Personally, I started out with guided meditations. My mind was all over the place and I needed the extra guidance, and distraction – something to focus on. Once I felt I mastered that, I started once a day doing the “focus on my breath” mediation and set a timer for one minute. I told myself, “Come on. It’s only one minute of silence.” I’m now up to twelve. I actually still do both types twice a day. Morning and evenings.
I live and work in a remote area where there are no groups. I sometimes do on my own, but more often do guided ones I find on YouTube.
As I am new to meditation, I need the guides to keep me focused and stop my mind from wondering.
I use both depending on my mood. If I feel like I need some guidance because I can’t think of anything I use fabulous. Or if it has to do with something I’m facing or thinking about. Like the brick wall guided meditation. I use it when I’m stuck at work.
Guided meditating! The voices tend to help me center myself instead of drifting off into unwanted thoughts and distractions.
As a newbie to meditation, I prefer guided. I find it helps me stay focused. I enjoy doing visualization meditation most.
I started using Sam Harris' Waking Up app for guided meditation and have enjoyed it a lot. I’ve done practice on my own but got into a rut and needed some guidance. At some point, I may start to alternate between guided and self practice though.
At this point I use guided. The daily yoga app has a lot of good ones, if you pay for the subscription but it’s worth it. I’d love to get confident enough in my meditation I don’t have to use a guid but at this point I need one to stay focused.
Personally I practice meditation on my own just sitting in a comfortable corner where I’m alone with my own thoughts and to reflect on my day really helps me to calm down and ease myself from the stress of my daily life.
Sometimes I use the guided ones on the app, just to see how effective they are. However, I am established in my own practice (Vipassana) so I prefer to use that as I feel more benefits.
Answers reflect the personal experiences of Fabulous community members. They are not medical or professional advice — for guidance about your health, talk to a qualified professional.