What is guided meditation? 7 apps to try for beginners

This can either be done in person, online, or via one of the many popular meditation apps. Whether you choose to practice meditation at home by selecting from amongst the best self-care apps, or you attend a live class, meditation has been proven to offer many benefits.

These include reducing stress, managing anxiety, improving sleep, and promoting emotional health and wellbeing. Yet for many people, the thought of learning how to meditate can feel overwhelming.

If you’ve ever used one of the best health and fitness apps to do a home workout, you may have wondered if you were doing the exercises ‘correctly’. We often have the same concerns with meditation. That’s where guided meditations can prove helpful. With an experienced teacher leading you through the basic steps, much of the mental legwork is done for you.

Below, you’ll find everything you need to know about guided meditations, including how they work and what you can expect. Plus, if you prefer to use apps instead of attending in-person classes, we’ve rounded up our favorites that are just perfect for beginners.

Guided meditation is the name given to any meditation where you meditate following the instructions of a qualified teacher. It involves the conventional aspects of meditation practice, such as bringing your awareness to your breath, sounds, sensations in the body, or particular imagery.

Guided meditations vary in duration, with some lasting from as little as a few minutes and others stretching to an hour or more. However, most fall around the 10-20 minute mark, making them ideal for both new meditators and those who already have an established practice.

Guided meditations come in many forms, including body scans, visualizations, and walking meditations. Your guide may lead you through a particular breathing exercise, ask you to pay attention to what you can feel in different parts of your body, instruct you to picture specific mental imagery, or ask you to repeat a mantra.

In a guided meditation, your teacher will explain to you what you can expect. This may include how the mind works and how it’s likely to behave during the meditation, so that you’re aware of what may occur as you’re being guided through the process. You will usually be asked to relax your body and your mind before you begin, and to allow whatever experience unfolds to unfold without resisting it.

As mentioned above, guided meditations will often begin with an introduction that’s designed to slowly ease you into the experience. You will usually be given instructions on how to sit or lie down during the meditation.

Guided meditations involve a learning process and it’s important to understand that it takes time to build up the skills to fully immerse yourself. Even experienced meditators will have days where their minds are busier than others and they find it harder to listen to someone’s voice without their mind wandering.

This is completely normal. No matter what style of meditation practice you’re doing, the goal is not to have a completely quiet and still mind for the entire duration of the meditation — this is simply not possible.

It’s completely normal for the mind to wander and this does not mean that you have failed or are doing it ‘wrong’. Instead, when you notice that your mind has wandered into thoughts of the past or the future, simply notice that and gently bring your awareness back to the present moment.

As with any form of meditation, guided meditations have their own pros and cons. We each have what is known as a ‘mind type’, this means that we’ll find certain styles of meditation easier to practice than others.

While meditation has wonderful benefits, not every style of meditation is going to be suitable for you. Guided meditations are brilliant if you’re looking for something that’s easy to follow along to and you appreciate being prompted along the way to remind you of what it is you’re meant to be focusing on.

Guided meditations are also one of the best forms of meditation for anyone experiencing depression, anxiety, or panic attacks. That’s because unlike unguided meditations, you’re not being left alone with your own thoughts for long periods of time — something that can feel very frightening when we’re experiencing a disrupted emotional state.

Excellent for beginners, guided meditations often provide us with a space for reflection but in a way where we’re held and supported. There are thousands of options to choose from and they also tend to be relatively short, making them ideal for fitting into a busy lifestyle.

The main drawback of guided meditations is that they’re not suitable for every mind type. Some people find guided meditations distracting because of the constant interruptions of someone’s voice and the various sounds that may accompany the meditation track. It can also take time to find someone whose voice you enjoy listening to, and the cues they give during the meditation may not sync with your breathing.

Calm offers users access to a variety of meditations designed to reduce anxiety, improve sleep, and boost focus. The Calm app costs $14.99 a month, or $69.99 for an annual subscription, and you can take advantage of their 7-day free trial before signing up. During that time you’ll be given access to their 7 Days of Calm guided meditation series.

Another popular choice for guided meditations is Headspace, which offers an impressive library containing hundreds of options ranging in length from one minute all the way up to an hour. We love its user-friendly interface and the fact that it comes with a free 7 or 14-day trial, giving you plenty of time to test things out. After that, it’s $12.99 per month or $69.99 a year. 

Get an idea of what Headspace has to offer with this free 5-minute guided meditation.

Do you have a super busy lifestyle? Then you’re going to love Buddhify. Designed for people on the go, it contains over 200 guided meditations that you can access wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. And the best part? Many of them are just 4-5 minutes long with a handy colored wheel that lets you choose the best one for whatever is happening in the moment.

It’s also really affordable, with Google Play users being able to sign up for just $3.99 a month and iOS users for $4.99 a month.

When self-proclaimed fidgety and skeptical journalist Dan Harris had a panic attack on live TV, he knew he needed to make some changes in his life. Enter Ten Percent Happier, a meditation app that teaches meditation basics in a fun, easy, and accessible way. There are hundred of guided meditations to choose from as well as live group classes where you’ll have a chance to pose questions to some of the best meditation teachers in the world. It comes with a free 7-day trial and costs $99.99 a year.

If your budget is tight, you’re going to love Insight Timer that offers a huge library of over 150,00 free guided meditations — no wonder it’s the world’s most popular free meditation app. There’s plenty of other things on offer too, with hundreds of courses and insightful talks, and you can unlock a range of premium features via their annual subscription, which costs $60.

Smiling Mind is ideal if you’re looking for guided meditations and activities designed specifically for children. Developed by psychologists and educators to help introduce young ones to the concept of mindfulness, it’s 100% evidence based and the meditations are super fun. Plus, it also has meditations for adults, making it the perfect app for the whole family. Oh, and did we mention it’s totally free? Bonus!

Goal-driven and completely free, The Healthy Minds Program is wonderful for beginners because it’s simple and straightforward. Centered around four key ideas — awareness, connnection, insight, and purpose — you can choose from active and seated practices ranging in length from 5-30 minutes, listen to podcast-style lessons on the science of training the mind, and make use of their healthy minds report, which lets you measure your current level of wellbeing and track it across time.

If you’ve decided you’d like to start a meditation practice, you may be feeling confused about how long a guided meditation should ideally last. We don’t blame you. There’s a lot of conflicting information out there, with session recommendations ranging from 10 minutes through to 60 minutes.

The good news is you don’t have to practice for an hour to reap the benefits of meditation. Just like any other form of meditation, guided meditations are a very personal experience and the duration you choose to meditate for will depend on your personal situation and how new you are to the practice.

As a certified meditation teacher, I always suggest starting with baby steps. Five minutes is an excellent place to begin if you’re new to meditation. You can slowly increase this by one-minute increments every couple of days, with the aim of settling into a 20-minute practice once or twice per day.

However, whether it's five minutes or 20 minutes, what’s most important is that you find some designated time each day to practice bringing your awareness to one thing - whether that be your breath, sounds, sensations, or a particular visualization. Over time, guided meditations practiced on a daily basis can help our minds become calmer and more relaxed.