Relaxing the mind, reducing stress and anxiety, and finding inner calm sound pretty good. But for a lot of people, taking the first steps to a regular meditation routine can be daunting. Uncertainty about how to even begin and feeling like your mind is too active to get into it are some of the biggest concerns and challenges. But don’t worry because that’s where meditation apps come in.
Packed with guided sessions, chants, music and motivational tools to keep you going, meditation apps are a great supplement to a mindfulness practice as they help you continue anytime, anywhere – perfect for those people who find it difficult to squeeze in a mindfulness break into an already hectic day.
“My top tip would be to start with the end in mind. What is your intention for meditating? What do you want to be different as a result of sitting down for a short while to meditate? The term mindfulness and meditation are often used interchangeably but they are not the same thing,” explains workplace mindfulness expert Juliet Adams. “The aim of mindfulness-based meditations is not relaxation, but to observe and manage your mind. That being said, many people do feel calm and relaxed after practicing mindfulness but it certainly isn’t the aim. There are many forms of meditations. If you want to relax and escape you might choose a guided visualisation meditation. If you are angry or anxious and want to calm down, you might choose a meditation where you control your breath by breathing in for several counts and out for a number of count. If you want to relax and fall asleep there are meditations designed to do this, or you might like nature sounds based meditation. Picking the right meditation for you at any given moment in time is the first step to relaxation.”
Here you’ll find our favourite apps for 2024, as well as why each one might work best for you.
Calm
iPhone rating: 4.7 stars / Android rating: 4.1 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
This award-winning app has a variety of exercises and breathing techniques to help you relax. Their guided meditations range from three to 25 minutes long. They have a feature called Sleep Stories which hosts a great mix of voice talent such as Matthew McConaughey to help lull you to sleep. If you own an Apple Watch you have access to new breathing exercises, calming exercises and even mindful walking meditation.
Headspace
iPhone rating: 5 stars / Android rating: 4.6 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Headspace is an everyday guide to mindfulness that sits comfortably in your life. Filled with world-class experts including Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe, this app will teach you the art of meditation and mindfulness.
Try the app during your bedtime routine, where you will be taken through a guided meditation for sleep, including nature soundscapes, music and storytelling sleep casts. You can build the app to suit your needs for a more personalised experience, too.
Smiling Mind
iPhone rating: 4.6 stars / Android rating: 4.8 stars
Price: Free
Developed by psychologists and educators to encourage mindfulness practice as a pillar of wellness (like daily exercise, good sleep, and healthy eating), Smiling Mind offer users a choice of simple 10-minute daily meditations, which are broken into categories by age and settings. The best part? All the resources are available free of charge.
Happy Not Perfect
iPhone rating: 4.7 stars / Android rating: 4.4 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
You may not notice all of your surrounding stressors, but this app allows you to enter your current mood and gives you specific meditation tips. From stress, anxiety and feelings of pressure on yourself, Happy Not Perfect really helps you to centre yourself. Featuring courses and tips to help you release any endless negative thought cycles, Happy Not Perfect aims to help in developing a positive mindset and manage unexpected life stresses and anxiety.
Whil
iPhone rating: 4.8 stars / Android rating: 4.4 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Whil has been developed specifically for busy bodies who are too go go go to meditate. The app offers meditation courses that last as little as five minutes. Made to help reduce stress, tension, anxiety and much more. Designed with teens and young adults in mind, it has been created to help the younger generation to learn about how stress and pressure can affect not only their mental health but also physical.
Meditation Studio
iPhone rating: 4.8 stars / Android rating: 4.8 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
When it comes to meditation, there are a variety of areas where we want to target, from health to happiness and the Meditation Studio app can help you achieve those personal goals. The app contains monthly featured collections on opening your heart to kick starting your creativity. You can also create your own meditation plan if you want a little bit of everything.
Why should I meditate?
Thousands of scientific studies give rise to meditation as a powerful antidote to stress. It is a simple mind technique which triggers in the body a relaxation response that is the polar opposite of the stress response (fight or flight). But while meditation is a fantastic reactive solution when you are feeling stressed, it is even more powerful as a preventative measure to combat stress in the first place. What’s more though, the benefits go beyond just stress reduction – from increased longevity to improved sleep, and enhanced productivity to boosted immunity. Anyone can (and should) meditate. In fact, if the reported effects of meditation could be administered in the form of a pill, no doubt everyone would be taking it!
How often should I meditate?
Research shows that the ideal amount of time to meditate is 2.5 hours a week, or around 21 minutes per day. Although you don’t have to sit for hours at a time, and even 5 minutes can make a huge difference when you are stressed, it’s important to remember why you want to meditate and make it a priority. There is no doubt that the more you meditate, the more benefits you will realise. Consistency is key to reaping long-lasting rewards.
How long does it take to work?
Research has shown that changes start to occur in the brain from the very first time you meditate. Effortless meditation takes seconds to learn and effects start to take place immediately. Having said that, since the benefits of meditation are cumulative, the longer you meditate, the more benefits you will experience in your life.
What are the different types of meditation?
There are numerous mental and physical benefits associated with each technique and there is no right or wrong way to do it, it’s just about finding what works for you. Three of the most common types practised today include:
Mantra meditation: Vedic, Primordial and Transcendental Meditation (often referred to as TM) are the most common types of mantra meditation. It is a practice where you repeat a word to yourself for a period of time, letting your focus sit simply with that word. What differs between them is how the mantra is given to you.
Single-pointed meditation: Here, you focus on one element of yourself or surrounding environment.
Moving meditation: this type of meditation is a more holistic system of coordinated body posture, movement and breathing. Qigong and Tai Chi are two of the most common types of this. Both involve coordinating slow flowing movement and deep rhythmic breathing in a calm state of mind.
