What Is Meditation Supposed to Feel Like?
Many new meditators wonder what meditation should feel like. You might ask questions about what you should be experiencing, if your practice is working, and how you should feel during and after meditation.
I meet with many students who are relatively new to meditation and ask some form of the question “What should meditation feel like?” I often avoid directly answering the question and instead ask about what they’re experiencing, what they think they should be experiencing, and why they are asking.
There are a few important pieces here. First, we certainly can check in with expectations. I’ll talk about this more, but expectations and clinging can significantly impact our meditation. The truth is that meditation can be hard at first for many reasons.
The other piece is recognizing wholesome and unwholesome states in meditation. By recognizing when we feel mindful, collected, and kind, we can work to cultivate these qualities and states more often. And recognizing the difficult feelings during meditation can help us to investigate them so that we build insight and cultivate more wholesome states.
What Meditation Might Feel Like
Meditation can feel a number of different ways. It depends on so many things, most notably what type of meditation you are doing. The way you feel during a body scan might be quite different than the way you feel during a compassion practice.
Meditation practice also can bring up a number of different experiences, feelings, and states. Even within one period of meditation, we are likely to experience a combination of different emotions.
These are some points on what meditation might feel like, not necessarily what it should feel like. I’ll cover some of the pleasant and unpleasant experiences, as well as what it feels like to fall into a deeper state in your practice.
Pleasant Experiences
There are many experiences during meditation practice that might fall into the category of pleasant ones. These vary from subtly pleasant to overwhelmingly pleasant.
Relaxation
Meditation can feel quite relaxing or calm when we fall into a groove. It doesn’t always feel like this, and that’s okay. Certain practices can help us find some relaxation, like a body scan or deep breathing. Especially as we practice consistently, we can find ourselves falling into a more relaxed state of being at ease with experience.
Clarity
You might feel a heightened sense of clarity in meditation. I find that some periods of meditation bring a strong sense of clarity in regards to my experience, including thoughts, sensations, emotions, mental states, and anything else that arises.
As we quiet the mind and cultivate the ability to concentrate, we can tune into experience more deeply and clearly. This leads to a feeling of mental clarity in meditation. Meditation practices that can support this include concentration practices and mindfulness practices.
I have an episode of my podcast here with a practice for counting the breath that can be useful in building concentration and clarity in meditation that I recommend!
Love, Kindness, and Compassion
Especially as we work with the heart practices, we may feel some feelings of love, kindness, compassion, or gentleness. This certainly doesn’t come during every period of meditation, but it may arise.
If we want to cultivate these experiences, we can work specifically with the practices of appreciative joy, loving-kindness, and compassion. Especially with consistent practice, meditations may be filled with feelings of goodwill and kindness.
Insights
Another experience that may happen during meditation is that of insight. We may see something clearly or in a new way, gaining perspective and understanding. Insights can feel like “aha” moments, or can be slow and gradual.
A common example of an insight in meditation is that of impermanence. We might understand intellectually that sensations in the body are fleeting, but meditation gives us the insight or true knowing that experiences are impermanent. We see it for ourselves, experience, and really deeply know the truth of impermanence.
Unpleasant Experiences
We also might have any number of unpleasant experiences during meditation. These are not what meditation “should” feel like exactly, but they are a reality for nearly everyone. These states and experiences can come and go, and there are ways to work with them. Know that they are normal, and just because you’re experiencing them doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong.
Restlessness
Restlessness of the body is very common during meditation, especially among those new to meditation. We might feel an energy in the body like we need to move or fidget. Sitting still quietly, we have a tendency to really deeply feel the discomforts in the body.
There are many things you can do when restlessness arises. You might switch to compassion or loving-kindness for yourself and your body. You also can stand up and try walking meditation. This can help us get our energy out while continuing to meditate.
Finally, you also might simply notice the restlessness, label it, and return to your practice. Over time, we can learn to see the restlessness with more equanimity, and not get so knocked off balance by it. When we first start meditating, this can be difficult so be patient with yourself. Remember that meditation can take time to work, and don’t rush it.
Sleepiness
On the other end of the spectrum, you might feel sleepy or drowsy. Again, this is common. When you get quiet and still, your mind and body might think it is time for sleep. It’s not personal or wrong; it’s a natural response.
We might try adjusting our meditation posture, sitting up more straight. This can invite energy and alterness in. We also might open our eyes or get up and do walking meditation.
The other thing worth considering is how outside factors impact our sleepiness. If you meditate at night, after a big meal, or in a dark place, sleepiness may be more likely. Consider how you can work with this experience without judgement or ill will.
Frustration
Frustration or anger is a common feeling during meditation. I know most of us think meditation should feel calm and relaxing, but frustration and anger may arise. It may be frustration with our minds, the body, or the practice.
However it arises, we can tune into it with mindfulness and patience. It’s just something to touch with our awareness, like any other experience. See if you can observe it without interacting with it, fueling it, or averting from it.
Anxiety
Although we may meditate to help anxious feelings, meditation may actually have moments of anxiety. This can happen for many reasons. I talk about the role of the default mode network (DNM) in the brain in my post Is It Normal to Think During Meditation?
When we sit in silence, this network of the brain activates. It thinks about the future, reflects on the past, and helps process information. In meditation, this can arise as anxiety both in the mind and the body. Coupled with restlessness that we might have in the body, this can create quite the anxious period of meditation or anxiety after meditation.
Doubt
Doubt is one of the five hindrances, a common exprience people have in meditation. It may arise as over-analyzing, trying to figure something out, or simply wondering if you are meditating correctly. A meditation period filled with doubt can be quite unpleasant and lead to some monkey mind.
I find in my own meditation practice that the best thing to do when doubt arises is to first name or label it. Then, I try to return to the practice and leave any thoughts or analyzing be. Focus on the direct experience you’re having, noting the thoughts and experiences without hoooking in.
Hypersensitivity
Finally, meditation may feel very sensitive. When a sound, physical sensation, or thought arises, we may find ourselves hypersensitive to whatever stimilus we notice. This comes especially as we begin to quiet the mind, as the arising experience lands strongly on a stilled mind.
Deep States of Meditation
When talking about how meditation is supposed to feel, deeper states of meditation must be mentioned. In insight meditation traditions, these are known as the states of absorption. They are generally not states that just happen spontaneously; they must be purposefully cultivated.
In these deeper states, you may feel sensations of pleasure, bliss, and great clarity. These experiences generally arise both in the mind and body. Although they are often distracting at first, you may settle into a more calm happiness where the arising and passing of thoughts, sounds, and sensations is immensely clear.
Cultivating the Wholesome
As you can see, meditation can feel a number of ways. The unpleasant experiences aren’t necessarily bad or wrong. When we treat them as such, we are often creating more suffering for ourselves as aversion arises. What we are called to do with meditation practice is to cultivate wholesome states and perspectives.
These include states like mindfulness and openness, as well as attitudes such as nonjudgement, acceptance, and interest. Rather than seeking to rid ourselves of every unplesant experience, we work to change our relationship to and perspective of these experiences in meditation.
Practice Regularly
There’s a growing body of research that is finding that consistency is key when it comes to meditation. With regular practice, we cultivate the qualities of mindfulness, compassion, and concentration more easily. In fact, one study found that among people who meditated for the same total time, those who meditated more frequently experienced more benefits.
If you don’t have plenty of extra time right now to meditate, focus on consistency rather than length. Rather than meditating a couple times a week for 15 minutes, meditate every day for five minutes. If you’re interested in building a regular practice, check out my post How to Start a Daily Meditation Practice: Tips and Guidance for Beginners.
Let Go of Expectations
Striving is one thing that can really get in the way of our practice. It’s healthy to orient ourselves toward growth or to have intentions. When we cling to a specific outcome is where we begin to get in our own way.
You might notice in or out of meditation when expectations are present. Any thought in your head related to how meditation should feel probably has some expectations involved. Try to recognize these expectations, and focus on what is actually happening in front of you!
Know How to Respond
Whatever your meditation session feels like, we can train our minds to respond in a way that supports our wellbeing. Even with pleasant experiences during meditation, we can cause suffering by clinging and craving. Mindfulness is less about having the “right” experiences, and more about responding with nonjudgemental awareness.
A good jumping off point with learning to respond to meditation experiences is to simply observe. Try not to push things away or get sucked in. Watch experience arise and pass. As an observer, we have the power to get to know the thought or feeling more clearly than when we are averting or being hooked in.
If you are new to meditation, I recommend reading my page Mindfulness for Beginners: A Guide to Getting Started with Meditation. You’ll find tips, answers to common questions, myths about meditation, and how to actually get started!
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Matthew Sockolov is a Buddhist meditation teacher who trained at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. Completing the Dharma Leader training program in 2017, Matthew was given power to teach in the Insight Meditation tradition by Jack Kornfield, Kittisaro, Thanissara, and others. You can learn more about Matthew here.