Verified by 
Meditation
Correcting 6 Common Myths About Meditation
It's not religious, and it can work for you.
Posted March 22, 2024 Reviewed by Tyler Woods
Key points
- Meditation is effective for relieving anxiety and depression, improving sleep, and improving focus.
- Many forms of meditation do not require intense focus or formal practice.
- Greater mindfulness is only one use of meditation.
- There are many forms of meditation and various themes, each with a different purpose.
It is estimated that hundreds of millions of people worldwide practice some type of mediation to enrich their lives. Among the most common uses of meditation are to relieve anxiety, fall asleep, and improve focus. It’s less known that meditation can be highly effective for the relief of intense feelings of sadness, loneliness, and self-criticism, all of which strongly correlate with depression.
Misconceptions about meditation
1. “Meditation is effective only for sleep, focus, or anxiety relief.”
Correction: Evidence shows it is also effective in getting relief from symptoms of depression (Shapero et al., 2018). There are guided meditations specific to the relief of depressive symptoms. These can be used in addition to therapy or medication, or they might replace the need for therapy and/or meds in cases of short-term, mild depressive symptoms.
2. “All meditation requires intense focus on one word or phrase—a mantra.”
Correction: While there are mantra meditations, including transcendental meditation (TM), those represent only one way to meditate. It may be the use of TM by celebrities such as Oprah and Hugh Jackman that leads many people to assume that it is the most common form of meditation (Schultz, 2020).
In guided meditation, your focus is directed or guided so that intense focus is not necessary. You listen to the voice of the meditation guide and follow their suggestions of what to attend to.
3. “All meditation involves belief in specific religions or cultures, particularly Buddhism or Hinduism.”
Correction: In my clinical experience, many individuals avoid meditative practice because they wrongly assume that it will conflict with their personal religious beliefs or customs. In reality, most meditative practice does not involve any specific religious belief or use any religious component. While many forms of meditation have the goal of increasing mindfulness or improving concentration, the content and themes vary greatly. (Zen meditation is somewhat unique in its focus on emptying the mind in order to reach the mental state of nirvana.)
4. “Meditation is a difficult and formal practice.”
Correction: While meditation can be a formal practice, it can also be practiced informally by anyone in a variety of circumstances (Schultz, 2020). Meditation is one way to become more mindful of whatever you’re currently doing. For example, one can use meditation toward mindful walking or mindful eating or simply feeling more present with family and friends.
5. “Meditation and mindfulness are the same thing. I’m already mindful so I won’t get any benefit from meditating.”
Correction: Meditation is not the same as mindfulness.
Mindfulness was defined by John Kabat-Zinn as “the awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994)
Meditation is a practice or method that can be used to increase mindfulness, or presence, but it can also direct your focus to specific calming or uplifting thoughts. Focusing on these types of thoughts allows the mind to let go of thoughts that are self-critical, despairing, or anxiety-producing.
6. “Meditation doesn’t work for me.”
Correction: You probably haven’t found the type of meditation that works for you. Particularly for beginners, guided meditation is generally more helpful than unguided meditation.
The meditation guide talks throughout the process, usually beginning with directions to breathe and then moving on to the type of content that you choose. That’s where the options are varied and really allow you to personalize the process.
Besides being guided or unguided, meditation offers different types of content. Among the most popular content themes are: body scan for relaxation, nature-inspired calming, self-acceptance for relief of depression, gratitude thoughts for relief of depression, movement meditation, spirituality/love/kindness, and connectedness.
The Take-Away
Although many people worldwide are now using meditation for various purposes, many more individuals might benefit from one or more meditative practices. Most meditation does not require perfect focus or large chunks of time. It can be used to increase mindfulness, but its potential is much more than that. It can be calming for those who feel anxious or uplifting for those who feel down.
Facebook image: fizkes/Shutterstock
References
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. Hyperion.
NIH.gov (2020). Thinking mindfully: How mindfulness relates to rumination and reflection in daily life - PubMed (nih.gov)
Schultz, J. (2020). Five differences between mindfulness and meditation. From: https://positivepsychology.com/differences-between-mindfulness-meditation/
Shapero, B.G., Greenberg, J., Pedrelli, P., de Jong, M., & Desbordes, G. (2018). Mindfulness-based interventions in Psychiatry. Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing), 16(1), 32-39.
