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SoulGarden

Meditation for beginners · Thoughts

How do I clear my mind when I meditate?

You don't have to clear your mind to meditate. Meditation isn't about thinking nothing, and thoughts keep coming back, even after years of practice. The actual practice is noticing that your mind has wandered and kindly returning to a simple anchor, such as your breath or your feet on the floor. Every time you come back, you have meditated.

By the SoulGarden team ·

Why the thoughts don't stop

Your mind is doing what it's made for: planning, remembering and looking for solutions. When you sit down and things get quiet, you simply notice it more than usual.

Many beginners take this as a mistake and think they can't meditate. In forums and app reviews, this expectation is the most common hurdle: the belief that the mind has to go blank. And when people try to push thoughts away, they usually find they get louder.

What helps instead

A small, clear action helps more than “let go of your thoughts”: notice, feel a point of contact, begin again.

  • Choose an anchor that's easy to find. For many people that's the breath. If focusing on your breath feels uncomfortable, choose something outside: your feet on the floor, your hands on your thighs or the sounds in the room.
  • Give the thought a short name, like “planning” or “remembering”, and go back to your anchor. You don't need to finish the thought or push it away.
  • Start short. Three minutes in which you come back ten times are a good meditation.
  • Be kind to yourself. The moment you notice “I drifted off” isn't a setback. It's the moment you're back.

Practice · 3 minutes

Three minutes of coming back

Sit however is comfortable, on a chair or on the sofa. You can keep your eyes open or close them.

  1. Set a timer for three minutes, so you don't have to check the clock.
  2. Feel where your body makes contact: your feet on the floor, your weight on the seat.
  3. Choose an anchor: your breath, coming and going on its own, or your feet. You don't need to change anything.
  4. At some point you'll notice you're lost in thought. Briefly name what it was, for example “planning”, and return to your anchor.
  5. Repeat this as often as you need to. Coming back ten times means practising ten times.
  6. When the gong sounds, take a moment to notice how you feel now. However restless it was: you meditated.

If anything feels like too much, open your eyes, look around the room and feel your feet. You can stop at any time, nothing is lost.

In the app

How you practise this in SoulGarden

SoulGarden is a free meditation app for beginners in which a barren desert grows into a living garden with every meditation. That's where you practise coming back, step by step. In the app, the element air stands for following your breath and letting thoughts drift by like clouds.

You start with a breathing minute together with Souly, the little companion in your garden. After that, guided meditations written and spoken by people help you, or the timer with a gong. In the course “First Steps”, starting 11 November 2026, you go through all five elements together with others.

  • Element air
  • Breathing minute with Souly
  • Timer with gong
  • Course “First Steps”
How SoulGarden works

Plant your first seed.

SoulGarden is free and ad-free, no sign-up needed. On iPhone, Android and in your browser, in English and German. Everything works offline, too.

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Frequently asked questions

Am I doing it wrong if my mind keeps wandering?

No. Mind-wandering is part of meditation. All that matters is that at some point you notice and come back. That noticing gets easier over time.

What is an anchor in meditation?

An anchor is something you can bring your attention back to when your mind wanders. Often it's the breath. Your feet on the floor, your hands or the sounds in the room work just as well.

How long should I meditate when my head is really full?

Keep it short. Three to five minutes are enough to begin with. Many people find short, regular sessions easier than a long one they rarely get round to. In SoulGarden, your first meditation lasts one minute.

Does guided meditation help when my thoughts are racing?

Many beginners find it helpful when a voice tells them now and then what they can do. It takes away the worry of whether they're doing it right. In SoulGarden, the guided meditations are written and spoken by people, not by an AI.

More on this

Based on: our analysis of Reddit discussions, around 4,600 German-language app reviews and forum posts (2026).