An existential crisis feels like a heavy weight on your chest, making you constantly ask questions that disrupt your sense of self and purpose. If you’ve been lying awake at night asking, “What’s the point of it all?” then this article is for you.
Existential anxiety is common during times of political unrest, climate fear, economic instability, or major life transitions. You know, like right now. Thankfully, there are treatment options: existential psychotherapy, CBT, medication… One particularly good option is meditation.
This article will explore how meditation can support you through existential anxiety and help you reconnect with your deeper self.
What is an Existential Crisis?
An existential crisis is the mental and emotional turmoil you experience when you question your purpose, identity, and place in the world. It’s more than just doubt—it’s an unsettling moment when you confront the big, uncomfortable questions that define your existence.
I’ve been there.
My Experience
At 21, I was working in a call center in Birmingham, repeating the same line 200 times a day—“Thank you for calling Lloyds…”—until I started to feel less like a person and more like a machine. Later, when I immigrated to Canada to be with my girlfriend, I wasn’t allowed to work. I didn’t know anyone. I felt cast out to sea with no ship—disconnected from others, from the world, from myself. I was drowning in questions like “What am I doing with my life?” and “Who even am I?” For me, meditation helped me find my true path, which has led me to now being a leading meditation teacher. Now, of course, you don’t need to go as far as becoming a meditation teacher to benefit from this practice. You can start to benefit from meditation right away.
I was drowning in questions like “What am I doing with my life?” and “Who even am I?”
How Meditation Can Help During an Existential Crisis
Meditation can offer quick relief from the symptoms of an existential crisis, can help you navigate the emotional storm, and can even help you find answers to the existential questions that might be plaguing you. By creating a safe mental space, meditation allows you to sit with difficult questions and explore them at your own pace.
Business often replaces meaning with productivity, leaving people feeling like cogs in a machine—disconnected from purpose, identity, and self.Recommended Meditation Techniques
Here are some of the best techniques to use. You can find guides to all these meditation techniques here.
- Mindfulness Meditation: By staying grounded in the present, mindfulness can help break the spiral of overwhelming thoughts and bring focus to the joys of everyday life.
- Self-Inquiry and Reflection: Ask open-ended questions like “Why am I here?” and “What is my purpose?” without rushing to find an answer. Let the question linger in the silence.
- Compassion Meditation: Show yourself love and forgiveness during your practice. Let go of self-criticism to relieve existential anxiety.
- Open Awareness and Vipassana: Instead of seeking answers, these practices encourage exploration, allowing you to observe your thoughts and the world around you.
- Contemplative Meditation on Impermanence: Reflecting on life’s impermanence can help you release fear and embrace the beauty of the present moment.
Also try my meditations for general anxiety.
The Risks of Avoidance in Meditation
Meditation is not a way to bypass discomfort; it’s a way to face it. Beware of meditation practices that promise to answer your existential questions too quickly. Practices that offer easy answers—like those promoted by certain spiritual teachers—can lead to spiritual bypassing, keeping you stuck in avoidance. True clarity comes from confronting these questions directly, not from pretending they don’t exist and definitely not in allowing others to answer those questions for you.
Meditation gives you the space you need to stattlrt answering existential questionsThe Power of “Just Being” and Finding Passion
Viktor Frankl famously said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” Meditation helps you connect with the idea that life’s meaning isn’t found through grand achievements but in the act of living itself. By embracing the present moment, meditation helps you appreciate life as it is and reconnect with your passions—whether that’s a career, creativity, or simply being.
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.
Embrace Your Existential Questions Through Meditation
Meditation isn’t a way to avoid existential crises—it’s a way to confront them, face-to-face. By practicing mindfulness, compassion, and reflection, you can learn to navigate the unknown and find peace in the process of discovery. The answers might not come all at once, but through meditation, you’ll gain the tools to live a life grounded in authenticity and passion.
If you’re feeling lost, you don’t have to go through this alone. Meditation can guide you, but sometimes you need extra support. Book a private lesson with me to explore how meditation can help you tackle your existential questions and find peace.
Paul Harrison is a meditation teacher with 20+ years of experience and a deep passion for helping others. Known for his empathy and authentic approach, he’s dedicated to guiding individuals and teams toward mindfulness, clarity, and well-being.