How to Meditate

Buddhist meditation gives us time to slow down and wake up. Learn how to meditate with plain-language instructions and advice.

Illustrations by Tomi Um.

How to do basic breath meditation

Whether you’re trying meditation for the first time or just want a refresher, you can't go wrong with this easy-to-follow meditation.

Find a quiet and uplifted place where you can do your meditation practice.

When starting out, see if you can allow 5 minutes for the practice, and increase that amount over time.

1. Take your seat. Sit cross-legged on a meditation cushion, or on a straight-backed chair with your feet flat on the floor, without leaning against the back of the chair.
   
2. Find your sitting posture. Place your hands palms-down on your thighs and sit in an upright posture with a straight back—relaxed yet dignified. With your eyes open, let your gaze rest comfortably as you look slightly downward about six feet in front of you.
   
3. Notice and follow your breath. Place your attention lightly on your out-breath, while remaining aware your environment. Be with each breath as the air goes out through your mouth and nostrils and dissolves into the space around you.
   At the end of each out-breath, simply rest until the next in-breath naturally begins. For a more focused meditation, you can follow both the out-breaths and in-breaths.
   
4. Note the thoughts and feelings that arise. Whenever you notice that a thought, feeling, or perception has taken your attention away from the breath, just say to yourself, “thinking,” and return to following the breath. No need to judge yourself when this happens; just gently note it and attend to your breath and posture.
   
5. End your session. After the allotted time, you can consider your meditation practice period over.But there’s no need to give up any sense of calm, mindfulness, or openness you’ve experienced. See if you can consciously allow these to remain present through the rest of your day.

Breath meditation is a vital practice in itself, but it also represents the very foundation of all of Buddhist meditation’s varied forms. We’ll get to some of these shortly. 

What is meditation and why do you do it?

We meditate for reasons both practical and profound. Some say meditation is the process of mind seeing its own true nature. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche wrote that meditation is “a means of working with oneself and the phenomenal world.” The Buddha taught meditation as an essential tool to achieve liberation from suffering. Additionally, we might meditate to specifically cultivate certain positive traits, like friendliness, steadiness, compassion, and joy. 

What are the different varieties of sitting meditation?

 
Basic Buddhist meditation comes down to two fundamental practices: concentration and insight. These are also called mindfulness and awareness. Many of the terms you have likely heard — shamatha, vipassana, zazen, vipashyana, mindfulness, awareness, calm abiding, insight, and so on — are names for one or both of these practices.

Buddhist practice always starts with meditations that calm and concentrate the mind. What often follows is insight. With the stable, focused, and fully present mind you have developed in your mindfulness practice, you can begin to investigate the nature of reality.

Each Buddhist tradition has its own approach to meditation. Here are our most popular teachings from four different traditions. You can try them out and see what feels most appropriate for you. 

Tip: it’s perfectly fine to try different meditations, but it's a good idea to stick with one form for a little while before trying another, so that you can develop a better sense for how each meditation feels. 

 

How much should I meditate, and how can I get comfortable?

As Buddhist teacher Joseph Goldstein has said about meditation, “Something quite extraordinary can happen in even five minutes.” His colleague Sharon Salzberg concurs, explaining: “Usually when people start sitting, we say that five minutes is enough. You don’t have to think, ‘I’ve got to sit here for six hours.’ You don’t have to get into some pretzel-like posture and suffer!”

Longtime meditators might sit for 20-45 minutes at a time or even longer, but it’s often said that the best practice is the one you can actually do. So start with a small, doable amount of time. You can always increase the length of your meditation later.

If you find meditation uncomfortable, don't worry: many people do at first. Where do I put my hands? Should I close my eyes? Am I breathing too heavily? These are all common questions. These tips will help you establish a comfortable, sustainable meditation posture. 

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