The Best Meditation Gifts for Beginners

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We wish each other happy holidays all the time - but what if you could actually give someone the gift of peace and joy? Set them up with what they need to start meditating, and stick with it. You’ll be giving them a simple, powerful tool to reduce stress, and create calm and focus in their lives.

Here are our favorite gifts to help the people you love go from being curious about meditation, to practicing it.

Gift Idea #1: Help them create their personal meditation oasis.

While of course you can meditate anywhere, having a specific space in your home where you practice regularly is incredibly helpful. Whether you keep your oasis intact all the time, or transform a corner of a room into your special meditation space when you need it, you’ll begin to associate that spot with stillness. Over time, your body will automatically begin calming down and focusing, just by sitting down in that same place.

You can start them off creating that special space with two things: a meditation cushion, and a blanket.

Give Them A Meditation Cushion

While of course you can just get a simple meditation cushion (also known as a zafu), you can also really splurge and get one that’s truly a joy to sit on - or take their comfort level up a notch with the addition of a flat cushion underneath it, known as a zabuton.

Here are some of our favorites:

  • Sitting Matters Meditation Seat ($120-150): When you’ve got this kind of support under you, you’re much more likely to sit for longer - and want to come back and do it again the next day. Plus, they’re gorgeous.

  • Hugger Mugger Zafu ($35-45): These durable cushions are bright and cheerful. The handle makes it easy to pick them up and store them out of the way when you’re done meditating. They also happen to be the cushions we use for classes at our studio.

  • Yoga Accessories Zabuton ($43): Slip this underneath your meditation cushion for extra support. Zabutons are a great alternative to putting your cushion on a blanket or yoga mat.

Give Them A Blanket

When you meditate, your heart rate naturally slows down - and that means you’re likely to get cold. A soft blanket wrapped around your shoulders is just the thing to help hold that body heat, and stay comfortable for longer.

While of course they can use any blanket they happen to have around, having a dedicated blanket they only use when they meditate is a nice touch for that home oasis. Whenever they wrap themselves in it, they’ll be sending the signal to their whole body that it’s time to meditate.

Here are some of our favorites:

Gift Idea #2: Inspire and support their practice.

We all need some inspiration to keep us going on a new path. Two of the best ways you can give that to the beginner meditator in your life is with books, and with classes. Both will help answer the questions that inevitably come up when you start practicing meditation on your own. They’ll also help connect the dots between practicing meditation, and being mindful in everyday life.

Give Them A Book on Meditation & Mindfulness

Inspire their practice with a book written by one of the modern sages of mindfulness. Here are some of our favorites (read more about why we love each of them here):

Give Them Meditation Classes

There’s just nothing like a class to make sure you take the time to meditate. Between the extra accountability that comes with signing up for it, the inspiration that comes from the teacher’s guidance, and the support that comes from the other students in the room, a meditation class is an amazing gift.

At WITHIN, we’re especially supportive of beginners. Our teachers are well-versed in guiding new meditators through getting started, and they’re super approachable: you can ask anything during the Q&A that’s a part of every class. The students who come to our classes also tend to be very open about what they’re experiencing in their practice. That support can be a real relief when you’ve been trying to figure it all out on your own!

You can give the gift of classes at WITHIN with a gift card that fits your budget: two classes ($40), or nine ($149), or unlimited classes for a whole month ($129) - or any amount that feels good to you. We’ll send the person you love everything they need to redeem it at our studio in downtown San Francisco.

And One Last Thing…

Meditation can be a very private, personal thing. When you give any of these gifts, it’s super important that you give them with no expectation that the person you love and hope to inspire will become the world’s most amazing meditator, or even start meditating at all. You’re offering them a path that they may or may not walk down, and, no matter how much you want them to get going, it’s not up to you to make them take their first steps. They’ll do it in their own time. Just sit back, relax, and know that you’ve done more than enough by simply giving them that gift.

What are your favorite gifts to support and inspire meditation? Tell us in the comments below!

Hannah KnappComment