Do Nothing

Meditation apps helped me to learn how to meditate.

[June, 2019 | Skye, Scotland.]

I want to share 3 of the guided meditation apps I discovered and the differences between them based on my own experience. By all means, I'm not a expert at meditation. I am really just starting to incorporate meditation consistently into my daily routine lately. However, I think there are something valuable to share as a beginner since new experiences are always difficult, interesting and sometimes magical.

Headspace

I originally attracted to this app by the cute animations and Andy's very soothing voice. I love the all the short animations they made to explain the different meditation techniques.

Calm

Don't remember how I started using this app. I liked that they have different people leading different series. Also really like the quotation they share after each meditation, and a daily calm reflection journal prompt. I also really like the "daily calm" meditation they have everyday. Each day have a different theme, and it's usually about 10 minutes long, very inspiring and full of positive energies.

Ten Percent Happier

I didn't even know this app exists until recently listening to one of the Tim Ferriss's podcast interviews with Dan Harris (he's the author of the 10% happier if you heard of that book). What I like about this app is that it's very relatable to our daily life. He was a journalist before not a monk, and he had a busy hustling life. I think if you are skeptic about meditation, this one is for you, it sure answered some of my questions in the short period of time. He usually start with a short interview, then followed with a meditation practice.

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All 3 apps offers free trial, you can sign up and try. I think yearly subscription usually the best deal if you want to sign up. There are also tons of resources on youtube you can get for free, but for me, this is easier to access and keep track.

One of the big benefits I get from meditation so far is the ability of "do nothing". I really enjoyed the fact that how I can just sit there (or lay there) and do nothing for few minutes. To slow down and not touch anything or looking at anything is extremely hard nowadays, there are always some sort of outside distractions around us. Do nothing for 10 minutes is something I could never do before, and now I can sit there for 10 minutes. Great achievement, isn't it?!