Meditation Apps That Can Help Establish and Maintain a Practice
Mental health app development continues to evolve, becoming more sophisticated and comprehensive. They’ve received bad press lately because some people are either choosing to or are forced to use these apps exclusively, rather than using them as adjuncts to therapy. (Many people cannot afford to pay for therapy and are not covered by insurance or cannot find a provider with space to see them.)
With the caveat in mind that mental health apps are best applied as complementary therapy, we can identify some that can be really useful in those stressful 3-o-clock-in-the-morning anxious moments, or to help us stay consistent with a meditation practice. I’ll be looking at a variety of apps in this series. In this post, I’m sharing some popular meditation and mindfulness apps.
Meditation and Mindfulness Apps
All of the meditation apps offer options to be reminded to practice, keep track of your sessions, and let you choose what you want to listen to, though some are more structured than others.
Insight Timer. One of the first apps out there for meditators, Insight Timer has grown and changed significantly over the years. While it began as a way to time meditations and end with a beautiful “ding” chime or resonant gong, it has expanded into an enormous collection of guided meditations and short courses in mind training. There is also some opportunity for social connection, though that part of the app hasn’t come into its own quite yet. This is the app to use if you want options for guided meditations. You can go to the search tab and type in almost any word or phrase (“dejection” or “work stress” or “binaural beats”) and get a list of guided meditations, talks, courses, and healing music on that topic. Much of the app is free, but there is a pay wall for some of the content, and courses may be an additional cost. They also offer the opportunity to donate to the composers and creators of the offerings you enjoy. The fun thing about this app is finding guided meditations from teachers around the world, but the endless choice can sometimes feel overwhelming, and you may have to go through many that don’t quite hit the mark to find your favorites.
Headspace — Headspace costs about $13 a month (less for a yearly subscription) and offers a 14-day trial but no free content after that. There are discounts on the website for students and families. There is instructional material for children and adults, as well as meditations (none over half an hour) movement, and breath-work. There’s a good variety of courses and meditations on the site, and you can search by a variety of criteria. The navigation on Headspace is clear and easy to use, perhaps somewhat less overwhelming than Insight Timer can be, though there are only a few guides available, as opposed to the thousands of options on Insight Timer.
Calm — Calm is priced similarly to Headspace, though you are offered a discounted coupon after the trial period that brings the yearly price down significantly. The design and function of the app is truly in line with its name: nature photos and sounds, along with narrators’ soothing voices create an atmosphere of peaceful acceptance. There are celebrity narrators and teachers on the app, making the learning process more accessible and interesting, for some. The course on reducing anxiety has helped some clients better understand what their body does when stressed and how to reel body and mind back into the “window of tolerance.” Bedtime stories have helped clients fall asleep. This app feels quite manageable. You’re able to select what you want to do and quickly find a meditation, course, or sleep story that matches your need. You can allow notifications in order to get a quote of the day that serves as a reminder to meditate.
Healthy Mind — This free app is designed to teach through experience. It offers lessons, beginning with foundational skills for mind training, then leading you through meditations and lessons about awareness, connection, insight, and purpose —the four pillars of a healthy mind (and a fulfilling existence). The app is personalized, in that you do an initial self-assessment and you keep the app updated about how well you’re dealing with stress as you progress. It’s extremely easy to use this app, as it guides you through the program in order, with a brief (usually between 3-7 minute) learning session, often in podcast-style, followed by a practice session. The app is entirely free, sponsored by donors. The mission of The Health Mind Institute, founded by Dr. Richard Davidson, is to cultivate well-being and minimize suffering through a scientific understanding of the mind. If you’re looking for an extremely well-researched set of lessons and a step-by-step guide to mind training, this app may be just the thing. Again, though, you won’t find variety in the guidance, so you’ll be getting only one perspective. The fact that the app is free (and the founder has committed to keeping it so through a donation system) makes it feel consistent with the values it teaches. The path system makes it a good one to set up and maintain a daily practice.
It’s worth mentioning that guided teachings and meditations have a somewhat different effect from a consistent practice of sitting in silence. If your goal is mind training, you might want to start with guidance from an app and work towards a timed silent practice. But there are plenty of benefits from being guided toward inner peace and learning about how to positively affect the mind and nervous system. Enjoy the free trials and see which app feels like a good daily companion.
