Fortunately, meditation is increasingly seen as a good tool to make some mental space. It has lost its floaty image, although there are still meditations that naturally look for the spiritual. These three apps don’t do that so much: they are mainly there to reduce your daily dose of stress. You can always try, right?
Calm
As the name of the app says, it is mainly intended to relax. Just looking for peace, and you don’t always find it by taking a bath or walking in a park: you want to be able to find it within yourself. Calm is an app that gives you good support in this, although it is not always the most intuitive app. You really have to get to know him to get the most out of it, but that happens gradually.
Calm probably has the most pleasant background music of all apps, transporting you completely to another world, instead of listening to the silence (and the narrator’s voice). That is of course a matter of what you like yourself, but Calm is often referred to as the best app to relax or use to fall asleep.
Also good to know: Calm has a lot of great collaborations, such as with the sounds from Xbox games and with Deadmau5.
Headspace
It’s probably the world’s best-known meditation app, and that’s partly due to its deal with Netflix. Although there is also a more appropriate reason why this app is so popular: it is accessible and extremely supportive. You may be wondering how that works with meditation. Will the app just time ten minutes and tell you to start meditating? No. The guide will guide you through the entire meditation with his or her voice. It even tells you what you can think about, although it also indicates exactly that it’s not a big deal if your thoughts meander in all directions.
Exactly the tips you need during a meditation, because you are very dependent on yourself. At least, that’s how it can feel. You have to do it, but with the right guidance you will sooner reach that point where.. that guidance is no longer necessary because you know how you can take ten to twenty minutes a day to give your brain a kind of reboot. The fact that Headspace is also very well designed also helps: you can see that the makers have money. They don’t just have that money by the way: Headspace is initially free, but there are soon many meditations that are locked, unless you pay for them.
Petit Bamboo
The name of this app is rather strange: it sounds more like a specialty store for baby items. But this app should not be forgotten, as it is available in Dutch, unlike Calm and Headspace. It looks considerably less slick than those two, but for many Dutch people it is just as pleasant if an app helps you in Dutch. Precisely because meditation happens in your head, it is nice not to have to make the translation from English to Dutch. You will also need your wallet at some point with this app, but trying it out is free anyway.
You read it: all these apps can be tried for free and often even without having to create an account first. Although that certainly does not mean that the app does not collect data from you, it is a good way to try the app. Especially if you’re a bit cynical: try it for a working week and see if it helps. Have fun!
