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As a mindfulness teacher, I love leading guided meditations, and many Mindful15 listeners come to my podcast and website because they, too, enjoy the guided meditations. But today, I am on a mission to convince you to meditate silently.

In my experience, a large percentage of people who try meditation do so, because they’re looking for stress relief. And the first practice that many encounter is guided meditation. For stressed people, guided meditation can be a godsend. When you find a teacher whose voice soothes you, guided meditation can be incredibly calming and relaxing.

But, I have to tell you guided meditations are limited in what they can teach you about mindfulness.

Mindfulness is not a synonym for relaxation, and the sense of calm you can generate using a guided meditation isn’t a necessary element of meditation practice. Mindfulness is the practice of awareness without judgement.

To be mindful is to be clearly and objectively aware of what’s going on in the present moment and clearly and objectively aware of your mind’s reactions to what’s going on. It is only when you bring awareness to what’s going on in your mind that you can learn to let go of habitual reactions and meet the reality of life head on. 

The problem with guided meditations is you can’t be fully aware of what’s going on in your environment and in your mind if your attention is focused on the speaker who is guiding the meditation. Guided meditations are, for the most part, nothing more than relaxation exercises.

So, what’s wrong with relaxation exercises? Nothing! Relaxation is a vital promoter of mental, physical and emotional health, and if guided meditation helps you relax, that’s fabulous. Keep doing it! I do. 

But why stop there. If you enjoy the benefits of relaxation practice, you should know that mindfulness practice has even more to offer. It, too, promotes mental, emotional, and physical health. And it does this by teaching you a new way to relate to your own mind. The first step is to learn to practice awareness of the present moment.

And to become fully aware, you need to be silent and observe. It’s a very simple practice, and in a moment, we’ll try it together. You should know, however, that although the practice is simple, it’s not easy. There are a lot of things that can come up to challenge you, and it takes time and patient practice to build the skill required to deal with them. That’s why we created Mindful15 - to provide the guidance you need to learn to practice mindfulness effectively.

The entire Podcast and the entire Membership Site are devoted to this, but next week’s episode in particular will feature advice on managing the most common challenges experienced when first attempting silent meditation.

And, one last thing. You don’t have to fully switch to silent meditation. There’s nothing wrong with using including both silent and guided meditations in your practice. I do.

Join me now for silent meditation 

For a 5-minute silent meditation, forward podcast or video above to 4:00. The sitting period begins and ends with the sound of a mindfulness bell.

Up next 

How to manage difficulties that can pop up when learning silent meditation.