Meditation has been crowned the modern cure-all: the thing that promises to fix stress, calm anxiety, sharpen focus, heal trauma, and make you a better human before breakfast.
But is meditation really as helpful for everyone as popular wellness trends suggest?
Like strength training, scuba diving, or any psychological intervention, mental training like meditation requires correct use, and safety to work.
This article mainly focuses on Vipassana meditation, the origin of many modern mindfulness styles. It explores the psychological safety of meditation with Dr. Paul R. Fleischman, a Yale-trained psychiatrist and longtime Vipassana teacher, and Dr. David Treleaven, the creator of the trauma-sensitive approach to mindfulness.
Key Takeaways
- Meditate like you’d dive underwater: with preparation and safety precautions.
- 1 in 4 people have a diagnosable psychiatric condition. It’s normal for mental-health challenges to show up in meditation spaces.
- Meditation teachers are not trained therapists. They can guide meditation but cannot provide mental-health care.
- Meditation doesn’t cause mental illness. It can reveal what already exists.
- Meditation can be healing when practiced properly, but it can also cause harm if not done carefully, just like any deep inner work. That's why learning safety principles in meditation is essential.
- Key Principles for practicing meditation safely include choice, capacity and stability.
Let’s look at the common myths, facts, and best safety tips that every meditator should know before starting a regular meditation practice or going on a silent retreat.
Mental Health Reality Check: “Nation of Psychiatric Illness”
Here’s something mind-blowing Dr. Paul highlights:
“Twenty-five percent of Americans have a diagnosable psychiatric condition. If ‘the nation of psychiatric illness’ were a real country, it would be the third largest in the world.”
This means one in four people carries some form of invisible trauma, so it’s very likely you’ll meet someone with this experience at a meditation session, a breathwork class or at a Vipassana retreat.
And these activities can bring hidden, unprocessed emotions to the surface, turning them into a “visible social event.”
What Most People Get Wrong About Meditation
“Meditation now has a reputation, for better and for worse, as something that can help with psychological conditions,” Dr. Paul Fleischman explains in his talk on psychological safety.
Many people see claims like “meditation helps anxiety and depression,” and arrive at a ten-day Vipassana course hoping for a quick fix without realizing how different meditation styles can be or how intense silent retreats are.
I get it. Relief from anxiety was one of the reasons I first turned toward meditation, too.
But as trauma educator David Treleaven points out in his "Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness book, meditation can sometimes make symptoms worse if it’s done without the right conditions or awareness of trauma.
This doesn’t make meditation “dangerous.”
This means we should treat meditation with the same care and respect as any other deep inner work.
Meditation Is a Lot Like Scuba Diving
Think of meditation like scuba diving for the mind. What was invisible (unconscious) is being brought up to the light by your awareness (made conscious).
You probably wouldn’t strap on a tank and descend 18 meters (60 ft) into the ocean without training, preparation, and safety protocols.
Meditation, especially during a 10-day silent retreat, is similar in some ways:
- It takes you deep inside your mind.
- Pressure changes (emotionally) can happen.
- You are likely to encounter new things underwater (insights, unprocessed feelings)
- You need a plan for what to do if you get caught up in something unexpected.
- You need a way to return to the surface (normal state) safely.
David Treleaven uses a beautiful seaweed metaphor:
Divers are taught to relax if they get caught in seaweed, because frantic movements only tighten the grip. Diving with a buddy is also a common safety practice, as it helps prevent or handle accidents.
These strategies also apply to meditation safety: if we encounter a trigger, fighting ourselves may increase the intensity and make things worse, so we need to learn self-regulation.
Trained and compassionate teachers, like Meditate Mate instructors who follow a trauma-informed mindfulness approach, can help when meditation becomes overwhelming, using the diving analogy – to decompress safely.
Can meditation cause mental illness?
Experts agree that meditation can trigger material, but it doesn’t cause illness.
You’ve probably seen horror stories online:
- “I went to a retreat and came back worse.”
- “I had panic attacks after a meditation course.”
- “Someone I know spiraled after a silent retreat.”
Some of these stories are true.
But that doesn’t mean meditation caused it.
Can meditation be a trigger for buried material, though?
Yes, it absolutely can!
What exactly is a trigger? According to Fleischman, a trigger is something that brings a psychological problem to the surface and makes it visible.
But a trigger can only bring up issues that already exist, such as past trauma.
Dr. Paul explains it like this:
“A trigger can only activate what already exists. You can only pull the trigger if you are already holding a gun.”
Deep meditation removes distractions, “the water becomes clear,” and whatever has been repressed—such as grief, fear, trauma, loneliness, or anxiety—has the opportunity to surface. Ideally, to be seen, processed, and released.
In clinical psychology, this is typically a sign of progress when that happens in a controlled session with a trained mental health professional. When it unfolds at a silent retreat, when you are in 1-on-1 with the mind and a big chunk of raw material rises to the surface, it may, in some cases, become too much to process all at once, disrupting the whole system.
Meditation teachers can support students in distress, but are not trained or equipped to offer mental health counseling. That’s why there is usually a screening process to make sure people with acute mental health disorders consult their doctor before diving into deep silence head-first, literally.
According to Paul, it is very unlikely that meditation simply drops into the mind of a person with no pre-existing factors and creates a problem that wasn't already there at least to some degree.
From a clinical perspective, you can easily get the "false impression that the presence of psychiatric problems in meditators means meditation caused them. By that logic, you would also have to say meditation causes cancer or heart disease, because those conditions are also present in every human population.”
Key takeaway: Meditation doesn’t cause mental illness; it reveals unprocessed material.
This is why psychological safety matters.
How to Practice Meditation Safely
Don't harm yourself with meditation. Learn how to practice safely.
✔️ 1. Don’t meditate to fix or improve yourself
The best advice out there comes from Bob Sharples, an Australian psychologist and meditation teacher:
“Don’t meditate to fix yourself, to improve yourself, to redeem yourself;
meditate as an act of love, a deep warm friendship with yourself.”
Meditation is an act of nourishment and a detox for the mind that enables us to have the best possible Life Experience.
✔️ 2. Don’t force yourself
Pain does not equal progress.
Bliss does not equal progress either.
Seeking special states in meditation or pushing through pain to sit like a stone (like a monk) is another way how “craving” may manifest in the practice: desiring something that is different from what is.,
Spiritual masters say the true measure of progress in meditation is the growth of equanimity, inner peace, and compassion.
For example, if you're experiencing a lot of pain and physical discomfort that overwhelms your mind, it would be wise to adjust and take care of yourself.
Meditation isn't an endurance race or a performance; it’s a spiritual journey toward liberation (from suffering).
✔️ 3. Don’t compare your practice
Not to others.
Not even to your past self.
Meditation changes daily because you change daily.
✔️ 4. If you miss a day, begin again
If you miss a day or lose your streak, like with many meditation apps, remind yourself of the days you did practice and simply start again.
Celebrate the days you do sit.
Begin again on the days you don’t.
✔️ 5. Don’t judge yourself (this might be the most important one)
Don’t harm yourself with self-criticism, judgment, or doubting yourself for doing it right, expecting your meditation to be a certain way, at a certain time, or to bring specific results within set timelines.
Leave all that behind and witness the miracle of creation unfolding in real time: within you (a piece of the universe made of billions of cells, with new cells created every second).
Like one meditation likes to say: “Don’t should on yourself.”
Treat it like brushing your teeth every morning—just do it and go on with your day.
✔️ 6. Remember: change is subtle until it’s not
Meditation works like compound interest:
Small, repeated moments of peace and presence become tectonic shifts in:
- Becoming less reactive to things and people who used to be triggering
- inner peace
- emotional resilience
- clarity
- joy
One day, you wake up and realize just how much you’ve changed, and how much your life has changed.
When Meditation Retreat Is Not the Right Tool (Yet)
A silent meditation course may not be ideal during:
- acute depression
- borderline personality disorder
- recent trauma
- recent breakup or loss of a loved one
- times when you cannot sense the body or focus at all
In these cases, seek professional support first, and consider starting meditation later.
When Meditation Retreats Become Catalyst for Good
When taken at the right time with proper preparation, meditation retreats can be transformative in bringing clarity and insight to change life's direction, heal, and liberate from the burdens of the past at the deepest levels.
It can help you:
- Face grief
- Get clarity
- Release old emotional weight
- Feel compassion and love in a new way
- Forgive and let go
- Experience profound inner calm
- Develop deep trust in yourself and your path (anxiety can't survive in trust)
- Build lasting resilience and clarity to carry into your daily life after the retreat
- Shift old behavior patterns (research shows it may help people quit drinking or smoking)
- Discover your purpose
“Meditation is a path to reduce negativity and cultivate the positive states already within us: kindness, generosity, confidence, and the desire to help others.” – Paul Fleischman.
What To Do If You’re Struggling or Unsure
Here are a few options to consider:
- Talk to a mental health professional.
- Speak with a teacher at your local meditation center. Vipassana centers in the Goenka tradition offer daily live interviews with teachers.
- Try a guided mindfulness practice instead of an intensive retreat.
- Opt for moving meditation (walking meditation, slow yoga)
- Reach out to crisis lines if you’re in immediate distress. In the US: Call or text 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Meditation Safety Strategies from David Treleaven
Here are Dr. Treleaven’s Top 3 Tips for meditation safety from his trauma-sensitive mindfulness framework:
1. Stay within your capacity or Window of Tolerance
Window of Tolerance is the safety zone where your nervous system can handle experience without being overridden by panic (hyperarousal) or shutdown in numbness/freeze (hypoarousal).
This is his equivalent of “applying the brakes” if you find yourself going too fast.
Some actions you may take include:
- open your eyes and focus on an external anchor (sounds, room, sensory objects)
- add movement: change position, stand up, and walk around
- switch from interoception (inner body) to exteroception (outer world)
2. Remember you always have a choice. Choice restores agency
Mindfulness without choice can retraumatize. Mindfulness with choice heals.
Treleaven emphasizes that trauma often disconnects people from their bodies through dissociation, numbing, or difficulty identifying feelings and emotions.
At silent meditation retreats with strict discipline and demanding timetables, the instructions may not necessarily be trauma-sensitive.
For example, Meditate without opening your eyes or moving, in total stillness, for one hour.
For a person with trauma, that may sound like pure hell, being stuck inside their mind, reliving traumatic memories without the distractions of normal life.
It's crucial to remember that you always have a choice: open your eyes, shift position, or stop. Choice gives us a sense of agency, which in turn strengthens our autonomy and capacity for emotional regulation.
Persisting in meditation when it feels too overwhelming becomes another form of self-aggression. The purpose won't be served, and you might hurt yourself.
Pay attention to yourself, and if your mind starts to lose balance, it might be wise to stop meditation or make adjustments. You have the power to decide what is best for you; no teacher can tell you.
3. Prioritize stability before depth
Bodily awareness can serve as a safe anchor for meditators to ground themselves through their senses in the present moment. Check the room before and after inner work. Use the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique to activate your senses and help you return to the safety of now if meditation becomes too intense.
Helpful books and resources for meditation safety
If you’d like to deepen your understanding of how to meditate safely, especially when navigating severe anxiety, trauma, or emotional distress, these books are excellent companions:
Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness by David Treleaven
A must-read for anyone with a trauma history, survivors of the dark night of the soul, or those who have experienced intense negative reactions during meditation. Treleaven provides a clear framework for staying within your window of tolerance, grounding, stabilizing attention, and practicing mindfulness without becoming overwhelmed.
The Power of Small Changes: Vipassana Meditation Through the Lens of Biology, Psychology, and Culture by Dr. Paul R. Fleischman
A psychiatrist’s deep exploration of Vipassana meditation, including psychological safety, mental-health considerations, and why some experiences can feel intense during silent retreats, based on decades of clinical and teaching experience.
Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
A foundational book on practicing meditation with compassion, gentleness, and self-kindness. Tara’s approach helps soften the inner critic and emphasizes emotional safety as part of awakening.
Bottom Line
Meditation is about learning to be with yourself and feel safe inside: with care, curiosity, and self-kindness.
Meditation is safe with the right conditions: honestly assessing your mental state, being willing to put in effort, understanding that meditation is not a substitute for therapy or medical treatment, recognizing when adjustments are necessary, honoring your nervous system's capacity, knowing how to self-regulate, and seeking guidance from trained meditation teachers.
When we learn to physically experience being our ultimate safe place ("the only safety is safety that lies within"), it becomes the foundation for real transformation and alignment with our best potential for a healthy and fulfilled life.
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