New year, new self-care habits! While you probably already made your resolutions, it is never too late to take on something new. Personally, my goal for the new year has been to find more ways to destress and improve my health. There are tons of ways to do this and each person will find the one that works best for them; however, I think meditation is something all people, students especially, should try out at least once.
So, what’s the big fuss about meditation? From a scientific perspective, research has shown that meditation can change the way your brain handles feelings like stress and anxiety and improve the way you focus and learn. It may seem like meditation is an outdated practice, but the media’s newfound interest in self-care has made meditation fun and accessible now through easy to use apps. Most apps have guided meditations where you can choose a practice based on what it is you need, such as sessions created specifically for stressed college students or sessions that guide you through a yoga exercise. According to WebMD, meditation not only works to relax your body, but it can also improve your health. By alleviating the pressure and strain that stress and anxiety put on your body, regular practice of meditation decreases your blood pressure and improves your heart rate. With benefits for everyone,especially people who struggle with their mental health, this is a great practice for staying mindful and understanding your emotions a little bit better. Given all these benefits, I decided to give meditation a try. I downloaded a few of the most popular apps and tried them out to see if meditation was for me.
The first and most popular app I tried was Headspace. This app has the most expansive range of different types of meditations for different people. Headspace takes a more educational approach to meditation by teaching you the techniques of meditation with basic, tutorial-like, free meditations to start. However, if you want to access more than the set of 10 basic practices, you do have to get a membership. Luckily, Headspace offers a discount for students of $9.99 per year – a much more reasonable rate compared to the normal yearly subscription price of $96. With the membership, you can access all the meditations with different categories based on what you need, such as personal growth, physical health, students, and stress/anxiety. Essentially, Headspace covers all the possible topics you could need support on.
The next app, my personal favorite, is Stop, Breathe, Think. Each time you open the app, it prompts you to check-in by asking how you are feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally. Then, it prompts you with a few meditation practices that it recommends based on how you are feeling. For this reason, I think this app is best for people who struggle with mental health or who want to become more in touch with their mind and body. This “check-in” has now become a regular part of my day because it reminds me to think about why I might be having a bad day or feeling off. The fact that the app suggests personal meditations for you is also very helpful because, with so many options, it is sometimes hard to know what you need to hear. Compared to Headspace, this app offers a lot more meditations without the membership, so if you don’t want to pay for a meditation app, Stop, Breathe, Think is a good option.
The last app that I tried out is Calm. This app was probably my least favorite of the three solely because it didn’t help me to recenter and relax as much as the other guided meditations did. This app is different from the others because it focuses more on sounds and music as opposed to narration. Calm has a lot of meditations, sleep stories (soothing stories to fall asleep to), music and soundscapes, such as ocean waves or heavy rain. Another really great feature is the option to pick different scenery to look at during your meditation, like rain falling on leaves, a fireplace, or a lakeside view. If you find peace of mind through visuals or sounds, this app has a lot of adjustable options to help you out. Without a membership, you can only access a few meditations from each category but there is still enough to benefit from the app without paying. If you do want a membership, you can do a 7 day free trial and then pay $59.99 per year. With this full membership you can access over 100 guided meditations from categories including beginners, inner peace, self-care, nature melodies, and more.
These three apps are just a few of the many that you can find in the App Store, so if none of these spoke to you just know there is probably something else out there that offers meditations that work for you. Also remember that a lot of them are adjustable so you can make them work with what you like. My recommendation? Start off easy with a sleep meditation that you can fall asleep to and then progress towards longer and more productive sessions. That is how I started off and now meditation has become an essential part of my day. Trust me, I know it seems weird at first to just sit on your couch or bed and do nothing but listen for a few minutes. But, I promise if you give it a chance it will genuinely make your day a bit better. Make 2019 a year where you prioritize yourself and your mental health the right way!