Are you having trouble meditating? Me too. So I searched high and wide for the best guided meditation app that would keep me going.
Guided meditation apps are also a great way to find out HOW you like to meditate. Because while sitting and watching the breath can be fun (sarcasm), there are heaps of ways to meditate.
These are the two best meditation apps I found.
Headspace – Best Guided Meditation App (paid)
Haven’t heard of Headspace yet? Get on it ASAP!
It’s created by Andy Puddicombe. He is a meditation and mindfulness expert. But all that aside, he has one of the most soothing voices ever.
It has a free 10 day foundation course to begin. They describe this as the “building blocks of mediation and mindfulness”. Each session is 10 minutes.
Some sessions have some great explanation tutorials at the beginning. His explanations are amazing. No fancy terminology. Just straight forward explaining.
If you decide to buy this guided meditation app you need to finish the first 10 days before you get to do any other courses.
If you like how you’re going after the 10 days, they have part 2 and 3 of the foundation course you can complete.
When you get to stage 2 you can decide to change it from 10 minutes to 15 minutes.
Otherwise if you want to try something new they have a few different course areas which include:
- Sport
- Health
- Relationships
- Performance
- Headspace PRO
In each of these courses they have mini courses i.e. in Healthy they have Pain Management. This has 30 sessions.
I like that it looks at the different areas of life. It’s pretty realistic. And good if you’re having challenges in a certain area of your life.
They app is amazing at explaining things. They’re explanation video is great!
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This app will cost you – with 3 different options ranging from 12.95 a month to 419.95 forever (this is a one-time payment for lifetime access).
The most popular is $7.99 per month which you pay as one annual fee (making it $96 for the year).
To be honest, with everything I’ve experienced, it’s worth the price. It’s definitely the best guided meditation app I’ve found so far (in my opinion).
In between Andy’s voice and the amount of choice after the 10 foundation sessions, it’s amazing.
The foundation course is also the perfect way to ease you into meditation.
Insight Timer – Best Guided Meditation App (free)
Insight Timer is free (YAY!) and one of the best guided meditation apps I’ve come across.
It has HEAPS of things you can adjust.
From the time of mediation to the sound of the gong bell! You can also chose the background music.
If you prefer meditation without a voice (not guided), you can choose that too.
The best bit is you can chose from 1,000s of recordings.
Lots of people upload their own meditations. When you find one that works for you it’s great!
Mary & Richard Maddux were my favourite.
Exploring the guided meditations is easy too. It breaks it up by author, teacher and playlists. So if you like Mantras you can choose that. Or if you prefer Nature sounds that’s there too.
This isn’t as structure as Headspace. But it is amazing as a free tool.
To be honest it was the best tool I’d found so far.
On the way to mastering meditation
So there you have it!
Headspace is a great, structured, guided meditation app. It comes with a price but it’s worth it for everything you get.
It also has a huge range of courses in all life’s fun/challenging areas!
Insight Timer is a great free guided meditation app. Heaps to choose from and adjust.
Both apps have online forums/communities too.
Try both and see what works for you 🙂
