A meditation timer that guides you
Breath meditation is simple to describe and hard to do: sit, pay attention to your breathing, and come back each time your mind wanders. A timer helps because you stop wondering how long is left. A little guidance helps because, early on, it is easy to lose the thread and not notice for minutes.
This sit gives you both. It lasts ten minutes, cut into short parts: settling in, three slow breaths, finding where you feel the breath, counting breaths up to ten, noticing the mind wander and coming back, and a last minute with the breath as it is. A singing bowl rings at each change.
How to use this meditation timer
Find a seat you can stay in, on a chair or a cushion, with your back upright but not stiff. Press Start and let your eyes close. A calm voice gives each part its cue and then leaves you be until the bowl rings for the next one. There is no ticking, and no need to look at the screen.
When you lose count or drift off into planning, that is not failure. Noticing it and coming back is the exercise itself, so every time you notice counts as a repetition, not a mistake. After the closing words, sit a moment longer before you get up.
Three tips for a steady practice
Same time, same place
Sitting at the same time each day, after the morning coffee or before bed, turns meditation into a habit you no longer have to decide on. Ten minutes a day does more than an hour once a week.
Count the out-breaths
When your mind is busy, count each out-breath from one to ten, then start again. Losing count is normal and happens to everyone; just begin again at one.
Expect a wandering mind
Most sits feel scattered, especially in the first weeks. Judge the habit rather than any one session: showing up is the part that adds up over time.
Who it is for
Beginners who want some structure, and anyone who has tried meditation apps and found them too chatty. The guidance here is short and practical, with long stretches of quiet in between.
When you want less guidance, try the twenty-minute Bowl Sit, which has only a handful of spoken cues, or Forest Focus, a sixteen-minute sit spent listening to the sounds of a wood.