Whenever Peloton instructor Nico Sarani gets nervous before a big event, like delivering a keynote presentation or teaching a class to a larger audience, she relies on a practice as old as time: meditation for self-confidence. 

“I’ll make sure to meditate in the morning and ‘feel myself into’ the desired mental, physical, and emotional state I want to embody,” she says. “And I’ll try to remember that state or feeling before I enter the event.”

Nico is certainly onto something. While we often think of meditation as a tool for quieting the mind or relieving stress, it’s also a great way for us to connect more deeply with our inner voice. By helping us observe and reframe negative thoughts, the practice can be a powerful way to build self-confidence. 

With time, meditation can help quiet our worst critic—ourselves—and cultivate self-awareness. Here’s how you can reach that higher state and boost self-confidence.

What Is Self-Confidence?

Self-confidence is believing in your strengths, abilities, and qualities, trusting that they’ll guide you through life’s challenges. It’s a feeling of “I can handle whatever’s in front of me,” says licensed mental health counselor Courtney Shrum.

Confidence is tied to nervous system regulation, she says: “When your body feels safe, your brain is more likely to believe you’re capable. It becomes easier to take risks, bounce back from setbacks, and show up for yourself, even when things are hard.” That’s where meditation comes in.

Can Meditation Boost Your Self-Confidence?

There’s no doubt in Nico’s mind: Meditation can absolutely help you feel more confident and self-assured. “Meditation is a wonderful tool to boost self-confidence and rewire our brain towards more empowering beliefs, thoughts, or a more confident state of being,” she says. 

That’s because meditating helps calm our nervous systems and get out of “stress mode,” she explains. This helps us feel more secure within ourselves, our surroundings, and with people, in turn making us feel more confident.

What’s more, by shifting our attention away from the mind’s constant chatter and back to the physical sensations of the present moment, meditation helps us get back into our bodies and away from spiraling thoughts. This alone can help someone shift from anxious to grounded, Shrum says.

“Personally, I’ve used meditations during anxious flares, after emotionally heavy therapy days, and even before public speaking,” she says. “The ability to meet yourself in different nervous system states, whether you need grounding or energizing, helps people find more control over their emotional state and builds more confidence as a result.”

Benefits of Meditation for Self-Confidence

By quieting mental noise and fostering reconnection with ourselves, meditation lays the foundation for a stronger, more grounded sense of being—one of the practice’s many benefits in a list that can go on and on. Below, Nico and Shrum share some of the key ways meditation can boost self-confidence from the inside out.

1. Meditation Calms the Body and Mind

The more we get our nervous system out of fight-or-flight mode and into a calmer state of mind, the more we can instill confidence within ourselves, Nico says.

This creates a confidence ripple effect, Nico says: The more calm and self-assured we feel, the more that confidence gets mirrored back to us by our outer environment, creating a positive feedback loop, Nico says. “People perceive us as more confident, we see them seeing us as such, and it then influences or changes our self-perception,” she explains. 

2. It Helps Us Develop Awareness of Thoughts and Beliefs

“Meditation offers space to observe your mind and its patterns of thinking,” Nico says. “We learn that beliefs and thoughts are just beliefs and thoughts, and not necessarily truths.” In other words, meditation gives you the opportunity to notice any negative thoughts about yourself and remember that it’s simply a thought, not a fact in reality. 

3. Meditation Redirects Energy and Focus

Through the use of mantras or repeated affirmations, many types of meditation can help us cultivate self-compassion and help us feel better about ourselves, Nico says. “You may directly focus on having the sensation of strength and confidence arise within you, thereby redirecting your energy or focus towards embodying that essence.”

4. It Cultivates Mindfulness

Meditation can help bring us to a broader state of being known as mindfulness, in which we’re present and aware of the moment without judgment. A small 2022 study published in the journal Psychological Studies suggests that mindfulness practices, such as staying present and noticing experiences, were linked to higher levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy. While the researchers noted that more studies are needed, Nico says that meditation improves our focus on the present on and off the mat, which may help create a greater sense of self-assuredness.

5. Meditation Builds Self-Trust

“When we slow down enough to notice what we’re feeling and meet it without judgment, we start to build self-trust,” Shrum says. “That’s where real confidence grows—not from faking positivity, but from learning to stay with ourselves through discomfort.”

All these benefits of meditation for self-confidence feed into one another, creating a positive cycle. “The more we learn to calm the body and mind, the more inner peace we cultivate,” Nico says. “The better we get to know ourselves, the easier it will be to become aware of the thought and belief patterns that hold us back. And the more we learn to redirect our focus, the easier it will be to tap into our desired state, whatever that might be,” she says—more confident, less stressed, you name it.

Which Types of Meditations Are Best for Building Self-Confidence?

While all types of meditation can help calm the mind and build self-esteem, certain styles are particularly effective at quieting self-doubt, fostering inner strength, and shifting negative thought patterns. “The ones that focus on internal resourcing and self-compassion tend to move the needle most,” Shrum says.

Next time you need a boost, try one of these types of meditation for self-confidence:

Not sure where to begin? There are plenty of meditation classes on the Peloton App that can help improve self-confidence, from metta meditations to gratitude meditations and beyond. With supportive instructor guidance and class lengths ranging from 5–30 minutes, there’s something for everyone.