Meditation Apps

There are so many mental health benefits of meditation. Today, I’d like to share about two meditation apps that I’ve used both personally and in sessions at Panoramic Counseling.

Both apps, Calm and Headspace, are user-friendly and can be downloaded for Android and Apple devices. They both offer a limited free version and have comparably-priced subscription plans.

Calm

Pros:

• Has a wider selection of sleep stories than Headspace (Bedtime stories for grownups. Great for insomnia).
• Good balance of standalone meditations and meditation series
• Lots of different narrators
• Has a feature where you can choose a calming scene with sounds (Ex. Rainforest, beach, river). Great for white noise and a visual, especially if you work in a windowless office.
• More overall features and content than Headspace

Con:

• Immediately plays sound upon opening the app, which is jarring. There is no way to disable this feature to my knowledge.

Headspace

Pros:

• Higher quality sleep stories than Calm.
• Sleep stories adapt based on how often you listen to them. I like this because it changes each time you listen, which makes them more effective, in my opinion.
• Live group meditations are available throughout the day.  They let you know how many others are participating in the meditation, which provides a sense of community.

Con:

• A lot of the meditations are in a British voice, which could be distracting to American users (which is why I don’t use it with clients)

Conclusion

I prefer Headspace for my personal use whereas I use Calm in session with clients.

For more information, check out the vlog that I published a while back about meditation.

Have you used Calm, Headspace or any other meditation apps? Be sure to share your thoughts with me in the comments!

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