Are you looking for free meditation apps to help you feel calm with the press of a button? Would you like to learn more about meditation but prefer to listen rather than read? If your answer is “yes” to these questions, you’ll love the selection presented in this article.
You can think of these apps as your personal meditation instructor available 24/7 to help you relax, focus, or drift off into sleep.
Guided meditation programs can help you reduce stress and increase your self-awareness. With continued practice, they will gradually change your brain to be more receptive to positive emotions, thoughts, and influences in your life. So here are six best meditation apps for beginners to help you experience all these benefits.
1. Breethe
App user review:
This app has been a real asset to me. I didn’t know how to quiet my mind in order to meditate nor did I feel comfortable beginning on my own as I felt unsure of how to start.
Breethe has not only shown me how to get started but helped me understand that random thoughts during meditation are completely normal.
I also have issues with sleep, not being able to get to sleep or waking throughout the night unable to get back to sleep. The bedtime sessions on the app have helped me tremendously in this area.
2. Calm
App user review:
I love the Calm app! I have had trouble falling asleep for years, and was honestly skeptical that an app would put me to sleep. Boy was I wrong!
I love the different options — sleep stories, music, meditation — each one is interesting, and while I can’t say I’ve managed to get to end of a story, well that’s the point. I’m out within five minutes.
3. Headspace
App user review:
This app has given me tools to deal with constant change. This past year, I’ve needed to pivot every day to face some new challenge outside as an essential worker, and at home in isolation with my partner.
The tools I Iearned to use to be present in the moment and to accept change has benefited my partner and colleagues at work as much as my own peace of mind. I have very little control over my environment, but I can see my reaction, accept the emotions that rise up, and move on instead of getting lost or bound by them.
This app has also benefited me by helping me get through insomnia. Sometimes it helps me get to sleep in the first place. Mostly it gives me tools to use to calm my mind and body when I wake up in the night buffeted by anxiety or lingering frustration from the day.
4. The Mindfulness App
App user review:
I’ve never meditated before I got this app. I honestly did it for 3 days straight and already felt a more positive energy within me. This app has a variety of courses and the reason I am writing this review is because it has almost every topic that I wanted to go see a therapist for so I’m trying this first.
I am always working on self-betterment and this is honestly a great app for everyone to include in their lives. Some meditations are 5 minutes long and others can last for 15-20 minutes.
You get to choose what you want to do so it fits into your schedule. I personally do mine right when I wake it starts my day off in a good, focused, and controlled mood. Try it out for yourself!
5. Insight Timer
Here’s a prominent review from the app user
I initially downloaded this app for the timer – a nice variety of authentic sounding bowls, blocks, and chimes.
Fast forward four years and I’m continually blown away by the incredible amount and quality of the guided meditation content now available here! All for free!
With new recordings arriving each day, there’s everything from basic breath work and mindfulness practices, to creative visualization and hypnotherapy, Yoga Nidra, meditations on specific topics.
6. Smiling Mind
App user review:
Having just started medical school in the US this past year, I became stressed out and started taking a negative outlook on life. I was also not treating those closest to me with the respect and love they deserved.
After breaking up with my girlfriend, I decided to actually give myself time to meditate and reflect each day on who I was and how I could change.
Doing Smiling Mind meditations regularly has made me more mindful of my emotions and how I don’t have to react to them immediately. I’ve also enjoyed the sleep meditations because the soothing Australian accents usually knock me out before the recording is even over.
If you’d like to start practicing meditation by yourself without meditation apps, check out our guides on body scan meditation, breathing meditation, and lovingkindness meditation.
I’m a freelance writer and mindfulness advocate behind this blog. What you see here is the combination of my three favorite things: reading, writing, and mindfulness. While you’re here, subscribe to my blog updates and gain access to free mindfulness resources for stress relief.
