How long should I meditate?
There is no rule for how long to meditate. Start with 30 seconds or a minute, stay as long as you are comfortable, and notice the moment it gets uncomfortable. That noticing is the practice. Short and regular beats long and rare: in one study, 13 minutes a day for eight weeks was enough to lift mood and sharpen attention.
Pause + Expand · Updated September 2026
Throw the rule out the window
There is no right length. Anyone who gives you a number is giving you their rule, not yours.
Meditate for as long as you feel comfortable. Then notice the moment it becomes uncomfortable: the itch to check the time, the urge to get up. That noticing is not the end of the practice. It is the practice.
Beginners: start with 30 seconds
Start with 30 seconds. Then a minute. Nobody runs a marathon on the first day, and nobody should sit for twenty minutes on theirs. A length you can actually do, and do again tomorrow, is worth more than a heroic session you never repeat.
Short and regular does the work
In a 2019 study, people who had never meditated did a 13 minute guided meditation every day. After eight weeks their mood was better, their attention and memory were sharper, and they were less anxious under stress. After four weeks, the change had not shown up yet.
So the length of a session matters less than you think. Coming back to it, week after week, matters more.
Why our mornings are thirty minutes
We keep the live mornings short on purpose, so they are something you can actually keep up. Thirty minutes is the right size: the most value in the least time.
It is long enough to connect with the people in the room, to find something for yourself in the visualization, and to finish with a five to ten minute live sound bath. And it is short enough that you are done by nine.
Twice a week, and build around it
Some members practise on their own on the other days, and the Club mornings are where they go a little deeper. For others, twice a week is enough. Some go to other morning classes on the days in between.
There is no single right schedule. Build your own practice around the two mornings, in whatever way fits your life.
Also asked
- Is 5 minutes of meditation enough?
- Yes, especially to start. Short sessions done regularly over weeks are what the research supports.
- How long before meditation works?
- Give it a couple of months. In one study, eight weeks of short daily practice made a clear difference, and four weeks did not yet.
- Is meditating longer better?
- Not necessarily. The right length is the one you will come back to.
- How long should I meditate in the morning?
- As long as you can keep doing. Our live mornings are thirty minutes, from saying good morning to the end of the sound bath.