What to Know About Crying During Meditation

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhy Am I Crying During Meditation?How to CopeWhen to Seek Mental Health Help

Table of ContentsView All

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Table of Contents

Why Am I Crying During Meditation?

How to Cope

When to Seek Mental Health Help

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You sit down tomeditate. At first, all is peaceful and quiet as you feel your breath moving slowly in and out. Suddenly, though, you begin to feel tears well up in your eyes, and before you know it, you are full-on sobbing.

This is not at all what you expected to happen during meditation, and you are wondering if this is normal, and whether there is something wrong with you. After all, isn’t meditation supposed to make you feel better, not worse?

It turns out that crying during meditation is quite common. Although meditation usually serves as a stress reliever for many people, it can also elicit difficult emotions at times,including crying. This isn’t always a bad thing, though. “Letting it all out” can ultimately be therapeutic.

Let’s explore what to know about crying during meditation, why it happens, and how to cope.

How Long Should You Meditate?

Many of us associate mediation with a time of calm—a chance to find emotional balance. Research has found that adopting a meditation practice can reduce stress and anxiety. Meditation has several other positive usages as well, including:

But meditation is also a chance to tone down the “hustle and bustle” that happens in the mind, to quiet your racing thoughts and ruminations.And sometimes when everything goes quiet—when your to-do lists and work responsibilities and life distractions fall away—some of your more potent emotions come to the surface.

These emotions may be ones that you’ve kept inside in order to cope with the busyness of life, or because they were too difficult to face. Either way, meditation is a time when thesedifficult emotionsmight show up,sometimes without you even realizing it. This is why you might find yourself crying during meditation.

Meditation might just make you feel a little choked up and tear-eyed, but sometimes meditation can make you cry heavily. Whatever crying during medication looks like for you, you should know that you aren’t alone. Many people experience this, and crying during meditation isn’t generally something that continues every time you meditate.

Meditating With ADHD: Tips, Strategies, Resources

In the end, crying during meditation can be positive, because it can help you get in touch with your emotions, move through them, and learn something about yourself. Still, when you experience crying during mediation, especially if it seems to come out of nowhere, you might feel uncertain about what to do, and how to cope.

Here are some tips below.

Understand That Crying Isn’t a Bad Thing

Most of us are taught that crying is a kind of weakness—that it’s only something children do, and that when we get older, we need to keep our emotions under lock and key. The truth is, though, that crying is not a sign of weakness at all. Feeling sadness and vulnerability is part of being human, and learning how to express that is important and can be very therapeutic.

Reframing your crying as a positive thing can help you get through the moment. Here are a few more things to know about crying, and why you can feel good about releasing as many tears whenever needed:

Happy Crying: Why Does It Happen?

Learn to Sit With Your Emotions

Many people think that meditation means having a clear mind and being free of thoughts and feelings. But that’s not really how it works. The goal of meditation is not to eliminate thoughts or feelings completely, but to be able to accept them as they come.Eventually, the goal is to learn to let them go.

If you sit down to meditate and find that you are crying, you can use this as a chance to practiceself-love and self-acceptance. Here are some ideas about how to do that:

Take Some Time to Process Your Experience

When meditation has elicited intense emotions from you, it can be helpful to take some time to reflect and process what happened. This can include talking to a friend or connecting with amental health counselor or therapistto clear your mind and think.

After a big cry, many people end up feeling exhausted, depleted, and vulnerable. That’s common and OK. Make sure you are gentle with yourself during this time, and try to get some extra rest and self-care during the next few days. You may also want to integrate movement like practicing yoga or taking a walk in nature, which can both be powerful for healing.

You might alsoconsider doing some journalingto help process the experience. Get a notebook, set a timer for 10 minutes, and just write whatever comes into your mind. You don’t need to show this to anyone. Writing out your thoughts and feelings after crying can help you to understand yourself better, and get more in touch with the meaning behind your emotions.

Why You Should Keep a Stress Relief Journal

Usually, the crying that happens during meditation is an opportunity to simply let out some pent up emotions, which can be cleansing. But sometimes more difficult emotions come out while meditating.

If you are finding that meditation is triggeringintense emotional reactionsthat are making it difficult to function, or are making your current mental health challenges worse, consider meeting with a therapist or psychiatrist.

Even if you are not having a particularly adverse experience, meditation might be making you more in touch with certain repressed feelings, and having someone to talk with about your feelings is always a good thing.

Focused Meditation: How to Start a Practice

A Word From Verywell

You might be taken aback if you end up crying during mediation. After all, this was not what you signed up for! You can rest assured that many people end up getting very emotional and even end up crying during meditation. This is especially common during the first few times you meditate or if you are going through a tough emotional time in your life.

Many of us have negative associations with crying, and grew up believing that it was best to suppress crying and other difficult emotions. Crying during meditation may feel inconvenient, and the crying itself might upset you more.

Consider thinking of crying during mediation as an opportunity to get more in touch with your feelings, and to learn to accept them. If you end up crying frequently during meditation, or if meditation seems to have triggereddifficult memories, traumas, or seems to have exacerbated a mental health condition, please don’t hesitate to reach out to a counselor or therapist.

How to Meditate at Home

9 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Britton W, Lindahl J, Cooper D, et al.Defining and Measuring Meditation-Related Adverse Effects in Mindfulness-Based Programs. Clinical Psychological Science. 2021;9(6). doi:10.1177/2167702621996340Bassam Khoury, Lecomte T, Fortin G, et al.Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review. 2013;33(6):763-771. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.05.005Creswell J, Lindsay E, Villalba Daniella K, et al.Mindfulness Training and Physical Health: Mechanisms and Outcomes. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2019;81(3):224-232. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000675Black D, Slavich G.Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Annals of the New York Academy of Science. 2016;1373(1):13-24. doi:10.1111/nyas.12998American Psychological Association.Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress. Updated October 30, 2019.Britton W, Lindahl J, Cooper D, et al.Defining and Measuring Meditation-Related Adverse Effects in Mindfulness-Based Programs. Clinical Psychological Science. 2021;9(6). doi:10.1177/2167702621996340Sharman L, Dingle G, Vingerhoets A, et al.Using crying to cope: Physiological responses to stress following tears of sadness. Emotion. 2020;20(7):1279-1291. doi:10.1037/emo0000633Mund M, Mitte K.The costs of repression: a meta-analysis on the relation between repressive coping and somatic diseases. Health Psychology. 2012;31(5):640-9. doi:10.1037/a0026257Newhouse L.Is crying good for you?Harvard Health Blog. Updated March 1, 2021.Additional ReadingAmerican Psychological Association.Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress. Updated October 30, 2019.Bassam Khoury, Lecomte T, Fortin G, et al.Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review. 2013;33(6):763-771. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.05.005Newhouse L.Is crying good for you?Harvard Health Blog. Updated March 1, 2021.Sharman L, Dingle G, Vingerhoets A, et al.Using crying to cope: Physiological responses to stress following tears of sadness. Emotion. 2020;20(7):1279-1291. doi:10.1037/emo0000633Wu R, Liu LL, Zhu H, et al.Brief Mindfulness Meditation Improves Emotion Processing. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2019;13:1074. doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.01074

9 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Britton W, Lindahl J, Cooper D, et al.Defining and Measuring Meditation-Related Adverse Effects in Mindfulness-Based Programs. Clinical Psychological Science. 2021;9(6). doi:10.1177/2167702621996340Bassam Khoury, Lecomte T, Fortin G, et al.Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review. 2013;33(6):763-771. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.05.005Creswell J, Lindsay E, Villalba Daniella K, et al.Mindfulness Training and Physical Health: Mechanisms and Outcomes. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2019;81(3):224-232. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000675Black D, Slavich G.Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Annals of the New York Academy of Science. 2016;1373(1):13-24. doi:10.1111/nyas.12998American Psychological Association.Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress. Updated October 30, 2019.Britton W, Lindahl J, Cooper D, et al.Defining and Measuring Meditation-Related Adverse Effects in Mindfulness-Based Programs. Clinical Psychological Science. 2021;9(6). doi:10.1177/2167702621996340Sharman L, Dingle G, Vingerhoets A, et al.Using crying to cope: Physiological responses to stress following tears of sadness. Emotion. 2020;20(7):1279-1291. doi:10.1037/emo0000633Mund M, Mitte K.The costs of repression: a meta-analysis on the relation between repressive coping and somatic diseases. Health Psychology. 2012;31(5):640-9. doi:10.1037/a0026257Newhouse L.Is crying good for you?Harvard Health Blog. Updated March 1, 2021.Additional ReadingAmerican Psychological Association.Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress. Updated October 30, 2019.Bassam Khoury, Lecomte T, Fortin G, et al.Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review. 2013;33(6):763-771. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.05.005Newhouse L.Is crying good for you?Harvard Health Blog. Updated March 1, 2021.Sharman L, Dingle G, Vingerhoets A, et al.Using crying to cope: Physiological responses to stress following tears of sadness. Emotion. 2020;20(7):1279-1291. doi:10.1037/emo0000633Wu R, Liu LL, Zhu H, et al.Brief Mindfulness Meditation Improves Emotion Processing. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2019;13:1074. doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.01074

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Britton W, Lindahl J, Cooper D, et al.Defining and Measuring Meditation-Related Adverse Effects in Mindfulness-Based Programs. Clinical Psychological Science. 2021;9(6). doi:10.1177/2167702621996340Bassam Khoury, Lecomte T, Fortin G, et al.Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review. 2013;33(6):763-771. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.05.005Creswell J, Lindsay E, Villalba Daniella K, et al.Mindfulness Training and Physical Health: Mechanisms and Outcomes. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2019;81(3):224-232. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000675Black D, Slavich G.Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Annals of the New York Academy of Science. 2016;1373(1):13-24. doi:10.1111/nyas.12998American Psychological Association.Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress. Updated October 30, 2019.Britton W, Lindahl J, Cooper D, et al.Defining and Measuring Meditation-Related Adverse Effects in Mindfulness-Based Programs. Clinical Psychological Science. 2021;9(6). doi:10.1177/2167702621996340Sharman L, Dingle G, Vingerhoets A, et al.Using crying to cope: Physiological responses to stress following tears of sadness. Emotion. 2020;20(7):1279-1291. doi:10.1037/emo0000633Mund M, Mitte K.The costs of repression: a meta-analysis on the relation between repressive coping and somatic diseases. Health Psychology. 2012;31(5):640-9. doi:10.1037/a0026257Newhouse L.Is crying good for you?Harvard Health Blog. Updated March 1, 2021.

Britton W, Lindahl J, Cooper D, et al.Defining and Measuring Meditation-Related Adverse Effects in Mindfulness-Based Programs. Clinical Psychological Science. 2021;9(6). doi:10.1177/2167702621996340

Bassam Khoury, Lecomte T, Fortin G, et al.Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review. 2013;33(6):763-771. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.05.005

Creswell J, Lindsay E, Villalba Daniella K, et al.Mindfulness Training and Physical Health: Mechanisms and Outcomes. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2019;81(3):224-232. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000675

Black D, Slavich G.Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Annals of the New York Academy of Science. 2016;1373(1):13-24. doi:10.1111/nyas.12998

American Psychological Association.Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress. Updated October 30, 2019.

Sharman L, Dingle G, Vingerhoets A, et al.Using crying to cope: Physiological responses to stress following tears of sadness. Emotion. 2020;20(7):1279-1291. doi:10.1037/emo0000633

Mund M, Mitte K.The costs of repression: a meta-analysis on the relation between repressive coping and somatic diseases. Health Psychology. 2012;31(5):640-9. doi:10.1037/a0026257

Newhouse L.Is crying good for you?Harvard Health Blog. Updated March 1, 2021.

American Psychological Association.Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress. Updated October 30, 2019.Bassam Khoury, Lecomte T, Fortin G, et al.Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review. 2013;33(6):763-771. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.05.005Newhouse L.Is crying good for you?Harvard Health Blog. Updated March 1, 2021.Sharman L, Dingle G, Vingerhoets A, et al.Using crying to cope: Physiological responses to stress following tears of sadness. Emotion. 2020;20(7):1279-1291. doi:10.1037/emo0000633Wu R, Liu LL, Zhu H, et al.Brief Mindfulness Meditation Improves Emotion Processing. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2019;13:1074. doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.01074

Wu R, Liu LL, Zhu H, et al.Brief Mindfulness Meditation Improves Emotion Processing. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2019;13:1074. doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.01074

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