This guide is meant to support you - not overwhelm you :)

You don’t need to understand everything to begin.
Start with the Beginner Guide, and come back to the Advanced Guide whenever you’re curious.

Beginner Guide

(Everything you need to get started)

What This App Is About

Meditation & Breathwork helps you stay present while gently observing how your body responds during meditation and breathwork.

It allows you to:

run simple or structured sessions
receive vibration cues instead of visual distractions
observe heart rate, HRV, stress, and breathing
save sessions to Garmin Connect to notice patterns over time

The goal is awareness, not performance.

If you’d like a short, motivating reflection on why slowing down matters (and why it’s so hard in a fast-paced culture), Cory Muscara’s The Practicing Human podcast - “Why You Need to Slow Down” explores how speed can erode relationships, happiness, and clear decision-making.

Starting Your First Session

Open the app.
Select a session from the list.
Press Start (or tap the screen on touch devices).
Try to keep your wrist still for the first moments - this helps sensors settle.

During the session you’ll see:

elapsed time
current heart rate
HRV status
stress and respiration (if supported)
small colored markers showing upcoming vibration alerts

You can:

pause or resume with the back button
stop the session with the start/stop button
control screen brightness via your watch buttons or touch

When you stop, you can save or discard the session.
Saved sessions appear in Garmin Connect after syncing.

A Simple Way to Meditate

If you don’t know how to meditate, you’re not alone - and you’re not behind.
You’re already doing the most important thing: showing up.

Meditation is not about stopping thoughts, emptying the mind, or doing anything “right”. Even very experienced meditators notice their thoughts drifting every few seconds. That’s normal.

The practice is not staying focused.
The practice is noticing when you’re not - and gently coming back.

If, for your first year of meditation, you did nothing more than what’s described below, that would already be enough. Truly.

And one more thing: the more humor, gentleness, and loving-kindness you can bring to your sessions, the more enjoyable the whole experience becomes - and often, the more helpful it is. You’re not trying to “win” meditation. You’re learning how to be with yourself.

A Very Simple Practice

You don’t need to visualize anything or breathe in a special way.

Sit or lie down in a way that feels okay.
Let your breath happen naturally.
Bring your attention to the feeling of the breath at your nose.

You might notice:

cool air as you inhale
warmer air as you exhale
subtle movement or tingling

That’s enough. Nothing else to achieve.

If it helps, you can quietly label it: “in” … “out”.
Soft and simple.

When the Mind Wanders - It Will!

At some point - often after just a few seconds - your mind will wander.

You might start thinking about:

what you should be doing
something from the past
something that annoys you
absolutely nothing important at all

This does not mean you’re bad at meditation. It simply means your mind is doing what minds do.

Sometimes the mind even tries to pull you back into activity, tension, or a bit of chaos - because that’s what feels familiar and safe. It may offer you “very urgent” thoughts like:
“We should definitely reorganize our life right now.”

You can meet that moment with a smile:

“Ah, there you are again. You miss the chaos. Sneaky mind.”

The Most Important Part

The moment you notice that your attention has drifted is not a failure. It’s the moment the practice is actually happening.

When you notice:

pause for a second
maybe even smile
gently and kindly ask yourself: “Do I want to come back to the breath right now?”

If the answer is yes, return to the feeling of the breath at the nose.
If the answer is no, that’s okay too - you can ask again later.

Every return is a small training moment.
And every time you notice, you can quietly celebrate it: “Oh - I noticed.” That’s awareness waking up.

Be Kind With Yourself

Coming back again and again is not something to be annoyed about. It is the training.

Each time you notice and return:

you strengthen awareness
you build patience
you teach your nervous system that calm is safe

So if you catch yourself being harsh, see if you can soften it just a little:
“Of course my mind wandered. That’s what minds do. Back we go.”

Kindness works better than force. Curiosity works better than discipline.
And humor makes the whole thing more human.

If You Want to Go Deeper

This simple practice can take you very far on its own.

If, at some point, you feel curious to learn more about meditation - especially about working with restlessness, fear, and kindness toward yourself - a wonderful place to start is:

Pema Chödrön - How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind (Sounds True, 2013).

There is no rush. This is here whenever curiosity shows up.

That’s Really It

There is nothing else you need to do.

If your mind wanders 100 times, and you come back 100 times - that was a good session.
If you stayed with the breath for only a few seconds at a time - that was a good session.

Meditation is not about staying calm. It’s about learning how to return.

And you’re allowed to do that gently - with warmth, humor, and a little self-respect.

Choosing a Session

From the session picker you can scroll through available sessions and see:

session duration
vibration pattern
interval alert timing
HRV indicator

HRV Indicator

Off - HRV and stress tracking disabled
Waiting - sensor has not settled yet (stay still for a moment)
Ready - HRV tracking active
For reliable HRV data, minimize wrist movement.

Breathwork Sessions

The app includes preconfigured breathwork sessions.
A breathing cycle can include:

Inhale → Hold → Exhale → Hold

(Some techniques skip certain parts.)

Included Patterns

Box Breathing
Equal inhale, hold, exhale, hold (e.g. 4–4–4–4).
Often used to calm the nervous system.

Coherence Breathing
Inhale 5 seconds, exhale 5 seconds.
Often associated with increased HRV.

4-7-8 Breathing
Inhale 4, hold 7, exhale 8.
Commonly used before sleep.

Gentle Tips

Inhale through the nose if possible
Exhale through the mouth
Longer exhales than inhales often help calm
If timed breathing feels stressful, choose a simple session and breathe naturally

Understanding Your Session Data

HRV (Heart Rate Variability)

HRV reflects how much the time between heartbeats varies.

Higher HRV → calmer, more regulated states
Lower HRV → activation or stress

Variability is healthy - it’s not something to fix.

Stress

Lower stress values feel pleasant, but higher stress does not mean a bad session.

Sometimes a session is about staying present with discomfort.

Heart Rate

Heart rate often slows as the body settles and usually aligns with HRV and stress.

Respiration

Respiration data comes from Garmin sensors and is best used for trends, not precision.

Advanced Guide

(For customization, deeper insight, and power users)

Session Customization

From the session picker:

Hold the menu button (or touch and hold the screen)
Open Add New or Edit

You can configure:

Session Basics

Duration (H:MM)
Color (used in visual indicators)
Vibration pattern
Activity type (Meditation / Yoga / Breathwork)
HRV tracking level
Custom session name (supports [time] placeholder)

Interval Alerts

One-off or repeating alerts
Durations from seconds to hours
Offset (delay before first trigger)
Color per alert (or transparent to hide)
Vibration or sound pattern

Only one alert runs at a time.
Priority order: final alert → last one-off → last repeating alert.

Custom Breathwork Patterns

Breathwork patterns are created using parallel interval alerts with offsets.

Example: 4–7–8 breathing

Total cycle: 19 seconds
Inhale: Time=19, Offset=0
Hold: Time=19, Offset=4
Exhale: Time=19, Offset=11

Recommended vibration patterns:

Inhale: ShortAscending
Hold: ShortContinuous
Exhale: ShortDescending

Advanced HRV Metrics

When HRV Tracking is set to On Detailed, the app records:

RMSSD
Successive heartbeat differences
pNN20
pNN50
Raw heartbeat intervals
HR derived from heartbeat intervals
RMSSD rolling window
SDRR (first 5 minutes)
SDRR (last 5 minutes)

These values are for exploration and learning, not evaluation.

Global Settings (Defaults for All Sessions)

Access via:

Session picker → hold menu → Global Settings
Hold menu again to edit

HRV Tracking (Default)

Off
On
On Detailed (default)

Confirm Save

Ask
Auto Yes
Auto No

Multi-Session Mode

Yes - app stays open for multiple sessions
No - app exits after each session

Preparation Time

0 / 15 / 30 / 60 seconds

Respiration Rate

On / Off (device dependent)

Default Activity Type

Meditation
Yoga
Breathwork

HRV Window

Short windows show fast changes
3–5 minutes recommended for reliability
(Default: 60 seconds)

Notifications

Enable or disable all vibration alerts

Use Session Name as Activity Name

Uses custom session name in Garmin Connect
Supports [time] placeholder
Activity names limited to 21 characters

Sensor Restart

Resets all HR sensors
Exits app
Useful when HRV gets stuck

FAQs & Troubleshooting

This section is here to help when something feels confusing or doesn’t work as expected.
Most issues are easy to resolve, and nothing here means you’re doing anything wrong.

HRV does not work / shows “waiting”

This usually means the sensor has not yet settled or something is interfering with it.

Try the following steps in order:

Close and reopen the app, then wait at least 30 seconds without moving your wrist.
Open Global Settings and select Sensor restart.
The app will shut down all heart-rate sensors and exit so the watch firmware can reinitialize them cleanly.
Reopen the app, stay still for about 30 seconds, then start your session.
If you are not using an external heart-rate sensor (like a chest strap), open your watch’s connectivity settings (not the app settings) and make sure all external sensors are disconnected.
Sometimes a nearby chest strap reconnects automatically and disrupts readings.
Check sensor placement. If you adjust the watch position, hold still for ~30 seconds to allow readings to stabilize.
Reinstall the app if the issue persists.
If you still don’t get reliable HRV, try:
- wearing the watch on the inside of your wrist, or
- using an external heart-rate sensor that supports heartbeat intervals (supported automatically, no app setting required).

Can I change the name of the session on the watch?

Yes.

You can edit a session’s name directly on the watch:

Open Add New or Edit for a session
Select Name
Enter text using the watch’s text picker

If you want the session name to also appear as the activity name in Garmin Connect, enable:
Global Settings → Session name = Activity name

You can use the placeholder [time] in session names.
Example: Deep rest [time] → Deep rest 20min

The app crashes the moment I start a session - what can I do?

If the app opens but crashes immediately when starting a session, your watch model likely does not support the selected activity type.

Edit the session and choose a different activity type:

Meditation
Yoga
Breathwork

If available on your device, a more generic activity type usually works on all models.

The app does not track stress

Not all Garmin devices support continuous stress tracking.

Some older models (for example the Fenix 5X) only support stress snapshots, not real-time stress during activities. In these cases, stress data may be missing or limited.

This behavior depends on the watch hardware, not the app.

But the old version supported stress tracking - why not this one?

The old version used a custom stress estimation algorithm.

The current version uses Garmin’s built-in stress tracking instead. This ensures consistency with Garmin Connect and avoids mismatches between different stress values, which caused confusion for many users.

The respiration rate (breaths per minute) is off

This is not specific to this app.

The app uses whatever respiration signal Garmin provides. Respiration rate can be less reliable during very calm, still practices.

If accurate respiration data is important to you, a chest strap that supports HRV and respiration reporting (for example HRM-600) may improve results.

The screen is too bright and burns my eyes when starting the app

This is controlled by your watch’s Focus Mode settings for activities, not by the app.

By default, Garmin activates a focus mode for activities that may set screen brightness to around 80%.

To change this on your watch:

Open Watch Settings
Go to Focus Modes
Select Activity
Adjust Brightness under Display & Brightness

This affects all activities started on your watch.

Advanced option: Create a custom Focus Mode that triggers only for Meditation, Yoga, and Breathwork activities.

How do I run an open-ended session?

You have two options:

Create a very long session (for example 9 hours) and stop it manually when you’re finished.
Disable the auto-stop option in Global Settings so sessions continue until you stop them manually.

Can I listen to music while using the app?

The app itself does not support playing or controlling music. However, on many Garmin watches you can start music separately (for example the built-in music player, Spotify, etc.) and then run your session in Meditate.

How to access music controls (varies by model)

Hot key / shortcut: Many models let you assign Music controls to a shortcut or hot key in your watch settings (often under Settings → System → Hot Keys / Controls).
Controls menu: Open the watch’s controls menu and select Music / Music Controls.
Touchscreen shortcut control (some models): Garmin documents a “shortcut control” you can set to music controls (example: Venu manual: Setting Up a Shortcut Control).

If you want the vibration cues to match your music, you can configure session interval alerts to your target timing. But there is no “beat-sync” feature, so it won’t automatically stay perfectly aligned with a track.

How do I restart (reboot) my Garmin watch?

Garmin watches differ a bit by model, but these options work for most devices.

Option 1 (most common): power button / LIGHT button

Press and hold the LIGHT / power button until the watch turns off (often ~10–15 seconds).
Wait a few seconds.
Press the same button again to turn it back on.

Option 2: from the watch settings

Open Settings → System → Power Off or Restart (wording may vary by model).

A restart does not erase your data; it just reboots the watch. If your watch is frozen, keep holding the power button longer until it powers off.

I installed the app, but it doesn’t show up on my watch (or installation is stuck)

That’s frustrating - especially when you just want to start a calm session and the tech gets in the way.

First, make sure you’re looking in the right place:
This app shows up in your watch’s Activities / Apps list (the same place where you start things like a run, yoga, breathwork, etc.). It may not show up in widget lists / glance lists / shortcut lists (depending on your model and how your watch organizes apps).

In this case, it’s important to know: installation and delivery of Connect IQ apps to your watch is handled entirely by Garmin (Garmin Connect / Connect IQ / Garmin Express and the sync process). The app itself cannot influence whether it appears on your device, and as the developer there’s nothing I can change in the code to fix an installation or sync issue.

Some users also see the app stuck on “Installing…” or partially installed (for example, the app appears but some parts don’t load). The steps below typically fix both cases.

What you can try quickly (optional):

Sync your watch again in Garmin Connect
Restart the watch and your phone, then sync again
Uninstall the app, restart the watch, then reinstall the app and sync again

If the watch seems frozen during installation, restart the watch first, then try syncing/installing again.

If it still doesn’t appear, the best next step is to contact Garmin Support, because this is a Garmin-side installation/sync issue:

Parts of the app are shown in the wrong language

Sometimes a few texts (for example HRV-related labels) may show up in a different language even though the rest of the app is correct. This is usually a one-off installation/sync hiccup.

What to try (in this order):

Uninstall the app from your watch
Restart (reboot) your watch
Reinstall the app and sync again

If it still happens, please open the Contact Developer link in the Connect IQ Store and include your watch model, watch firmware version, and which language you see incorrectly.

The app stopped working / I need support

Please use the dedicated support section here (it contains the up-to-date steps, what information to include, and the best way to contact me): Get Support / Report Problem

Get Support / Report Problem

If something doesn’t work, or you have feedback or feature requests, you can send me a mail.

Data Privacy

Your data stays yours.

The app does not store personal information.
For details, see the Data Privacy Policy.

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