Interested in trying meditation but not sure where to start? Here are a few links to guided meditations that I can recommend.
Ideal for beginners
I started with these Mental Health Foundation podcasts. There are plenty to choose from, but my favourites were:
- Sleep the full works;
- Positive thinking;
- Mindfulness – 10 minute practice exercise
- Stress and relaxation.
I have also recently discovered an app called Headspace . This has ten free ten minute guided meditations for ten days. However, I think after this they want you to pay for more new meditations – but there’s nothing to stop you using the free ones and not subcribing. I’ve only watched the introductory videos, which are very high quality.
If 10 minutes is too long
In How to Meditate if you have ME/CFS I mention that if ten minutes is too long when you are starting out then start with five minutes, or even one minute. Here are links to a five minute meditation and a one minute meditation on You Tube.
Other Sources of Meditation
If you are finding meditation helpful, like I did, and want to increase the length of your meditations, or you have want some variety then there are plenty of places you can go to get free guided meditations.
- Podcasts. I now have a android smartphone and use Beyondpod to listen to podcasts. I like:
- Meditation Station
- Meditation Oasis – this one is my favourite
- The Meditation Podcast
- Youtube. Using search terms such as: guided meditation, guided relaxation, guided healing meditation, hypnosis for relaxation you will find plenty of free meditations. Some of them are better quality than others, and some will appeal to you more than others. This is one of my favourites.
- Android Smartphone Apps. If you search for meditation or relaxation in the Google Play store there are lots of apps to choose from. Here are my favourites :
- Sleep easily by Shazzie (great at bedtime)
- Glen Harrold has some free ones and some that I have paid for. My favourites are Solfeggio Free, Heal Your Body and Relax and Sleep.
- Visulax Quick Break
- Iphone/Ipad apps. I’m not an Apple user, so I’m not familiar with what’s available on ITunes. If any readers would like to recommend some good apps for Apple devices then I will be happy to add them here. However, I know many of the Android apps above have ITune equivalents.
- Amazon MP3s. I paid for several MP3 tracks. At around £0.89 per track they provide good value if you are looking for something different. There is a huge variety of tracks, so choose ones that suit you. Here are my favourites:
- The Healing Waterfall by Gail Borden – I’ve included this as for a few months I listened to this a lot. I think I may have overplayed it, because now it doesn’t appeal at all and I don’t currently listen to it at all.
- Sea Waves and relaxing sounds by Ocean Waves Specialists (music only). I found this particularly useful when travelling with the family. It helped me focus on relaxing throughout the journey and helped block out the noise of the kids.
- The Ultimate Relaxation Program – Self Hypnosis by Personal Hypnosis Programs. *
Learning to Meditate without a track
When I got well enough to drive I started going to meditation classes at my local Buddhist Centre and learnt to meditate without a guided track. If you’re interested in learning this, but don’t have or can’t get to a local class then I recommend the Wildmind website.
Please note that the centre I attend distinguishes between the secular practise of meditation and the religion of Buddhism. You can learn meditation whatever your religious beliefs.
*I know this is self hypnosis rather than meditation, I’ve included it here because the main focus of my meditation was to get myself into a relaxed state (as described here), and this track does that brilliantly.
Other pages you may find helpful
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