Meditation is something that requires nothing but you. You can pause to become aware of your breathing and increase your presence at any moment. This utterly simple experience can also sometimes feel exceptionally challenging, particularly for novice meditators (of which I still consider myself one.)
We’ve all heard about the various studies touting the benefits of meditation, and an increasing number of folks who (in the past) would have brushed it off as woo-woo, hippy-dippy nonsense are becoming open to testing out meditation. However, in as much as meditation is utterly simple and available to all, sometimes having a support structure to guide us during our meditation sessions can be a huge blessing.
I was partially inspired to write this post because the topic of my meditation practice came up while recording a interview with Lisa Connors Vogt for the Ever Better podcast which should be released in a couple weeks. There are SO many different styles of meditation, and so many options for exploring this realm of inner reflection and stillness that a Gemini like me loves to play with them all.
That’s why I’ve become fascinated with experiencing different meditation styles and discovering guided recordings and technology. So, let me give you a run down on some of the more useful ones that I’ve tested out over the past several years. Perhaps it will help open your eyes to a new approach to such an ancient practice.
Insight Timer
One of the most popular (and FREE) meditation apps is Insight Timer, which has grown hugely since I first heard about it many years ago. I believe that it started as a simple timer and bells app to help you track and time your meditation sessions, but it has now become a world-wide movement that includes not only those basics in meditation support but a huge library of guided meditation recordings as well (in numerous languages!)
Honestly, I’m rediscovering it now, and I’m awed by the variety of meditation styles that you can find in here. (The wealth is slightly overwhelming.) However, apart from simple silent meditations with bells or nature sounds, the guided meditations are sourced from the community and include everything from releasing anxiety, increasing confidence, and cleansing the chakras to meditations for kids and teens.
It’s also kinda cool to see the map of all the other people who are meditating with the app at the same time. So, this one’s definitely a good option for your meditation technology mix.
Buddhify
A favorite of mine for many years, Buddhify offers a wonderful user interface to explore their collection of short, guided meditations for the many different contexts and moments of our lives. It starts with the question “What are you doing?” Then, it offers categories such as “Traveling, difficult emotions, being online, at home, or going to sleep.” Inside each of the categories are 3-6 different styles of guided meditation customized to that specific situational context. Even better, most of them are from 6-15 minutes so that you can easily insert them into the rhythm of your day.
I first began to love this app when I used it with my Living Peace staff as part of how we started our team meetings each week. In an effort to help everyone become more present and really “land” at the start of each meeting I would (somewhat randomly) choose a Buddhify meditation to play for 5-10 minutes. I think it really helped my team to feel more calm and present to each other and our work together. Since then, I occasionally dip into Buddhify for those quick meditation pick-me-ups in unusual times.
Calm
This app has come into my world more recently. Calm offers guided series of meditations on a variety of topics such as 7 days of managing stress, 7 days of happiness, 7 days of self-esteem which can be cool to explore a particular theme over multiple days. It also has meditations at several different lengths (2 min to 30 min) for different contexts and topics such as deep sleep, emergency calm, compassion, energy, and focus.
I also really like the ability to change the background image and ambient sounds. They are both beautiful and well-recorded. Recently they started including “The Daily Calm” feature which has a new 10 minute meditation each morning.
As someone who loves variety, it was the flexibility of the options that first drew me to this app. However, to access those additional guided meditations you do need to opt for the annual subscription of $39.99. I decided to give it a whirl, but as I explored many of the different meditation topics I discovered that they rely on a similar basic formula: instructions and guided relaxation, focusing on the breath, sometimes a body scan, ending with some affirmations on different topics. If you like more traditional forms of vipassana meditation, then this might be a great fit for you. However, after a few months of playing with it… I’ve kinda become bored. This is mostly a stylistic question since I’m currently in a mode of enjoying more visualization/path-working styles of guided meditation.
Headspace
I feel the need to also mention an app that I encountered around the same time as Calm. Headspace in many ways is structured similarly in that there is an initial free “Take 10” 10-day starter series (which has some GREAT animated tutorials to teach you about meditation sprinkled throughout the sequence.) I also really enjoyed the voice and style of the guy who does the recordings, and the branding and user experience of the app are beautiful and clean. Then, after the initial series, you need to subscribe to access any of the additional meditations.
However, in the end, there was a more limited range of topics for the guided meditations, and the subscription price point was significantly higher than Calm’s at $95.88/year. So, I didn’t choose to subscribe for myself. However, you might feel differently, and I think it’s worth the “honorable mention.”
YouTube
Honestly, one of my new favorite ways to find guided meditations is a YouTube search. I have found some amazing meditations and guided hypnosis sessions recently on YouTube that I’ve been using daily! Currently, I’m particularly enjoying the work of Michael Sealey who has some GREAT positive hypnosis recordings. Also, the 30-day Healing Camp created by Meditative Mind which offers some great energy and chakra cleansing recordings using voice guiding, mantras, and specific audio frequencies.
My one recommendation when it comes to finding recordings on YouTube is to listen to them fully before you use them in your practice, particularly anything that uses hypnosis. There are a bunch of folks out there who are not careful enough in their language and can actually be using negative embedded commands that would be harmful to insert into your subconscious mind. (Usually, this is through ignorance rather than malice, but it’s best that you make sure to take care to guard your gates.)
Next Steps
I hope this run down of some of my favorite meditation technology has gotten you curious to find some new tools to play with and spice up your personal meditation practice. I find that even 3-5 minutes a day has made a significant impact on my your mental energy and emotional resiliency, and you can always choose to increase that time to 20-45 minutes later on when you find specific practices that are engaging for you. Give them a try and have fun!
Image used under License Agreement: ©Zsolt Nyulaszi / Stockfresh
