How to learn meditation

What do you need?

• “I want to try it.” A short guided practice, today.
• “I want to understand it.” A guide, a book or a course.
• “I have questions about my experience.” A teacher who can answer you.
• “I want company.” A group.
• “I need something flexible.” Recordings, or practising on your own.

Way	What it gives you	Cost
A teacher	Someone who can answer your questions and notice what you need	Free to set fees, often by donation
A group	Company, rhythm, and practising with others	Often free or by donation
A course	A planned sequence, with understanding built in	Free online to a few hundred dollars
A book	Depth and context, at your own pace	Borrowed or bought
Recordings and apps	Guidance whenever you want it	Free to a yearly subscription
A chat assistant	Answers to your questions, in conversation	Free to a subscription

“I want to try it”

Recorded guidance is the quickest way in: press play and follow. Many people keep going for years with recordings alone, choosing what fits each day. The choice is wide, from free libraries to paid apps with full programmes. Our guides compare free apps and sites and paid subscriptions.

Ours are 51 recorded meditations, free, with nothing to sign up for. A five-minute start is Breathing Space.

“I want to understand it”

A good book gives you the why, the history, and a teacher’s whole way of seeing. Libraries often have these, so you can borrow before you buy. Some widely recommended starting points:

• Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are: mindfulness and meditation in everyday life, from the developer of MBSR.
• Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness: a short introduction to being awake and fully aware in ordinary moments.
• Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: a 28-day programme for starting and keeping a practice, with guided meditations.
• Mark Williams and Danny Penman, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World: simple practices based on MBCT.
• Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul: about freeing yourself from habitual thoughts and emotions. It isn’t a meditation manual. His teaching shaped our own practice.

A course gives you understanding in order: eight weeks of lessons and daily practice is the usual shape. You can take MBSR or MBCT with a teacher, or follow the free online MBSR course from Palouse Mindfulness. Our guide to free mindfulness courses compares the options.

“I have questions about my experience”

A teacher can answer what a recording can’t: is this normal? Am I doing it right? They can notice when you’re straining, and say when a practice isn’t right for you, or not right now.

Not every class gives you that. In a large class or a recorded webinar, you may get little individual attention, so ask how a class works before you join. Many traditions offer teaching by dana, which means you give what you can. Many teachers also publish free talks. Tara Brach shares a weekly talk and guided meditation.

If you’re choosing a teacher, the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health suggests asking about their training and experience.

“I want company”

Practising with other people is steadying. It’s easier to sit still when others are too, and easier to come back next week when someone expects you. Free and donation-based groups are easy to find:

• The Insight Meditation Society runs free online groups, including a weekly Monday night meditation.
• Spirit Rock runs online drop-in groups by donation, on a sliding scale. It says no one is turned away for lack of funds.
• Plum Village lists practice centres around the world, and its community includes many local groups.

“I need something flexible”

Recordings and apps fit around a busy life. So does practising on your own: a few minutes of quiet attention, with no audio at all, at a time that suits you.

Keeping going is often the hard part, whatever you use. In trials of meditation apps, a 2023 review found that about a quarter of people dropped out. A 2024 review found small benefits for anxiety and depression. A regular time of day, or a group, can help you continue.

A chat assistant

Chat assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini can hold a spoken conversation. People use them to ask questions about meditation, or to be talked through a practice. They can be good at explaining, and patient with questions. They can also be wrong, and they don’t know you the way a teacher does.

Their makers say so too. OpenAI and Google say not to rely on them as professional advice. Anthropic says Claude “is not a substitute for professional mental health care”.

When to talk to a professional

Meditation is considered low-risk, but it isn’t risk-free, and research on its harms is still thin. Unpleasant effects are reported with every kind of practice, including anxiety, low mood and a sense of unreality. They’re more likely for people with a history of trauma. Research finds them in a minority of practitioners, though how many depends on how they’re measured.

If a practice leaves you feeling worse, stop, move around, and talk to someone you trust. If you’re dealing with depression, trauma or another health condition, talk to a doctor or therapist before starting an intensive practice. A teacher-led course can screen and support you.

Many kinds of meditation

Meditation takes many forms. You might rest your attention on the breath and return when it wanders. You might widen it to everything you hear, or cultivate kindness, or ask who is aware. NCCIH’s overview describes several approaches. You don’t have to choose the right one first. Try one, and notice what it’s like.

Try one thing today

Choose the line under “What do you need?” that fits you best, and do one thing about it today. Play a five-minute practice, borrow a book, or look up a group’s next meeting.