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There is something plainly odd about sitting alone in a room as a response to loneliness, and it is worth naming before anything else. A practice cannot supply what is missing, and pretending otherwise would be the most useless kind of comfort.
What this practice is
What it can reach is the second layer. Loneliness usually arrives with commentary about what it means: that something is wrong with you, that it will not change, that other people manage this better. That commentary is not the loneliness and it is most of the suffering.
The practice is noticing the feeling as a feeling, separately from the conclusions drawn about it. Being alone on a Tuesday evening is a circumstance. Being alone and certain it is a verdict on you is a considerably worse Tuesday.
Being alone and being lonely also come apart, which is worth knowing and hard to believe when lonely. Some of the most solitary hours people spend are not lonely at all, and the sessions occasionally demonstrate this, which is more convincing than being told.
The tradition treats solitude as workable rather than as a deficit, and it does not claim it substitutes for company. What people commonly report is that the hour is easier than the hour before it. Anything more than that would need evidence and is not claimed.
When to use it
Use it on an evening that is already going to be alone, rather than as a reason to make one that way. That distinction matters more here than anywhere else in the library.
It suits the state where the feeling has gone from circumstance to conclusion. If you are simply alone and would rather not be, the answer is people, and no practice competes with that.
If the loneliness has a specific loss behind it, the grief sessions go at that directly, and this one will keep circling it without naming it.
The sessions
Loneliness, one practice at three lengths, 7 to 18 minutes. Every session in this collection needs Premium. Four other meditation collections have a free session in them, and the free tier covers twelve guided sessions across the app.
| Length | Tier |
|---|---|
| 7 min | Premium |
| 12 min | Premium |
| 18 min | Premium |
How long to practise for
Short is better here than in most of the library. A long solitary session on a lonely evening is a lot of time alone, and the practice can tip into the thing it was answering.
Take a longer one only when the point is settling rather than getting through an evening, and preferably not on the worst nights.
The general version of this, and what a longer session actually adds, is in How Long to Meditate For: Choosing a Session Length.
How to use it
Practise, then do something with people if anything is available. The session is a way to arrive at that in better shape rather than a substitute for it.
Notice the conclusions when they start. That is the workable part, and they are usually stated as facts rather than as feelings.
Keep your eyes open and low if closing them makes the room feel emptier. That is common and it is a sensible adjustment.
Do not use it to become comfortable being alone as a goal. Some people genuinely are; most people who set out to be are talking themselves out of wanting something ordinary.
What usually goes wrong
Using it as a reason not to reach out. This is the failure mode of this collection specifically. A practice that makes a lonely evening tolerable can quietly remove the discomfort that would have prompted a message.
Treating loneliness as a personal defect to meditate away. It is a signal about circumstances, like hunger. Sitting with hunger is a skill and it is not dinner.
Taking the longest session on the worst night. More time alone is not the intervention. Short, then contact, is the better shape.
Believing the conclusions because they arrive quietly. Loneliness states its case very calmly. Noticing that it is a feeling making an argument is the practice.
Then message someone
PanchPrana keeps these short on purpose. A long solitary session on a lonely evening is more of the thing you were trying to interrupt, and the point is to get through the hour rather than to settle into it.
Who should take care
This is an undemanding sitting practice. The cautions are about loneliness rather than about meditation, because loneliness is a serious thing to be in for long.
Prolonged loneliness is associated with low mood and with poorer health, and it is worth treating as a real problem rather than a mood to manage. If it has been constant for months, take it to a doctor the way you would anything else persistent.
If you live with depression, take care with solitary practice generally: withdrawal feeds it, and a practice done alone can become part of the withdrawal. Ease off if you notice it replacing contact, and prioritise seeing people over practising.
If you have thoughts of harming yourself, contact a doctor or an emergency service now rather than sitting with it. Stop any session that leaves you more hopeless than you started, and reach out to someone instead.
See our full Health & Safety Disclaimer.
Common questions
Can meditation help with loneliness?
It can reach the conclusions drawn about it, which is where a lot of the pain is. It cannot supply company, and no practice claiming to should be believed.
Is being alone the same as being lonely?
No, and they come apart more often than it seems from inside the feeling. Plenty of solitary hours are not lonely at all.
Will this make me more comfortable being alone?
Possibly, and that is not straightforwardly good. Wanting company is ordinary, and a practice that removes the wanting has not solved anything.
Should I practise instead of going out?
No. If there is something to go to, go. The practice is for the evenings when there is not.
What if it makes me feel worse?
Stop, and do something with other people if you can. Sitting alone with it is not right for everyone and pushing through is not a virtue here.
