16 Best meditation courses online 2023 – Learn to meditate
For many, the term meditation conjures up images of diminutive men with long white beards sitting cross-legged on a faraway mountaintop. While gurus do indeed meditate, the practice is not solely their domain.
Anyone who needs to reduce stress, overcome self-defeating thought patterns or visualize dreams and goals can benefit from meditation. You can meditate anywhere, and anyone can learn it. This article gives a tour of the best meditation courses online.
Meditation Courses Online – Overview
The practice of meditation is thousands of years old. Although its original purpose was primarily spiritual, today, it is commonly used for relaxing and reducing stress in life.
Meditation carries numerous benefits for both physical and mental health. These include a better sense of calm and balance that last beyond the meditation session, reducing negative feelings, increasing creativity, lowering resting heart rate and blood pressure, and improving sleep quality. It can also help manage chronic pain and high blood pressure.
Online meditation courses offer learners a wide range of topics, different experience levels, and learning styles. You can choose from video lessons, lessons with journal writing, audio-only guidance, worksheets, scripts, and more.
Some meditation courses are geared towards those just starting out, while others are for learners who want to take their established meditation practice to a new level.
If there is something specific you want to learn about or improve in, such as breathing, posture, mindfulness or visualization, there will be a course for you. Here is a roundup of the best meditation courses online that will give you an idea of what options are available.
Best Meditation Courses Online 2023 – Top Picks
Mindvalley | MasterClass | CreativeLive | Udemy |
---|---|---|---|
The M-Word | Mindfulness & Meditation | Everyday Meditation | Meditation Made Easy |
from $44/month | from $15/month | from $39/month | from $11.99/course |
★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ |
Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website |
*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Read the full disclosure at the end of this post.
Note: This review aims to give an overview of the best meditation courses online. We cannot claim comprehensiveness as there are many other meditation classes available.
1. The M-Word – Emily Fletcher, Mindvalley
In this course (visit website), Emily Fletcher will teach you an “optimized form of meditation”. The M Word is a simple and intuitive meditation format. Fletcher designed it for busy people to fit into the little downtime they can create in an average day.
The former Broadway actress aims to help you raise your confidence level, sleep better, and have more energy when you need it within 33 days and just 1 lesson a day.
The course consists of two parts. In part one, “Up Leveling your Meditation”, you will work with Balancing Breath meditation and learn the Effortless Silence technique, among many others. In part two, “Up Leveling your Life”, you will learn to apply your meditative practice to real-life problems, visualize your future and hack your fight-or-flight instinct.
By the end, you should gain more creativity and intuition and awaken “incredible peak performance”. It is one of the best meditation courses online for those looking for a healthy, balanced way to increase their personal and professional productivity. A Mindvalley membership grants access to all classes and projects on the platform.
Platform: Mindvalley | Instructor: Emily Fletcher | Training: 8.5 Hours
Price: $99/month or $499 annually. Access to all 60+ online courses.
Info: View course page. Mindvalley Membership + Discounts: Visit website for details.
2. John Kabat-Zinn Teaches Mindfulness and Meditation – MasterClass
If you want to learn directly from the teacher of all teachers (visit website), this MasterClass is your opportunity. In about 6 ½ hours of video lessons that include more than 2 hours of guided meditations, John Kabat-Zinn will teach you mindfulness practice and stress reduction techniques.
He begins by dispelling the myth that meditation requires you to completely clear your mind of all thoughts. Instead, learners will be guided through meditation practices with different goals. One of the major goals Kabat-Zinn aims for is that learners will recognize stress and, as a result, minimize their reactivity to it.
By the end, he promises that you will “befriend yourself” and that you will have been on “the adventure of a lifetime”. Kabat-Zinn is well known as “the godfather of mindfulness” and has been teaching for decades. Nevertheless, he explains that this online meditation course is not about mastery and humbly welcomes you to his un-MasterClass.
Instructor: John Kabat-Zinn | For: All levels | Rating: 4.9 ★★★★★
Price: from $15/month. Get access to all 160+ courses.
Info: View course page. Compare pricing plans and browse all their online classes.
3. Duality – Jeffrey Allen, Mindvalley
Taught by an “energy healer”, Duality (visit website) aims to help you find and become acquainted with your energy body. It is a seven-week program of guided exercises and meditations on the popular Mindvalley platform.
As you master the skills Jeffrey Allen teaches, you should benefit from more spiritual awareness, emotional well-being and balance between the physical and energy levels. The meditation course teaches you how to awaken to “remarkable abilities in the realms of intuition, manifestation, healing, and more.”
On a practical level, the course promises to help you improve relationships and heal yourself. It incorporates some chakra work, so if you’re familiar with yoga and already have the basics of meditation under your belt, this class could take you to a higher level. It’s one of the best meditation courses online to create a place for inner confidence and joy.
Platform: Mindvalley | Instructor: Jeffrey Allen | Time: Self-paced. 14 Hours
Price: $99/month or $499 annually. Access to all 60+ online courses.
Info: View course page. Mindvalley Membership + Discounts: Visit website for details.
4. Meditation for Everyday Life – David Nichtern, CreativeLive
This is an online meditation course for beginners (visit website) and those needing to lock down meditation basics – posture, breathing, and focus. Nichtern is a Buddhist teacher whose goal is to show you how to meditate for 15-30 minutes daily. The aim is to learn how to clear your mind, lower your stress and increase your energy.
His meditation course focuses on stillness as a method to treat yourself with kindness – perhaps, indeed, you haven’t been doing that. The video lessons teach meditation to a group of in-person learners. Live Q&A sessions enhance the opportunity for more insight.
After thoroughly introducing meditation to learners, Nichtern teaches how to develop “Compassion for Ourselves & Others”, “Happiness and Joy”, and “How to Go Forward”. Learners get the Cultivating Mindfulness E-Book and two other PDF resources to refer to as they incorporate meditation into their lives.
Provider: CreativeLive | Instructor: David Nichtern
Level: All levels | Time: 3 days | Rating: 95% ★★★★★
Info: View course. $149/year or 39/month. View CreatorPass plans for all online classes.
5. Quantum Jumping – Burt Goldman, Mindvalley
Quantum Jumping with Burt Goldman (visit website) is a powerful and highly effective meditation and visualization program. If you want to reinvent yourself or at least explore “alternative versions of you in the multiverse”, this class promises to help you do just that.
This advanced visualization technique aims to help you gain wisdom and inspiration to craft the life you truly want. The jury is still out on the actual existence of alternate universes. But, the late mind science expert Burt Goldman brought together extensive research on hypnosis, meditation, visualization and altered states into one technique.
Quantum Jumping helps people find their breakthroughs, master a new skill, heal themselves, find solutions to challenging problems, experience abundance, financial wealth purposeful careers, or loving relationships. Are you open to an unfamiliar experience involving possible encounters with – uh, yourself?
If so, then this could be one of the best meditation courses online to help you break down mental barriers and accomplish your major life goals and dreams. This class is included in your Mindvalley membership which offers 60+ courses, live events, and a community.
Platform: Mindvalley | Instructor: Burt Goldman | Time: Self-paced. 30 hours
Price: $99/month or $499 annually. Access to all 60+ online courses.
Info: View course page. Membership + Discounts: Visit website for details.
6. Mindfulness and Well-Being – Rice University, Coursera
This 3-course specialization (visit website) promises to arm you with the tools you need to thrive in life. It includes meditation and mindfulness training, with theory lessons that “deepen the understanding of the mind/body connection”. Online learners can expect quizzes and discussion forums along with in-depth video lectures.
Your instructor, Elizabeth Slator, is the Associate Director of the Recreation and Wellness department at Rice. She begins with a Foundation course, followed by Living with Balance and Ease. In the final course, “2Peace In, Peace Out”, learners are introduced to mindfulness as a “robust tool for spiritual development”.
This meditation course also teaches key mindfulness concepts and how to use attention in an enhanced way. By the end of the class, you should have a strong collection of methods and tools that you can incorporate into the rhythm of your life.
Provider: Rice University, Coursera | Complete in 3 months.
Instructor: Elizabeth Slator | Review: 4.9 ★★★★★
Info: View course page. Get Certificate with Coursera Plus. View details.
7. Creative Visualization – Lisa Nichols, Vishen, Mindvalley
Lisa Nichols’ concept for this meditation course recalls a common mindset framework employed by life coaches. It raises awareness that thoughts become feelings, feelings prompt actions, and actions yield results.
Creative Visualization (visit website) takes the thoughts part of this process out of the realm of something decidedly passive to a powerful catalyst for change in one’s life.
The course description endorses these visualization techniques as “scientifically validated”. You are taught how to tap into the subconscious mind to simultaneously target self-defeating mindsets and cast your vision for what you truly want. The technique is said to awaken “your creative force on the inside so that you can transform on the outside.”
For learners who want to use meditative practices to bring change in their lives, this popular meditation course promises to do just that, and it promises fast results. One membership subscription gives access to all classes on the Mindvalley platform, and this is just one of the many online meditation courses they have to offer.
Platform: Mindvalley | Instructor: Lisa Nichols | Training: Self-paced. 12 days
Price: $99/month or $499 annually. Access to all 60+ online courses.
Info: View course page. Discount + Membership: Visit website for details.
Author, Speaker and Musician Justin Michael Williams invites you to toss out your preconceived notions about meditation and discover new concepts and techniques.
The Modern Meditation practice taught in this course is for both stress reduction and mindset change. Taught with audio-only guidance (which makes sense), this class also encourages learners to keep a journal by providing writing prompts.
It incorporates energy concepts and visualization into meditative breathing and mental focus. According to Williams, meditation is a time during which you “listen to yourself, to connect with your power, and to determine actions that will transform your life”.
By the end, learners can carry on an unguided meditative practice with ease. You should come out of it armed with all you need to connect to your center. Williams also offers bonus material to refer to anytime you need it as you continue your journey.
Instructor: Justin Michael Williams | Level: All | Review: 4.6 ★★★★☆
Info: View course page. Browse full category.
Price: $15/month. Get 30% Off Premium to try all meditation courses online.
9. Meditation Made Easy – Step by Step Guide – Udemy
Meditation Made Easy (visit website) is a popular meditation course for beginners by meditation specialist Karl Jeffrey. His Step by Step Guide aims to take learners from novice to nirvana in less than three months. Of course, you set your own pace, but with the volume of content offered, you’ll need a minimum of 60 days to complete it.
Jeffrey offers a rich foundational education on meditation in the form of downloadable mp3s, PDFs, and activity sheets. Learners get a thorough introduction to the practice before they begin actually meditating.
Then the meditation training begins with the goal of helping you start and maintain your own daily practice. The online meditation course promises to help you get results, but it comes with a 30-day money-back satisfaction guarantee in case you are not pleased.
Instructor: | Level: All levels | Lectures: 63 | Video: 5.5 hours
Price: from $11.99 | User Rating: 4.5 ★★★★☆
Info: View course. Up to 95% off. Browse category Meditation Courses on Udemy.
Tip: Meditation can be an important part of your personal growth journey, and so are languages, communication, and creativity. Browse our lists of the best language courses, public speaking courses, or photography courses or personal growth courses.
10. Mindful Meditations for Work and Life – LinkedIn Learning
Scott Shute, head of the Mindfulness and Compassion program at LinkedIn, is your guide on this audio meditation course. It is suitable for people who have some experience with meditation but would like to do it more consistently and effectively.
In a few minutes a day over a couple of weeks, Shute arms learners with breathing exercises, guidance on posture and position and ways to harness the brain-body connection. Learners will also try out mental exercises to help manage stress.
The initial session prompts you to determine your intentions for exploring meditation. This segment is immediately followed by “Basic body science” and “Posture for success”. After he covers some basics, Shute introduces the practices and begins guiding learners through them. By the end of the course, you should be equipped to employ meditation in a range of circumstances to relax your mind and body and achieve better outcomes.
Instructors: Scott Shute | Content: Audio lessons. 1.5 hours
Plans: $39.99/month or $19.99/month annually. Access all courses.
Info: View course. Try any course with free 1-month trial.
11. Learn How To Meditate – Yoga International
This is among the best meditation courses online if you have already studied meditation and look for an opportunity to revisit the fundamentals and want to implement it more consistently in your life. It also aims to help you meditate more effectively.
President and Spiritual Director of the Himalayan Institute Rolf Sovik is your teacher. He teaches the five stages of meditation and touches on breathing, sitting, and concentration from numerous angles – you’ll even learn what to do if your leg falls asleep.
One of the main outcomes is to heighten your awareness of these finer points. Beyond that, learners deeply understand the connection between breath and emotion. You will experience a guided 61-point relaxation, mantras and yoga sutras. By the end, you should be well on your way to effectively applying meditation to your life.
Platform: Yoga International | Instructor: Rolf Sovik | Training: 6 Hours
Level: Beginners | Price: $149.99
Popular platforms: Browse our lists of the best Coursera courses or Domestika courses or Skillshare classes or Mindvalley courses to further improve your skills.
12. Online Meditation Training – Loka Yoga
Loka Yoga offers a content-packed online meditation course to present learners with various techniques to choose from. This “Meditation Buffet” serves up Mindfulness, Breathwork, Visualization and Mala Meditation, and more than 25 techniques.
This is not a course for people looking for a quick technique they can start applying today. Learners who want a deep understanding of meditation and a broad knowledge of the many ways to do it can benefit from an online meditation course like this.
It will take 3-months to complete all the video lectures, presentations, guided meditations and reading materials. A collection of trained meditation teachers offer a variety of perspectives and methods. By the end, you can select your favorite, combine elements from several techniques, and even help someone else enhance their meditation practice.
Platform: Loka Yoga | Style: Meditation Teacher Training
Level: Beginners | Price: Various packages. From $999
13. Highbrow Meditation Courses
Highbrow’s goal is to help you learn something new every day in less than the time it takes you to drink your morning coffee. They do this by sending your selected lessons daily by email so you can read, sip and learn at the start of your day. Highbrow offers courses in a wide range of topics, including Business, Languages and Psychology.
They offer three meditation courses online, each for a slightly different learning experience. For the learner who wants to know the nuts and bolts of meditation, there is a meditation course that teaches “the science behind it”.
Learners who just want to use meditation as a self-care technique can explore Highbrow’s Mindfulness course. Finally, for those who need help becoming more consistent, Highbrow offers “How To Bring Meditation Into Your Everyday”. All you need to do is know your why and choose accordingly.
Platform: Highbrow | Time investment: 5 minutes a day
Level: Beginners. Various levels. | Membership: $5/month
14. The Essential Guide To Meditation – MBG Classes
This online meditation course gives you six modules covering meditation basics, concentration, self-discovery and energy work. It aims to be comprehensive, offering you a chance to enhance creativity and spiritual awareness.
There are seven lessons on Focused Concentration and another three on how to integrate it all into your life. The elf-Discovery & Transcending lessons show learners Vedic practices. In Energy (Physical & Breath), learners are introduced to Pranayama & Chi.
The course gives you morning and evening routines, as well as tools for bringing calm, coping with fear and visualization. By the end, Vedic Meditation teacher Charlie Knowles will have given you a wide range of techniques you can apply effectively in daily life.
Platform: MBG Classes | Training: Six modules. 44 meditation lessons
Level: Beginners | Price: $249.99
15. Meditation for Relaxation – Sura Flow
Meditation Coach Sura Kim offers you a “21- Day High-Definition Online Meditation Course” comprised of a series of guided meditations. Daily journal prompts, relaxation techniques and instructions for beginners help you further enhance your practice.
The lessons progress from learning how to sit and engage your breath to raising your self-awareness in various ways. Learners can benefit from calming techniques, visualization, “Affirming Your Inherent Wholeness”, and “Relaxation through Yogic Sleep”.
By the end, you should have a healthier overall outlook and a meditation practice you can use to enhance your life. It’s one of the best meditation courses online for relaxation.
Platform: Sura Flow | Instructor: Sura Kim | Duration: 21 days
Level: Beginners | Price: $99
16. 28-Day Meditation Challenge – Mindfulness Exercises
Mindfulness Exercises offers a generous selection of free meditation courses and mindfulness resources in various formats. There are free courses, audio tracks, e-books, scripts, worksheets, and more. The worksheets are fillable PDFs designed to help you think through issues, discover the root causes of problems, and more.
You can record yourself reading the scripts and replay them to guide meditations in your own voice. A selection of free videos offers meditations, yoga stretching and affirmations. Among the content is something for every learning style that you can partake in. Before doing so, you may be interested in the 28-Day Mindfulness Challenge.
There is one video lesson per day for a consecutive 28 days to help you instill a new meditation habit. It starts off simple: just “One Complete Cycle of Breath”. Over the 4 weeks that follow, you progress through awareness, body scan, walking meditation, “Leading With Purpose” and culminate with “Positive Future”.
This website offers some of the best meditation courses online and a rich panoply of free resources for people interested in making meditation part of their overall lifestyle.
Platform: Mindfulness Exercises | Training: 28-Day Challange
Level: Beginners. All levels | Price: Free
How to Choose the Best Meditation Courses Online?
There are four main details to consider when choosing among the many meditation courses online:
Your level of experience – There are meditation courses available that range from beginners to advanced. The latter offers the kinds of meditation classes that could help you on your way to teaching others.
Your learning style – There are video-intensive meditation courses online for visual learners. For auditory learners, there are audio-only guidance and scripts you can record to playback in your own voice.
For learners who prefer to read and write, some online meditation courses come with writing prompts for journaling, PDFs and eBooks. Many of the best meditation courses encourage you to work along with the teaching as you go, which will help kinesthetic learners by giving them a way to use more of their senses.
Your budget – The costs of meditation courses range from nothing to over $200.00. That said, there’s such a wide variety of options that this need not be your primary concern.
Your Why – Do you want to meditate to relieve stress and calm down? Are you looking to manifest changes in your life and experience better outcomes in your situations? Do you want to harness and manipulate energy? Do you want to meditate more consistently? There are meditation courses online that address all of these why motivations and more.
Your mission is to choose the best meditation courses online that can satisfy all of these. Again, with so much out there to choose from, you should be able to do that.
Best Meditation Courses Online 2023 – Review Verdict
Wrapping up our list of the best meditation courses online. For anyone looking to begin or enhance their meditation practice, there are plenty of online resources to do that. To begin with, you must determine your why.
With the dizzying array of online meditation courses out there, it is important to narrow things down for yourself first and then go searching. Once you have made up your mind and created the space in your daily life, you can select a course and begin your journey.
Best Meditation Courses Online 2023
- The M-Word – Emily Fletcher, Mindvalley
- John Kabat-Zinn Teaches Mindfulness and Meditation – MasterClass
- Duality – Jeffrey Allen, Mindvalley
- Meditation for Everyday Life – David Nichtern, CreativeLive
- Quantum Jumping – Burt Goldman
- Mindfulness and Well-Being – Rice University
- Creative Visualization – Lisa Nichols, Vishen
- Modern Meditation: Discover Your Potential – Skillshare
- Meditation Made Easy – Step by Step Guide – Udemy
- Mindful Meditations for Work and Life – LinkedIn Learning
- Learn How To Meditate – Yoga International
- Online Meditation Training – Loka Yoga
- Highbrow Online Meditation Courses
- The Essential Guide To Meditation – MBG Classes
- Meditation for Relaxation – Sura Flow
- 28-Day Meditation Challenge – Mindfulness Exercises
What is Meditation?
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Meditation is considered a type of mind-body complementary medicine.” The idea is to clear out the clutter of the many thoughts that crowd your consciousness all day and focus your attention. One form of meditation is mindfulness. This practice not only helps you disperse thoughts and calm your mind, but it can also heighten your awareness, making it a powerful troubleshooting exercise.
Other Platforms Offering Meditation Courses Online
- Meditation Guide for Beginners – New York Times – 1
- The Mindfulness Center
- Mind Oasis
- Headspace
- The Himalayan Institute
- Agartha Meditation Center
- Kadampa Meditation Center
Free Video Meditation Courses Online
- The Scientific Power of Self-Love – YouTube – Watch
- 10-Minute Meditation for Anxiety – YouTube – Watch
- 10-Minute Meditation for Healing – YouTube – Watch
- The Scientific Power of Meditation – YouTube – Watch
What are the best meditation courses online in your opinion? Have you taken any online classes? Let us know in the comments.
Sources: What is meditation? – Wikipedia | Meditation and Mindfulness – NIH Center
Disclosure: This site contains affiliate links to some providers of meditation courses online. courselounge may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. It does not add any extra costs. All reviews, opinions, descriptions and comparisons expressed here are our own.