Meditation is a great way to take a step back, take a breath, and release some daily stress. If you’ve been interested in getting into this calming hobby but aren’t sure what to do, guided meditation makes it easy. Try out one of these apps.
Insight Timer
Insight Timer has a library featuring over 100,000 meditations. There is also a free seven-day intro course that makes it easy to get started before you pay a premium fee. Their premium memberships costs $60 a year, making it one of the cheaper meditation apps available. It’s easy to filter and find meditations based on sleep, stress, or based on length of time.
Headspace: Meditation & Sleep
Headspace is a great app if you’re looking specifically for guided meditations to help you drift off to sleep. If you’ve been having trouble calming your brain at night, focusing on the to-do list for the next day, or haven’t had restful sleep, Headspace’s guided meditations can help you. The yearly membership is $70 a year or $13 a month, so a little more expensive compared to Insight Timer.
Buddhify
Buddhify is a great app that can help you transition from guided meditation into self-led practices. It also features a wheel of meditation practices that allows you to quickly select and start a meditation. The app costs about $5 to download, and there are in-app purchases as well, but at least there aren't monthly or yearly fees to worry about.
Calm
Calm offers short meditations, ambient sounds for self guided meditation, and individual exercises. It’s less structured than the other apps, which gives you the flexibility to try a few different methods to decide what works best for you. The app costs about $70 a year, or you can choose to pay $400 for lifetime access.
Looking for more relaxing things to do? Check out the Olympus at the Canyons blog for more lifestyle tips, self-care suggestions, and local fun.