5 Myths About Meditation, Debunked.
Meditation has been well documented throughout the ages. Found in academia, religion, spirituality, and popular psychology, it is only continuing to evolve over time. In therapy, it is almost inevitable for this skill to make it into the therapy room, for clients of every age and developmental stage.
With its growing popularity, I notice a collection of myths that people often express about meditation. In this article, I address 5 of them.
Myth #1: Meditation Takes a Lot of Time.
Move out of the way real quick… because: POP. (That’s the sound a myth makes when it gets debunked.)
Truth: Meditation can last as long or as little as you would like.
The smallest measure of meditation is this: Eyes closed (.5 seconds) + One Deep Breath (~10 seconds).
Done. In fact, you can do it right now.
The question of long versus short meditation is an ongoing conversation in the field of wellness, with researchers looking at the effects of Brief Mindfulness Meditation (BMM) in various populations. A group of researchers based in Romania and France found promising results in their recent review, specifically noting that brief mindfulness meditation may have quick results on such things as heart rate variability, a measure often used to assess general wellness across several areas (Barbry et al, 2026). While meditators may want to increase their time spent sitting cross-legged in silence, the practice itself does not require a person to sit in meditation for any specific amount of time. In fact, I find that when new meditators set shorter times for their meditation goals, they typically meditate more consistently than those who strive for longer meditation sessions only.
Pro Tip: Set a goal of meditation for 1-3 minutes per day, and pair it with something you do daily anyway, such as showering, brushing your teeth, or going to the bathroom.
Myth #2: Meditation Means ‘No Thinking’.
Pop. That is simply not true.
Truth: Thinking can and will continue during meditation practices.
Thinking is to the awake-brain what breathing is to the lungs.
In the body, we have voluntary and involuntary processes. Digestion is an example of an involuntary process: it happens ‘on its own’. Walking is an example of a voluntary process: it requires a person ‘volunteering’ to do it and does not happen ‘on its own’. Thinking is a human condition that is both voluntary and involuntary. Thus, even while some of it is in our control, such as thinking of a math problem when we are doing homework or focusing on a book and thinking about the character as we flip the pages, a lot of human thinking is involuntary.
When we sit in meditation, all the involuntary processes in our body continue. Our lungs still expand and contract, our intestines still push food through, and our heart continues to beat. Since some thought is also involuntary, thinking will continue throughout a meditation session. It is not a flaw, and it does not mean that you are failing in meditation.
Pro Tip: Instead of aiming for a thought-free meditation, decide to notice your thoughts and count how many new thoughts emerge during your meditation session. A focused breath is a great way to ‘reset’ the thought screen and see how quickly another thought emerges.
Myth #3: Meditation Should Calm Me Down.
Boink! (A new debunk-sound, because the brain loves novelty!)
Truth: Meditation Shows What Is There.
This is probably one of my favorite myths to debunk about meditation. When I started meditating, around 10 years ago, I believed that meditation should, or would, ‘calm me down’. Imagine my shock when some meditation sessions didn’t calm me down at all, but instead brought me to tears, showed me memories I hadn’t thought about in years, or left me distracted and confused about how I got to where I was in my head. Now, after practicing and studying this skill for several years, I know that this was completely normal.
Meditation creates a space inside and around us that lets us feel more deeply. Feeling is a universal thing, which means when we start to feel more, we feel more of everything. Imagine the numbing process in the dental chair: the Novocain numbs the pain as well as the rest of the feeling in the mouth, resulting in that fat-lip feeling. When the numbness dissipates, all sensation comes back – the lip, the mouth, and even some of the leftover pain that sometimes lingers after a dental procedure. Imagine meditation as a de-numbing process. When the emotional numbness goes away, all colors of feelings and emotions can and will emerge. Calm can happen, but other feelings, memories, and sensations will absolutely find their way through us while we meditate. Calm is a frequency that we must practice and prioritize on our own time, and meditation is a lovely place to practice it.
Pro Tip: Take a few minutes to read up on how to access a state of Calm, and dedicate a small amount of time each day or week to practice feeling it. Anything that is new to us requires time and practice.
Myth #4: Meditation is not for Kids.
Pop-pop-pop! Like a bunch of water balloons.
Truth: Kids can learn to meditate, and naturally know how to do this.
Kids have a way of whimsically bouncing from one thing to another. Part of the joy of childhood is just that: the freedom to not have to focus on any one thing for any amount of time. Yet, children also have the powerful ability to focus intently and even create realities using only their brain. This is in part because children’s minds are more often and more deeply operating in the Theta brainwave, a frequency between 4 and 8 Hz that is associated with creativity, memory, and free association. Children are open to learning, and teaching a child basic meditation skills can be of great help for both the child and parents as new developmental stages bring their share of challenges. Keeping meditation short is important for younger humans, and practicing the skills together makes it easier to implement over time.
Pro Tip: Pick one basic skill to teach and practice together each month. When something becomes a part of the family culture, the positive results become embedded into the energetic signature of the entire family.
Myth #5: Results Are Quick.
Well… let’s pop this myth too. Because:
Truth: Meditation Results Take Time.
This is true with everything in mental health care. The surge of novelty we get from starting a new practice lasts a few days, or sometimes up to a few weeks. However, the intricate brain changes and habitual tendencies all take time to set in. Research on this topic ranges widely, with studies showing changes in brain matter and emotional stability as quickly as 4 and as extended as years after starting a meditation practice (Wang et al, 2021).
In real time with clients, I find that consistent meditation in adults tends to show clear results at the 1-Month or 40-Day mark. These results compound over time, with the early effects quickly being reawakened when clients start meditating again after a period taking a break from their practice.
Pro Tip: Keep track of your meditation practice and associated changes in mood, mental clarity, and anything else you are working on during your meditations. This can be done in your journal, if you already journal, or in a dedicated Meditation Tracker notebook.
In conclusion, Meditation may be easier than you thought after reflecting on the new information presented to replace these five common myths. If you feel so called, today is a great day to begin or begin again.
References
Barbry, A., Gál, É., Carton, A., & Coquart, J. (2026). Effect of brief mindfulness meditation interventions on heart rate variability in adults: a systematic review. Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback, 51(1), 3-18.
Wang, Y., Liao, L., Lin, X., Sun, Y., Wang, N., Wang, J., & Luo, F. (2021). A bibliometric and visualization analysis of mindfulness and meditation research from 1900 to 2021. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(24), 13150.