How to Meditate (Without an Om in Sight) (2026)

Relaunch directly Getting to work in the new year can be a challenge, but learning to meditate can help you stay focused. Feel free to roll your eyes right now, but numerous studies have shown that meditation can boost creativity, improve sleep quality, and manage stress.

“Meditation is a practice aimed at calming the brain by refocusing our attention, most often on our breathing,” explains Mel Mah, instructor at the meditation app Calm. “It gives us an opportunity to take control of ourselves and take a break from our busy, overstimulated lives. In those few minutes, you give your nervous system permission to settle down and reset.”

If your workspace doesn’t already have a dedicated breakout area to decompress and reset, it’s probably just a matter of time. This ancient practice is becoming more firmly ingrained in our modern lives, with celebrities and top business executives making meditation an important part of their daily routine. For example, Oprah champions the power of transcendental meditation to ground yourself and find your “quiet voice of awareness,” while Jeff Weiner, executive chairman of LinkedIn, recommends mindfulness meditation to his team for increased productivity and focus.

While there are no hard and fast rules for meditation, we asked the experts for advice on how to get started on the path to pure zen — or at least feel a little relaxed for a few moments a day. Don’t forget to check out the rest of our Recovery Mode wellness resources, which includes the best workout apps and the best red light therapy masks.

What can you expect from meditation?

You can meditate anywhere, whether you’re in an empty conference room or at home in bed, and it’s free.

“Learning to meditate is a powerful tool because it can help you sleep better and reduce stress in the body,” says Michael James Wong, meditation teacher and founder of Just Breathe. “Studies show, for example, up to a 30 percent reduction in cortisol levels after regular meditation practice. It can also strengthen the brain’s attention networks, and research using fMRI has shown that just eight weeks of mindfulness training increases activity and density in the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for concentration and decision-making.”

There are many types of meditations you can try, including movement-based meditation or sessions guided by sounds or mantras. Each practice can use a number of techniques. You may have heard of body scanning, visualization or kindness.

“With our meditation and breathwork training methods, we look at the practice in three distinct categories,” says Wong. These include focused attention meditation, present moment and here and now practices, and mantra-based practices to help expand consciousness.

Where to start

Courtesy of CALM App

There is no one right way to meditate! Although there are many types of meditation, a breathing-based practice is simple. Guided sessions using an app such as Just Breathe or Calm that walk you through the meditation can be helpful but are not essential. Many traditional forms of meditation are done in silence, but if you’re feeling particularly agitated or anxious, gentle instrumental music can help.