It’s no secret that meditation is a great tool for promoting calm, reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, and for becoming more present and focused in your everyday life. For runners, in particular, a meditation practice can help you get into a flow state and improve your perception of pain and fatigue, potentially making your runs feel easier. It also helps you stay more present in the miles so you’re not constantly worrying about your finish time.
But even knowing the many benefits of meditation, do you still find yourself not participating in this practice? That’s where I was—constantly reading about all the things I could gain from meditation, or listening to others who sang praises about how helpful morning meditations were for focus and productivity, but I still couldn’t find a way to get myself to sit down and meditate regularly. I would start a meditation routine, stop after a few sessions, and then never get to witness the lasting positive effects.
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This year, though, I was determined to create a consistent meditation practice. Not only did I want the mental health benefits, but I also knew I could use it as a training tool to help boost my running performance. So I went searching for free YouTube meditations, testing, breathing, and tuning into multiple minutes of recordings that helped me tap into my thoughts, feelings, hopes, fears, and dreams. After a month, these were my favorite YouTube meditation channels for finding calm, presence, and more—the ones I could keep turning to when I wanted to keep my meditations consistent.
1. Headspace
Created to allow all individuals—amateur or experienced—to have more access to meditation, you can find Headspace on YouTube, in app form, and even on Netflix.
The best thing about Headspace: Narrators explain thoughts and scenarios in very relatable ways. And the YouTube channel takes that a step further. While some of the videos feature tips from co-founder Andy Puddicombe, as well as other doctors and experts, many of the videos feature animations and narrations that help to illustrate how to mentally work your way through different scenarios.
For example, one of my favorite meditations was about how to take back your Sunday, by escaping the stress and anxiety of the impending work week ahead. The YouTube video featured an animated starfish who starts above the water on a sunny day, then rides the waves of anxious thoughts, and sinks to the ocean floor to find space to set mindful intentions. The narrator talks you through how to set yourself up for a successful week, with intentions and wind down routines, as the video plays. And then offers a guided meditation that lets you actually think about your intentions and get into a calm state of mind before Monday begins.
Other meditations on the Headspace page vary in topics from sleep, to mini meditations for everyday activities (including one you can use as a warmup to your workout), to intro videos to help newbies learn and hone a mindful practice. They even have videos intended to make you laugh (because meditation doesn’t always have to be so serious!) featuring comedian Kevin Hart, and others about music’s influence on the mind and emotions, featuring singer and songwriter John Legend.
2. Great Meditation
The Great Meditation YouTube channel has been around for seven years, offers hundreds of meditations, and has one for basically every situation, thought, or need you can think of. For example, the meditation for getting back into meditation helps you get back into the practice if it’s been a while since your last session. (It had been months for me, so I found this one particularly helpful.)
Some examples of other sessions offered include those focused on letting go, positive energy, spiritual growth, better sleep, and making the best of what you have. One of my favorite features of this channel is that you’ll find morning meditations or morning affirmation videos, which typically last no more than 10 minutes and help you start your day on a mindful note.
You can find other five- and 10-minute meditations throughout the channel, which is helpful for those short on time (like me and I imagine, most people). Keep in mind, while you’ll see an image on the video screen, Great Meditation is more about the audio component of the meditation.
3. Calm
Like other channels (and apps), Calm offers meditations targeted at falling asleep, more mindful living, and calming your body.
My go-to: The daily 10-minute sessions, which discuss topics like being more present, learning to let go, and forgetting time (because we don’t always need to be on the clock!). These 10-minute refreshers are perfect for listening to on repeat, as they’re topics we could all use reminders of on the regular. I also found myself practicing some of the breathwork and mindful techniques on my own throughout the day after tuning into the 10-minute daily sessions.
On this channel, you’ll also see sleep stories, which help you meditate via storytelling, and aim to get you into a restful state. (Some videos just offer previews, but you can find a few stories that last about a half hour.) Also, if you just need some serene background noise, you can find sounds like a crackling fire, rainstorm, or wind in the trees on the Calm channel, all of which last for hours.
While the Calm channel offers fewer options and less variety than other options on this list, it still has the necessary tools to help you create a daily meditation practice. It’s also interesting to hear how some celebrities use meditation as a tool for creativity or fighting anxiety.
4. The Mindful Movement
The Mindful Moment is brought to you by couple Sara and Les Raymond, who had the goal of helping others improve health, reduce stress, and generally find more growth and fulfillment in life.
The channel features short videos, mostly five minutes or less, that give tips for meditating, like ways to let go of the past, and breathing patterns to reduce stress. But my favorite was the video about how to fall back asleep when you wake up in the middle of the night (who hasn’t experienced that before?).
Along with tips, the page also offers longer meditations (about an hour) to help you address things like anxiety, sleep, and stress relief. For those who want a quick hit, you can also find sessions that span about 15 to 20 minutes.
I found myself turning to The Mindful Movement for morning meditations, as it helped me start my day on a calmer, more focused note.
If you prefer your meditation with a side of movement—as a runner, it might seem easier to kickstart a mindfulness practice with some intentional movement—this channel also offers tons of options for mixing yoga with meditation.
5. Yoga With Adriene
You may already know Adriene Mishler, the well-known yogi of “Yoga with Adriene,” for her flows. But you might be delighted to learn that Mishler also offers meditations through her YouTube channel.
Mishler’s approach to yoga—and meditation—is to give everyone access to movement and mindfulness, and to create a connected community. While it does take some searching to find the meditations sans yoga movements, you’ll see those focused on finding stillness (a solid one for after a workout, she says), mental balance, anxiety, or self-love. Each of these sessions lasts less than 20 minutes.
In trying these meditations, I quickly realized that the narrator’s voice can really make or break a class, and I found Mishler’s to strike the perfect note of calm, smooth, and relaxing—exactly what I need to get into a calm headspace.
Amy Schlinger
Amy Schlinger is a health and fitness writer and editor based in New York City whose work has appeared in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, The New York Post, Self, Shape, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and more; The National Academy for Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT) is extremely passionate about healthy living and can often be found strength training at the gym when she isn’t interviewing trainers, doctors, medical professionals, nutritionists, or pro athletes for stories.
