Looking for mindfulness meditation apps (the “non-religious” flavor of meditation).
Tried Headspace, and honestly I’m disappointed. I went in with the idea that I’d try their suggestions and experience the different options, and just a couple of days into it the app got me on some sort of kick where it kept giving me meditations clearly intended for children in school (literally mentioning the phrase, “seeing your friends at school today” - on a Sunday, no less ).
I asked if there was a way to let the app know I was an adult male in my 40s, and neither attended school nor had friends to speak of ( ). Nope. They said I should choose meditations manually if the “Today” view is suggesting things I’m not interested in, and that’s what I’m hoping to avoid. I don’t want to deal with decision paralysis or decision fatigue in my meditation app, particularly if I’m paying monthly for the privilege.
So I’m hoping for an app where I don’t have to spend a bunch of time figuring out what I want to do, that will give me sane suggestions and guide me down the path.
And I’m not going to say “cost is no object”, but I definitely don’t need the app to be free. A good app that I can stick with would be worth paying for. Recommendations?
I have used Smiling Mind https://www.smilingmind.com.au. The organisation is an Austrailan nor-for-profit and pretty good. It is free.
The other one I use regularly is Insight Timer https://insighttimer.com. Also an IoS app. It is freemium, but they do have a good range of guided meditations, non-guided, music and sound scapes in the free part.
I have also used Calm in the past, it looks great and has a good range and types of meditation and wellness options . I liked it, but at the moment prefer Insight Timer. Calm also has 40% off offers now and then.
I’m not a meditator but this app may be of interest. It combines sleep and meditation features. Nothing religious as far as I can tell. Of course, I could always recommend Gregorian chants, but ….
I’ve been using Headspace for many years and value it greatly. I would suggest to go to the courses section and start from the basic level and work yourself up as per your comfort level.
Occasionally you can also pick specific ones to deal with topics like productivity, mindfulness, relationships etc. I never use the Today view.
I’m a longtime user and Sam points out again and again that Waking up is not merely a relaxation app, that the main point of mindfulness is a spiritual or buddhist one. That’s why there is so much extra content, besides the meditations themselves. I’m trying to keep an open mind, but I’m more and more skeptical of all that.
I have been using the Mindfulness app on my Apple Watch as a framework for my religious meditation. For example, its breath exercise I have turned into opportunities to practice the ancient tradition of “breath prayers”. Daily Bible reading also occupies some of my meditation time; when I say “reading” that is what I mean rather than what many others do of using some notes and spending their time reading those interpretive notes rather than the biblical text. (My reading scheme is simple requiring nothing more than looking at the number of last page and dividing it by 365 to tell me how many pages to read a day.)
My mindfulness approach is guided by a MOOC that was on The Open Unviersity’s FutureLearn platform some time ago but I have adapted it to my own practice.
However, while I use the Mindfulness app I could do all this without it. My principle usage is nothing more than time keeping. Plus the reminder from the app to meditate though a third remnder is simply to use MBSR with a focus on “body scan” before taking my blood pressure. This is more in line with non-religuous mindfulness.
So long story short I do not require a mindfulness app at all. But I have always been a curmudgeon and this is no exception. Now time to stop as my Apple Watch will shortly be pinging that it is time to do my late night session.
).
). Nope. They said I should choose meditations manually if the “Today” view is suggesting things I’m not interested in, and that’s what I’m hoping to avoid. I don’t want to deal with decision paralysis or decision fatigue in my meditation app, particularly if I’m paying monthly for the privilege.