The smartphone way to inner Zen with 5 calming apps to give you ‘peace’
Too stressed to wind down? Here are five apps available on both Andriod and iOS to help you reconnect with yourself.
Busy lifestyles often force mental health to take a back-seat.
But all is not lost.
Here are five apps that will teach you how to relax when everything around is anything but relaxing. They will ensure you are able to take a few moments a day to reconnect with yourself and find some calm.
1 Headspace
Guided meditation sessions based around a series of themed breathing exercises that can help you overcome a particular lifestyle issue, such as anxiety or panic attacks, insomnia, depression or stress. Each series is a set of between 10 and 30 sessions that last from 10 minutes to an hour.
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* Differentiator : Timeline and progress tracker encourages users to keep on track.
* Cost: A few sessions are free, after which you pay $13 (Rs 850) a month.
2 Calm
Uses guided mediation and thought exercises to help users escape their worries and focus on being present “in the moment’. Users can chose to do seven-day programmes with one session a day or single 20-minute sessions. Each session lasts 20 minutes.
* Differentiator: Uses soothing visuals and soundtrack to make users feel the calmness they are hoping to attain.
* Cost: Some packages are free; subscription for others costs up to $10 a month. (Rs 650)
3 Take a break!
The app targets stress relief and relaxation, with users taking single sessions that led by a narrator and supported with customizable soundtracks. The sessionsrange from 7-13 minutes.
* Differentiator: .It is separated into two guided session categories, “work break” and “stress relief”, to break up a stressful workday so that users can use it to relax on the go.
* Cost: Free
4 Smiling mind
It focuses on heelping young people deal with lifestyle issues such as anxiety and depression . Users have indiviidual sessions that they can pause and complete as the day/week goes on.
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* Differentiator: Provides a personalised experience by assigning programs and sessions based on the user’s age.
* Cost: Free
5 Omvana
Provides audio messages and soundtracks that aim keep you feeling inspired and mentally healthy when faced with day to day stress. Depending on the audio track, the duration varies from a few minutes to an hour.
* Differentiator: The app also features sleep-inducing tracks, which promise immediate results.
* Cost: Some messages and tracks are free, others are available at a monthly subscription of $10 (Rs 650) .
