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I use Medito, the free meditation app from the Medito Foundation. Having guided sessions available without another subscription makes it easy to pick something and get started.
The app gives me a useful starting point, but my practice isn’t limited to whatever is inside it. These are the forms of meditation and slower movement I tend to return to.
Body scans
A body scan moves attention through different parts of the body. Notice your feet, legs, shoulders, jaw: what’s tense, what’s comfortable, what you hadn’t noticed at all.
There isn’t a requirement to make every sensation disappear. I like having something physical to pay attention to when my thoughts are busy. It’s a concrete task that isn’t another problem to solve.
Mantra meditation
Repeating a word or phrase gives the mind a simple point to return to. When I notice I’ve wandered off into planning or worrying, I can come back to the repetition.
That return is the practice. A wandering mind doesn’t mean the session has failed.
Breathing meditation
Sometimes I just follow the breath. The feeling of breathing in and out is enough; there’s no need to force huge breaths or unusually long holds.
If paying close attention to breathing makes me feel more uncomfortable, I can switch to sounds in the room or the feeling of my feet instead.
Yin yoga
Yin yoga is a slower movement practice with longer-held, supported positions. I group it with these wind-down habits because it combines paying attention with doing something physical.
The position should be manageable. Staying longer isn’t an invitation to push into pain.
What the Whoop chart shows
I sometimes look at my Whoop stress reading during a session. Most of the time meditation feels relaxing, but occasionally the reading rises. If I’m stressed about something, sitting quietly can leave me thinking about it more.
That doesn’t mean the wearable has measured whether I’m “good at meditation”. Its stress estimate is based on physiological signals, not a direct reading of my thoughts. I’d rather notice how I feel than turn relaxation into another performance score.
Medito is an easy recommendation from me for getting started. The more useful habit is finding a manageable way to pause, whether the graph cooperates or not.
Archive note: restored from my 2023 notes. The publication date is approximate, and products and routines reflect that period.