Meditating with other people: why a live room works when an app didn't
Meditating with other people works because you are not alone with your mind. A live group gives you a start time that doesn't wait, people who notice when you're gone, and the relief of finding that others feel what you feel. It won't make your mind quieter than meditating alone, but it keeps you coming back, and that is what counts.
Pause + Expand · Updated September 2026
On an app, it's you and your mind
That is the whole difference. On an app, it is you and your mind. In a room, it is you, your mind, and a community of people who want to support where you are going.
You also find out that you are not that different from anyone else. You might wake up feeling low about something, and someone else in the room has the exact same feeling on the exact same morning. That kind of connection is what helps people get through a hard stretch and move toward something better.
Before the sound, everyone chimes in
The morning starts in the chat. We ask a question, or someone mentions what happened on the weekend, and everyone chimes in with where they are at. It is a few minutes of getting connected to each other, and to the energy of the room, before anyone closes their eyes.
After the sound, the part nobody expects
When the bowls stop, people talk. They share what they saw in the visualization and the sound bath: visions, colours, patterns. They share, sometimes very openly, what they are going through.
Often the conversation turns to what comes next. What is the one thing I need to do today? It becomes an almost coaching experience, and nobody plans it. It comes out of the morning on its own.
What is shared in the room stays in the room. The recordings hold only the meditation and the sound, never the chat.
Camera on or off, it is up to you
Some people come on camera because they want to be physically there with us. Others never do. There are members whose faces we have honestly never seen.
We have never made it about being on camera. The energy of a person matters more than their face. People like that they can come any way they want in the morning, and that is the point.
The room that got people through the pandemic
We started Meditation Club in March 2020, when Toronto was locked down. We showed up every morning, partly for everyone else and partly as a way for the two of us to get through it too. We all needed community.
The difference is that this community stayed together. Many of the people who joined back then are still with us today. They come to our sound baths in person, they come on our retreats, and they are there at 8:30 on a Monday.
What the research says, and what it doesn't
In a small 2021 study, new meditators who watched other people meditating on video while they meditated felt more mindful, and more connected to other people, than those who meditated alone.
A group will not make your mind quieter on its own. Minds wander in a room just as they do at home. What a room does is get you there, and keep you coming back long enough for the practice to work.
Also asked
- Do I have to be on camera?
- No. Some members come on camera every morning, and some we have never seen. Come any way you like.
- Do I have to talk or share?
- No. Some people type in the chat every morning and some never do. Listening is enough.
- Is what I share private?
- What is shared in the room stays in the room. The recordings hold only the meditation and the sound, never the chat.
- Is meditating in a group better than alone?
- It won't make your mind quieter. It makes it far more likely that you keep going, and that you feel less alone while you do.