Review some of the multitude of technologies designed to assist us with our Mindfulness Practice. Which ones do you find helpful? Are they worth the cost or are they free? What don't you like about them and what doesn't work for you in your personal Practice? What features do you find most useful? Submit a review on the form below and let others know what you are using or not using and how it fits into your daily life. Try out the examples below or tell us about others you have discovered....
Mindfulness Apps
There are many, many Mindfulness Applications on the market these days and these are a few of the most popular. Share with others what you find useful or check them out to see if they can assist you in developing, maintaining and deepening your practice. Or not.
- Headspace here is a link to a TED talk from the founder of Headspace, Andy Puddicombe. This is a great talk on the value of mindfulness.
Review by Mela: 'Headspace gave me my first experience of a continuous practice. It is a 10 day course, which just takes 15min of your day, when ever you find the time. It is a really nice introduction to the practise, with wonderful playful animations throughout the course. I really liked Andy's voice and accent, which did help. After the 10 days you have a solid approachable technique in place that is easy to continue on your own. It keeps you focused and interested, and I really liked it a lot. It's one of the most successful app out there with more than 60000 people on it most of the time and there is a buddy system, where you can connect with others to get motivated (I didn't do that). Of course It really makes you want to sign up to the next levels, but that involves a full subscription , which is USD140/year or USD19/month - at the moment you get 1 month free on both options.' - Buddhify
- Calm
- Smiling mind
- The Mindfulness App
- Pomodoro timer work productivity app
- ipromptu This free app was devised by a psychologist at the University of Nevada for his research, this app can be set to deliver prompts at fixed or random intervals, with customised questions designed to enable you to become increasing aware of the contents of your thinking and the sensations of your emotions. It was developed as a tool to be used with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and has useful features for general mindfulness. Review by Samara: 'I use iPromptU to help me with periods of strong emotion driven thoughts. When I find myself wrestling with intrusive repetitive thoughts I set the app to pop up with occasional notifications which prompt me to address a series of cognitive behaviour therapy based questions. There are a dozen questions to choose from within the app, I usually select about three questions which I think are most suited to the circumstances of my distress to help me to put my thoughts into perspective. Sometimes just hearing the notification sound jolts me out of my rumination and if I don't have much time I'll dismiss the notification, but it's most helpful when I take a few minutes to really focus on the questions and what steps I can take at that moment to relieve my distress and move forward. Although it's hard to say by how much, I think it shortens the period of ruminative thinking and offers me opportunities to use my distress constructively. I find it a very useful free tool.'
- Insight Timer One of the most popular free meditation apps around - Review by Marysia: 'Insight Timer is a great support for my daily mindfulness practice. It has beautiful bells which time each session and useful guided meditations, music or nature sounds for those times when I want added support. All of these features can be easily customised for personal preference. There is also a community aspect ; a comforting reminder we’re not alone when we practice. I highly recommend this app for anyone seeking a positive and nurturing framework to encourage stillness, peace and relaxation in their daily life.'This free app includes heaps of long and short guided practices (including various to help with falling asleep), podcasts from teachers, a large selection of relaxing nature sounds, practices to do with movement (including running), specialised groups to join and share as well as places to record and track your own daily progress.'
Mindfulness Websites
There are hundreds of Mindfulness Teachers offering a great deal of guidance, inspiration and practical material on the internet. Some of it is free and much of it can be purchased. Below are links to the sites of some of the better known international Teachers, Scientists and Researchers. Investigate them to see it they have anything to offer you in the challenge of your Practice.
- Self compassion Assess how compassionate are you toward yourself with Dr Kristin Neff's rating scale
- Dr Rick Hanson Leading international educator Dr Rick Hanson is a clinical psychologist and his website has a huge amount of valuable and easily accessible material. His free newsletter JOT is a great way to keep up on things, his online courses are excellent but do cost.
- Test your mindfulness level Check your current level of Mindfulness with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire online self-rating test. Rate it now and again after you have done a course or started building some mindfulness practices into your day.
Social Media
Mindfulness has a strong presence on all forms of social media. Can it support and inspire you in your daily mindfulness practice? Or does it add another layer of distraction and demand another slice of your attention in your already busy day?
Articles
Computer games, health related apps and phone games to promote and train mindfulness and well-being are proliferating now - these articles describe and critique some of the current ones.