensation of the breath brings your mind into the present moment.
- Slow, focused, meditative breathing changes your physiology and helps to shift your body into a meditative state by creating heart-brain coherence.
So, I recommend trying the breathing meditation above to learn the core fundamentals that you will help you in whatever type of meditation you practice.
10 Minute Mindfulness Meditation for Beginners
10 Minute Mindfulness Meditation
Heather Hayward
This 10 minute mindfulness meditation for beginners is also a great example of how to practice witnessing thoughts without engaging with them.
Mindfulness meditation, in general, is the technique most people associate with meditation, due to its meteoric rise in popularity and the many studies which have proven its many benefits across the board of cognitive, physical and mental health.
That being said, mindfulness meditation is not the easiest technique to start with as a beginner.
Learning to “witness” one’s thoughts, feelings, and sensations in a non-judgmental and non-interactive manner is easy for some, but for many others, the techniques of mindfulness elude them, leading to frustration and, too often, the abandonment of a meditation practice altogether.
This is certainly not to say mindfulness doesn’t work, it absolutely does and I recommend you try it. However, I recommend getting more reps in with mantra meditation, guided meditations with visualizations, or other more “entertaining” kinds of meditation before trying mindfulness.
15 Minute Loving-Kindness Meditation
15 Minute Loving-Kindness Meditation
Heather Hayward
This 15 minute loving-kindness meditation is a style of meditation that all should experience.
Loving-kindness (sometimes referred to as Compassion) meditation involves silently repeating phrases that create good feelings & intentions for oneself or others.
By repeating the phrase “I love this…”, embodying the feeling of love, and directing that feeling toward whatever person or situation you desire, this 15 minute meditation will leave you feeling amazing.
20 Minute Guided Meditation for Beginners
Guided Meditation for Beginners on Clarity
Heather Hayward
This 20 minute guided meditation for beginners follows a more focused/contemplative meditation style on the topic of clarity.
As a beginner, learning how to meditate for 20 minutes comfortably is a great milestone, so give yourself a little grace if you begin to feel antsy during this meditation.
What Is Meditation?
Meditation is the practice of using concentration to experience states of being, conscious awareness, and spiritual connectedness beyond those accessible in a typical waking state.
While there are numerous ways to meditate, all forms of meditation share 3 foundational attributes:
- Focusing the attention of the mind
- Breathing techniques to alter one’s physiology
- Intention to access altered states of conscious awareness and/or cultivate spiritual connectedness
What Is the Goal of Meditation?
The goal of meditation is to experience successively higher states of being, conscious awareness, and spiritual connectedness — which often means different things depending on an individual’s specific reasons for practicing meditation and/or their experience level.
Here are some examples to illustrate what I mean:
- Level 1 Goal - Improving States of Being: Many modern meditators begin their practice for the purposes of reducing stress, improving sleep, relieving depression and anxiety, and realizing other physical & mental health benefits.
- Level 2 Goal - Improving Conscious Awareness: Many people utilize meditation to access new ideas and inspiration, improve productivity, better their relationships and communication, and achieve other self-improvement goals.
- Level 3 Goal - Increasing Spiritual Connectedness: Traditional & more experienced meditators utilize meditation for the purposes of directly experiencing more wholeness or “oneness” with a Higher Power of their own understanding.
Today, most people are familiar with a Buddhist technique of meditation, known as “mindfulness”, which has been secularized and popularized by the likes of Jon Kabat-Zinn, the creator of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).
They use mindfulness almost exclusively for Level 1 & Level 2 Goals to improve their mental and physical health, cognitive function, self-control, and self-understanding. And that’s great — there is ample evidence of mindfulness’ effectiveness in all of those areas.
But I feel it’s important to mention that mindfulness, or more broadly, meditation, was not originally invented for Level 1 or Level 2 Goals at all.
Meditation was originally invented as a way to directly experience God, the Universe, the Ground of All Being, Unity Consciousness, Christ Consciousness, or whatever term you feel most comfortable using.
What Types of Meditation Are There?
There are many types of meditation techniques with differing attributes, origins, and purposes, including but not limited to: Mindfulness, Mantra Meditation, Kriya Yoga, Transcendental Meditation, Immersive Meditation, Vipassana Meditation, Qigong, Loving-Kindness Meditation, Zen Meditation, Breathwork, Body Scan, Sound Bath Meditation, Walking Meditation, Yoga Nidra, and many more.
Understanding the many different kinds of meditation practices is vital when first exploring how to meditate, because you will likely find that certain methods are far more effective for you than others.
I will give you my opinion on the practices I believe are best to explore first, however, I suggest that you explore as many meditation styles as possible to find what brings you the most benefit and enjoyment.
4 Types of Meditation Techniques
As previously mentioned, all types of meditation, in some way, share the following 3 foundational attributes:
- Focusing the attention of the mind
- Breathing techniques to alter one’s physiology
- Intention to access altered states of conscious awareness and/or cultivate spiritual connectedness
But the question remains, what separates the different types of meditation from one another?
In my view, the best way to understand the difference between the various approaches is to look at the meditation techniques (or content of the practices themselves) and extract the various attributes that characterize them in a broad sense.
Keep in mind, the attributes I’m identifying here are not mutually exclusive, meaning most meditation practices or experiences below contain 2 or more attributes.
Therefore, these are not strict categories, but rather, traits that may be used to characterize different meditation techniques based on how they are practiced.
Here are the 4 attributes I use to differentiate types of meditation techniques:
- Active/Sensing: These meditation techniques are characterized by a use of the body and/or the senses as the primary mechanism for entering & exploring the meditative state. Examples include: Walking Meditation, Breathwork, Sound Bath, Qigong, etc.
- Focused/Contemplative: These meditation techniques are characterized by a focused use of the mind to explore the self, visualize, pray, and/or intentionally embody different feeling/energy states. Examples include: Immersive Meditation, Visualization, Prayerful Meditation, Positive Affirmations, Loving-Kindness or Compassion Meditation, etc.
- Passive/Observant: These meditation techniques are characterized by non-judgmental open monitoring of thoughts, sensations, and experiences. These practices involve a witnessing of the self or body from a detached perspective. Examples include: Mindfulness, Yoga Nidra, Body Scan
- Spiritual/Transcendent: Spiritual/Transcendent meditation techniques are characterized by practices aimed at connecting with a Higher Power, exploring consciousness beyond the individual self, and achieving states of unity consciousness or oneness with all existence. Examples include: Kriya Yoga, Transcendental Meditation (TM), Mantra Meditation, Kundalini Yoga, Zazen (Zen Buddhism), Dzogchen (Tibetan Buddhism)
Best Meditation Techniques to Start Your Practice
Rather than list the multitudes of meditation techniques that exist, I figured I would share my recommendation on the practices I would suggest to try. Specifically, here are the types of meditation I would suggest to myself if I was learning how to meditate again:
Immersive Meditation
Magic Carpet Ride
Heather Hayward
Immersive Meditation is the ideal type of meditation for beginners — and advanced meditators — because of its emphasis on contemplative exploration of practical life questions, visualization, and the encouragement of deep thought.
This technique is always experienced in a guided meditation format by a trained Immersive Meditation Facilitator, and is great for the everyday person who is looking to extract practical value and insightful realizations from their meditation practice that they can carry with them into daily life.
You can experience Immersive Meditation for yourself, directly from the creator of the method, Heather Hayward, inside her online meditation community, The Wellspring.
Mantra Meditation
5 Minute Mantra Meditation
Heather Hayward
Mantra Meditation offers a very accessible and straightforward approach to entering a meditative state that is ideal for beginners — and meditators of all levels — who struggle with a wandering mind.
By repeating a word, phrase, or sound (i.e. a “mantra”), either out loud or silently to yourself, you give your mind a clear point of focus which can help to quiet the mental chatter.
More specifically, mantras give our brain words to focus on, and words are what we use to form the thoughts that distract and detract from our ability to reach higher levels of conscious awareness.
Therefore, repeating a mantra is one of the best ways to tune our mind away from the static of waking-state thinking and into the frequencies of more fundamental states of consciousness, awareness and spiritual connectedness.
Body Scan Meditation
Body Scan Meditation for Relaxation
Heather Hayward
Body scan meditations involve systematically guiding your attention through specific points of your body, starting with the top of the head and ending at your feet, to progressively relax and become conscious of the sensations in all areas of your body.
This technique is foundational to learning how to meditate by cultivating relaxation and mindful awareness of the body.
While body scan meditations are excellent on their own to reduce stress, increase present moment awareness, reduce physical discomfort, and much more, they are often utilized at the beginning of a variety of guided meditation techniques as a way to get into a meditative state.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness Meditation - "I Am Here"
Heather Hayward
Mindfulness Meditation is a widely popular form of meditation, great for meditators of all levels, that most people are first introduced to when exploring how to meditate.
The goal of mindfulness meditation is to experience present moment awareness by cultivating a “witness” perspective of our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and environmental stimuli.
By entering a state of non-judgmental observation, mindfulness practitioners can come to realize that they are not their thoughts, feelings, emotions, and tasks.
Mindfulness Meditation is especially useful for stress reduction, anxiety and depression relief, improving focus, and improving self-awareness.
How to Meditate Properly
When you’re just starting out, learning how to meditate properly means learning how to enter into a meditative state. Because if you aren’t changing your physiology, then you’re just closing your eyes.
So, knowing how to start a meditation, regardless of the type/technique of meditation you are practicing, is what I want to emphasize in this section.
Because, if you know the fundamentals of getting into a meditative state using your breath and body, then you know the majority of what it means to “meditate properly.”
Step 0: Set a Timer and Protect Your Meditation Space
Before you begin, I always recommend that people set a meditation timer so you can completely focus on the meditation experience, without thinking about how long it’s been.
If you’re just starting out, set your timer for 5 to 10 minutes.
Place a note on the door of the room or meditation space you’re in to let others know you’ll be unavailable to protect yourself from interruptions, if necessary.
Step 1: Assume a Meditation Pose or Posture
Once you’re ready, assume a proper meditation pose. And yes, if you want to meditate properly, having correct posture is actually essential. However, the “proper meditation pose” may not be exactly what you’re thinking.
Here are the elements of a proper meditation pose:
- Straight Spine: Whether you are seated or lying down, your spine should be straight. If you are sitting, sit in an armless chair with your back completely straight and your chin slightly lifted, so your jaw is about parallel with the floor. If you are lying down, lie down completely flat with a small pillow under your neck, not your head, so that your jaw is parallel with the wall.
- Arms and Legs Uncrossed: Unless you are seated in a lotus position (which you should only do if you are more than flexible enough), your arms and legs should be uncrossed.
- Hand Position: This can be a dense subject if diving into the many mudras, but for our purposes, we’ll keep it simple. If you are seated, cup one hand over the back of the other, and place them comfortably in your lap. If lying down, you may cup your hands in a similar manner and place them over your solar plexus or simply place them at your sides, on the floor, with your palms facing up.
- Comfortability: The most important element of your meditation pose is that you are comfortable. If your body isn’t comfortable, it’s very difficult to meditate correctly. The physical practices of Yoga were invented for the purpose of preparing the body to meditate comfortably for hours, because freeing your mind from any physical desires is foundational to reaching higher states of consciousness. So, prioritize comfortability over everything else I just mentioned. If you’re seated, don’t worry about using a pillow or backrest of a chair to support yourself, and ideally, sit in a chair where your knees can be level or below your hips to allow for a straighter spine and easier breathing. If you’re lying down, place a bolster or pillow underneath your knees to take pressure off your lower back and grab a blanket if you need to stay warm.
Step 2: Progressively Relax Your Whole Body
Taking time to relax your body is essential to start meditating properly. With how stressful our daily lives are, we hold tension in all kinds of places, so learning to relax all the muscles of our body is a foundation step of learning how to meditate.
Here’s the process I use to relax my body for meditation:
- Take a deep breath in through your nose, hold it at the top for 2 seconds, and exhale out of your mouth, audibly sighing while you exhale. Repeat this 2 more times, then allow your breathing to be slow & steady, in and out through your nose.
- Starting at the top of your head, relax the muscles in your forehead.
- Relax all the tiny muscles around your eyes.
- Relax your jaw, letting it hang naturally with your lips together but teeth apart.
- Relax your tongue, letting it sit in your mouth loose, limp & wide
- Let the muscles in your shoulders & neck melt. Maybe even roll your shoulders & stretch your neck for a moment. Then, let your shoulders drop.
- Scan down your arms to your forearms & hands, maybe even opening & closing your hands a few times or rolling your wrists to release any tension, and then place them where they are most comfortable while you soften all the tiny muscles in your hands.
- Feel your ribs flare out to the sides, on the in-breath, and contract in, on the out-breath.
- Bring your attention to your hips, legs, and ankles, and perhaps reposition yourself to be more comfortable before you fully focus on your meditation.
This entire process should take you no more than 30 seconds, and you should feel free to repeat it or parts of it more than once or whenever your body communicates it may need it.
Step 3: Begin Utilizing a Meditation Breathing Technique
Once you are completely relaxed in your meditation pose, the next step is to begin utilizing a meditation breathing technique.
If you want to know how to meditate properly, then you need to know how to use your breath to alter your physiology & enter a meditative state.
There are many meditation breathing techniques out there, but I want to give you a very simple method that I use, which is a variation of triangle breathing.
Simple Triangle Breathing Technique for Meditation:
- Breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds: This should be a low effort inhalation (i.e. not a deep breath). Focus on filling up the bottom of your lungs with air so that your ribs expand first. If your chest lifts or you feel tension across/in your chest at the top of your inhalation, you are breathing too deeply.
- Breathe out through your nose for 4 seconds: This should also be a slow, controlled, and low exhalation. Don’t focus on expelling all the air in your lungs or squeezing your abdominal muscles at all. Simply, allow the air to flow out naturally.
- Pause at the bottom of the breath for 2 seconds: At the end of your exhalation, pause for 2 seconds before gently rolling into your next inhalation.
- Repeat this until it becomes unconscious: Keep repeating this process consciously, until it becomes natural. Then, “let the breath breathe you”, as my mom always says, and remove all mental effort and focus from the breath entirely.
After you’ve cycled through this meditative breathing technique for at least 2 minutes or so, you should begin entering a meditative state or at least a level of heart-brain coherence, meaning you’re ready to begin practicing your chosen meditation technique.
Step 4: Utilize Your Chosen Type of Meditation
Now that you’ve at least begun to enter a meditative state, your body is relaxed in a proper meditation pose, and your breathing is slow and controlled, it’s time for you to practice the type of meditation you would like to explore.
For mindfulness meditation, this is where you will begin “witnessing” rather than engaging with the thoughts, feelings, and/or sensations you are experiencing.
For mantra meditation, this is where you will begin repeating your mantra, silently to yourself or out loud.
My goal in this section isn’t to explain how to practice these techniques, but rather to give you the context for where the actual execution of a particular form of meditation takes place in the sequence of properly meditating.
However, we do have some direct guided meditations & other specific meditation instructions coming up for you in just a moment.
Step 5: Gently End Your Meditation
Once your timer goes off or your meditation is complete, try not to rush into the next activity if possible.
Give yourself a moment or two, free from distractions and devices, to sit with the experience, journal, or step outside to feel the sun, look at the stars, or appreciate nature in some way.
How Long Should You Meditate For
When you’re first learning to meditate, you should meditate for as long as you are comfortable. I suggest at least 5 to 10 minutes to start, just long enough to be able to calm your nervous system down and experience the benefits of entering a meditative state.
However, your goal should be to incrementally increase that time to 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and beyond over time.
And the ultimate goal of how long you should meditate is truly up to you how you answer the question:
What is the point of meditation for you?
If you just want to optimize your brain and body for performance, health, and longevity, then 20 to 30 minutes of meditation per day is great.
However, if your goal is to achieve a genuine spiritual awakening or access higher states of conscious awareness through your meditation practice, then I recommend working your way up to a minimum 1 1-hour meditation session per day.
How Often Should You Meditate
You should meditate every day, period. Honestly, the secret to learning “how to meditate correctly” is learning how to meditate daily.
The reason most people “can’t meditate” is that most people can’t stick to a commitment and be consistent.
Meditation is a skill, not a button to press or a pill to swallow, and it takes time, effort, and consistency to reach higher levels of consciousness.
So, I urge you to challenge yourself, for just 30 days, to meditate every single day for 20 minutes, at the same time, no matter how “bad” you are at it, and see how you feel at the end.
I say this because I know that if you start meditating right now, every single day, without exception, it will fundamentally change your life for the better.
And I genuinely wish that you experience the wonders waiting to be discovered behind the doors of your mind.
Best Meditation Classes & Experiences to Try
There are so many different ways to experience meditation and learn how to meditate. Meditation classes, retreats, and courses are fantastic ways to deepen and widen your practice, by exposing you to a variety of meditation techniques and meditation teachers with their own unique ways of doing things.
Attend In-Person or Online Meditation Classes
I highly recommend exploring a variety of meditation classes and experiences, like: sound baths, breathwork, guided journey meditations, and so much more.
And if you don’t have a meditation studio in your area to take classes, I recommend finding a meditation group near you or an online meditation community, because there is truly something amazing about group meditation.
Meditating with others will assist you with consistency, and there is an energy which can be felt during group meditation that you have to experience to understand.
Plus, it’s just more fun to meditate with others.
Go to a Meditation Retreat Center
If you have the budget for it, going to a meditation retreat can be an incredible experience.
There is something unique about traveling to a meditation center and engaging in an experience that is all about exploring your relationship to self and/or Spirit.
Obviously, there are many more out there, but here are some of the major meditation centers in the US if you’re interested in a meditation retreat:
- Art of Living Retreat Center - Boone, North Carolina
- Esalen Institute - Big Sur, California (where I’ve personally been… it’s amazing)
- Dharmakaya Center for Wellbeing - Cragsmoor, New York
- Himalayan Institute - Honesdale, Pennsylvania
- Siddhayatan Tirth & Spiritual Retreat Center - Windom, Texas
Learning from a Meditation Teacher
Learning how to meditate from a meditation teacher is a great way to fast-track your growth as a new meditator.
You can either do this in a group setting, in a meditation class, or you can find a practice or teacher that does 1-1 sessions.
For example, Transcendental Meditation (TM) is known for its tradition of teaching the practice to new students via 1-1 instruction from a TM meditation teacher.
Take an Online Meditation Course
If learning 1-1 from a teacher or going to a retreat is outside of your comfort zone, there are tons of great meditation courses online that can teach you all you need to know.
Here are a couple meditation courses to learn how to meditate:
- Mindfulness Meditation Course: If you want to learn the basics of secular mindfulness meditation, Jon Kabat-Zinn is the mindfulness expert to learn from. This masterclass will teach you everything you need to know to cultivate the beginnings of a great mindfulness practice to reduce stress and improve your health and happiness.
- Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons: The SRF Fellowship Lessons more than a meditation course; it is a journey into the ancient lessons and traditions of Kriya Yoga. If your goal with meditation is to deepen your connection with the Divine, then I recommend you give SRF and one of the best spiritual teachers in history, Paramahansa Yogananda, a try.
- Mindfulness Daily with Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield: If you’d like a completely free option led by two of the world’s most respected meditation teachers, Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield, check out their 40-day online training in mindfulness meditation.
Try a Sensory Deprivation Tank or “Float Tank”
By far, the deepest meditation experiences I have had have been inside of a sensory deprivation tank or, as they are most commonly called, a float tank.
I’ll admit, the experience is not for everyone, however, meditating in a float tank is an unparalleled and profound journey, once you relax into it.
If you search “sensory deprivation tank near me” or “float tank near me”, you may find some businesses that offer floats, and if you’re up for it, I highly recommend giving it a shot.
Purchasing and/or utilizing some meditation tools and equipment can help you deepen your meditation practice, especially when you’re first learning how to meditate.
While none of the meditation tools and tips below are necessary to be able to meditate, they can definitely make the experience more enjoyable and perhaps enable you to reach higher states of consciousness more easily.
Use a Meditation Timer
A meditation timer is quite simply just a timer, nothing fancy, that you can set to the exact time you want to meditate for. You don’t need to use anything more than your phone for this, however, there are online meditation timers on various apps and websites as we’ll mention below.
Using a meditation timer is essential because it allows your mind to release any focus on the time and be fully present to the experience for its entirety.
Purchasing a Meditation Chair or Pillow
There are many different ways to sit in meditation, and thus, there are many different meditation chairs, pillows, benches and cushions that can assist you in maintaining comfortable, correct meditation posture, whether seated or lying down.
Here are a few of the key types of meditation seats, chairs, and/or pillows:
- Alexia Meditation Seat: This is the meditation seat that I use. It’s not cheap, but it’s incredibly comfortable, even when sitting for long periods of time. If you have the budget, this is the meditation seat for you.
- Florensi Meditation Bench: For a much more affordable option, I would recommend a meditation bench such as this. I used a meditation bench for years, and they can be quite comfortable, even for those of us who are not that flexible.
- Retrospec Meditation Cushion: For those who are a bit more flexible, a meditation cushion may be just fine to add a little elevation to your hips and some cushion for underneath your sit bones.
- Florenzi Yoga Bolster Pillow: Though they are not strictly for this purpose, yoga bolsters are some of the best meditation pillows. You can use them to sit upright or to place under your legs when meditating lying down to relieve tension in your lower back.
Create a Meditation Room or Space
I highly recommend setting up a meditation room or space to meditate. If you don’t have a room to spare, you can create a little meditation corner or a space you can easily set up and put away your meditation equipment.
But having a meditation space that is just for your exploration of your practice will help you to deepen your practice. By associating the ritual of entering or setting up your space with getting into a meditative state, you’ll begin entering your inner world just by stepping into what you’ve created for yourself.
Use Meditation Music
Meditation Music II
Jonathan J Beaudette
Meditation music is one of the best tools to deepen your practice, especially for those who are just learning how to meditate without any guidance or those who have a more active mind.
You can find so many amazing styles of meditation music on YouTube for completely free as well.
The meditation music track I’ve embedded above is one of my absolute favorites from a beautiful composer, Jonathan J Beaudette, who I think makes the best meditation music on the market.
Purchase a Meditation Journal
Buying a meditation journal to write down your thoughts, feelings, and emotions throughout your journey within is one of the best things you can do.
Meditation and journaling are like peanut butter and jelly; they just go together.
Do yourself a favor, and buy a dedicated journal for meditation that you only write in while engaging in your practice to capture the insights and realizations you will inevitably discover as you dive deeper into your meditation practice.
3 Best Meditation Apps
There are SO many meditation apps out there, and I have no intention to list them all here. However, I want to give you just a few of the best meditation apps that I suggest, because they are fantastic tools to learn how to meditate.
Here are the meditation apps I recommend for beginners:
- Unplug Meditation App: The Unplug app is a great app for experiencing different teachers and types of meditation, which I think should be a priority when learning how to meditate. Additionally, you get to see the teachers and it has a more personal feel than other apps in my opinion.
- Calm: Calm is probably the most popular meditation app, and for good reason, they have a lot of content on there. If you want to go mega mainstream, then I prefer Calm over Headspace, once again because of the diversity of techniques, voices, experiences, etc. that exists on the app.
- Insight Timer: Last, but not least, Insight Timer is an awesome meditation app because the content is user curated. Similar to YouTube, approved meditation guides create their own content for you to enjoy, so there is a wide variety of experiences to choose from many different meditation teachers. Additionally, they have other tools like meditation timers, breath timers, and other practical and useful meditation tools for you to enjoy.
Frequently Asked Questions on Meditation
Can You Meditate Lying Down?
Yes, you can meditate lying down. Yoga Nidra, for example, is an entire meditation technique that is practiced lying down. As long as you are comfortable, with a straight spine, you are in a good posture to meditate.
Are Mindfulness and Meditation the same thing?
Mindfulness meditation is a type of meditation technique of Buddhist origins, but it is not a synonym for the word “meditation.” Many sources — even scientific papers — incorrectly use the words “mindfulness” and “meditation” interchangeably, which stems from a lack of understanding of many types of meditation which exist, where they came from, and the nuances of how to practice them.
How Long Should You Meditate?
You should aim to meditate for at least 5 to 10 minutes as a beginner, 20 to 30 minutes per day to experience maximum health and wellness benefits, and at least 1 hour per day if you’re seeking spiritual enlightenment or higher conscious awareness.
Did Jesus Meditate?
Jesus definitely meditated and taught his disciples to meditate; this is an undeniable fact to serious religious scholars. To understand more on this specific subject, check out the book, “The Yoga of Jesus” by Paramahansa Yogananda.
Is Meditation a Sin?
Meditation is not a sin. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Meditation is a practice which was invented to facilitate a personal relationship with God, as is understood by you.
What Does Meditation Feel Like?
Meditation feels different depending on the level of meditative state you reach during meditation. However, it’s not possible to describe accurately what meditation feels like, because meditative states must be experienced to be understood, not explained.
What Do You Think About When Meditating?
You can think about whatever you want. Meditation isn’t about clearing the mind of thought, it’s about learning to control your attention so that you can become more aware, in every way. Your thoughts will always be there, don’t fight them, just let them be, and smile.
Where Did Meditation Originate?
Meditation originated independently in almost every culture & religion across the world, in some form or another, and thus, has no true origin.
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