The Best Meditation Apps
The Best Meditation Apps (& Podcasts)
This is a question I get a lot – do you use meditation apps, and if so, which ones? When I first learned to meditate 25 years ago, CDs were a novelty for newbies. If you were legit, you sat in silence.
I remember being 22 years old at a weekend Zen retreat in silence, in Lotus, thinking – I’m never doing this s**t again. My back was killing me, my knees ached and I felt more stressed than when I started.
Back then, the path to becoming a regular meditator seemed like climbing Everest — achieveable only to those with superior stamina and discipline that I lacked.
So I love that technology and current interest in all things mindful have made it easier than ever to learn to meditate, and keep meditating.
Here’s a roundup of my favorite meditation apps and podcasts:
APPS for iPhone
BREETHE—probably the most popular meditation app at the moment, Breethe offers a variety of free guided meditations at customizeable lengths. For a monthly or yearly fee, you get full access to their library which is updated regularly. Formerly called, OMG I Can Meditate.
Great user interface, customer service and regular updates from founder Lynne Goldberg make Breethe a welcoming app for the newcomer or experienced meditator.
14 Day free trial, $89.99/year
*some free content available
CALM—Apple chose this as their app of 2017. Calm offers a lot of customization like changing the screensaver, background music, and users can provide feedback on each session. Beautiful interface and a great variety of meditations.
What I really love about Calm is the inclusion of bedtime short stories read by their authors, or actors. So much fun and pretty much the audio equivalent of adult coloring books!
7 Day free trial, $59.99/year
Both apps allow you to track your meditation progress.
PODCASTS
THE MEDITATION PODCAST – This is a homegrown, user-suppported podcast run by a couple named Jesse & Jeane Stern. Before apps, they were some of the first people offering structured meditation online.
MEDITATION OASIS – This is run by another couple, Mary & Richard Maddox. Richard arranges the instrumentation which accompanies Mary’s soothing voice.
Meditation Oasis offers numerous apps, a podcast, mp3s and CDs and they were also one of the early online providers of guided meditation. Reviewed by the NYT, Harvard Health, Self, Huffington Post, and Yoga Journal among others, their meditation have also been used in clinical settings.
If you have more questions about meditation, feel free to peruse my website by searching the Meditation category. There are lots of helpful tips on getting started.
Do you have a favorite meditation or mindfulness app? If so, comment below!
xoxox
Catherine Tingey
Entrepreneur, yogini, designer, award-winning filmmaker, personal trainer and former marathon runner. She left a career in finance to start her own business and along the way, became a yoga teacher. She has been practicing yoga for 33 years and teaching privately for 13 years.
About the Author
Catherine Tingey+ Entrepreneur, yogini, designer, award-winning filmmaker, personal trainer and former marathon runner. She left a career in finance to start her own business and along the way, became a yoga teacher. She has been practicing yoga for 33 years and teaching privately for 13 years.
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