How to find the right meditation teacher for you

In podcasts and interviews I often get asked to share advice on how people can find a personal meditation teacher and why they might need one.

Why might you need a meditation teacher or guide over an app?

Like many things in life, when we want to go deep into something whether it be fitness or business we usually decide to work with someone who has some experience or expertise in that area and can really help us make progress. Meditation is an infinite practice, there’s always more to discover. It has been likened to doing a marathon or climbing a mountain and so most of us if I can do really want to go deep into something it’s really helpful to have a guide or a coach. This is especially true for meditation as it’s a very personal journey and just like when we train for a marathon we will come up against blocks we will come up against difficult points and what works for one person might not work for someone else. Meditation is also a mystical experience and so much comes from the ‘transmission’ or energy of a teacher rather than just the words they are saying to you. Which leads us into the next part on finding the right teacher/guide for you.

How to find the right meditation teacher for you

A meditation teacher is more a guide, someone that can really empower you but also give you the right kind of structure and encouragement. It’s important to choose someone who you resonate with. Making sure that you like their energy, and tuning into even simple things like obviously resonating with the sound of their voice because you will be likely to listen to guided meditations from them in the beginning.

Just like with anyone you meet in life there are going to be some people you resonate with and some people you don’t resonate with. When looking for a meditation teacher it’s really important to tune into their energy over and above anything else is there a clear transmission.

If you want you can check out their qualifications as well, but the transmission or energy you get from them will tell you a lot. Often someone might be really “talking the talk “ but do you feel it from them? People can say things, but is it really coming from their being? Do they have this energy? A certain sparkle in their eyes? These kinds of things are really important at the end of the day like everything in life even if we go for the “wrong teacher” you’ll still learn things about yourself but maybe not in the way you expected!

A really great meditation teacher or mentor will go way beyond just techniques. Teaching just the techniques is something that the West has ‘cherry picked’ from a much more comprehensive tradition. Meditation is really about personal growth so a private teacher or a mentor would be able to help you gain metacognition or self-awareness,.

Another great way to check out the teachers to maybe do a course or program, so you can benefit from the teachings and energy of the teacher in a group setting. I offer a couple of groups including my Level 1 Meditation Course. In the Level 1 course there is a really nice and deep structured foundational work and it’s a pretty low price point so it’s a really good way to tune into if you do want to do deeper work. If there’s a teacher that you have heard some audios or videos from and resonate with I would stay starting with group program is a good way to go.

If you’ve come across blocks or are at a more advanced stage, that is then when 1-2-1 mentoring can be really useful and save you loads of time compared to trying to figure it out on your own. There’s SO much information out there that it can actually be very confusing. Many people who come to work with me are either confused, overwhelmed, or trying to work through emotional or mental blocks.

Belinda Matwali