With hundreds of meditation apps available, the search alone is enough to induce the need to meditate!
Are you antsy or already pretty Zen? Do you like music or do you prefer listening to someone’s voice? Do you need to visualize or do you prefer body scans? Whatever your style may be, we’ve (calmly) sifted through the best meditation apps to bring you more peace, quiet and restoration. All of the following apps are free to start, but you can opt for a monthly or annual fee to upgrade.
1. Headspace, $13 monthly or $95 annually, $420 lifetime, iTunes
Are you a visual learner? If you want to learn how to meditate, this app provides not only verbal meditation but also diagrams and videos explaining the purpose of each meditation and how it works. This app is complimentary for 10 days (and you can repeat them over and over). You can also purchase monthly subscriptions for more access to the database. The goal of these meditations (as the app explains) is to create more space in your head, hence the name, Headspace.
2. Guided Mind, $1 to $5 single meditations, iTunes
Interested in focusing on a problem you’re facing or using your meditation to think about a particular topic?
Meditation topics range from anger management to sleep and everything in between within the Guided Mind app. Feeling down on yourself? Try the self-esteem meditations. Suffering from an injury? Try the pain meditations. This app has free and single purchase meditations available in dozens of categories to fit any mood.
3. Calm, $13 monthly, $60 annually, $300 lifetime, iTunes
If you’re used to a lot of people talking at once (think: busy household or loud work environment), then you may need to change up what you hear in order to help you meditate. For example, instead of listening to a guided meditation with someone’s voice, how about trying a meditation that’s solely focused on controlled sounds, such as the constant pitter-patter of rain or the sound of a fire in the fireplace?
The Calm app also has an option to be read a nighttime story to help with sleep and to be guided by an expert. Seven Days of Calm and a sample of calming meditation are available for free with options to upgrade by purchasing a more advanced version of the app.
4. Omvana, $10 monthly, $100 annually, $500 lifetime, iTunes
If you’re looking to customize your meditation through a mix of music and guided experts, check out Omvana. You can use the background music mixer to customize whichever meditation you choose. Options range from three minutes to 60 minutes, and the app boasts the largest collection of meditations.
If you find an app you like and feel that it’s working, stick with it. But if you’ve tried one and decided that meditation just isn’t for you, remember that you’re not alone. Meditating can be difficult, but the more you do it the easier it becomes. All meditations are not created equally, and we all respond differently to different forms of peace and quiet. So try your hand (and mind) at a new meditation app if you feel yourself discouraged by your initial pick. New ones are popping up every day!