Best meditation apps to try now

Five of the best apps for meditation. Photo: Thinkstock

These days, meditation is mainstream.

From Oprah Winfrey to Russell Brand, plenty of successful professionals use meditation to deal with the stress of their demanding lives.

But it’s not all kicking off your shoes and sitting in nature to get the benefits of meditation. Your trusty smartphone can help you unwind and switch off. Here are some of the meditation apps we are loving.

Omvana
You personal mindfulness teacher, it provides guided meditations ranging from three to 60 minutes in length. Rather than focusing on the one style, it draws on a number of meditation teachers. Plus, it links with your iPhone’s Health Kit, meaning it can suggest meditations based on your stress levels. Talk about holistic!

Headspace
Choose sessions based on your mood and lifestyle, and download sessions to listen to offline at any time. They also include tips on how to apply mindfulness to your everyday life (mindful eating, anyone?)

Smiling Mind
Developed by a team of psychologists with experience in youth therapy, the web-based programs provide mindful meditation sessions targeted to young people. It’s goal? To provide accessible meditation tools, and to have mindful meditation on the Australian Curriculum by 2020.

Nature Space
Described as the ultimate 3D sound experience, plug in your headphones and get swept away by the sounds of nature. Used as a sleep aid or to simply unwind, it gives you a sense of nature’s space from morning sounds to thunderstorms, waves and valleys. Sounds good to us!

Learn to Meditate: Meditation without Borders
Not sure where to start? This is the app for you. Based on universal meditation techniques this app provides five weekly lessons with simple, step-by-step instructions. There are also three different musical backgrounds for you to choose from.

Things to do for a stress-free life

Related:

How to practice mindfulness
The health benefits of meditation