Meditation guides
How to meditate: a simple start for beginners
Sit somewhere you won’t be disturbed, pick one thing to pay attention to, like your breathing or the sounds around you, and come back to it every time your mind wanders. That’s the whole technique. Start with five or ten minutes a day, and don’t worry about doing it right.
What you need
A chair and a timer. You don’t need a cushion, special clothes or an app. Sitting cross-legged on the floor is fine, but a kitchen chair works just as well: feet flat on the floor, back straight but not stiff, hands resting in your lap. Close your eyes, or let your gaze rest on a spot on the floor a little way in front of you.
Choose a time when nobody needs you for a while. Mayo Clinic says most kinds of meditation share four basics: a quiet place, a comfortable position, something to focus on and an open attitude.
Step by step
- Set a timer for five or ten minutes, so you don’t keep checking the clock.
- Take two or three slow breaths. Then let your breathing go back to normal; you don’t need to control it.
- Choose what you’ll pay attention to. The breath is the classic choice: the air at the tip of your nose, or your belly rising and falling. The sounds in the room or the feel of your feet on the floor work just as well. Stay with the same one for the whole session.
- Sooner or later, usually within a minute, you’ll catch yourself planning dinner or replaying a conversation. Noticing that is the exercise. Let the thought go and come back to whatever you chose.
- When the timer goes, stay seated for a few seconds before you get up.
Your mind will wander, and that’s fine
Most beginners think they’re doing it wrong because the thoughts keep coming. They aren’t. The NHS puts it simply: if your mind wanders ten times, you bring it back ten times. People with years of practice drift off too.
Researchers at Emory University looked at this in 2012. Fourteen experienced meditators lay in an MRI scanner and pressed a button whenever they noticed that their mind had left the breath. Their button presses and brain scans traced the same cycle again and again: drifting off, noticing, turning back, staying for a while, and then drifting again.
How long, and how often
A little every day does more than a long session now and then. The NHS beginner guide suggests about 20 minutes. If that sounds like a lot, start with five or ten and add time when it feels easy. Tie it to something you already do each day, like brushing your teeth in the morning or opening your laptop. There’s more on what the studies say in how long you should meditate.
When it doesn’t go smoothly
- If you keep nodding off, sit a little more upright, open your eyes slightly, or meditate earlier in the day.
- An itch or an aching knee? You’re allowed to move. Do it slowly, notice the movement, and come back.
- Some days you’ll just feel restless. On those days, stop at five minutes.
Is meditation safe?
For most people, yes. The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) calls it generally low-risk, but notes that few studies have looked for side effects. In a 2020 review it cites, about 8 percent of participants had an unpleasant experience, most often anxiety or low mood.
If you have a mental health condition, talk to your doctor before you start, and stop if meditating makes you feel worse. It isn’t a substitute for treatment.
With a voice, or in silence?
Many beginners like guided meditation, where a teacher talks you through each step. There’s plenty of it on YouTube and in free apps like Medito and UCLA Mindful (see free meditation apps without a subscription). Others find the voice gets in the way and would rather have a timer and some quiet.
I made Stille for people who’d rather have the quiet. You tap Meditate, listen to ten minutes of calm sound, and a soft gong tells you when the time is up. There’s no voice telling you what to do, so keep the steps above in mind. Stille costs $1.99, once. If you’d like someone talking you through it, try a guided app instead.