Home » Mental Health » Meditation for Beginners: 4 Stress Busting Apps

Meditation for Beginners: 4 Stress Busting Apps

I love nothing better than a bit of downtime to just sit and be. I don’t need to be doing anything, I just enjoy sitting and staring off into the distance. But the problem I have is that I can’t turn off my mind, my thoughts are always racing, even stupid and insignificant ones. For me, I need meditation for beginners, guided meditation to tame my mind and help me focus.

meditation for beginners
I’m really happy to have come across a few great (and free) guided mediation apps that go beyond more than just some relaxation music. There’s also one I want to share with you that I discovered a couple of years ago and that I swear by. Anything that will potentially kick stress to the kerb is good, right?  Let’s have a look at them…

Omvana – Free on Android and iOS

www.omvana.com

The thing I love about this meditation app is the extensive list of categories it has from which you can select a specific meditation track. The list is huge but a few categories include stress relief, success, relationships, weight loss and sleep. This app is like a personal coach, it provides encouragement, helps you relax and is perfect for beginners. If you’d prefer to just have background music to relax to, it has that too.

Headspace – Free on Android and iOS

www.headspace.com

I’m really looking forward to exploring this app some more. I’ve only purchased the free version so far but love the fact that it starts off with a ‘Take 10 for Free’ program to get you started. For me, this app is like a fitness app for the mind. You can track your progress such as the total number of sessions you’ve undertaken, total time meditating, you can see how many other ‘Headspacers’ are meditating at any particular time, you can add ‘buddies’, you can see your ‘run’ streak and you can set your own targets.

meditation for beginners2

Anxiety Free: iCan Hypnosis – Free on iOS

I remember that before I listened to this app I was really apprehensive as to it’s title but the good old voice of Donald, a Scottish man with the most calming voice around, really did the trick.  He will take  you on a journey, he’ll make you feel as light as a feather and wanting to listen to the app over and over again. I’ve been missing Donald, ever since swapping over to Android I haven’t been able to listen to him because his app is unfortunately only on iOS.

Insight Timer – Free on Android and iOS

www.insighttimer.com

Have you ever read the book by Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now? Well Eckhart Tolle is one of the teachers offering guided meditation on this app. When you login to the app there is a huge list of teachers and their guided meditations. This app tracks the days you meditate as well as the days with at least one meditation session. You can set a daily meditation reminder, join groups and if you would prefer to meditate in silence or to music, you can set a timer when the sound of authentic Tibetan singing bowls chiming when the timer goes off.

I can’t quite figure out which one is my favourite as they all have different aspects about them that make them just a little different. I’m a big fan of Buddhist teachings and so really enjoy the Insight Timer for these types of meditations and I really like the fact that the Omvana app branches out into many categories depending on what it is you’re after.

meditation for beginners balancing stones
I hope that at least one of these will help you on your journey to relaxing a little more and, like me, reducing that inner chatter!

 

Eva Lewis
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10 Comments

  1. Lisa @ mummysundeservedblessings
    September 29, 2015 / 6:56 am

    Great list! I’m loving the breathing and worry time apps from Reach out. I used the breathing one to talk a very angry 6 year old last night. It also helps me to calm down when I am anxious. I’ll have to check this ones out too.

    • September 29, 2015 / 9:11 am

      I’ll have to check out the Reach out app as I think it will come in handy with work (and my 3 year old) 🙂

  2. September 29, 2015 / 9:38 am

    This is fabulous. Off to download some now and will share in my newsletter. Thanks for the recommendations!

  3. September 29, 2015 / 3:18 pm

    Oh, thanks for these… am going to check some out as I really want to start meditating at home and probably need some guidance!

  4. September 29, 2015 / 5:37 pm

    I have never been able to meditate, I just can’t sit still long enough! This looks like a great list of apps for those who do though 🙂 #TeamIBOT

  5. September 30, 2015 / 6:55 am

    This is going to be such a helpful resource for next week, when I am home and ready to refocus for the rest of the year. Just what I needed, thank you. xx

  6. January 25, 2016 / 1:07 pm

    Oh thank you!!

    I really suck at meditation and relaxation, and looking for apps is something I’ve just been putting in the ‘too hard’ basket for a long time… now I have no excuse but to try some!