More and more people are turning to meditation now. The days when this practice seemed to be reserved for Zen masters are over. There are books that will guide you and also apps that will help you achieve your inner peace. When going through burnout and/or facing numerous stress factors, it can be a real challenge to calm down and find peace of mind, which is the one thing we need to get through this. In this article I would like to discuss the top 5 meditation apps to help you relax.
My Little Background Story on Meditation
I was first introduced to meditation when I went through burnout. It had never occurred to me that it could help me, and I had never meditated in my life. Somehow, I also believed that it would be hard for me to concentrate, but in the end it is only as hard as you make it for yourself.
The psychologist I was seeing at that time (2016 -2017) recommended meditation. Additionally, Gabrielle Bernstein’s book (which I mentioned in my previous article “How to Deal with a Burnout: Symptoms and Solutions) reminded me of its importance and it also introduced me to several meditation practices which proved to be extremely beneficial.
Had I first been skeptical, now I am a meditation enthusiast. It works, and you do not need to be a pro to do this.
Things to Avoid When You Meditate
Before I share the apps with you, I would like to include some advice, in case meditation is new to you. If you want to go straight to the info about the apps, feel free to skip this chapter 🙂
1. Don’t Fight Your Thoughts
It is expected to have a clear mind when meditating, which is a feat that isn’t easily achieved. If you sit in your quiet spot, your mind is a whirlwind of thoughts, and you are unable to calm this inner traffic, then please do not fight it. Don’t resist this train of thoughts and don’t try to force it out of your mind at once.
Let your thoughts in and out, just like your breath. Accept those thoughts, and focus on your breathing, in and out. Eventually your thoughts will wander away in the distance, becoming quieter.
If this seems difficult to do, do not worry. Take your time and focus on your breathing.
2. Don’t Expect Miracles
Expect nothing. Some people may want quick and miraculous results at once, but that is not how it works, certainly not when you are going through burnout. Healing takes time.
If you have never meditated before, you cannot expect instant results, and it is not advisable to initiate any form of meditation while “wanting” things or “having to achieve a meditation goal right away”.
Although your life will not undergo immediate dramatic changes, you will notice that meditation brings you a feeling of calm and peace. After meditation, perhaps nothing will seem different, but eventually you may experience better sleep and less stress.
As with anything, be consistent.
I have not always been consistent with meditation, a flaw that I want to remedy soon.
Apps for Meditation
Pause
Pause is Editor’s Choice at the App Store. It was created by a partnership between Peng Cheng and The Danish mental wellness company PauseAble.
For many years, Cheng dealt with incredible stress and anxiety, and he wanted to find a way to overcome this. He began practicing tai chi. In time, he saw an opportunity to integrate the slow, continuous tai chi movements into a phone app, and thus the partnership with PauseAble began.
Pause offers a free and also a Premium membership. The free option can go on indefinitely, so there is no pressure to get the Premium.
1. Headspace
Headspace is another excellent app. You can download it for free, and there is also a Premium version.
It has hundreds of organized sessions to help handle stress, anxiety, lack of sleep, and low concentration. What I like about this app is that it has mini meditations for busy days. So, however loaded your days are with work and activities, you can still find a few minutes to unwind.
2. Happify
According to Apple apps, 86% of people who use Happify reported feeling better and happier after only two months.
Some features are offered free, but in order to enjoy all features, this app has a cost of $14.95us a month, which is not much. Happify has been mentioned in Forbes, New York Times, and the New Yorker, to name just a few.
This app can help to break old, destructive habits and make new ones. It offers tools to help you take control of your feelings and thoughts, using techniques that have been developed by scientists and experts.
Happify is a great app to help improve mental wellness and find inner happiness.
3. Pacifica
This app’s purpose is to help you deal with stress, anxiety, and depression. Pacifica is a very extensive program that is designed to provide the help that many people who suffer mental health issues do not receive.
Let’s face it, most people who suffer burnout, anxiety, depression, or any other condition do not seek professional help. Although burnout is technically not a mental health illness, it is still a mental health issue.
Based on research in cognitive behavioral therapy, Pacifica offers the following:
- Digital psychology implementations
- Thoughts analysis
- Mindfulness meditation
- Guided paths of psycho-education and activities
- Relaxation and mindfulness audio tools
- Mood and health tracking
- Peer support community
- Meditations
- Health behavior tracking
Honestly, if I had known about this app four years ago, I would have downloaded it at once. Is it free? Yes, the Pacifica software is free.
In 2019, Pacifica was acquired by Sanvello Health, Inc. This is why the link I provide here takes you to the Sanvello home page.
4. Omvana
Omvana is a meditation app for performance and flow states. In this app you can use meditations for any situation, such as stress, focus, and others. It features a long list of meditations from world-class instructors; and the beauty of Omvana is that meditation for all levels is offered, including mini sessions for busy people.
You can also customize your tracks by mixing guided meditations with your favorite ambient tracks.
Customer reviews are all excellent, giving this company a full five stars, and Omvana has also been featured in Forbes, BBC, CBS, Entrepreneur, Yahoo News, Healthline, the Guardian, the New York Times, and Mindful.
This is another great app that can only be highly recommended.
5. Buddhify
Last but not least, Buddhify is the perfect meditation app that was created to fit into a busy lifestyle, which applies to most of us, doesn’t it? 😉 The meditations are designed to be done “on the go”, so you do not need to find a quiet spot at home, but you can do this anywhere and anytime. Seeing how incredibly busy some of our lives are, I think that this app is the perfect complement.
Just like Omvana and Happify, Buddhify has also been recommended by the Guardian, New York Times, the Business Insider, Lifehacker, Glamour, and more. Buzzfeed even named it the best meditation app to ease anxiety.
What I especially like about Buddhify is that it comes from a family business, headed by a husband and wife team. The company is self-funded, which allows them to focus more on their customers instead of pleasing investors. I think that this is what makes Buddhify pretty unique.
This app is not free. However, the monthly fee is low, making it affordable for many. A yearly membership is also offered. The page showed a yearly cost of $30 us, which is an excellent price. Monthly rates are between $2.99 for Android (on the Google Play Store) and $4.99 ¡OS App Store.
Final Thoughts
I want to be more consistent with meditation again, and so I will definitely be downloading one of these apps. I am thinking of either Buddhify, Omvana, or Happify. Something to ponder today 😉
Which ones caught your attention? If you are looking for guided meditation to help you through burnout or other issues such as anxiety, depression, or stress, then please download one of these apps and implement them into your daily routine. It will make a world of difference.
Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions or if you know of any other great meditation apps.
Thank you!
Would you like to understand a superfood better? Including perhaps help your mental health? Why not check out these FAQs on Spirulina?” at whyspirulina.
I meditate from time to time. Honestly, I don’t know if I’m doing it right but it does relax me. I’ll definitely look into these meditations, you recommended. Thanks
Hi Tanya,
I’m glad this was helpful 🙂
Hi Christine, thank you for bringing all these to my attention. I have been thinking about some form of relaxation for some time now. I was considering thai chi at a time, then tried briefly meditation…I do not have big issues or problems, but I can get stressed from time to time, so it would be a great help. It is high time I take this seriously.
What made me especially pleased are your advices at the beginning. I always thought It’s not a good fit for me, as I could never ever in my life, as long as I can remember, clear my mind, while everyone else apparently could. I have no idea how it is when you think of nothing. Reading your article today, I realised it’s not only me and it’s not an imperative when you are starting. Thank you so much for writing that.
As the Pause works against stress, and combines thai chi with the app, plus I use an Iphone, my choice will probably be this one. At least for now. Would you agree with such a choice for a beginner?
Hi 🙂
I think that Pause would be good for you, since you already have an interest in tai chi. All these apps are great for different levels, from beginner to advanced, so you can easily begin with Pause 🙂
Clearing the mind is not as easy as they make it look, I strongly agree. It is also difficult for me at times. The most important thing is not to force the thoughts out, but just relax and breathe and take your time.
I am happy that you found an app here you’d like to try 🙂
Thank you for your comment!
Thank you so much for this highly informative article, Christine! I have heard of these meditation apps before, though I admittedly haven’t tried any of them yet-my meditation usually consists of prayer, reading my Bible, having quiet time with God, positive affirmations, and exercise (which definitely makes a difference! Haha). I am always ready and willing to try new things, however (some things…I will NOT eat sushi. Haha), and I will definitely give these meditation apps a try-Buddhify definitely seems like an extremely unique, customer-centric product! Great read! God bless you!
Prayer, positive affirmations, and exercise are certainly also powerful ways to find your inner peace and strenght. I’m happy you’re giving Buddhify a try too. 🙂
Thank you for your comment!
Hi Christine,
Thank you for this article. I am currently practising meditation from Youtube, but I am looking to find an application that would help me achieve my goals faster and have everything in the same place. I will give Pacifica a try to start with.
Your points on meditation are very true. I always feel like I need to control my thoughts who are all over the place. I will try to follow your advice and let them just be.
Many thanks,
Yoana
Pacifica is a good app. Having everything in the same place will definitely help, I think.
I’m glad this post was helpful. Thank you for your comment!
Stress is a topic of the century. People talk about it almost every day without knowing that. Unfortunately, our life became so fixated on stress because nearly every aspect of our life leads to it, such as bad relationships with more needs, prices, and economy, fights, bad jobs, no jobs, family problems, wars, etc. The need to get something to help us with our daily life and its issues increased, and meditation is one of the answers to these problems.
Meditation proved to be a great way and tool to get rid of stress and improve overall health. Also, it is a great way to improve our brain function and our soul. That been said, I found this list to be an excellent benefit for people with daily stress just like me.
The app that caught my eyes the most is “Pause,” the thought that the developer had to go through stress and wanted to find a solution that would give me more trust that this app will be of a great benefit. After all, they know all the problems ins and outs and, therefore, the solutions.
Thank you for this great list, and I hope someone like me finds them beneficial!
Hello!
Stress is indeed the topic and the issue of the century. Most of us suffer from it and many do not seek or find solutions. These meditation apps are a great way to find some inner peace. I also liked that Pause was created by a man who went through extreme stress and anxiety and who actively went to find a solution, so – as you said – he knows the problems and therefore he can offer good solutions.
Thank you for your comment!
Hello Christine,
This is a really helpful resource to help with mental health from a personal perspective. I have enjoyed perusing your site to learn. I have been going through a lot of stress recently. I have been advised to meditate on a regular basis, to help reduce the stress in my life and to focus better. You have listed a number of apps. Which one do you use? Which would you recommend in particular?
Hi Trevor,
I recently downloaded Omvana (the free version) and I am loving it. I have been taking their classes for two days now and after each meditation I feel so at peace for the rest of the day. I highly recommend it!
Hi Christine,
Thanks for this comprehensive and detailed article that shares us five apps of meditation. Meditating is indeed the best & the most healthy way to understand & talk to our inner selves with peace, and I tend to do my mini sessions when I stuck in the traffic & at work when I feel messy or chaotic.
Since I only have many five minutes every day, I personally prefer mini sessions of meditation, so I would consider Headspace to start since it got a free version. Thanks for sharing again.
Cheers,
Matt
Hi Matt,
I’m glad you found an app you could use. The many five minute sessions during your day probably do a lot of good, especially when you’re stuck in traffic. I think everyone who is stuck in traffic should use the time to meditate 🙂 It would make such a difference.
Meditation is so great for anxiety! I used to take medication for my anxiety, and didn’t like the way it caused me to feel. So, I got off the medication and started eating better, being more physically active, and meditating. I use the Calm app, from the apple store, not sure if it’s available elsewhere. I love it because even when I first turn it on, there is relaxing sounds. It also helps with sleep. Downside, it’s very expensive I think $70/year. I might check out the headspace app you recommended. Especially since it has a free version.
Meditating every day (usually after my evening yoga practice) is what I look forward to after a long day at work.
Hi Erika,
Healthy eating is also a great energy and mood booster. I am glad that you got off the medication. $70 per year is a little expensive, I hope that you will enjoy the free versions here. Headspace is a good one 🙂
I’m a big fan of using apps with meditation to help either guide the process or to change my brainwave state. The brainwave entrainment sounds are designed to take us quickly into a deep state of relaxation, and they do work….. but only if, as you say, we don’t fight the process with our thoughts.
The way to get the best out of these apps is to relax into the process with the ‘knowing’ that they are working their magic on our subconscious level as well as our on our conscious minds.
Your advice is good, ‘don’t expect miracles,’ however, with time the effects do accumulate and the process becomes easier, and the results become very noticeable.
Many thanks for sharing.
Hi Andrew,
I have not tried brainwave entertainment, but it sounds interesting. I will take a look at that.
Thank you for your valuable tips!