Links to Free Online Guided Meditations

If you have ADD, meditation might help with some of your core symptoms. But it might also be hard for you to quiet your mind or still your body. I find it easiest to meditate if someone else’s voice is guiding me. I’ve assembled these links to online guided meditations in the hopes they might help some of you as they’ve helped me.

Just a note: Some of these come from specific spiritual traditions. Buddhists, for example, really know their meditation! But I’m not trying to sell any particular spiritual path. In fact, many of these don’t really jive with my personal beliefs, but I enjoy them anyway.

Suggestions for more meditations much appreciated! Put links in the comments section at the bottom. And thanks!

Really, Really Short
If you think you don’t have time to meditate, try these one-minute meditations on psychologist Jessica McCrea’s blog. Scroll down till you see “Jessica's One Minute Vacation Meditations” on the right. Lovely, varied imagery. 1 minute each

Geared toward Beginners
Pretty much any meditation on this page is fine for beginners. These, however, are billed for beginners.

Noah Levine (who, by the way,  has an interesting and inspiring life story) gives a brief meditation for beginners. About 2½ minutes

Christopher Lee May leads this mindfulness meditation geared toward beginning as well as more experienced meditators. About 10½ minutes

Collections and Series
The Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA provides a set of meditations on its website. Some of these contain periods of silence. About 3 to 19 minutes

I like the way Swami J keeps his meditations moving at a nice clip. No music or imagery, but these meditations help me both relax and get the energy zinging around. His breathing exercises can be helpful too. 3, 7, and 11 minutes

The Wild Divine channel on YouTube offers lots of short guided meditations, from the likes of Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil, Dean Ornish, and Nawang Khechog.  About 2½ to 9½ minutes

Learning Meditation’s Meditation Room has a whole variety of meditations available. Some of them sound a bit corporate to me, but I like most of them. I love the voice of the guy who does “Fulfill Your Own Potential”—he sounds to me like some grizzled old woodland spirit. About 3 to 10 minutes

Elizabeth Irvine, author of  Healthy Mother Healthy Child, puts up a new 15-minute meditation every week on BlogTalkRadio. (They're appropriate for anyone, not just moms.) Before the September 4, 2009, episode, she gave a talk before each meditation, so you need to wait a minute while the show loads, then drag the darker gray bar about halfway over from the pause button to get to the start of the meditation. Starting on September 4, each show consists of just a 15-minute meditation, so they're easier to access. About 15 minutes each

Basic Meditations
Two shorts meditations—a breathing exercise and a meditation on the image of calm water—feature Vietnamese Zen master Thich Naht Hanh, who has about the most peaceful voice I’ve even heard. About 3 minutes each

This mindfulness meditation by Tara Brach contains some periods of silence. A bell signals when the meditation is over. About 10 minutes

This meditation from the Mayo Clinic provides a virtual candle flame to gaze at. About 7 ½ minutes

Visit a paradise island with Piers Cross. About 5½ minutes

Here's  a basic meditation with Indian music in the background. After your guide starts you out, there’s a period of silence, during which you can gaze at online images of candles if you wish. About 6 minutes 

Learn Mindfulness in the U.K. provides a longer mindfulness meditation. Your guide has a lovely voice! About 30 minutes

Chakra Meditations
I don't know much about chakras, but I love the color imagery in these meditations.

Keep your eyes open and take in the graceful hand movements of Elizabeth Rose as she leads this chakra meditation. About 4½ minutes

ReikiRachael's voice is so soothing in this chakra meditation. About 9 minutes

A longer chakra meditation with Esther Ekhart of Yogatic. About 14 minutes

Yoga Meditations
These are designed to do in corpse pose (lying on your back) at the end of a yoga routine, but, really, you can do them anytime. I’ve done them in a chair, making minor translations in my mind to fit my sitting position.

Esther Ekhart of Yogatic offers this one—lovely! About 10 minutes

This one is from a couple of skillful yogis in New Zealand. About 11 minutes

Meditations with Themes
Observe yourself (about 6 minutes) or let go of struggle (about 3 minutes) with Jim Kitzmiller.

Meet your guide (about 9 minutes ) or release your fears (about 7½ minutes) with Lilou Mace. 

Connect with your inner child with Piers Cross. About 5 minutes

About Walking Meditation
For a short article by Ned Hallowell about walking meditation, scroll down to “Try Walking Meditation This Spring” in this Hallowell Connections newsletter.

Here’s a nice blog post about walking meditation, from Learn Mindfulness.

Learning Meditation has a short overview of walking meditation.

Meditations with Movement
Thich Nhat Hanh leads you in "ten mindful movements." About 3½ minutes

Here’s a sitting qi gong exercise with Roger Jahnke. About 4½ minutes

More sitting qigong, with Li Jun Feng. About 6 minutes

Something Different
A member of Thich Nhat Hanh’s community uses pebbles in his pocket to represent meditations based on four metaphors: a flower, a mountain, still water, and space. Lovely nature imagery. About 6½ minutes

Here’s a meditation designed to increase alpha waves. I haven't checked out the science on this one, but I liked the background hum and water sounds. About 10 minutes

Beth Irvine’s guest Katherine Ashby gives a feng shui–inspired meditation on your house. Scroll approximately halfway through the show to hear the meditation. About 15 minutes

This online finger meditation tool is a little labyrinth for your finger. I like it with a mouse, but I bet it’s even nicer with a touchpad. Click on Music on the left to turn some lovely music on.

Just Nature
In case you'd like to just focus on nature—virtual nature, anyway.

Waves on a beach. About 2 minutes

Waves on rock. About 7½ minutes

A series of beaches in Hawaii. About 6½ minutes

Stream. About 2½ minutes 

Rice terraces and birdsong. About 3½ minutes

Rain forest. About 8 minutes

Amazon rain forest, longer.  About 26 minutes

Sunset over the ocean. About 22 minutes

Comments

[bcn.boulder.co.us/%7Eneal]

Wow - thanks! I think meditation and mindfulness are incredibly valuable practices.

For a very full, insightful, non-religious approach to mindfulness, check out Shinzen Young's work: /http://shinzen.org/ and his youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/expandcontract

[Kathleen Christensen]

Thanks for the suggestion! Second mention of Shinzen Young in comments on this blog. I did an online guided meditation with him this morning! Thank you!

[pilates clothing]

Hi. This Article is very helpful for me..
Thank you very much..
Have good days friend..