Tag: The 6 Phase Meditation

Meditation. Just the word might conjure images of monks on mountaintops.

But in reality, it isn’t some exclusive ritual for a select few; it’s a practice that’s both accessible and profoundly transformative for all. For centuries, it’s been a way to calm the mind and even heal the body, with science supporting its various benefits. 

What’s even more awesome? You don’t need a guru or a Himalayan retreat to tap into its power. All you really need are the right meditation techniques for you to get started. 

Some are straightforward, while others might take a little more effort to master. But most are easy to learn, even if you’re new to the practice.

How many meditation techniques are there?

Believe it or not, there are thousands and thousands of meditation techniques practiced around the world. Many are taken straight from Buddhist and Hindu traditions, while others draw on modern wellness practices such as mindfulness and breathwork.

But despite this versatility, people tend to think of meditation as one thing:

Sitting cross-legged in a lotus position…

Spine perfectly straight…

Breathing on cue… 

And that’s it.

The thing is, that’s not all there is to it, says Vishen, the founder and CEO of Mindvalley. What we often envision as the go-to meditation approach is, in fact, what he says is “hermetic meditation.” It’s a style that dates back to ancient China and India, yet it’s only one of many.

“Back then, you didn’t have WhatsApp messages to answer, a 9-to-5 job, or kids to get off to school,” he says in his 6 Phase Meditation program on Mindvalley. “People could sit under a banyan tree and meditate for hours. But in today’s world, that’s just not practical.”

So, whenever you wonder, “What are some meditation techniques out there that are good for me?” Just remember Vishen’s wisdom: meditation is never meant to look just one way. It was always meant to work in the life you’re actually living.

The universality of meditation

The goal of meditation, in the end, is to help you reach powerful states of peace and positivity, even if you only have minutes to spare each day. And here’s where modern techniques come in, making a case for the practice’s flexibility and diversity.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, a scientist known for introducing mindfulness into modern clinical settings, is quick to frame it as a universally flexible practice. After all, mindfulness transcends culture. “Mindfulness,” he writes in his book, Wherever You Go, Wherever You Are, “means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.”

And the way meditation makes you feel is the end goal here. 

According to a 2014 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, it reduces cortisol levels and eases physical symptoms of tension. Another one published in Clinical Psychology Review reveals that the practice, as a mindfulness-based intervention, can help individuals process emotions more effectively.

So the mind–body benefits are real here. And while they can sound almost outsized for something so simple, they are what neuroscientist and bestselling author Dr. Joe Dispenza calls a trainable state. In his critically acclaimed book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, he writes, “Meditation is not about getting rid of thoughts, but about becoming aware of them and choosing not to follow them.”

So, no matter which technique you fancy, one thing’s for sure: you get to decide how you want to meditate and when you’d like to feel good with it.

5 best meditation techniques for beginners

Getting started with meditation can be intimidating at first. To choose the right mindfulness meditation techniques, check first if it’s:

• Accessible,
• Straightforward to perform, and
• Easy to fit into your daily routine.

Research published in Ayu (an international quarterly journal of research in Ayurveda) shows that beginners tend to give up more if they find techniques too complex to commit to. So, when in doubt, go simple.

Below are some easy ones that may be up your alley.

1. Mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness meditation is meditation at its simplest, and it’s often the gateway for many beginners. It’s all about being present as is, so you can train your attention to stay with one experience at a time—often the breath—without trying to change your incoming thoughts. 

Like Tibetan Buddhist monk Pema Chödrön would say, “Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are.”

So, by embracing mindfulness through meditation, you get to return to yourself.

Is this right for you?

If you’re someone who’s constantly juggling thoughts and trying to find a moment to breathe, mindfulness is your friend. It’s gentle, requires no unique setup, and is perfect if you’re looking to manage stress or curb overthinking.

How to do it:

1. Find a quiet spot, sit comfortably, and close your eyes.
2. Breathe naturally, focusing on the sensation of your breath. 
3. When your mind wanders (because it will), just bring it back to your breath. 
4. Start with five minutes, and work up from there. 

Get more from this guided experience:

2. Loving-kindness meditation

Loving-kindness meditation, also known as Metta meditation, gets you radiating good vibes outward. You start by sending love to yourself, then extending thoughts of goodwill and compassion to others to kickstart a possible ripple effect.

Its effects are well-documented. A randomized controlled trial published in Psychological Science found that this type of meditation, done briefly every day, can increase your positive emotions and strengthen your sense of connection to others.

And what makes it fun? Well, you get to creatively visualize anything that represents love while you’re at it. Vishen, who swears by this approach, says, “Simply doing this changes your heart resonance to a healthier, more beneficial level for your well-being.”

He’s onto something. A 2024 study in The Journal of Affective Disorders Reports shows that compassion-based interventions like this meditation can increase your heart rate variability, a marker of parasympathetic nervous system response.

Is this right for you?

If you’re dealing with negative self-talk or looking to build a more compassionate outlook about life and others, then this technique fits the bill. Think of it as a gentle, heart-centered mood booster, if you will.

How to do it:

1. Sit comfortably and close your eyes. 
2. Start saying positive affirmations to yourself, such as “May I be happy,” “May I be healthy,” and “May I be at peace.” 
3. Then, extend these wishes to others, from loved ones to acquaintances, through statements like “May the people in my life have good health” and “I send love and peace to all of mankind.”

3. Walking meditation

Sometimes the simplest way to slow the mind is to let the body keep moving. Walking meditation, for one, combines movement with mindfulness to habitualize self-awareness. (It’s also not a bad way to take your daily steps for cardiovascular health and sunlight for that daily dose of happiness.)

At the bare minimum, it’s a great way to sneak meditation into your day without worrying about location. You can do it in a park, around your home, or at your workplace.

Is this right for you?

This is one of those meditation techniques that is ideal if you find sitting meditation difficult or prefer a more active approach. It’s also perfect for taking a mental break during a busy day, especially if you’re into daily walks.

How to do it:

1. Find a quiet space to walk slowly. 
2. Focus on each step—the feel of your feet hitting the ground, the movement of your legs. 
3. If your mind drifts, gently bring it back to the rhythm of your steps.
4. You can also add a positive word or phrase of your choice that you can repeat with every stride, such as “Everything is fine” and “I am empowered.”

4. Guided visualization

A peaceful scene in nature, scoring your dream job, a core memory with your partner… these “feel-good” images are the stuff of guided visualization, which you picture as your anchor to the present moment.

No wonder it’s an excellent technique for stress relief, motivation, or simply unwinding. Research in Communication Education reveals that imagining positive outcomes is a form of “rehearsal effect,” which cultivates positive emotions and self-belief.

Professional tennis player Bianca Andreescu, for instance, can testify to this. Ahead of her 2019 U.S. Open win, she used visualization to prepare for the match mentally. After her victory, she shared that José Silva’s mental screen visualization technique, which she learned from Vishen’s book The Code of the Extraordinary Mind, helped her stay focused under pressure.

Of course, you don’t have to be a world-class athlete to benefit from it. Whether you want to calm down after a hectic day or sustain long-term discipline, this practice can be your gateway to a resilient mindset.

Is this right for you?

If you love leaning into creativity without much technical guidance, then this one’s for you. It’s also a great way to reduce stress, improve mental well-being, and sleep more deeply. 

How to do it:

1. Choose a guided meditation track on a free meditation app of your choice. (Mindvalley’s a great place to start, if you don’t have one at hand.)
2. Sit or lie down in a comfortable position, then close your eyes and relax.
3. Imagine a serene place, like a peaceful beach or a lush forest. Picture it vividly, focusing on the sounds, scents, and colors around you. 
4. Allow any stress to melt away as you immerse yourself in the scene.

5. Body scan meditation

This technique is all about reconnecting with your body, one part at a time, by focusing on your limbs and releasing any lingering tension you notice.

Sounds simple, sure. But Emily Fletcher, a meditation expert and founder of Ziva Meditation, says it can help counter the constant fight-or-flight response modern life triggers.

Once beneficial for survival, stress, she explains, has become maladaptive in today’s high-stress environments. Like she points out in her Mindvalley program, The M Word: “Our demands are in-laws, work deadlines, or red-eye flights, not saber-toothed tigers.” 

But by focusing on your body through meditation, she says, you can tone down those spikes of adrenaline and cortisol and “flood your brain with dopamine and serotonin.” This ultimately helps restore balance and improve body awareness.

Is this right for you?

It is, if you’re often a bag of nerves. Science shows that focusing on and releasing tension in each body part helps you actively tune into your body’s state, promotes physical relaxation, and supports that deeper, balanced awareness Emily describes.

How to do it:

1. Lie down somewhere comfortable and close your eyes. 
2. Start focusing on the top of your head. 
3. Move slowly down your body, paying attention to each area. 
4. Zero in and mentally release any tension you find with your breath.

Curious about how it works? Try Vishen’s Centering Exercise below. A critical component of his Silva Ultramind System program, it gets you calm from top to toe:

5 meditation breathing techniques to keep you grounded

Your breath can anchor you in the present and increase relaxation. Different breathing styles offer distinct benefits, from reduced anxiety to self-recentering.

Research published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience shows that controlled breathing can stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, making you relaxed. Another study in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews found a positive effect on your heart rate variability, which, when higher, helps keep stress at bay.

And done during meditation, you condition yourself to engage both hemispheres of the brain—a benefit that Emily herself waxes lyrical about.

“I don’t think that nature makes mistakes. I don’t think that nature would have given us 50/50 if it wanted us to use 90/10,” she shares in her program. And by balancing breath, she adds, “our right and left hemispheres of the brain can start to talk to each other.”

Once you understand how to do meditation breathing techniques, it’s easier to pick the ones that fit your body and your day. Try the ones below to get started:

6. 4-7-8 breathing

Developed by celebrity doctor and integrative medicine expert Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D., the 4-7-8 breathing helps reset your nervous system and bring your body into a relaxed state. 

This is something you want to do religiously every day,” he says to Bushido of Benson Martial Arts Center. “The results don’t come instantly; they come from doing this regularly over time.”

It’s the kind of breathwork you do slowly, savoring every inhale and exhale. This rhythm, a study in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience reveals, can improve your heart health by keeping your heart rate—and therefore, mood—stable.

Is this right for you?

This method can work wonders when you need a quick, calming reset during the day. It’s also a beneficial bedtime hack, as it helps ease the body into relaxation.

How to do it:

1. Sit comfortably and close your eyes. 
2. Inhale quietly through your nose for a count of four. 
3. Hold your breath for a count of seven. 
4. Exhale through your mouth for a count of eight, making a soft “whoosh” sound.
5. Repeat the cycle four times for an optimal relaxed effect.

7. Box breathing

Box breathing, also called square breathing, is a rhythmic breathing technique often used to reduce stress and enhance concentration. It’s frequently used by athletes, first responders, and people in high-stress careers.

Because each part of the breath follows the same count length, it’s predictable, which helps the mind focus, especially when you feel anxiety or adrenaline take over you. 

Is this right for you?

As a versatile technique, it can be done anywhere. But it’s especially great for improving your focus before a high-pressure situation.

How to do it:

1. Start by inhaling slowly through your nose for a count of four. 
2. Hold your breath for another count of four, then exhale through your nose for four counts.
3. Finally, hold your breath out for four counts before starting the cycle again.
4. Repeat as many times as needed until you’re fully centered inside.

8. Belly breathing

Belly breathing, also called diaphragmatic breathing, shifts your breath lower into the body. Instead of shallow chest breaths, you let the diaphragm do its thing. This naturally slows your breathing, eases muscle tension, and helps the body settle.

This works because deeper breathing sends a clear signal to your body that it’s safe to slow down. As your breath steadies, your heart rate follows, tension softens, and that wired, on-edge feeling starts to ease.

Is this right for you?

Those new to meditation tend to love it since it requires minimal guidance. What’s more, you can integrate it into meditation styles, making it a versatile option.

How to do it:

1. Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly. 
2. Inhale deeply through your nose, allowing your diaphragm to expand so your belly rises while your chest remains still. 
3. Exhale slowly through your mouth, feeling your belly fall. 
4. Repeat for several minutes, focusing on the rise and fall of your belly.

9. Coherent breathing

A popular breathing exercise in the West, coherent breathing finds its roots in pranayama, the ancient Vedic practice of breath control. It looks like a variation of sama vritti pranayama (or “even breath” in Sanskrit), which also follows an even breath ratio to calm your nervous system.

And this ratio’s everything when it comes to deep rest. “Coherent rhythmic breathing,” says pharmacist-turned-breathwork expert and Mindvalley trainer Niraj Naik, “improves the quality of your circadian rhythm.”

What he describes parallels the findings from a 2018 collection of studies in Front Psychiatry. Turns out, slow, deep breathing techniques are highly effective in initiating sleep and getting you back under whenever you wake up in the middle of the night.

Is this right for you?

Whenever you’re experiencing high stress, this technique can quickly bring your heart rate into a balanced rhythm and is effective for daily relaxation. It’s also an evergreen tool to turn to when transitioning from work to personal time or winding down at the end of the day.

How to do it:

1. Inhale for a count of five, then exhale for a count of five. 
2. Maintain a steady pace, keeping your breath smooth and unforced. 
3. Repeat this cycle for a few minutes, aiming for six breaths per minute.

10. SOMA Breath®

A specialty created by Niraj, SOMA Breath® combines rhythmic breathing patterns with music and visualization to activate a deep state of relaxation. 

This technique is inspired by ancient pranayama practices but adapted for modern life. It blends slow, rhythmic breathing with breath retention to boost mental clarity, energy, and inner peace.

Like coherent breathing, it does wonders for your sleep hygiene. And the better you sleep, the easier it becomes to breathe well during the day. Call it a healthy loop if you will.

“Sleep has a huge impact on the quality of your breathing,” says Niraj, “and the quality of your breathing also has a huge impact on sleep.”

Is this right for you?

It’s an excellent choice if improving your shut-eye habit is a priority—and especially useful if you’re learning how to meditate in bed.

How to do it:

1. Sit or lie down comfortably in a quiet space.
2. Begin with a rhythmic breathing pattern: inhale through your nose for a count of two, then exhale through your mouth for a count of four. 
3. Keep this rhythm going for a few minutes. After a few rounds, hold your breath for a comfortable length of time before resuming rhythmic breathing.

To get a glimpse of how good this meditation technique can be, check out this guided SOMA breathwork meditation led by Niraj himself:

5 meditation techniques for anxiety

Meditation isn’t some magic wand to make anxiety disappear. But what it is is a tool to manage those overwhelming thoughts when they arise, and your body feels keyed up.

Remarkably, there’s evidence behind this link, as found in a JAMA Internal Medicine review. The study found that mindfulness meditation programs can be a way to reduce many anxiety symptoms, from excessive worrying to endless rumination.

That’s why you’d often find experts like Jon Kabat-Zinn recommending meditation as part of anxiety care. It helps you stay with what’s happening without getting pulled into every thought that passes through your mind.

So, when those looping thoughts feel like they’re getting the best of you? Remember Jon’s words of wisdom in Wherever You Go, Wherever You Are: “Breathe and let be.” 

Then show them who’s boss with these anxiety-busting meditation techniques.

11. The 333 technique

The 333 technique is a simple, effective method for bringing yourself back to the present when anxiety strikes. It involves engaging your senses and directing your attention to your surroundings, helping you regain control and ground yourself in the moment.

This technique encourages a quick mental shift, easing anxious thoughts and providing a sense of calm through mindful awareness.

Is this right for you?

If you struggle with sudden bouts of anxiety or find it hard to stay focused during stressful situations, the 333 technique can be a lifesaver. It’s quick, discreet, and can be done anywhere, making it ideal for managing anxiety on the go. P.S., it’s especially fun to do if you’re into angel numbers (said to be numerical signs from spirit guides).

How to do it:

1. Identify three things you see. Look around you and notice three distinct objects in your environment. Say each one out loud or in your mind.
2. Listen for three sounds. Pause and tune into your surroundings. Identify three sounds you can hear, whether they’re close or distant.
3. Move three body parts—this can be wiggling your fingers, rolling your shoulders, or stretching your legs. Doing this helps you get out of your head and into your body.

12. Zazen meditation

Zazen, also known as Zen meditation, is one of the simplest meditation techniques. It’s a seated practice centered on posture and natural breathing, with very little added structure.

You sit, breathe, and stay still. There’s no mantra and no visualization to guide the experience.

“What is even the point?” you may ask.

Well, the simplicity is the point of this practice. Buddhist monk Shunryu Suzuki captured it in his book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: “In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s, there are few.” 

Zazen invites that beginner’s mind each time you take a seat.

Is this right for you?

Definitely, if you’re a minimalistic meditator and complex sequences make you snooze. And this no-nonsense approach is especially valuable if your end goal is greater spiritual growth without the New Age fluff.

How to do it:

• Sit cross-legged or on a cushion, keeping your spine straight.
• Focus on your breath, letting each inhale and exhale be the anchor. Keep your eyes slightly open, looking downwards to maintain awareness.
• When thoughts arise, acknowledge them, then gently bring your focus back to your breath. Remember: the goal is to let them go.

13. The butterfly hug technique

The butterfly hug is a gentle self-soothing method used to combat trauma-related anxiety. So you’ll find it mentioned often in discussions about eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. 

You cross your arms over your chest and lightly tap your shoulders, left and right, until your body starts to settle and you feel more grounded.

Sounds simple, right? But it sure goes the distance. Research exploring the benefits of tapping, a.k.a. bilateral stimulation, as it’s used in the butterfly technique, can minimize the intensity of traumatic memories and alleviate anxiety. As a result, it’s easier to get a hold of your emotions and feel grounded day to day.

So, whenever the tides of past regrets or grievances pull you back… just go butterfly.

Is this right for you?

Yes, if you tend to experience physical restlessness during anxious moments. That, or if you’re in the thick of your ongoing trauma-processing work. It’s comforting, calming, and crazy pleasing whenever you need mind-body grounding.

How to do it:

• Cross your arms over your chest, placing your hands on opposite shoulders.
• Begin tapping your shoulders alternately with each hand, left and then right, creating a steady rhythm.
• Focus on the rhythm and the calming sensation, allowing any anxious thoughts to fade as you reconnect with your body.

14. Mantra meditation

Mantra meditation works by giving the mind a steady sound or phrase to return to. Repeating a mantra helps narrow attention and quiet mental noise, which is why it can be calming amidst racing thoughts.

Science has been catching up on the powerful effects of mantras in mindfulness. A 2021 study published in the International Journal of Yoga found that chanting “om”—a sacred syllable in Buddhism and Hinduism representing the sound of the universe—during meditation promotes relaxation and lower stress levels.

Of course, you don’t have to go all cultural to make this type of meditation technique work. Simple phrases you understand can be effective, too.

“When you start meditating,” says Emily, “instead of a small part of the brain lighting up like it does in mindfulness, the whole brain lights up.” Add positive mantras to it, and you have yourself a powerful combo, especially in moments of overload.

Is this right for you?

It’s a great tool if you’re into positive affirmations. Repeating optimistic words, which are what mantras are, reinforces new neural pathways that help the brain learn a new outlook. It’s also helpful if you’re sensitive to noise and distractions, as the chanted words naturally draw your attention inward.

How to do it:

1. Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths.
2. Repeat a phrase that brings you comfort, like “Everything’s peaceful” or “I am calm and centered.”
3. Silently repeat this mantra with each breath, allowing it to fill your mind. If your thoughts wander, gently bring them back to the mantra. 
4. Repeat for a few minutes until you feel grounded again.

15. Backward counts

Counting backward is a straightforward mental exercise that helps divert your mind from anxious thoughts. By focusing on counting, you create a mental distraction that allows the anxious energy to dissipate gradually.

Is this right for you?

Whenever you are plagued by racing thoughts or spiraling “what if” scenarios, this approach can bring in the calm. It’s quick, easy, and can be practiced anywhere without drawing attention to yourself, making it effective for dealing with anxious moments on the go.

How to do it:

• Find a comfortable position or stay seated wherever you are.
• Begin counting backward from 100, focusing solely on the numbers.
• If you lose track, simply start again from 100, keeping your mind anchored on the task.
• Repeat until you feel your mind gradually calming down.

5 deep meditation techniques to boost your self-awareness

When you’re ready to go beyond the basics, deep meditation techniques can help you step into another layer of yourself. Here, you’ll learn that calmness is an ever-present state you can always go back to.

These techniques give you a pathway to a quiet, spacious awareness that you can carry with you. If that sounds like what you’re looking for, here are some transformative practices to try:

16. Transcendental meditation

Developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, transcendental meditation (TM) is a structured, silent mantra-based technique. It’s specifically designed to bring the mind into a state of restful awareness. 

But there’s more to it. A study published in Health Promotion can also significantly reduce stress and alleviate stress-related symptoms, thereby supporting cardiovascular health, slowing the effects of aging, and boosting overall well-being.

Unlike the more general mantra meditation, which may vary in practice and frequency, TM is practiced for 20 minutes. Think twice daily, with a unique, personalized mantra assigned by a certified TM teacher to fit your needs.

Is this right for you?

This one’s for you if you’re looking for a consistent, evidence-backed approach to meditation that goes beyond simple relaxation. It’s especially suited for those who appreciate a regular, structured routine and clear guidance on how to practice effectively.

How to do it:

1. Find a TM instructor. TM requires a personalized mantra that they can verify.
2. Practice in a quiet setting. Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths to relax.
3. Silently repeat your mantra. Focus on your specific TM mantra to effortlessly guide you into a quiet, transcendent state. Avoid active concentration; instead, let the mantra bring your mind to a place of natural stillness.
4. Allow thoughts to come and go. Instead of forcing thoughts away, let them drift naturally, knowing they’ll settle as you return your focus to the mantra.
5. Practice twice daily for 20 minutes. TM’s structure is part of its power, so try to make time for it in the morning and evening. 

17. Yoga nidra meditation

Yoga nidra, often referred to as “yogic sleep,” is a state of conscious relaxation that bridges wakefulness and deep slumber. The practice guides you into a profound level of rest where your body remains fully relaxed, yet your mind stays alert… without dozing off.

Unlike meditation, which relaxes you, sleep actually prepares the “fight or flight” response for wakefulness. So, when we meditate, Emily says, “our body is getting rest that’s even deeper than sleep. Now, how do we know that? Our metabolic rate drops, our heart rate slows, and our body temperature cools, all of which is giving us this deep body rest.”

This deep level of relaxation? It’s gold, and it’s a big reason why yoga nidra is so effective for calming a racing mind.

Is this right for you?

If you struggle with insomnia or anxiety or find it hard to unwind fully, yoga nidra can be your new go-to hack. It’s done lying down, so it’s excellent for when you want to go deep into the non-sleep deep rest mode without sitting up.

How to do it:

1. Lie down somewhere comfy and close your eyes.
2. If possible, follow a guided session that takes you through each part of your body, helping you release tension. 
3. As you go deeper, allow yourself to drift between wakefulness and rest.
4. Practice for 20–40 minutes, and let this time be yours.

18. Kundalini meditation

With origins in ancient yogic traditions, kundalini meditation focuses on awakening the energy that lies dormant at the base of your spine. In a process known as kundalini awakening, this energy is said to rise through your chakras (or energy centers). 

Now, this meditation approach often incorporates other techniques such as breathwork, mantras, and specific body movements, which set it apart from other meditation styles. 

And it’s apparently powerful. A 2021 study on spiritually transformative experiences discovered that 85% of people reported unusual energy sensations flowing through their bodies during a kundalini awakening. Often touted as a “mystical experience,” many would report feelings of expansion, light, and unbridled love.

But here’s a disclaimer, though: This type of meditation is best practiced with proper guidance. The techniques can stir strong physical or emotional responses, especially when practiced incorrectly or too quickly. That’s why it’s essential to learn it from a certified teacher who understands how to pace the practice safely in recognized meditation classes.

Is this right for you?

If you’re craving a spiritual experience or feel drawn to explore energy work, kundalini meditation may be the transformative practice you’re looking for. It’s a bit of a lengthy journey that requires your commitment, but once you’re in, you’ll see its rewards.

How to do it:

1. Start seated with a straight spine.
2. Take deep, slow breaths.
3. Incorporate mantras, breathing patterns, or even certain hand gestures (mudras) to guide your energy flow.
4. As you settle into the process, visualize a ball of energy appearing at the base of your spine.
5. With each breath, imagine it rising gently upward through each chakra point to the top of your head (the crown chakra).

19. Vipassana meditation

Vipassana, which means “insight” in the ancient Pali language, is the oldest form of Buddhist meditation. To do it, you scan your body for sensations and observe your thoughts without judgment throughout the entire session.

But be warned; it’s not for the faint of heart. When you do this practice, do expect to face all parts of yourself—even the ugly ones. It can bring unresolved issues into your awareness for your reflection and, eventually, acceptance.

In this vein, it’s apt to view it as a form of shadow work.

Is this right for you?

Definitely give this a try if you’re on a journey of self-discovery and crave a deeper understanding of your mind and self. People usually practice it on retreats over extended periods, so it’s best for those ready for a deeper dive into their spiritual growth.

How to do it:

1. Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
2. Focus on your breath.
3. Start scanning your body, noticing each sensation as you go.
4. As thoughts arise, refrain from judging them. Just observe them all.
5. If you find yourself judging, though, don’t panic. Allow yourself some time to “digest” each feeling, so you can eventually accept them without attachment.

20. The 6 Phase Meditation

Created by Vishen, this modern approach to mindfulness combines six incredibly powerful meditation phases into one. Each phase addresses different themes of personal growth:

1. Love and compassion. This stage is all about cultivating empathy towards yourself and others.
2. Happiness and gratitude. Think of it as the opportunity to reflect on everything you’re grateful for, and why they make you happy.
3. Peace and forgiveness. Here, you face a fork in the road: to keep hanging on to the emotional weight that actually holds you back, or let go and be free.
4. Vision for your future. This is where the power of visualization comes online. The brain can’t tell the present from the past, so what it “sees” creates shifts in the body, as if the change you seek for your life is already happening.
5. Mastering your day. Intentionality takes center stage here. You choose how you want to show up, what energy you want to bring, and how you want to move through your 24/7.
6. Support and blessing. This stage helps you feel held and supported. It’s about trusting that you’re not alone—that you’re guided and well-resourced, with the right frequency of people and situations happening for you.

Even high-level performers with demanding routines have turned to this structured meditation for its efficiency and impact. Take former NFL star Tony Gonzalez, for instance. In an interview with The New York Times, he once credited Vishen’s guided meditations as the fuel for his emotional resilience during his active years.

When the inner work is structured, results tend to follow.

“In the 6 Phase Meditation, we don’t ignore our thoughts,” Vishen explains. “We bring them into our being and we transform them. We turn problems into projects.”

Is this for you?

This meditation’s the right fit if you want to actively renew your mindset and life, beyond just the meditation mat. You can also fit the session in your 

How to do it:

The unique meditation approach is broken into six parts, each designed to focus your mind and shift your state:

1. Set aside 15 to 20 minutes in a quiet space.
2. Sit or lie down in a way that feels comfortable and alert.
3. Follow the guided session from start to finish. Each phase flows into the next, so there’s no need to think ahead or manage the process.
4. Stay with what comes up and let the prompts do the work. The impact builds through regular practice.

Follow a guided session led by Vishen himself, who’ll walk you through each phase with precision and intention:

5 simple meditation techniques to help you stay centered

Sometimes, all you need is a quick way to clear your head and bring a little calm back into the day. Simple meditation techniques work well when time’s tight, you’re new to the practice, or you just want something easy to stick with.

Each option below keeps things uncomplicated while still helping you relax and reset, which makes them easy to use wherever the day takes you.

21. The one-minute reset

The one-minute reset is exactly what it sounds like. You pause for sixty seconds and bring your attention to your breath. No elaborate setup or ritual here. All you need is a short break—60 seconds, tops—to interrupt stress before it builds.

It’s especially useful in those in-between moments:

• Before a meeting starts, 
• After a tense message, 
• While standing in line, or 
• When your thoughts start racing for no apparent reason.

Believe it or not, a minute is often enough to slow the body down and bring your attention back to the present. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology shows that even super short periods of focused breathing can reduce stress and recenter your focus. 

It’s likely why even a pregnant pause—a reset of its own—can feel surprisingly grounding. And sometimes, that’s all you need… to meditate, to relax, to come back to yourself.

Is this for you?

Yes, because it’s for everyone. It works well whenever you need instant centering without stepping away from your day. It’s super simple, adaptable, and easy to do anywhere.

How to do it:

1. Close your eyes (or keep them open if you’re in a public space).
2. Take a slow, deep breath through your nose.
3. Hold your breath for a couple of seconds, then exhale slowly through your mouth.
4. Repeat this pattern for one minute, focusing only on the sensation of your breath. 
5. Let any stress or tension melt away as you breathe.

22. Easy breath counts

This technique is all about simplicity and is foundational to any meditation style. By counting each breath, you give your mind something gentle to focus on. And you get to unwind without the “mental web” that comes with overthinking.

Unlike backward counting, which can sometimes feel like a countdown to a specific point, easy breath counts are sequential and open-ended. This keeps your focus gently tethered to the present, free from any sense of urgency to complete something.

Is this for you?

It’s a great choice if you’re easily distracted and struggle to focus. For instance, if you’re waiting for a meeting to start or feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list, counting your breaths can gently reel you back into the present moment.

How to do it:

1. Sit comfortably and begin breathing naturally.
2. On your inhale, count “one” in your mind; on your exhale, count “two.”
3. Keep going up to ten, then start over. 
4. If your mind wanders, just bring it back to the count.

23. The “anchor word” method

An anchor word is a single word or phrase that you repeat to bring yourself back to your center. It’s a mental “reset button” you can press anytime to pull yourself out of stress.

Unlike meditation techniques that require longer, more sustained focus or rhythm—like mantra meditation or breath counting—an anchor word acts as an instant mental reset tool that brings you back to “neutral mode” in seconds.

No wonder it’s a hit in neuro-linguistic programming, where repeated words or cues, referred to as “affect labeling,” become linked to specific internal states. When an anchor word is practiced during calm moments, the brain starts to associate that word with steadiness. Over time, repeating it can help trigger the same grounded feeling more quickly.

It might be easy to overlook the power of this one-word method. But that’s precisely the kind of subtle shift that Marisa Peer, a hypnotherapist and founder of Rapid Transformational Therapy®, often points to in her work. 

“Small changes,” she says in her Mindvalley program, Rapid Transformational Hypnotherapy™ for Abundance, “in the way you speak to yourself can have an extraordinary impact on your well-being.”

Is this right for you? 

A resounding yes, because of how simple it truly is. It’s perfect for moments when you’re feeling scattered or need grounding—fast. Imagine you’re about to go into an important conversation, and your nerves are firing up. Using an anchor word like “calm” or “steady” can help you center yourself in seconds, without anyone noticing.

How to do it:

1. Pick a word or phrase that feels comforting, like “peace,” “flow,” or “here.”
2. Close your eyes and repeat the word in sync with your breath.
3. Let this anchor word draw you into a calm space.
4. Let go of any physical or mental tension you sense with each repetition.

24. Focus on your hands 

Sometimes the fastest way to calm your mind is to give it something physical to focus on. Focusing on your hands does exactly that. It brings you out of your head and back into your body in seconds.

When stress kicks in, thoughts tend to follow the chaos. But physical sensation cuts through that. Feeling warmth, pressure, or subtle movement in a body part pulls your attention away from “threat mode” thinking and signals to the body that it’s safe to slow down.

This shift alone can ease the fight-or-flight response before it takes over.

Is this for you?

It’s a great no-brainer for when you need a subtle way to ground yourself in stressful situations or moments of panic in public spaces or meetings.

How to do it:

1. Sit comfortably and place your hands in your lap—palms up.
2. Close your eyes and focus on your hands. 
3. Notice any warmth, tingling, or heaviness that arises.
4. Keep breathing naturally as you continuously make these sensations your focal point.
5. Feel the stress or tension in your mind and body ease up.

It has another name: earthing. And it’s the simple precursor to walking meditation. 

You see, walking barefoot helps you connect with natural textures and temperatures, which, according to the book Biophysics of Earthing The Human Body by James L. Oschman, Gaétan Chevalier, and Clinton Ober, contribute to reduced inflammation. This is a real solid health benefit, as inflammation is the root cause of many diseases.

As for the mental perks, well… walking barefoot lets you feel the ground directly. The textures, the temperature, and the slight unevenness under your feet all pull your attention into the moment. That sensory input alone can be grounding in a way that’s hard to replicate indoors.

And sometimes, that’s all you need.

Is this for you?

Absolutely, especially if you love nature and enjoy quiet walks. Try this when you’re feeling disconnected or simply craving a fresh dose of natural calmness. You’ll likely feel rejuvenated in a matter of minutes.

How to do it:

1. Find a safe, natural surface like grass, sand, or soil, and remove your shoes.
2. Start walking slowly, focusing on the sensations beneath your feet—the texture, temperature, and pressure of the ground.
3. Breathe deeply and stay aware of each step. Let the experience ground you in the present moment.
4. Allow any thoughts to pass without attachment with every stride.

Bonus: How to choose the right meditation technique for you

With so many meditation techniques available, finding the one that fits your needs might feel overwhelming. But choosing doesn’t have to be guesswork. Nor should meditating well with them be something you need to check off your list.

Like Emily says, “The point of meditation is not to get good at meditation. The point of meditation is to get good at life.”  

Here’s a simple guide, along with a few reflective questions, to help you find a method or more that resonates most with you:

1. Identify your goals

Before picking a technique, get clear on why you want to meditate in the first place. Different practices support different outcomes, so knowing what you’re aiming for helps you choose more intentionally.

Start by noticing what feels most pressing right now:

Is it stress that shows up in your body? 

A busy mind that won’t slow down? 

Or desire for clarity, confidence, or emotional balance?

For example, if you tend to get nervous before presentations or high-stakes conversations, techniques like guided visualization or the 6 Phase Meditation can help you mentally rehearse calm and confidence ahead of time. If your goal is to unwind after long days, then breath-focused or body-based practices may be a better fit.

Getting specific about your “why” keeps meditation from feeling random. It turns the practice into something that supports your real life.

2. Consider your lifestyle

Your schedule matters just as much as your intention. A meditation practice only works if it fits into your day without adding pressure.

Ask yourself:

• “How much time can I realistically give this each day?”
• “Do I need something flexible or structured?”
• “Would I rather sit quietly or be guided?”

If your days are packed and unpredictable, short techniques like one-minute resets, breath counts, or anchor words are easier to maintain. They work well between meetings, during commutes, or in those quiet gaps you don’t plan for.

If you enjoy routine and can carve out dedicated time, longer guided sessions, such as the 6 Phase Meditation or visualization practices, can feel more satisfying and immersive. These work well in the morning or evening, when distractions are lower.

The goal isn’t to force meditation into your life. It’s to let it slide naturally into your life as it is. 

3. Experiment with a few methods

Meditation is a personal journey. What resonates for one person may not work as well for another. To know what’s right for you, try out a different technique every few days. Notice how they make you feel, both during the practice and afterward. 

Are certain practices helping you feel more grounded, balanced, or clear-headed than others? A good way to find out is to alternate between techniques without letting too much time pass between them.

For example, you can spend a day or a week or so focusing on breathwork meditation. Then switch it up with another approach you like for contrast. 

From here, it’s easier to take stock of which approach is best for you. 

And remember: whichever technique you choose matters less than being good at them. “The more you meditate,” says Vishen, “the easier it becomes to meditate.” 

4. Listen to your body and intuition

Ultimately, meditation is about tuning into your own needs. Trust your intuition, a.k.a. your inner compass, to guide you as you navigate the experimental phase. Pay attention to how each practice affects your body and mind. 

“As you continuously practice,” Vishen points out, “the difference between your meditative state and your normal waking state starts to blur.”  

If a particular technique leaves you feeling refreshed or centered, keep it in your rotation. At the same time, don’t hesitate to skip over the ones that feel forced or draining. 

A golden rule to remember here: meditation is a journey, not a destination. There’s no need to rush into experimenting with the methods. 

And more importantly… have fun. Embrace the freedom you have to explore, adapt, and change your preferences as your needs evolve.

Future-proof your well-being.

What if you could wake up all calm on command each morning, with laser-sharp clarity guiding your every step? What if you could feel unwavering strength within, no matter what your day throws your way?

That’s what meditation does for you. If you’re looking for a place to start your practice, consider Vishen’s free 6 Phase Meditation class on Mindvalley. His approach comes highly recommended by those who’ve experienced its impact firsthand…

… Like Samir Shah, a musician from Upper Marlboro, U.S., who used to “worry about small things and minor health issues.” Now? He’s got a clear vision of the future, thanks to the 6 Phase Meditation.

And he’s not the only one. Victoria Olivadoti, an educational consultant from Fountain Valley, U.S., had never been able to meditate, but Vishen’s meditation technique opened a gateway to profound joy and clarity.

“It’s been transformative,” she says. “The speed at which answers to visions of the future have materialized is mind-blowing.”

Like Samir and Victoria, you too can bring more clarity, resilience, and purpose into your life. The free program prepares you to:

• Building a transformative daily meditation practice,
• Fostering positivity and deeper connections,
• Releasing negativity and embracing forgiveness,
• Accessing inner wisdom for inspired goals, and
• So much more.

All you need to do is take that first step. As Vishen says, “Baby steps are more powerful than you think.”

Welcome in.

Some days ask more than they give back. Tabs open, notifications piling up, and everything feels a little too switched on… And the idea of steady sounds good right about now.

We meditate to get good at life, not to get good at meditation.

— Emily Fletcher, trainer of Mindvalley’s The M Word

So slip into your comfy clothes and get out your yoga mat. It’s time to scroll through the list of best guided meditations and press play. Headphones, optional.

Best guided meditations for beginners

If you’re familiar with Eat, Pray, Love, you’ll remember that Elizabeth Gilbert struggles with meditation when she arrives at an ashram in India. 

“We are meant to sit for an hour in silence, but I log the minutes as if they are miles—sixty brutal miles that I have to endure,” she says, describing her first session. “By mile/minute fourteen, my nerves have started to go, my knees are breaking down and I’m overcome with exasperation.”

That’s the thing most beginners run into. They assume meditation means long stretches of silence, total stillness, and a calm mind that behaves on command.

But according to meditation expert Emily Fletcher, that’s one of the main reasons so many beginners quit before they even truly begin.

“The mind thinks involuntarily just like the heart beats involuntarily,” she says in her Mindvalley program, The M Word. Plus, she starts beginners with short, manageable sessions and gradually builds the practice over time, so the habit forms before frustration sets in.

That structure is exactly why guided meditations work so well for beginners. It helps you build consistency without making it feel hard. Here are three you can start with:

1. 10-Minute Self-Love Meditation | Emily Fletcher

There’s a lot of talk about self-love, and with good reason. It’s how you treat yourself with basic respect, especially when you feel tired, critical, or overwhelmed.

Research shows that people who practice this kind of self-compassion experience lower stress levels, less anxiety, and greater emotional resilience. And when that compassion shows up as care instead of criticism, you get better mental health, stronger motivation, and healthier relationships over time.

So take this 10-minute self-love meditation. Emily guides you into gratitude for your body and your life, using spoken affirmations you can listen to anywhere, even while brushing your teeth or lying in bed.

The goal here isn’t to fix yourself. Rather, it’s to help your nervous system soften so appreciation and self-trust start to feel natural again.

Try it now:

2. 15-Minute Guided Meditation for Beginners—Release Your Biggest Blocks | Jeffrey Allen

Everything is energy. You’ve probably heard the phrase before, but it’s one Jeffrey Allen returns to again and again in his work.

In this 15-minute guided meditation, the energy healing expert helps you notice where stress and emotional buildup live in your body. Then he guides you through clearing it without overthinking the process.

From there, the focus shifts to sharpen your intuition, so you can sense which direction feels right before your mind jumps in to debate it.

Play it in the morning to set the tone for your day, or at night when you want to unwind without effort. You can even do both, since 15 minutes of feeling clear and centered fits anywhere.

Try it now:

3. 5-Minute Guided Meditation to Find Your Inner Peace | Agapi Stassinopoulos

Elizabeth may have had to sit through 60 minutes of those ashram meditation classes. But renowned spiritual teacher Agapi Stassinopoulos asks for something far more realistic: five minutes of your time. That’s all it takes to slow your breathing, steady your thoughts, and remember what calm actually feels like.

She starts by helping you let go of whatever’s been weighing on you. As the meditation continues, the focus moves toward feeling supported, grounded, and connected to something steadier within you.

What makes this session work is its simplicity. You’re not asked to analyze your thoughts or fix anything. Instead, you’re guided to rest in a feeling of trust and quiet, even if life around you stays busy.

If you’re short on time, feeling anxious, or simply need a quick reset, this is one of the best guided meditations to play.

Try it now:

Best guided meditations for sleep

Oh sleep, you elusive nightly reset that always seems to slip through our fingers. Yet recent data from the CDC shows that one in three adults still isn’t getting enough of it.

Seven hours? Psssh, for so many, it falls short by one to two hours.

That may not seem like much of a difference, but you best believe it adds up. A study on sleep deprivation and decision-making showed that exhausted soldiers hit a fixed target just fine. Yet their accuracy dropped to below 10% once targets appeared at random.

What does that mean for you? You’re still able to show up and answer emails, but if the smallest curveball knocks your focus sideways, mistakes are likely to pile up fast.

Getting your zzz’s in is incredibly important. So try these three Mindvalley meditations—they can help slow things down, settle your body, and let rest actually happen.

4. Surrender to Deep Sleep: A Guided Meditation for Relaxation

Many of us are in a constant state of stress. Deadlines, financial pressure, and always being reachable don’t give you much of a break. Emily, too, has talked about how stress during her Broadway years led to 18 months of insomnia.

Now, sleep is important, sure. But deep sleep helps your brain and body reset. It supports memory, focus, immune health, and physical repair, while also regulating mood and stress.

So, if you need to slow your mind, this eight-minute meditation will help you focus on your breath, safety, and trust so your body can relax and fall asleep.

Try it now:

5. 5-Minute Guided Meditation to Say Goodbye to Sleepless Nights | Dina Proctor

Let’s face it: tossing and turning sucks. And after a long, overstimulated day, a gentle shutdown sequence can change how the rest of the night unfolds.

And this one’s it. You’re guided by Dina Proctor, a certified life coach, whose soft, soothing voice leads you to let your body go first, muscle by muscle, breath by breath.

The great thing is, it doesn’t require you to sit up or do anything extra. In fact, you can simply meditate in bed with this one, under the covers and in full prep for your night’s rest.

Try it now:

6. Powerful Guided Meditation for Deeper Sleep and Healing | Niraj Naik

If you keep waking up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back asleep, that’s often a sign that stress or tension hasn’t fully let go.

Niraj Naik can help you with that. In this 12-minute meditation, the pharmacist-turned-breathwork expert guides you through slow breathing, gentle rhythm, and visualization to move your body into deep rest.

The key to his meditation practice is the breath. According to research, slow, controlled breathing can help regulate stress, improve focus, and calm the nervous system.

And you don’t have to take it on faith. One of Niraj’s students, Vivienne Keytel from South Africa, shares with Mindvalley that she had been waking up in the early hours and struggling to fall back asleep. After using Niraj’s sleep meditations in his Mindvalley program, Breathwork for Life, consistently, she found that her nights settled and her days flowed with more ease.

It’s a great testament to how small shifts in the body can lead to deeper rest.

Try it now:

Best guided meditations for anxiety

Elizabeth knows all about anxiety. In Eat, Pray, Love, she shares about a stretch of nights where sleep disappeared, and fear took over.

“I was hiding in the bathroom for something like the forty-seventh consecutive night, and—just as during all those nights before—I was sobbing,” she writes. “Sobbing so hard, in fact, that a great lake of tears and snot was spreading before me on the bathroom tiles, a veritable Lake Inferior (if you will) of all my shame and fear and confusion and grief.”

That’s the consequence of anxiety. Left unchecked, your mind can spiral, your body can lock up, and even the quiet hours offer no relief.

How can meditation help? Well, research shows that mindfulness-based meditation significantly reduces anxiety and improves emotional stability over time.

And these three can offer a steady way to calm your mind when everything feels like it’s coming at you all at once.

7. Conquering Anxiety with Sound Wave Frequencies | The Monroe Institute

Sometimes your mind won’t stop buzzing. Silence doesn’t help. In fact, it can make everything louder.

This meditation, guided by The Monroe Institute, takes a different route. Instead of asking you to focus or visualize, it uses sound wave frequencies to do the heavy lifting.

Research suggests that certain sound interventions can reduce stress and promote calmer physiological states. So let the sounds wash over you, your body softens, and the mental noise finally loses the microphone.

Available on the Mindvalley app:

8. 3-Minute Meditation to Reduce Anxiety and Be Present

Have you ever had one of those moments where your thoughts jump ahead, your body tightens, and suddenly everything feels loud? Technically, you’re fine, but your mind is already ten steps away.

This is one of the best guided meditations for anxiety to pull you back to now, fast. It guides your attention through your body, feet on the floor, shoulders dropping, and breath slowing. Then it does something simple and effective: it reminds you that nothing urgent is happening right now.

Three minutes later, you’re still in the same place, just calmer, steadier, and a little less wound up.

Try it now:

9. A Guided Meditation to Heal From Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma | Sonia Choquette

Not all stress sits in your head. Some parks itself in your jaw, your chest, or your gut and refuses to move. Even when you try to relax, your body stays on guard, like it missed the memo.

This meditation works by grounding you in your body and your surroundings first. From there, Sonia Choquette, a spiritual teacher and intuitive guide, helps you breathe through your heart and belly, soften tension, and feel supported. As the session unfolds, the focus shifts to releasing what no longer belongs to you, so your body can finally stand down.

That release can feel immediate, as it did for meditation coach Mark Pelter. As he shares in the comments, “I’m so grateful for this. This meditation brought me immediate relief from my anxiety. Thank you.”

Because sometimes that’s all you’re looking for: a moment where the weight lifts and you can breathe without bracing for what comes next. 

Try it now:

Best guided meditations for healing

“Healing” is often associated with something miraculous. But break it down, and it’s simply your body and mind finding their way back to balance after stress, injury, or emotional strain.

Sure, there are tons of tools that can help you heal. Guided meditations being one of them. 

It shifts your focus just enough for healing to get a foothold. Research shows it can reduce stress hormones and improve emotional regulation, both of which support the body’s natural healing processes. Plus, practicing meditation regularly has been linked to a stronger immune response and better recovery from stress over time.

As Emily says in her Mindvalley program, “We meditate to get good at life, not to get good at meditation.” And sometimes, that shift is all the miracle you need.

So, put whatever you’ve got going on aside, and take a few minutes with some of the best free guided meditations out there.

10. Deep Healing and Repair | Summer McStravick

Old stress, emotional residue, mental patterns that keep looping even when the situation is over… It can be a lot. But what this meditation does is help you process all these things that haven’t fully cleared yet.

Summer McStravick, a personal growth coach, uses her Flowdreaming method, which focuses on how the mind and body reorganize after pressure. You may notice later that certain thoughts don’t pull as hard, reactions soften faster, and situations that used to linger don’t hang around as long.

The ultimate goal here is to help things move forward instead of feeling stuck in life.

Available on the Mindvalley app:

11. 6-Minute Guided Meditation to Achieve Peace and Awareness | Peter M. Lucas

If you’ve got six minutes to spare, take it to do this meditation. Guided by one of the former marines in Mindvalley, Peter M. Lucas, it centers the practice on a single breath and a short story about purpose.

From there, the meditation invites you to notice what’s already here without trying to label or fix it. Peter’s guidance stays simple and uncluttered, which makes it easy to follow without getting stuck in your head.

Try it now:

12. Group Immersion Session: Cultivating Inner Peace | Elena Bensonoff

Meditating alone can be daunting for some. If it is for you, grab a friend or a group of people. Because the thing is, there’s something grounding about knowing others are doing the same practice at the same time. Instead of trying to force calm, you simply step into it.

In this particular healing meditation, Elena Bensonoff, an award-winning holistic practitioner and the founder of Wholistic, Inc., guides a group session that focuses on connection, intention, and the feeling of being supported, even when you’re sitting alone with your eyes closed.

As the session unfolds, you’re led through imagery, breath, and gentle visualization to release emotional buildup and soften areas that tend to hold tension. The focus moves from the body to the heart, then outward.

As a result, calm feels shared and natural, not something you have to work at.

Try it now:

Best guided meditations for manifesting

Manifestation often gets a bad reputation. Too mystical for some, too vague for others.

But the thing is, people misunderstand the true nature of it. They think it’s about wishing harder, visualizing nonstop, or waiting for something to magically show up.

Vishen, the founder and CEO of Mindvalley, says it isn’t about getting more things at all. “Manifesting,” he explains at the Mindvalley Manifesting Summit 2025, “is about becoming the person you are destined to be.”

At its core, it’s simply about where your focus goes and what you reinforce over time. And these are some of the best guided meditations to get you there.

13. Manifesting Financial Abundance | Regan Hillyer

So if manifesting, as Vishen says, is about being the person you’re destined to be, then this meditation is about rehearsing that identity until it stops feeling foreign.

Regan Hillyer, a manifestation and mindset coach, guides you through seeing yourself after the outcome is already done, not hoped for. She calls it “a movie of you from your future having already received the financial abundance that you desire.”

What tends to change later isn’t so much your mood as it is your behavior. Choices feel cleaner, hesitation drops, and you stop negotiating with yourself over small moves.

Available on the Mindvalley app:

14. Guided Abundance Meditation | Bob Proctor

What can you do in 20 minutes? Watch an episode of Friends (sans commercials)? Go for a walk? Make a breakfast-for-dinner plate?

… Or you can do a 20-minute guided meditation. And if there’s one to experience out of all the Mindvalley meditations, it’s this one from Bob Proctor.

It came together in 2014 when the author of You Were Born Rich visited the Mindvalley office in Malaysia. Just before leaving, he offered to record a meditation, so Vishen pulled out his then-iPhone (5, by the way), found a quiet corner, and hit record. That raw audio went on to become one of Mindvalley’s most loved meditations, with over 4.2 million listens over the years.

The core idea of it is that abundance already exists everywhere and that the real limit sits in how a person thinks and imagines. The meditation uses visualization and repetition to shift how you identify with possibility, worth, and expansion so abundance feels normal, accessible, and expected rather than distant or reserved for others.

Try it now:

15. The 6 Phase Guided Meditation | Vishen

The 6 Phase Meditation is a transcendent practice. What that means, according to Vishen, is “any practice that helps you step back from the physical world and go within, and go within your own mind.”

And there are six he’s studied that create the biggest uplifts in human well-being:

1. Love and compassion
2. Happiness and gratitude
3. Peace and forgiveness
4. Vision for your future
5. Mastering your day
6. Support and blessing

Together, these make up the six phases of the 6 Phase Meditation. Its point is to train how you think and respond so your emotions, focus, and actions work together instead of against each other.

And it’s one of the reasons so many high performers swear by it, including Bianca Andreescu. Before winning the US Open at 19, she practiced the 6 Phase consistently, visualizing her success and training her emotional state long before the match ever happened. When reporters asked how she stayed so mentally strong, she pointed straight back to this practice.

Expand your consciousness

You don’t need to Eat, Pray, Love yourself to reset your inner world. Just 20 minutes with the 6 Phase Meditation program and a willingness to show up.

Sure, you can head to YouTube and follow the meditation. That’s great, too. But in the program, you’ll gain so much more:

• Understand what each phase is doing and why it matters
• Learn how to guide your thoughts instead of wrestling with them
• Practice directing your emotions before the day directs you
• Build clarity around what you want without forcing motivation
• Create a short daily habit that fits real life and actually lasts

Bianca Andreescu wasn’t the only one who’s experienced the might of the 6 Phase Meditation. Former NFL player Tony Gonzalez, Grammy award-winning musician Miguel, and DJ Matthew Russell of Cheat Codes have all credited this powerful practice with helping them train their mindset long before performance moments mattered.

And publicist April Love experienced a similar shift. She shares with Mindvalley:

Through meditation, I was able to see what truly mattered and set new goals with true intention.

Twenty minutes a day for seven days is all you need to learn how to work with your mind instead of fighting it—and it’s for free. And by the end, you have a practice you can use anytime, anywhere.

Welcome in.

Let’s say a friend of yours trips and faceplants onto a concrete floor. There’s a huge thud, and blood is gushing from his nose and a laceration on his eyebrow. Major ouch.

You, too, can feel pain as face meets floor and even the aftershock of it. You start to feel bad for them and rush over to help.

Now, what you may (or may not) realize is, you’ve just experienced empathy and compassion. Do you know which one is which?

That’s the thing with synonyms. We use them interchangeably, like when it comes to compassion vs. empathy.

Not that there’s anything wrong with it. But, like humans, words are unique. There’s a reason a stumble is called a stumble and not a fall.

And when you understand the meaning behind the word, you start responding to the world more consciously instead of just reacting to its pain.

What is empathy?

Empathy is what happens when you feel someone else’s emotions as if they were your own. You’re able to sense what they’re going through without a single word being spoken.

It’s human instinct, really. Research even reveals that when you witness someone else in pain, the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex light up. These are the same brain regions that process your own pain.

It’s a kind of emotional resonance, where you literally feel with others. That’s very much like when your friend’s face high-fived the floor.

But it doesn’t revolve solely around pain. According to psychiatrist Dr. Judith Orloff, you can also mirror joy, fear, curiosity, excitement, and so on.

That’s why empathy isn’t just one thing. There are actually three layers:

• Cognitive empathy is what helps you understand what someone feels.
• Emotional empathy lets you share that feeling in your own body.
• Compassionate empathy moves you to do something about it.

They often overlap, and each activates a different part of the brain that shapes how we connect.

Not only that, but as Dr. Orloff points out in her book, The Genius of Empathy, empathy is its own form of healing, whether you’re giving or receiving it. She writes, “It’s a way of saying you matter to me, the earth matters to me, being kind to myself and others matters to me.”

And that’s the beauty of empathy. It reminds us how deeply we’re wired to care.

What empathy is not

People often romanticize empathy, whether we like to admit it or not. People treat it like a superpower, but half the time, it’s a type of emotional intelligence that we often misuse.

When it leaks out of balance, it turns into something that looks like care but quietly empties you. So here’s what empathy is not:

• A rescue mission. It doesn’t pull people out of pain.
• An emotional sponge. It doesn’t absorb everything it feels.
• A performance. It doesn’t need to be seen to be real.
• A weakness. It doesn’t make you fragile.
• The same as sympathy. It doesn’t watch from a distance.
• A moral badge. It doesn’t prove goodness.
• A guarantee of truth. It doesn’t always understand the story.

The fact of the matter is, empathy loses its strength when it’s confused with emotional overreach or self-sacrifice. It’s meant to be the bridge, not the destination.

And what waits on the other side is compassion.

What is compassion?

If empathy lets you feel someone’s pain, compassion moves you to ease it. It’s the natural next step when understanding turns into care. So, in the instance of your friend falling, it would be when you feel bad and go over to help.

“Compassion is expressing the intention of moving from judgment to caring, from isolation to connection, from indifference or dislike to understanding,” explains Vishen, the founder of Mindvalley, in his 6 Phase Meditation program.

Even across traditions, compassion has been described as the highest form of emotional maturity. In Buddhism, it’s karuṇā, which is the willingness to stay open in the presence of pain. In psychology, it’s seen as the balance between sensitivity and strength.

Neuroscience finds that the same brain regions that handle love and reward also activate compassion. They create feelings of warmth and motivation, and that’s why practicing this emotional state can leave you more energized, not less.

“All of us can go from being judgmental to being truly loving and kind,” Vishen says. And when you do that, “you’re not just better to the people around you. The world feels better because [with] everyone around you, you start understanding that they are human just like you.”

What compassion is not

People often speak of compassion as a virtue, but that halo effect it has can often blur its truth. So here’s what compassion is not:

• Pity. It doesn’t look down on pain.
• Martyrdom. It doesn’t ask you to burn out.
• Saviorism. It doesn’t try to fix people.
• Forced positivity. It doesn’t fake calm or light. 
• A transaction. It doesn’t keep score. 

According to Vishen, it’s easy to underestimate compassion. “For the longest time in society,” he says in an interview with Jay Shetty, “we thought kindness is [sic] associated with weakness.”

But compassion, he goes on to explain, is like a muscle. “When you train it, you become more loving.”

Understanding compassion vs. empathy

When you’re looking at empathy vs. compassion on the surface, they can seem like one and the same. But when you look at them side by side, you’ll see why each deserves to stand as its own word.

Aspect	Empathy	Compassion
Focus	Feeling with someone	Wanting to ease their suffering
Action	An emotional response that helps you understand what they’re going through	Taking conscious steps to support or relieve pain
Direction	Turns inward as you reflect and internalize another’s feelings	Turns outward as you channel care into action
Result	Builds emotional connection but can lead to empathic distress when unregulated	Builds resilience and sustainable connection through positive motivation
Example: Your friend trips and falls…	You feel their agony in your own body	You put into action what you’ve learned about how to comfort someone

Empathy vs. sympathy vs. compassion vs. pity

So you’ve got the comparison between empathy and compassion. But there are a few others that often get thrown into the mix that, if you’re not a native English speaker, might get you thinking, Goodness, what now …

Buddhist monk Gelong Thubten has an opinion about this (specifically compassion). In his Becoming More Loving program on Mindvalley, he says, “Sometimes I think when people hear the word compassion, they maybe mix it up with an idea of pity or looking down on somebody, or just feeling a very strong kind of empathy and feeling unhappy because others are suffering.”

In the case of your friend faceplanting, when do you feel empathy vs. sympathy vs. compassion? And what about pity?

So take a look at all four, side by side:

Aspect	Pity	Sympathy	Empathy	Compassion
Focus	Observing someone’s suffering from a distance	Acknowledging someone’s hardship	Feeling another’s emotions as your own	Wanting to ease another’s suffering
Action	Feeling sorry for them	Offering comfort or words of support	Emotionally resonating and connecting	Taking action to support or relieve pain
Direction	Shallow	Moderate	Deep	Deepest
Result	Creates separation and hierarchy	Creates understanding but keeps emotional distance	Builds closeness but can lead to emotional fatigue	Creates sustained connection and emotional balance
Example: Your friend fell…	You think, “poor thing.”	You say to them, “I’m so sorry; that must’ve hurt.”	You agonize over the pain with them.	You hold space for them and help them heal over time.

What is more important, compassion or empathy?

The thing with these types of emotions is that they work together as parts of the same emotional intelligence. Even in one scenario, you can move through them fluidly, so you don’t really have to choose to feel one over the other.

“Empathy and compassion play a central role in healing,” Dr. Orloff explains.

The former opens you up to another person’s world. However, too much of it can flood your system and blur the edges of where you end and they begin.

The latter then steadies that response. It acts as the regulator and turns raw feeling into grounded care.

So it’s not so much about compassion vs. empathy but more about how you can get them to work in balance. When you can do that, you’re able to stay connected without collapsing, aware without absorbing, and present without losing yourself.

You can’t ignore your own needs and expect to heal yourself. It just won’t work.

— Dr. Judith Orloff, psychiatrist and author of The Genius of Empathy

How to cultivate compassion and empathy in an authentic way

Chances are, you’re in touch with your empathetic and compassionate side. But if you’d like to strengthen it further, these expert-backed practices can guide the way.

1. Start with self-empathy

“You can’t ignore your own needs and expect to heal yourself,” Dr. Orloff points out. “It just won’t work.”

That’s the whole point of self-empathy. It asks you to slow down and notice what’s happening inside before tuning in to anyone else. And when you do so, research says, your brain can calm stress, steady your emotions, and make it easier to connect with others.

The fact of the matter is, when you understand your own emotions, you’re able to stop projecting them onto others. What’s more, you can communicate more clearly, react less, and listen better.

There are a few things you can do to work on this:

• Notice how you feel. Pause for a moment during your day and check in with your body—your shoulders, your breath, your heartbeat. Ask yourself, “What am I feeling right now?” and let the answer come without judgment.
• Grounding techniques like deep breathing, walking in nature, or journaling to process emotion instead of suppressing it.
• Gentle self-talk. Speak to yourself with patience, not pressure.

“How you treat yourself affects your health and well-being,” says Dr. Orloff. And whether you’re in pain or pain-free, happy or sad, centered or scattered, both are okay. “You are on your own side in all circumstances.”

2. Build healthy boundaries

Setting boundaries isn’t often considered a skill. But it’s one that’s part of Dr. Orloff’s teachings.

“This skill is the foundation of healthy relationships and helps preserve your sensitivities,” she explains. Research shows that people with clear emotional boundaries experience lower stress and less burnout.

The thing is, when you’re cultivating empathy without having boundaries in place, burnout and empathy fatigue (where you have nothing left to give to others or yourself) can occur. Dr. Orloff puts it as “there are no guardrails to hold on to or limitations to keep in mind.” And that’s a huge problem.

So what does setting these boundaries look like?

• Repeat this affirmation. “It is not my job to take on other people’s pain. I can be caring without exhausting myself.”
• Practice saying no without guilt. It also means knowing your limits and expressing them kindly but firmly so you can care for others without neglecting yourself.

Dr. Orloff herself had to learn to do this, respectfully, of course. And she found that her sense of self-worth became stronger. She says, “Once I could catch this pattern and show it more love, I didn’t give it the power to take me down.”

3. Put empathy in action

There are plenty of ways you can start implementing empathy:

• Listen actively. Give your full attention without planning your reply.
• Be curious. Ask questions that invite understanding instead of judgment.
• Stay open. Let people feel safe to share without fearing correction or critique.

They’re small actions, sure. But because they build trust, ease tension, and remind people they’re seen, their impact is incredible.

“Cultivating empathy is peaceful warrior training,” says Dr. Orloff. “You will learn to be both strong and loving, neither a pushover nor rigid.”

And over time, that kind of empathy naturally grows into compassion.

4. Practice self-compassion

Compassion is a discipline of the heart. And on that, Gelong is an expert. As a matter of fact, his Becoming More Loving program centers on understanding it and expanding yours until it becomes a way of being.

So here’s what he suggests doing for self-compassion:

• Calm your mind through simple breathing meditation.
• Each time you notice your mind wandering, gently bring it back.

This is training in forgiveness. And it’s compassion in its most practical form: meeting yourself with patience instead of frustration.

“It’s really a sense of expanding the heart,” Gelong explains. “It’s a sense of connecting with all sentient beings. A sense of something really limitless, something unconditional, something very pure.”

Once you’re able to do that for yourself, then it’s time to expand that feeling outward.

“We want to move beyond the boundaries of our limiting self, our limiting ego,” Gelong adds. Begin with someone you love, move to strangers, and, when you’re ready, include everyone, even those who challenge you.

5. Set compassion as your intention

Compassion is one of the six phases of Vishen’s incredibly powerful and prominent meditation program. And for a good reason.

“Compassion is about surrendering to the best version of yourself,” he says. Research from the HeartMath Institute shows that it creates heart coherence, where your emotions, mind, and body fall into harmony. That’s the energy you radiate when you live from intention instead of reaction.

To begin to learn how to do that, Vishen teaches a simple yet profound exercise:

• Visualize someone you love, like a partner, a child, or even a pet.
• Then, feel the warmth of that love in your heart. See that love as light, and with each breath, expand it.
• Fill yourself with it first, then your home, your neighborhood, your city, and eventually the entire planet.

This is what he means, as previously mentioned, by compassion being an expression of “the intention of moving from judgment to caring, from isolation to connection, from indifference or dislike to understanding.”

Each time you practice it, you raise the emotional field around you. And in doing so, you remind others to do the same.

Compassion vs. empathy: real-life examples

Seeing others in action doing good has a contagious effect. Like when someone pays for a stranger’s coffee, and suddenly everyone in line wants to do the same.

This is what’s known as moral elevation. Research shows that when we witness someone doing good, our brains release oxytocin and activate the same neural circuits linked to connection and care.

The world feels better because [with] everyone around you, you start understanding that they are human just like you.

— Vishen, founder of Mindvalley and trainer of the 6 Phase Meditation program

Here are a few empathy vs. compassion examples in real life. May it inspire you to do the same.

Empathy

Letting someone else be right. Dr. Orloff relays the story of a friend who was certain her daughter’s relationship was doomed. Instead of arguing, Dr. Orloff simply said, “Okay, you seem certain,” and left it there. Releasing the urge to be right allowed her friend to feel heard (even if her prediction didn’t come true). And that made space for connection. 

When a story touches the heart. Photographer Brandon Stanton, the creator of Humans of New York, once stopped a middle school student named Vidal on the streets of Brooklyn. The boy spoke about his principal, Ms. Lopez, and how she inspired him every day. Stanton was deeply moved by the way Vidal described her, and that simple moment of listening eventually led to a collaborative campaign to fund a school trip to Harvard.

Reaching out to be understood. In 2004, a man in Sydney known as Juan Mann stood in a busy mall holding a cardboard sign that read “Free Hugs.” After feeling lonely and disconnected, he sensed others might feel the same. A simple hug became his way of saying, “I see you. I feel it too.”

Compassion

Choosing understanding over judgment. After the city reopened from lockdown, Vishen went to a restaurant with a friend. The service was slow, the coffee arrived cold, and the food took ages. When the bill came, instead of complaining, he left the waitress a generous tip. He chose to see her situation through compassion: the stress of returning to work, the exhaustion of long shifts, and the pressure of serving a packed restaurant after months of uncertainty.

The heart of leadership. After 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela chose unity over revenge. As president of South Africa, he embraced the national rugby team, the Springboks (who were once seen as a symbol of apartheid), and encouraged the nation to support them. It was a moment of profound compassion: the decision to lead with forgiveness, to act from understanding rather than anger.

Self-compassion in healing. Penny Winn, a writer from the United States, discovered The 6 Phase Meditation while struggling with PTSD. Searching for calm one night, she found Vishen’s guided meditation on YouTube and began using it to manage her anxiety and reconnect with herself.

“His ideas on compassion, love, forgiveness, and taking personal responsibility for your development towards the next three years has really moved me forward in my PTSD and spiritual growth,” she shares. Because, sometimes, gentleness is what helps you begin again.

Frequently asked questions

Can you have compassion without empathy?

Yes, it’s possible. Unlike empathy, compassion doesn’t rely on emotional resonance alone. It can also arise from conscious intention.

As Dr. Orloff explains, “Compassion is often a response to empathizing with someone that can spark our impulse to help, but not everyone with empathy is spurred into action.”

In other words, empathy can open the door to compassion, but it’s not the only way in. You can consciously choose to act with care and understanding even when you don’t feel another person’s pain.

That’s why doctors, therapists, and caregivers practice cultivating compassion. It allows them to stay kind and effective without emotional overload.

What is the difference between empathy, altruism, and compassion?

Empathy lets you feel. Compassion moves you to care. And altruism? It compels you to act.

They often work together but aren’t dependent on each other. Empathy can lead to compassion, and compassion can inspire altruism.

Yet, you can also have altruism without empathy or compassion without emotional resonance.

Is there a dark side to empathy?

There can be. Empathy, while beautiful, has limits. When you take on too much of another person’s pain, your nervous system can’t tell where you end and they begin. Experts call this state empathetic distress.

Research from the Max Planck Institute also found that excessive empathy activates the same brain regions as physical pain. So, without regulation, this can lead to burnout, anxiety, and avoidance. 

That’s why empathy alone isn’t enough. It needs the stabilizing presence of compassion.

Become a changemaker 

You’ve explored empathy. You’ve felt compassion. Now imagine turning both into a daily practice that rewires how you think, feel, and move through the world.

That’s what Vishen Lakhiani’s 6 Phase Meditation does. In just 20 minutes a day, you’ll move through six powerful phases designed to awaken love, gratitude, forgiveness, vision, mastery, and blessing. And with it, you’ll:

• Train your mind to stay calm and clear, even in chaos.
• Open your heart to deeper compassion and connection.
• Live each day with purpose, focus, and joy.

World-class athletes, artists, and leaders use this radically practical meditation. One such person is Bianca Andreescu, a professional tennis player who beat Serena Williams in the 2019 US Open. She shares:

It has definitely changed my life, and just know that you’re not only changing my life, but you also change millions of lives.

You can now access the 6 Phase Meditation program for free and discover how quickly your inner world can transform your outer one.

Welcome in.