Guided Meditation

Guided meditation is helpful for beginners learning how to meditate but also for experienced meditation practitioners who prefer to be accompanied through their mindfulness practice. Guided meditation can be deeply comforting because the meditator is never without support.

What is Guided Meditation?

Guided meditation is when the person meditating is led through the meditation by a meditation teacher or other practitioner. This can happen in a meditation class or by reading through a meditation script someone has prepared or by listening to an audio meditation online or in a meditation app. Instead of meditating in silence, the meditator is listening to (or reading) the guidance of another voice.

Try a short guided meditation right now.

Benefits of Guided Meditation

The benefits of meditation are many — from less stress to better sleep to happier moods and improved health. In addition, guided meditation, specifically, has some of its own benefits:

• More focused mind — with guidance, it becomes easier to focus and to return to focus when the mind wanders

• Experiencing a rich mental journey — when another voice talks you through a meditation, they take you on a journey you can’t predict, an inner adventure

• Enhanced ability to visualize — guided meditation will often invite the meditator to “see” what the guide is describing, strengthening this part of the brain

• Relaxation — in meditation, it’s common to wonder “Am I doing it right?” but with a guide, the meditator can relax more deeply, knowing they are being lead 

• Engaged senses — a guided meditation may invite the meditator to notice (or experience through imagining) sensations they might miss or not experience on their own 

What is unguided meditation?

Unguided meditation means practicing meditation on your own, without a guide. There isn’t a teacher or voice directing the process. You might also think of it as “silent meditation.” Some meditators who practice unguided meditation may use the guidance from guided meditations they’ve previously experienced and “hear” or “say” the same steps within their own minds. For instance, if there’s a body scan meditation you’ve received from a teacher, you might repeat those same steps within yourself on your own. Others, in an unguided practice, may focus entirely on the flow of the breath, noticing the inhale and exhale and the sensations in the body, without calling any words or instructions to mind. Our How to Meditate primer provides suggestions for a simple unguided meditation practice.

How do I choose between guided and unguided meditation?

The short answer is that you don’t need to choose between guided and unguided meditation practices. Many meditators use both. You might begin your day with an unguided meditation — ten minutes of silent focus on the breath as part of a morning ritual. And then your wind-down practice for the evening may be a guided body scan or a guided sleep meditation. 

If you’re new to meditation, beginning with guided meditations can be a supportive way to learn what meditation practices you enjoy best (there are many different ways to meditate) and how to structure your practice, as well as how to return your focus when it wanders (and it will).

How to start meditating with Calm

Begin meditating today with a 7-session guided meditation series in the Calm app. It’s called 7 Days of Calm, and it’s free. Each session is about 10 minutes and includes a simple mindfulness teaching from our Head of Mindfulness Tamara Levitt, as well as a guided meditation designed to help you feel more calm and to easily make a few minutes of mindfulness a daily habit. 

READ NEXT:
How to Meditate
Meditation for Beginners
How to Relax