Feeling anxious? Stressed? Overworked?
One of the best coping mechanisms for anxiety and stress is meditation. Meditation involves monitoring your breathing patterns and focusing on a desired outcome. It is often a great supplement to therapy and is easy to do on your own. People often avoid practicing meditation because they are convinced they don’t have enough time. The great thing about meditation is that you can adjust it to fit into YOUR schedule. Meditation doesn’t have to be a time consuming experience. You can implement meditation into your morning routine. Maybe instead of jumping out of bed to instantly get ready for work, you could take the first 5 or 10 minutes of your morning to meditate. You can also meditate during your lunch hour at work. This is very helpful for people who have stressful jobs or anxiety related to the workplace. Another option is making meditation a part of your bedtime routine. It can be a moment that allows you to wind down and prepare yourself for a great night’s rest. However you choose to incorporate meditation into your life, technology can be a great help.
Here is a list of the best meditation apps that you can use for free on your phone.
- Calm is one of the most popular meditation apps. It has a 4.8 star rating. This is likely because it has a huge library of specific categories. The Calm app has several categories such as anxiety, stress, sleep trouble, financial wellness, etc. It also offers guided imagery and bedtime stories for adults to help clear your mind.
- COST: There is a free and paid version available for this app.
- This app is all about mindfulness. There are a TON of categories and audio ranging from a few minutes to an hour long. This app is perfect for a morning or nighttime meditation. There are less guided meditations here and it is ideal for those who have practiced meditation previously and need less instruction.
- COST: Free w/ optional $60 subscription
- Exhale is an app that is designed to help BIWOC (Black, Indigenous, women of color). Anyone will find the app helpful but it has specialized categories related to microaggression, childhood trauma, & grief. Daily affirmations and guided imagery are also provided in this app. The goal of the developer was to offer a tool that is more specific and less general for women of color.
- COST: Free
- This is a favorite for many users and therapists. Insight Timer has 300,000 pre-recorded guided meditations & imagery. It has a near perfect 5 star rating and allows you to track your meditation use and earn badges based on your progress. Another great thing about this app is that you can favorite the guides you like the most and receive alerts when they add new recordings. This app is great for all levels and ages.
- COST: Free