10 Minute Guided Meditations That Will Help You Destress

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Ever cringed, eye-rolled, or straight up laughed in the face of anyone who’s told you “You should meditate!”? You’re not alone. The idea of closing your laptop, silencing your phone, and being alone with your thoughts can be…intimidating. Even the word meditation can conjure images of a solitary and serious person sitting uncomfortably in complete silence. It’s no wonder why a lot of people would rather pass.

But meditation doesn’t have to be such an isolating experience. In fact, there are hundreds of 10 minute guided meditations on YouTube that feel immersive and restful, with soothing narration, calming music, and communities of listeners that are often new to meditation themselves.

The videos below can help take away a bit of the confusion or fear you may have about meditating—all you need to do is find a comfortable spot and press play.

Popular 10 Minute Guided Meditations on YouTube

Although each of these videos is narrated, most offer a few minutes of uninterrupted music to help deepen your experience.

1. Meditation to Clear Your Mind & Start New Positive Habits

Isn’t it amazing how we often forget the many emotions stored within us until someone draws our awareness to them? Boho Beautiful Yoga brand creator Juliana Spicoluk opens this meditation by inviting you to let go of any heaviness you’re carrying. During this session, ambient sound helps draw your attention inward and make the 10 minutes feel like two.

2. Meditation for Positive Energy, Peace, & Light

Described as a beginner-friendly meditation, this video by personal growth brand Lavendaire features positive affirmations such as “My life is abundant and bright.” Set to gentle piano, this meditation plays cool bilateral sound effects that headphone-wearers will appreciate. Narrator Aileen Xu closes the session with a lesson that is easily forgotten and very much worth the reminder: “Your peace is always within your power.”

3. Daily Calm Meditation for Self-Soothing

This guided meditation by the meditation app Calm will make you feel as though you’re under covered shelter listening to rainfall. The narrator incorporates some growth-oriented language, acknowledging that “many of us never had the proper tools or guidance to deal with difficult emotions.” It reminds us, though, that “mindfulness can help us cultivate the skills of self-soothing.” This meditation supports that.

4. Meditation for Inner Peace

In the moments between Adriene Mischler’s words, you’ll hear the swaying of the trees outside of her window and, occasionally, the sounds of her breath, as though you are in the room with her. In typical Yoga With Adrienne fashion, Mischler reminds you that you are practicing this meditation alongside everyone else who is watching. She also encourages you to notice your “inner smile”—something that you might find accessible even after the video ends.

5. Presence Meditation: Destress & Stay Present 

This video features yoga teacher Travis Eliot guiding a group of students into meditation and offering real insights into what often happens in the mind when you try to focus. He also gives practical tools to help you return to the present—not only during the course of this meditation, but as you experience your life. “If you notice your mind moving back into the past…you can just gently note that by saying past,” he says. And if you notice your mind projecting into moments that haven’t happened yet, label that future, continues Eliot. To re-center the mind, he says, quietly repeat the mantra presence.

6. Positive Energy — Daily Guided Meditation

Amid all your worldly obligations, it can feel impossible to ask meaningful questions of yourself, such as “Who am I?” and “What is my purpose?” But this guided meditation by Deepak Chopra may prompt you to find the answers. Chopra turns a spiritual lecture into the meditation itself. Prepare for a few aha moments as you relax and listen to him use the breath as a powerful example of consciousness. “Notice as you observe the breath that you can’t hold onto it. If you try, you suffocate. This is the nature of all experience.”

7. Remove Stuck Energy (Listen Daily for Maximum Bullsh*t Relief)

Meditation doesn’t have to be serious. One of the yoga teachers who most drives home this message is Yogi Bryan—especially in this 10-minute guided meditation to remove stuck energy. Parental advisory: His meditations contain plenty of expletives, particularly of the F-word persuasion. And that’s exactly what makes his content incredibly approachable. It invites you not to take yourself so seriously, to release the breath with a laugh or two, and allow your thoughts to “roll in and roll the f*ck out,” something which all of us could benefit from trying.