How to Meditate Properly: What the Research Actually Says
By Mathew Polowitz
In a 2014 study, researchers asked people to sit alone in a room for 15 minutes with nothing but their own thoughts. Many chose to give themselves an electric shock instead.
That's the honest starting point for anyone learning to meditate. Sitting with your own mind is hard. Most meditation apps work around that with a soothing voice, soft music, and a few minutes of taking your attention somewhere else.
Pleasant, sure. But if you came to meditation for a reason – to be more present with the people you love, or to relate differently to pain – relaxing for five minutes won't get you there.
What meditating properly actually means
Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University break mindfulness training into two skills. The first is monitoring: paying close attention to what's happening in your body and mind right now. The second is acceptance, which some meditation teachers call equanimity. It means meeting whatever shows up without fighting it.
Most beginners assume monitoring is the whole game. Focus on the breath, notice when you drift, and (hopefully) gently pull yourself back. That matters – but on its own, it's only half the practice.
Acceptance is the part that works
In one trial, Carnegie Mellon professor and Equa co-founder David Creswell and colleagues pulled mindfulness training apart with a focus on these two skills. One group learned monitoring and acceptance together. Another learned monitoring only. A third got a standard stress-coping program.
After two weeks of daily lessons on their phones, everyone faced the same stress test – a speech in front of stone-faced evaluators, then mental math under pressure. All three groups said they felt equally stressed. But their bodies disagreed. The acceptance group had a smaller stress-hormone spike and a smaller jump in blood pressure. They also noticed significantly more positive experiences during the test, like feeling calm or in control.
When acceptance was removed from the training, those gains largely disappeared.
One more finding worth knowing. In another study, people meditating for 20 minutes noticed six times more unpleasant experiences than pleasant ones. So if your sits feel uncomfortable, you're probably doing it right.
Why most meditation apps miss this
Most apps are built around the session. Press play, follow the voice, close the app. Nothing tells you whether you're building a skill or just having a nice few minutes.
That's the real problem behind the question "does meditation work?" The research says it can – when you train the right skills and get honest feedback on how it's going. Without feedback, you're guessing.
How to meditate properly, starting today
This short practice trains both skills. It's adapted from the Unified Mindfulness system used in the Carnegie Mellon trials.
Pick one sensation in your body – the breath, or tension in your shoulders.
Label it silently in a calm, matter-of-fact voice. "Tight." "Warm." "Breath."
Let your body soften around it. You don't need to make it go away.
Welcome it. Some practitioners say "yes" each time they notice something – especially if that something is uncomfortable.
When boredom or restlessness shows up, treat it as the next thing to notice. It's part of the practice, not a reason to stop. This is where the growth happens!
Ten minutes a day is plenty to start. Consistency beats intensity, especially at the start.
Where Equa comes in
Equa grew out of this research. Our lessons train monitoring and equanimity together, built on the same Unified Mindfulness framework. Respiration tracking gives you real feedback on your practice, so you can see your progress instead of guessing at it. And the training adapts to your goals as you go.
Learning to meditate properly takes practice. Equa makes sure that practice is building something.
Sources
Wilson, T. D., et al. (2014). Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind. Science, 345(6192), 75–77. doi.org/10.1126/science.1250830
Lindsay, E. K., Young, S., Smyth, J. M., Brown, K. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Acceptance lowers stress reactivity: Dismantling mindfulness training in a randomized controlled trial. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 87, 63–73. doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.09.015
Lindsay, E. K., et al. (2018). How mindfulness training promotes positive emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 115(6), 944–973. doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000134
Lindsay, E. K., Young, S., & Creswell, J. D. (2025). Mindfulness training fosters a positive outlook during acute stress. Emotion, 25(4), 815–826. doi.org/10.1037/emo0001452
Hadash, Y., & Creswell, J. D. (2026). Benefits of mindfulness meditation go far beyond relaxation. The Conversation. theconversation.com
Creswell, J. D. (2024). Accepting discomfort could help you thrive. Scientific American, 330(2), 72. doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0224-72
