Meditation FAQ
Here are answers to the questions people ask most about meditation on this site, from how to start to what to do when stillness feels worse.
What is meditation, in everyday words?
Meditation is a practice of attention. You choose one thing to notice, such as your breath, the sounds in the room, or your feet on the floor, and you come back to it each time your mind wanders. That return is the skill, and you get better at it the same way you get better at anything, by doing it again. Many traditions have their own forms, from Buddhist breath practice to the rosary and centering prayer, and you don’t need to belong to any of them to try it. On this site, meditation is a few minutes of noticing in an ordinary chair, at an ordinary time of day, with the freedom to stop whenever you like. The glossary has a short definition, and the meditation room goes into more detail.
How do I start meditating if I’ve never done it?
Pick a sturdy chair, rest your feet on the floor, and set a timer for five minutes. Close your eyes or rest them on one spot. Notice your breath as it moves at your nose or your belly, without changing it. When you notice your mind has wandered, come back to the next breath. When the timer goes off, feel your feet, look around the room, and get on with your day. That’s the whole practice for a beginner. Try it at the same time each day, such as after breakfast, so it becomes a habit. The first few times may feel long or a little silly, and both feelings tend to fade within a week or two. Five minutes in a chair walks through each step and what each minute tends to feel like.
Do I need to get down on the floor or cross my legs?
You never need to get down on the floor. A kitchen or dining chair with a straight back works well for most people, and so does your own wheelchair. Scoot forward a little so your back is upright without straining, rest your feet flat on the floor or on a thick book, and let your hands lie in your lap. Put a cushion behind you if your back aches. If your knees, hips, or back hurt, choose the position that hurts least; comfort matters more than how the posture looks. You can also lie on a bed, though that makes falling asleep more likely, or practice while walking slowly. The cross-legged picture on book covers is one tradition’s way, and plenty of people who’ve meditated for decades do it in a chair.
How long should I meditate, and how often?
For a beginner, five minutes once a day is a good amount. It’s long enough to notice what your mind gets up to and short enough to keep doing. After a couple of weeks, if five minutes feels easy, you can try eight or 10. Long sessions earn no prize, and many people who’ve practiced for years keep theirs short. A regular time helps more than a long session, so link the practice to something you already do daily, like the morning coffee or the evening news. Missing days is normal. If you skip a few, start again with five minutes, without trying to make up the time. Two calm minutes on a busy day count too.
What should I do when my mind keeps wandering?
Notice where it went and come back to your anchor, without scolding yourself. Everyone’s mind wanders, including the minds of people who have meditated for 40 years, and each time you come back you’ve done the practice once. A busy session full of returns is a session full of practice. If it helps, give each thought a one-word label, such as “planning” or “remembering,” before you return. You can also count out-breaths from one to five and start again whenever you lose count. If a worry keeps coming back, tell yourself you’ll think about it at a set time later in the day, and keep that promise. If you find yourself scolding, notice the scolding the way you’d notice a car passing outside, and come back to the breath.
What if I fall asleep while meditating?
Dozing off usually means you’re tired, which is useful to know. It’s common, especially in the evening, after a meal, or in a soft chair. To stay awake, try practicing earlier in the day, in a firmer chair, with your eyes open and resting on one spot. Scoot forward so your back is upright, and let a little light into the room. If you practice in bed at night and drift off to sleep, that’s a fine way for the practice to end. If you’re sleepy most days no matter how much you sleep, or you nod off while reading or watching TV, mention it to your doctor, since daytime sleepiness can have causes a doctor can check.
Is meditation a cure for depression, anxiety, or grief?
Meditation is a practice of attention, and it can’t cure depression, anxiety, grief, illness, or anything else. Some studies suggest it may help some people with stress, anxiety, or low mood, but many of those studies are small, and results vary from person to person. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health keeps a summary of what research has found, linked from the meditation room. If you’re dealing with depression or anxiety, meditation can go alongside care from your doctor or counselor as an extra, and that care stays in place. If you don’t feel better after practicing, you haven’t failed, and it’s worth telling your doctor how you’re doing.
What if stillness feels worse?
Stop. You’re allowed to, even in the first minute, and you don’t have to explain yourself to anyone. Open your eyes, press your feet into the floor, name three things you can see, and do something ordinary with your hands, like rinsing a cup. Stillness can bring up panic, deep sadness, old memories, or a sense of being far away from the room, and none of that means you did it wrong. If the feeling passes, you can try again another day with your eyes open, a shorter timer, and sounds or your feet as the anchor. If the distress lingers or keeps coming back, talk with your doctor. The page when stillness feels worse goes into more detail.
Should I stop or change prescribed medicine if meditation seems to help?
Keep taking any prescribed medicine as prescribed, whether meditation seems to help or not. Feeling a little clearer is good news to share with your doctor, and any change to your medicine is a decision to make together with the doctor who prescribed it. Stopping on your own can be dangerous. You might say at your next visit, “I’ve been meditating five minutes most mornings, and I feel a bit steadier. I wanted you to know.” If meditation has made you feel worse, tell your doctor that too, and keep taking your medicine as prescribed in the meantime. If you’re in crisis in the United States, call or text 988.
Is it safe to meditate if I’ve had trauma or a mental health condition?
Meditation is usually considered to have few risks for most people, but stillness can stir up strong reactions in some, and that’s more likely if you’ve lived through trauma or have a mental health condition. If you’ve had psychosis (a loss of touch with what’s real), bipolar disorder, a severe depression, panic attacks, or trauma that still feels close, talk with your doctor or counselor before you try meditating on your own. They can help you decide whether to try it, and how. If you go ahead, keep your eyes open, keep sessions short, choose an anchor outside the body such as the sounds in the room, and stop as soon as it feels worse. Practicing with a trained teacher or with someone nearby can help too.
Can meditation help me sleep?
A short practice can give a racing mind something small to do at night, and some people find that helps them rest. It won’t put you to sleep on command, and chasing sleep with it tends to backfire. In bed, try counting out-breaths from one to five, or feeling the weight of the blanket on your feet. If you’re still awake and restless after about 20 minutes, get up, go to another room with a low light, and do something calm until you feel sleepy. If sleeplessness is new or severe, happens most nights, or comes with snoring, gasping, pain, or a low mood, talk with your doctor. Racing thoughts at three has the full practice and more ideas for those nights.
Will meditation conflict with my religion?
The attention practice on this site belongs to no religion, and it asks you to believe nothing. Many faiths have their own forms of it, such as repeating a short prayer, praying the rosary, or contemplative prayer in Christian monasteries, so you may find it feels familiar. You can use a phrase from your own faith as your anchor, or keep the practice entirely plain, with just the breath or the sounds of the room. If you have concerns, a pastor, priest, rabbi, imam, or other leader in your community may be glad to talk them over. The spirituality and religion room welcomes people who still pray and people who have stopped.
Do I need an app, a teacher, or special equipment?
You need a chair and a way to keep time. A kitchen timer or the clock on your phone works, and a phone set face down won’t tempt you with messages. Apps and recorded guided meditations, where a voice talks you through the practice, help some people get started, and others find the voice distracting. Classes and teachers can be useful if you’d like company, structure, or help when practice gets hard, and many libraries, community centers, and places of worship offer free or low-cost groups. Nothing more is required. Cushions, bells, and special clothing are optional, and plenty of people practice for years without any of them.
How do I know if meditation is working?
Look for small changes in your ordinary day rather than big feelings in the chair. After a few weeks, some people notice sooner when they’re getting worked up, take a breath before answering a sharp remark, or find it a little easier to return to a task after a distraction. Others notice nothing much, and that’s a common result too. A session that feels restless or dull can still be useful practice, since every return to the anchor counts. It can help to keep a card by the chair and write one line after each session, such as “busy mind, came back a lot.” Over a month the notes can show patterns. If meditation consistently makes you feel worse, it isn’t working for you, and you can stop.
Can I use these practices to calm or influence someone else?
Everything in the meditation room is for your own attention only. These pages aren’t meant for hypnotizing, calming, or managing another person, and they never offer ways to influence someone without their knowledge. If a friend or family member is curious, you can tell them what you do and point them to this page so they can make up their own minds. If someone in your life is in distress, the kindest step is usually to listen and to help them reach their doctor, and if they’re in crisis in the United States, to help them call or text 988. The mind control room is likewise about your own mind and no one else’s.
Is this site therapy, a clinic, or treatment?
Arcana Mentis is educational writing about the mind. It isn’t therapy, a clinic, or medical treatment, and it can’t diagnose anyone or tell you what condition you have. Nobody here is monitoring how you’re doing, and the site has no way to respond to messages about your health. If you need care, please see your doctor, a counselor, or another qualified professional. If you aren’t sure where to start, your regular doctor is a good first call, and they can refer you on if needed. Meditation as described here can go alongside that care as an extra. If you’re in crisis in the United States, call or text 988.
Where should I start on this site?
Start with one page. The longer overview is the meditation room. If a situation sounds like your week, open the page written for it: five minutes in a chair for a first practice, racing thoughts at three for sleepless nights, when stillness feels worse for a practice that went badly, or grief and the chair for meditating beside a loss. If you’re new to the site, If you’re curious about the mind is a good map. The glossary defines meditation and adjunct to care, and the Site FAQ answers questions about the whole site.
What if I am in crisis?
Please don’t try to meditate your way through a crisis. In the United States, call or text 988 if you’re in crisis, if you don’t feel safe, or if you aren’t sure your pain is bad enough to count. The line is open day and night, and you don’t need a tidy explanation. Outside the United States, call your local emergency number or a local crisis line. If you have sudden confusion, weakness on one side of the body, trouble speaking, or a severe headache, call 911. This website has no public inbox and can’t answer messages, so please call a real person.
There’s more in the meditation room, and the shorter pages on the whole site are listed in the library.
If you’re in crisis in the United States, call or text 988 before you keep reading.