We’ve heard it a million times over, meditation is extremely beneficial. But a daily meditation routine can be hard to include in our packed schedules. Even if we were free, there’s still that palm-sized object we call smartphones that takes our time. Good news though, because our phones are now going to help us find time through meditation apps!
To help you get started on your meditation practice, the BookMeditationRetreats.com team has scoured the web for the best meditation apps in the market. Here’s a list of their top seven:
Buddhify
Touted as the “mindfulness app for modern life”, Buddhify is an award-winning app that is designed to make meditation readily available to you at all times, be it travelling, working, or just being at home. It boasts over 80 guided-meditations that will help you develop mindfulness in no time.
Calm
This guided meditation app features a series of meditation programs designed as multi-day series. Beginners to meditation can start with the app’s free 7 Days of Calm program, featuring 7 sets of 10-minute meditation audios. The paid subscription will give you access to other series including 7 Days of Focus, 7 Days of Sleep and 7 Days of Happiness. With this app, it’s almost as if you’re going on a meditation retreat!
Headspace
If you’re just starting to discover meditation, Headspace is a good app to get you going. A free daily 10-minute session program is available to download for free on the app to give you a taste of meditation. Once you are ready to move forward, you can purchase their subscription packages for more access to the tools within the app. Headspace features some of the best guided meditation audios in the market, with celebrities like Emma Watson singing its praises!
Insight Timer
Another great mindfulness app on the market is Insight Timer. This app gathers a community of meditators from all over the world and is home to over 2800 meditation guides for you to choose from. The meditation timer on the app allows you to decide just how long you’d like to meditate for and will let you know when your session is up by a “bell” sound that can be customised. Beyond meditation, it is also a platform for like-minded meditators to connect and engage with each other.
Smiling Mind
Aside from adults, meditation has also been proven to be beneficial for children. To help children and young adults get started on being mindful, Australian company Smiling Mind has created age-based programs that will improve mental well-being, sleep and concentration. They have unique modules for different age groups as well as programs designed for mindfulness in the classroom. The app is also completely free, so you can start helping your children create a habit of meditation right away!
Meditation Music
If all you need to help you focus on the mind is music, then this app is the one for you! The app provides you with soothing sounds that will aid in relaxing the mind. It also comes with a meditation timer so you will know just when to come out of meditation.
Universal Breathing: Pranayama
At the very core of meditation is breathing. A practice of deep and focused breathing can help ease your mind, making it easier to enter into a meditative state. To support this, there are a couple of breathing apps on the market, but we find Pranayama to be a great one to start with! Pranayama uses music and animated visuals to guide you to a slower and deeper breathing. It features a structured course of breathing exercises that aims to slow your breathing rate as you progress.
Elaine Clara Mah is a contributing writer for BookMeditationRetreats.com. She utilises meditation app to get her daily dose of calmness.
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