Meditation, Solved: Is It Actually Worth It?

Meditation has been sold to us as a magic pill for so long that the backlash is almost as overblown as the hype. I spent years deep in Buddhist practice, went on retreats, meditated daily — and then slowly discovered that half the gurus evangelizing it were alcoholics, abusers, or running Rolls-Royce-funded cults. Here's what the more careful research actually shows: there are three things meditation does reliably well, and they’re probably not what you've been promised. More importantly, almost everything you've been told about how to do it is wrong — starting with the idea that the goal is to quiet your mind. If your brain turns into a chaotic mess the moment you close your eyes, that's not a failure. That's the whole point. Get your free episode guide: • Sign up for my newsletter, Your Next Breakthrough. It will help make you a less awful person: • Get clarity on what actually matters. Try Purpose, Mark's AI mentor app that learns your patterns, challenges your blind spots, and helps you take action. Get 7 days free at purpose.app/solved⁠ Check out our sponsors:• Factor: Head to to get 50% off and a free breakfast for a year. • Shopify: Sign up for your $1/month trial at Waking Up: Get a free 30-day trial and $30 off the annual membership at Chapters: 8:15 CHAPTER 1: Skeptic Claim : Meditation Is Overhyped 22:45 CHAPTER 2: Skeptic Claim : "Meditation Isn't for Me" 48:33 CHAPTER 3: Skeptic Claim : The New-Agey, "Woo-Woo" Crowd Turns Me Off 1:01:01 CHAPTER 3: A Secular, Grounded Alternative: Meditation Without Metaphysics 1:17:35 CHAPTER 4: Conclusion: What Meditation Really Is Follow Mark Mark’s IG: Solved IG: Twitter: LinkedIn: YouTube: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can listen to Meditation, Solved: Is It Actually Worth It? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Meditation, Solved: Is It Actually Worth It? is an episode from Mark Manson Audio Articles by Mark Manson.

This episode is 88:18 long.

This episode was published on Mar 18, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Mark Manson Audio Articles when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.