MILTON, Vt. (WCAX) The impacts of the coronavirus outbreak can take a toll on a person's business as well as mental health, but thanks to technology, some local businesses are reaching their clients and keeping the peace.

These days spiritual well-being is almost as important as an internet connection.

Lonnie Poland runs Experience Yoga out of her Milton home. Right now, she can't lead any in-person classes. So like many instructors nationwide, she's taking her sessions to the web.

"We don't just do this for fun. This is our practice and it's important," says Lonnie.

This week, she led a meditation class of nearly 20 people on the video conference app Zoom.

"This is what I do, I come to my mat and it feeds me and so to be able to see everybody's faces, there was joy. We could feel it, we connected and that alone, was beautiful," says Poland.

Chrissy Lefavour, the owner of Grateful Yoga in Montpelier, has figured it out. She's livestreaming classes on her social media platforms.

"It calms your nervous system and when you calm your nervous system and you come to a place that you can move away from the symptoms of stress, then you will build your immune system. You will build your resiliency. So, it's very important," says Poland.

Keep calm and meditate on... online that is.

Read more from the original source:

Moving meditation and mindfulness practices online - WCAX

The best meditation apps could help you to sleep better, reduce your stress levels and find some much-needed inner peace. But given the situation right now with Covid-19, even if meditation apps just give you a break from the news and a chance to chill out for ten minutes, theyre more than worth it.

Headspace, one of the most popular meditation apps around, first launched 10 years ago. Since then, hundreds of other meditation apps have been created and that means finding the best meditation app for you can be overwhelming.

But when it comes to meditation, choice is a good thing. There are now meditation apps to cater to all kinds of people and preferences. From apps for beginners that walk you through the basics of meditation (like Headspace and Buddhify), through to those that just provide you with a timer and sound cues so you can freestyle your meditation practice instead (like Samsara Timer and Pocket Meditation Timer).

Not only are there different styles of apps, but different variations of meditative practice. Youve likely heard celebs shout about the benefits of transcendental meditation, but most of the meditation apps you can download, and the ones on this list, allow you to practice a form of mindfulness meditation less focus on chanting and mantras and more focus on, well, focus.

Its easy to roll your eyes at the word mindfulness. Weve all been inundated with books, articles and apps about becoming more mindful, from mindful swimming and shopping to mindfultidying and travelling, and everything else in-between. But, put simply, mindfulness is about being present and noticing whats happening.

Contrary to popular belief, that doesnt mean emptying your mind. Instead, it means paying more attention. Whether thats to your thoughts, your breath or sounds around you. The benefit of mindfulness meditation is that you can start to take some of the presence and awareness you feel when youre meditating into everything else you do throughout the day.

And, giving you the tools to be a bit more present throughout the day is just one of the many benefits of meditation. Its still early days for scientific studies (so we cant say for definite that meditation works well for everyone and brings about the same benefits for everyone), but results are promising.

So far, studies have shown meditation can lower blood pressure, improve sleep, alleviate some of the symptoms of depression, reduce stress and increase self-compassion, improve your memory and even bolster your immune system.

With all of that in mind, heres our top pick of the best meditation apps at the moment. All of which weve used and tested (in some cases for years) to bring you the best chance of cultivating a bit more calm and a little less stress in your life.

Best for those who want a simple practice steeped in insight

Waking up was created by Sam Harris, a neuroscientist, philosopher, podcaster and author who teaches and discusses meditation in a modern, scientific context.

What we like about the Waking Up app above all others is its no-nonsense. Theres no chanting, twinkling rain sounds or spiritual references. Even the app itself has a very easy-to-use and minimal design.

The goal here is to be present and aware. But that doesnt mean it isnt also soothing and transformative. Weve been using Waking Up for more than a year and have found its made a huge difference particularly to stress levels and reactiveness.

There are two sections of Waking Up. The Practice section is where you can access simple daily meditations narrated by Sam Harris himself. When you first sign-up to the app, these daily practices will serve as an introduction to meditation, easing you into the basics of sitting still and becoming more aware.

But theres also a section called Theory, which is about learning whats going on behind the practice. Sam Harris interviews a number of prominent figures in the meditation, self-development and neuroscience spaces to discuss topics like death and awareness and also posts smaller lessons, which are like chunks of wisdom we sometimes listen to when weve already meditated that day.

This wealth of lessons, interviews and additional insights about meditation is what makes Waking Up stand apart from the competition. This is why we recommend Waking Up for those who want to get to grips with meditation, as well as the science and thinking behind it.

Pricing: Free. But with in-app purchases to unlock more content. You can also get in touch with Sam Harris and the creators if you really want to try more of the app but cant afford it.

Available for iOS / Android

Best for beginners

Headspace is one of the most popular meditations apps and for good reason. We first started meditating with Headspace more than six years ago and credit it with getting our heads around the obstacles that can come up when you first choose to meditate. How do we sit still? What if we get caught up in thinking? How do we stop beating ourselves up when we get distracted?

It managed to ease us into a daily practice through an easy-to-use app full of color, simple instructions, fantastic visuals to illustrate whats going on when you meditate and the soothing voice of Headspaces founder, Andy Puddicombe.

This is a great first port of call for beginners looking to get to grips with meditating. One of the best bits is there are so many different types of meditation to try for all kinds of situations. Whether its a simple mindfulness practice, meditation for kids, for sleep or for when youre busy, including mindful cooking.

We particularly love the SOS meditations, specially designed for mini meltdowns. Theres one for feeling overwhelmed and another for panicking, which weve used on many, many occasions to get us back to neutral.

Pricing: Free. But with in-app purchases to unlock more content.

Available for iOS / Android

Best for those who cant get enough of meditation

When you first open the Calm app it tells you to take a deep breath and thats what the whole experience with the app feels like. A breath of fresh air and a chance to switch off and slow down, just for a few minutes.

One of our favorite things about Calm is youre asked what your focus is before you begin. Whether thats developing gratitude, increasing happiness or, our favorite, reducing stress.

Calm has a wide selection of different meditations to choose from. Theres a series about confidence, one about saying yes to life, and even a Sigur Ros sound bath experience for when you dont want guidance but just want some soothing sounds to chill out to.

Theres also a Sleep Stories section of the app all about helping you to sleep soundly. With bedtime stories read by soothing voices or famous soothing voices, including Matthew McConaughey. He tells a story about the universe called Wonder and its a very, very dreamy experience.

If you dont fancy following a guided meditation, Calm also has a timer and a huge catalog of calming music, sounds and ambient noises to choose from, many are geared up for sleep but others are just lovely to listen to while youre working or doing chores.

We think there are better apps for teaching you the basics of meditation, but Calm has the widest range of meditations, sounds, sleep features and stories to choose from. For us, it really delivers on its name its a destination for calm.

Pricing: You can sign up for a 7-day free trial of Calm. Its then 42.99/$42.99 for a year.

Available for iOS / Android

Best for those who want practical tools to help them through the day

Even though were creatures of habit, many of us dont always want to meditate in the same way each and every day. Thats where Buddhify comes in.

Sometimes you might want something slow and soothing to guide you through a difficult experience, other times you need a simple body scan when youre waiting at the doctors office or in line at the post office.

Thats why instead of asking you what you want to focus on (because oftentimes we dont know, especially if were stressed-out) Buddhify will show you a number of scenarios on a colorful wheel and your job is just to choose which situation best describes what youre going through right now.

The app serves up a recommendation focused on what you might need in the moment and it always tends to perfectly match your situation with a meditation. Whether thats going to sleep, walking or travelling.

Our recommendation would be to kick off your meditation journey with Headspace or Waking Up and then supplement your practice with Buddhify, as it makes meditation less of a sacred practice that requires a quiet room, a comfy cushion and incense and more of a practical and helpful tool.

Pricing: 4.99 / $4.99

Available for iOS / Android

Best for a pick 'n mix of meditation

Like Calm, Insight Timer is an app with many guided meditation practices, lessons and features to choose from. That means its not just an app for meditating, but a one-stop-shop for feeling good, calming down and reading up about the wider thinking and history behind meditation practice and self-development too.

There are a range of guided meditations on offer in Insight Timer. You can choose from a beginner kit, which includes learning to meditate or coping with anxiety. Or select how youd like to meditate based on a particular focus, like sleep, stress and anxiety. Or you can pick the type of practice youre in the mood for, like paying attention to sound, movement or sitting back and taking part in a guided visualization.

Theres a useful 7-day course wed recommend if youre new to meditation, which teaches you the basics. But like Calm, we think Insight Timer is a great option once youve started to meditate and then want access to a huge range of practices at your fingertips its a pick n mix of meditation.

Pricing: Free. But with in-app purchases to unlock more content.

Available for iOS / Android

More:

Best meditation apps: practice mindfulness with Headspace, Calm and more - TechRadar

Only 8 weeks of daily meditation can decrease negative mood and anxiety and improve attention, working memory, and recognition memory in non-experienced meditators. These findings come from a recent study published in Behavioural Brain Research.

Meditation is a mental exercise that uses mindfulness techniques to work on attention and awareness with the goal of achieving a calmer state of mind. The practice of meditation is said to foster greater self-awareness, enhance emotional regulation, improve focus, and alleviate stress. But little is known about whether short, practical meditation sessions provide cognitive benefits for inexperienced meditators.

The study included a total of 42 non-experienced meditators between the ages of 18 and 45 who were split into two randomized groups. One group practiced 13 minutes of daily guided meditation over an 8-week period. The second group (the control group) listened to 13 minutes of a podcast every day for 8 weeks. Researchers compared the results between the two groups to see how meditation might improve cognition when compared to podcast listening.

Throughout the study, researchers had participants complete neuropsychological tasks to test their cognitive functioning and answer self-reported questionnaires to assess their mood state. To assess participants stress levels at the physiological level, saliva cortisol samples were also taken. All data was collected at the start of the study, again at the 4-week period, and finally at the 8-week period when the study ended.

At the end of the study, participants completed the Trier Social Stress Test, a test designed to elicit social stress. Researchers administered the state anxiety portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory right before the social stress test, immediately after the test, and 10, 20 and 30 minutes after the test to measure participants acute response to stress.

Results showed no significant difference in cognitive function, mood, or cortisol levels between the meditation and podcast groups at the 4-week point. However, results at the 8-week mark were a different story. When compared to the podcast listening group, participants in the meditation group showed decreased mood disturbance, anxiety, and fatigue scores. They also showed improved attention, working memory and recognition memory and a decrease in the behavioral anxiety response to the Trier Social Stress Test.

Although cognitive benefits related to meditation practice have been demonstrated before, this study was the first to show them for novice meditators. Mindfulness research is relatively new and much needs to be explored with regards to specific mechanisms in the brain that are involved in meditation. The current study suggests that daily meditation has significant benefits to practitioners, even those who are new to meditation and only practicing in brief sessions.

The study, Brief, daily meditation enhances attention, memory, mood, and emotional regulation in non-experienced meditators, was authored by Julia C. Basso, Alexandra McHale, Victoria Ende, Douglas J. Oberlin, and Wendy A. Suzuki.

(Photo credit: Stephen McCarthy/Collision)

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Daily meditation decreases anxiety and improves cognitive functioning in new meditators after 8 weeks - PsyPost

Im not sure how many days we are into this 15 days thing. Frankly, Im not really sure what day of the week it is. As we collectively lose our grip on reality and socialization and increasingly turn to technology to cope, a number of meditation apps are offering up content free to help folks recenter as we push to shelter in place.

Headspace was among the first to offer a plan. The popular app announced that it would be making its premium tier free for all US healthcare professionals who work in public health settings, a nicenod to the first-responders who are among the hardest working and most emotionally wiped amid the pandemic.

Interested parties who qualify can redeem free access to Headspace Plus through the end of 2020 by entering their National Provider Identifier (NPI) and email address on the services site.

Simple Habit this morning announced free premium memberships for all people who are impacted by the pandemic and can no longer afford to pay. Those who qualify need only email help [at] simplehabit.com and note that theyre in a precarious financial position due to the pandemic. Access includes free meditation collections through the end of April.

Calm CEO Michael Acton Smith told TechCrunch that the company is currently exploring ways it might help a strained community. In the meantime, the service is making a number of meditations available for free to users.

A number of yoga studios and exercise applications are offering similar services for those who are housebound.

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Meditation apps offer free mindfulness, as social distancing takes a toll - TechCrunch

The world is facing unprecedented challenges that translate into unprecedented anxiety. The coronavirus outbreak disrupted everyones life, forcing to change their routines and bringing social tensions over health, the economy, and many more areas with no clear answers in many cases.

Its ok to feel anxious. But these researchers have some advice for you.

Meditation can turn out to be a good ally to calm the nerves. Practicing it every day for eight weeks can bring a decrease in negative moods and anxiety, while improving attention, working memory and recognition memory, according to a new study.

Meditation is a mental exercise through which we can observe our interior and the way in which we conceive what is happening around us. There are many ways of doing it but all with the main goal of having a calmer state of mind. While there are studies about it, not many have looked at the effect of doing short and practical sessions. There are many myths and legends to meditation, but according to this study, there is definite scientific merit to meditation.

Julia Basso and a group of experts from New York University worked with a group of 42 non-experienced meditators between 18 and 45 years-old. They were divided into two groups, one doing a daily 13-minutes mediation session over eight weeks, while the other one listened to a meditation podcast with the same regularity.

As they went through the study, participants had to do neuropsychological tasks, testing their cognitive functioning and answering questionnaires. They also had to provide saliva cortisol samples to test their stress levels.

The data was collected at the start, the middle and the final part of the study, comparing the results between the different groups.

Then, when they finished the study, the participants had to do a Trier Social Stress Study, which is meant to produce social stress. They were given levels of state anxiety before the test, immediately after and 10, 20 and 30 minutes after measuring their response to stress.

After four weeks of the exercise, the research showed no major changes in cognitive function or mood between the group that listened to the podcast and the group that did meditation classes. Nevertheless, the scenario changed drastically when reaching the eight-week mark.

The participants that went through mediation classes saw a drop in the levels of anxiety, fatigue and mood disturbance when compared to the group that listened to the podcast. They even showed a better working and recognition memory and improved attention.

This study not only suggests a lower limit for the duration of brief daily meditation needed to see significant benefits in non-experienced meditators, but suggests that even relatively short daily meditation practice can have similar behavioral effects as longer duration and higher-intensity mediation practices, the researchers wrote.

Doing a live class can be tricky in times of self-quarantine but as an alternative health and wellness apps are offering free meditation exercises. The app Headspace is now offering free services to US health care professionals, while Simple Habit, a mindfulness app, is doing the same for the ones that cant afford it. No doubt, there are a myriad of apps and solutions and free courses going on now and they might be an excellent way to calm yourself in this trying time.

The study was published in Behavioral Brain Research.

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Meditation is a good ally against coronavirus anxiety - ZME Science

The constant barrage of news about the coronavirus outbreak is enough to stress anyone out. And now that we're all pretty much mandated to stay at home with a smaller pool of activities to keep us preoccupied, it can be hard not to wallow in the headlines.

Now may be the perfect time to start meditating. TheMindFi Mindfulnessapp can help us kickstart a meditation habit.

Formerly named as Apple App of the Day, this app is designed to help us destress, reduce distractions, and improve relationships. It's created by a team of meditation and neuroscientists and throughout the day, it sends four different mindfulness modes: quick, haptic breathing exercises, a short yet relevant meditation perfect for particularly busy days, a focus on your to-dos with the Pomodoro timer, and a 10-minute closed-eye meditation for stress relief.

You can also begin and end your day with 10-minute mindfulness courses ranging from sleep to leadership and a whole lot more. To track your progress, you can try the research-backed exercises. No wonderForbessaid hyped it as the "perfect app for every aspiring meditator."

Find peace during this difficult time with a lifetime subscription to MindFi. It usually retails for $365, but for a limited time, you can get iton sale for $39.

They say that there's no such thing as a free lunch. But Apple is giving you free money which is even better!

After a week or so of imposing purchase limits on products outside of China, Apple has now removed them. The limits remain if you're in China, though.

The refreshed iPad Pro now has a LiDAR Scanner and the chances are very good that we can expect iPhone 12 Pro to get one, too.

Apple's flagship iPad is almost all screen. Keep that screen looking amazing with some protection.

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Find inner peace amidst the current chaos with this meditation app - iMore

Easy does it ... Jeff Bridges; RZA; Charlotte Adigry.

Take a deep breath and come to a comfortable seated position: we could all do with some spiritual healing right now, but especially the music industry. Postponed festivals, cancelled tours and closed borders mean a predicted billions of dollars worth of losses globally and a hell of a lot of unemployed guitarists this spring, leading into summer. As mass gatherings continue to be banned quicker than you can say social distancing, the antithesis is surely the meditation tape. Soothing, safe, and you can use them alone at home without having to wipe every surface down with Wet Ones first.

They are also big business. According to TechCrunch.com, the top 10 meditation apps pulled in $195m in 2019, up 52% from 2018, with Calm grossing $92m and Headspace $56m. Musicians, never ones to miss a trend opportunity (hello branded cannabis), have already started wafting into this lucrative space. Last year, Sam Smith channelled his inner Brian Eno and did an ambient remix of his single How Do You Sleep, in partnership with Calm. Whether you find its rippling synths calming or actually quite stressful is another matter. Ditto the attempt from rapper RZA of Wu-Tang Clan. His latest film is called Cut Throat City, so he seems the natural choice to lead a guided meditation for a brand of tea. His audio experience is designed so you can unlock your hidden powers, to a soundtrack of cinematic hip-hop. His script is, it must said, fairly powerful. This how you exert your gravitational force on the chaos around you, he intones, sounding not unlike hes about to announce the end of the world. Fitting, etc.

The best attempt so far has come from Belgian-Caribbean electronic-pop artist Charlotte Adigry, who last winter put out a Yin Yang tape on Soulwaxs Deewee label. She lulls listeners into a false sense of security with the sound of plainsong before delivering what is actually a 17-minute meditation on her own neuroses (dieting, coffee, work, image). It is brilliantly candid and employs some gummy ASMR techniques. I grew up watching American TV shows, she says, as a synthetic choir sings, and now I have this weird, hybrid Flemish-American accent that makes me feel like a fake.

No one has yet matched the OG of celebrity relaxation tapes, Jeff Bridges, who has a voice like a crackling fire in a wood, put to excellent use on 2015s Dreaming With Jeff, a psychedelic album-cum-sleep aid that was favourably reviewed. But there is potential. Billie Eilish, already a noted fan of ASMR, has a coveted whisper that seems custom-made for helping you chillax. And, at the other end of the vocal texture scale, some Tom Waits bedtime stories would not go amiss. One thing is for sure: the demand has never been greater.

Here is the original post:

Breathe in, now breathe out: how musicians are embracing guided meditations - The Guardian

Life can be stressful at the best of times, but given the present Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic were facing, it can feel tougher than ever to stay positive amidst the anxiety and uncertainty.

If youre like most people, chances are youve given meditation apps a try before but never fully got into the habit of using them.

However, during this period where social distancing is our current norm, meditation apps are one of the best ways to help you look after your mental wellbeing remotely. As the world takes steps to safeguard the physical health and wellbeing of ourselves and our loved ones, its also important to care for our minds says Sarah Romotsky, Director of Healthcare at Headspace.

At a time when technology can often feed into panic, what we use our devices to consume is central to how we feel day-to-day, particularly when self isolating.

Meditation can help manage anxious thoughts, build mental resilience and navigate this uncertainty adds Romotsky.

So while youre ensconced indoors, take advantage and use this time to harness technology for some good. Here's our pick of the best meditation apps of 2020 to help you find some solace amidst the chaos and keep your mind healthy.

Cost: Free download, optional subscription at 9.99/month, 44.99/year

Loved for its easy to digest visuals, clear explanations and buildable meditation plans, Headspace is one of the best-known meditation apps around - and for good reason. Beyond its delightfully appealing animations, the app is one of the most accessible, easy to follow toolkits on offer when it comes to meditation.

While Headspaces free 10-part Basics course equips users with all of the mindfulness essentials, at the moment it has also expanded its free offering to include a selection of other curated content under the collection Weathering the storm. Providing an assortment of experiences and exercises, Headspace offers tools designed to give users the means to better navigate the uncertainty that we all currently face.

Better still, the app also recently launched Everybody Headspace, a new feature in which meditations are streamed at the beginning of each half hour in real-time, helping to connect users across the globe to build a stronger sense of community at this time.

From meditations on managing anxiety to sleepcasts that will help lull you to sleep, Headspace is your go-to for mindfulness management.

Download on iOS

Download on Android

Cost: Free one week trial, then 28.99/year

Allow Calm to help you ease your mind with their huge hub of meditation and mindfulness content. Offering guided meditation sessions ranging from three to 25 minutes, soothing musical tracks and exercises designed specifically for children, Calm equips users with all the tools they need to begin their mindfulness journey. The apps mood check-in feature provides a means of reflecting on daily feelings and opportunity to re-centre focus for the day ahead.

For those that struggle with getting to sleep, Calms Sleep Stories offer the perfect solution. Featuring narrators like Matthew McConaughey and Stephen Fry, the sheer variety of resources on offer make Calm a standout meditation app. Being entirely customisable to your needs, Calms offering means that you can truly get anything that you want out of it, whether that be an introduction to meditation or more in-depth explorations on subjects like boosting confidence.

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Cost: Free download, optional subscription at 38.99/year

We all know too well how easy it is to put off taking some time out of the day to focus on ourselves, and no one knows this better than Simple Habit. The app was birthed from the idea that taking even 5 minutes out of your day to practise meditation can make a world of difference to your mood and wellbeing. Whether it be in the morning, on your daily walk, or in the evenings, whenever you can spare a moment Simple Habits handy offline feature (available on premium) means that you can centre yourself without ever needing an internet connection

Billed as the practical solution for modern lifestyles, the meditation app offers over 1,500 different sessions around situations that span morning anxiety to a lack of focus. If youre someone who struggles to fit in time for yourself because of a busy schedule then Simple Habit is the right pick for you - created for people low on time but in pursuit of moments of calm.

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Cost: Free download, optional subscription at 9.99/month or 54.99/year.

Stop, Breathe & Think is the meditation app that prompts you to pause for a moment, check in with how you're feeling and explore mindfulness. Unrivalled by other apps in its flexible tracking and reminder features, if youre someone whos struggled to commit to meditation before then Stop, Breathe & Think will help keep you on the right path.

After your current mood is determined by a quick survey youre given a session based on your results. Whether it be meditation or yoga, exercises are continually updated in line with how youre feeling at that moment in time. Its this granular level of customisation and intuitive design that make the app so unique in its offering, with all content designed to be perfectly in tune with its users. Though the app focuses on encouraging younger people to engage with their mental health, it nonetheless has resources for all ages and is a valuable tool for anyone looking to develop skills to tackle the days highs and lows.

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Cost: Completely free to download during Covid-19, no in-app purchases or fees

Sanvello is your all-in-one self-care toolkit. With habit tracking, journaling, a community area, meditations and longer exercises, there really is nothing this thoughtful little app hasnt considered.

In light of the current coronavirus outbreak, the kind people at Sanvello have made the app entirely free so that you have full access to everything self-care. Having been designed in collaboration with therapists, doctors and researchers, the app is deeply rooted in tried and tested techniques. Going the extra mile by offering CBT activities that help to support meditation sessions, Sanvello is the friend you need to help you get through the toughest times.

Alongside its already generous offering, Sanvellos latest release includes a particular focus on how to stay socially connected while we all face our own struggles with social distancing. Self-described as on-demand help for stress, anxiety, and depression this app is definitely one to have in your meditation and mental health arsenal.

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Cost: Free to download, optional annual subscription at 55.99.

If group meditation is more your style then Insight Timer has you covered. Invite friends to participate in sessions, find out who else is meditating nearby and check in on the world map to see how many others are meditating across the globe.

With access to an impressive 30,000+ different guided meditations, its no exaggeration to say that Insight Timer has one of the vastest libraries on offer. Though perhaps somewhat intimidating for a beginner, the apps rich and diverse features mean that you can use it to whatever end you desire, whether that be for more structured guided meditations, soundtracks or to connect with others in the community.

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Cost: Free one week trial, then 12.99/month or 87.99/year

After experiencing a panic attack on live television, Ten Percent Happier founder Dan Harris discovered some peace in meditation. Going on to write books on the topic, including the aptly named Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, Harris adapted this same approach to creating a meditation app. Unique in its straightforward demystifying of meditation, Ten Percent Happier features a library of over 500 guided meditations covering everything from parenting to quelling anxiety.

Whether youre seeking some bite-sized inspiration, more structured exercises or simply want to get lost in a story, this meditation app has a simple goal: to help its users be a little bit happier each day. With the current outbreak in mind, Ten Percent Happier has also created a dedicated Coronavirus hub full of practical and actionable resources designed to help individuals find some peace amidst the chaos.

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Cost: 4.99 to download on iOS, 2.99 on Android

Buddhify has all the essentials you could want from a meditation app including mindfulness exercises for every part of your day, from waking up to taking a work break. Putting you in good stead to get to grips with meditation, Buddhifys colourful interface offers up practical meditations that slot seamlessly into your daily routine.

Unlike its contemporaries, Buddhify is available to users for a one-off fee rather than rolling subscription, making it an affordable option at 2.99 on Android and 4.99 on iOS. Suitable for both beginners and more advanced meditations, Buddhify provides an effective, relatively no-frills solution, allowing you to focus on the areas of your life that you deem most important.

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Cost: Free to download, in-app subscriptions available.

If youre on the lookout for the best free meditation app, Serenity is a good place to start. Unmatched by other apps in the amount of free content that it has immediately accessible to users, by the time that you work your way through this youll likely be wanting to continue with a subscription.

With easy-to-follow tutorials and small yet mighty 10 minute sessions, Serenity is one of the easiest apps to slot into your day at your own convenience. Subtler details like acknowledging three things that youre grateful for at the end of each session give this app a unique touch that helps users rebalance their focus on the positives. With an emphasis on remembering to be grateful, we could all use a little more Serenity in our day-to-day lives.

Download on iOS

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9 Best Meditation Apps of 2020 To Soothe Anxiety - elle.com

You deserve an incredible orgasm right now.

Image: bob al-greene / mashable

March Mindfulness is Mashable's series that examines the intersection of meditation practice and technology. Because even in the time of coronavirus, March doesn't have to be madness.

I dont know about you, but lifes recently felt like a fever dream of anxious days and sleepless nights. As terrifying news alerts bombarded my phone, though, only one thing gave me the kind of relief needed during a panic-inducing pandemic: meditation masturbation

Before you write it off as new-agey bullshit, I come bearing evidence of its unexpected effectiveness with biofeedback devices that tracked both my brainwaves and my orgasms during sessions (you know, for science).

Meditation and masturbation might sound like strange bedfellows. But actually on both physiological and psychological levels, the two go together like peanut butter and jelly. At a time when we're all looking for stress-relieving solo activities to do from the safety of our homes, a relaxing self-love session comes with numerous health benefits too.

Meditation and masturbation might sound like strange bedfellows.

Meditation masturbation goes by many different names, each with a variety of approaches: erotic meditation, orgasmic meditation, tantric masturbation. All fall under the umbrella of mindful sex, an increasingly popular branch of mind-body awareness centered around sexuality, intimacy, and pleasure. The basic concept is simple: Instead of only using your breath as a focal point during mindfulness exercises like meditation and body scanning, you also concentrate on pleasurable sensations that ground you in your body.

"The practice of mindful sex helps you slow down, pause, and be in the present moment," Janet Britto, a clinical psychologist who offers mindful sex therapy at the Center for Sexual Health and Reproductive Health in Hawaii, wrote in an email. "It helps you adopt a perspective that is open, curious, non-judgmental, so you give yourself permission to be in your body and experience pleasure."

By training people to approach pleasure with a mindful mindset, researchers have found that these techniques can help improve a number of sexual problems: low libido, body image issues, anxiety, trauma, erectile dysfunction, genital pain (like vestibulodynia), and porn addiction. Other research found that women who practice mindfulness have way better sex in general, with higher arousal, desire, and better orgasms.

Whether you struggle with sex or are just looking to explore new possibilities, discover new sensations, deepen your pleasure, or enhance intimacy with a partner mindful sex can benefit just about everyone. Before you graduate to partnered mindful sex, though, it's best to start solo.

Image: bob al-greene / mashable

Still not convinced? I don't blame you.

When I first started exploring mindful sex (which you can read about here), I found all its big claims hard to buy. I'd never experienced a single benefit from meditating, despite people insisting it was the answer to my crippling anxiety. Why would this be any different?

Despite my resistance, the results from even the most basic exercises turned me into a true-blue believer. I felt the need to find definitive proof, though, knowing that skeptical, anti-meditation types like myself would want some tangible results to suspend their disbelief long enough to try it themselves.

So while doing several mindful masturbation exercises over the course of a couple weeks, the Muse meditation headband tracked my brainwaves. For good measure, I also tracked one of my orgasms with the Lioness, a biofeedback tracking smart vibrator.

For each of these experiments I did a sort of "control session" using regular meditation as a comparison, trying to account for as many variables as possible. I set my Muse to a rainforest soundscape, which gets stormier as your mind gets more active and then gentler and eventually produces a bird chirp if you reach a prolonged state of calm. You get more bird chirps the longer you stay calm.

The charts below represent the score the app generates based on how much time your mind was active (light purple), neutral (medium purple), or calm (dark purple) during a session, with larger dot sizes indicating more calm and the number of dots representing the length of time in a session. Blue dots indicate bird status. (To clarify, the number of dots doesn't equal number of birds. Remember, the quantity of dots represent elapsed time.)

But don't just take my word or these results as proof. Try it, following our tips for beginners of mindful sex here to prove it to yourself.

Control session

Listen, this was a rough night. While enduring a peak of political hell as the coronavirus pandemic became increasingly real for everyone, I was battling a phone buzzing with incessantly apocalyptic news notifications. Meditating was harder than usual, and it's never easy for me. With nothing but me and the Muse set to give no guidance or instruction, every stray thought and noise yanked me out of my body and back into the spiral.

Control session for pleasure mapping: The result was 29 percent calm.

Erotic body scanning (or pleasure mapping)

It was exponentially easier to let the spiral go when I had more sensory stimuli to focus on. I used a Lush massage bar on my bare skin, which not only made touching my body feel lovely but filled my nostrils with the smell of calming lavender as I inhaled deeply.

In pleasure mapping or mindful sex body scanning, either you or your partner touches every part of your body to discover what feels good, what doesn't, what level of pressure you like in a touch, if there's a type of touch you prefer, etc.

In this session, I didn't touch any erogenous zones (which is recommended for mindful sex beginners at first), since the exercise is supposed to show the difference between regular goal-oriented sexual touch versus the exploratory, non-demanding sensual touch of mindful sex. By taking the pressures of getting off out of the equation, you learn to separate sensations of arousal from anxiety-inducing expectations and thoughts, such as ("What if I can't orgasm?" and "What if I look ugly?")

With the real-time feedback from Muse, I noticed my mind get stormier whenever I touched my tummy, a major source of my body image issues. But it felt empowering when I heard a bird chirp after touching my neck, which has always been a trigger for me from previous sexual trauma. Mindful sex can be a great way to both help you identify those triggers, then provide the mindset to help conquer those sources of distress. But it takes a lot of practice and patience.

Solo pleasure mapping session with no guide had me at 66 percent calm.

In other erotic body scanning experiments, I used guided recordings from audio erotica platform Dipsea. I usually love their pleasure mapping guided erotic meditation. But it felt as though I'd advanced past needing guidance (leading to only 6 percent calm), instead preferring to take my own path in mindfully exploring my body.

I achieved just 6 percent calm during the guided solo pleasure mapping session.

In another session I did an erotic body scan with my partner's hands exploring me instead, but that showed poorer results too (26 percent calm). This only goes to show that expert advice is right: It's best to graduate to partnered mindful sex, because another person inherently introduces new insecurities and factors. It's harder to remember that this is about you, and your relationship to your pleasure alone.

Partnered pleasure mapping session netted a calm score of 26 percent.

Control session

For this control session, I decided to try to mimic the tantric session as much as possible by choosing a guided breath-focused exercise from the Muse app.

It definitely improved my experience, but breath has always been a tricky focal point for me. I get weirdly obsessive about perfectly aligning with the instructor's timing, and this exercise exacerbated that anxiety by adding a count of 10 breaths. Whenever I absent-mindedly counted past 10, I'd get upset with myself and my brain would get stormy. Towards the end though, I was much better at just accepting this impulse without reacting negatively.

Control session with guided breath exercise came in at 34 percent calm.

Tantric masturbation

Honestly I was pretty skeptical that this one would do me any good. I'd tried this guided session from Dipsea ("Breathing Deeply") before and liked it less than their other mindful sex guides. But this time I found the hyper-focus on localized deep breathing helpful to releasing any insecurities that usually come up while I'm naked (like a big belly from deep breathing, for example).

One of the main differences between tantra and other mindful sex practices is this higher premium on a specific type of breath (also known as orgasmic breathing). It's supposed to train you to disperse sexual energy throughout the body, helping your muscles relax rather than tense during moments of arousal, and allegedly leading to better climax.

I've found other mindful sex practices (like pleasure mapping) instead encourage a bit more active analysis of your own experience, coaxing you to sit with and explore unpleasant sensations as much as the pleasant ones. This is probably counter to how Muse tracks success, since it can lead to thoughts that are less calming but still fruitful for your mindful sex practice.

But tantra aims to reach a liminal headspace that allows you to more fully lose yourself in being a body receiving stimuli with no sense of self. That might be the kind of brainwave activity Muse rewards more.

The success of this tantric exercise led me to want to test another experiment, though...

With the tantric deep breathing guided meditation, I was 67 percent calm.

Control session

Just a regular, guide-less meditation this time. I noted that it was after having a bit of wine and weed, though, so I had aids helping me relax. At the same time, I was also dealing with a bit of annoyance with my partner, which melted away by the end of the session.

During the control session for mindful sense-play, I was 69 percent calm. (*Insert sex joke here*)

Mindful sense-play

Now technically, all these experiments are mindful sense-play in a way. But specifically, I wanted to experiment with the kinkier definition of the word, which describes everything from BDSM spanking, to temperature play (think hot wax and ice cubes), and blindfolding.

There's interesting preliminary research happening right now into the relationship between mindfulness and BDSM at the University of British Columbia's Brotto Labs, one of the premier institutes for mindful sex therapy and research. While studying this is still in the early stages, the hypothesis is that pain and BDSM might actually be great tools for advanced mindfulness practitioners.

"Pain really centers your attention on the present moment."

As Cara Dunkley, the Ph.D. candidate studying this phenomenon at Brotto Labs explained over the phone, Pain really centers your attention on the present moment. It demands intense focus upon an intense sensation.

Also, on a neurological level, mindfulness has been found to reduce activity in the part of the brain responsible for our sense of selfhood and mind wandering. Similarly, those who practice role-playing BDSM often describe entering an altered state of mind called "domspace" (for dominants) or "subspace" (for submissives) that seems similar, as Dunkley described it.

People talk about a sense of oneness with the universe, that lessening of selfhood thats associated with a more spiritual, heady, altered state of consciousness, she said.

I've experienced that subspace in the past through roleplay and pain, so I hoped the Muse could capture this unique mindset that can result from BDSM. But evidently, pain didn't help my meditation. Whether that's because it was the wrong time, situation, incompatible with how Muse tracks success, or the theory just doesn't pan out, I can't say.

Using body-safe wax with my partner resulted in only 28 percent calm, my brain growing stormier with every tense anticipation of another drop of hot wax on my chest. The lack of success might also be due to us communicating less than usual, since Muse counts that as "active" brainwaves. But communication is key to proper BDSM and reaching subspace (for me, at least).

During the partnered sense-play session, I was only 28 percent calm.

However, a gentler version of sense play proved much more fruitful. My partner ran a downy feather up and down my body to add a new sensation to partnered pleasure mapping, resulting in 48 percent calm. Still, it wasn't as good as my initial control session, but I'm not giving up on the potential usefulness of BDSM sense-play as meditative. It could be that in both these instances my calm was thrown off by the factor of a partner being present, which always lowered my score during these mindful sex experiments.

Feather touching sense-play during partnered pleasure mapping made me 48 percent calm. (Note: I'm unsure why this chart has a different design than the others, but it might have to do with length of time I was in each state).

Control session

Just another regular meditation session. This one gives credence to the idea of "practice makes perfect" when it comes to meditation. It got easier and easier with every day of consistent practice. I was so deep in it this time that I didn't even realize nearly seven minutes had passed, thinking it'd only been a few.

Control session for orgasmic mediation made me 65 percent calm.

Orgasmic meditation

Orgasmic meditation is one of the trendier mindful sex practices going around, even getting the Goop treatment. It's the central philosophy of places like The Institute of OM (previously OneTaste), a highly controversial studio that has offered classes for $199 where people rub each others' clitorises for 15 minutes while meditating.

But I felt down to try the basic premise of orgasmic meditation for the sake of the experiment and you, dear reader. So I got out the big guns in clitoral stimulation sex toys: the Womanizer. It felt like the best toy for the job (despite its misguided name) because the pinpoint suction stimulation induces almost involuntary orgasms in me, and the process is automatic enough to not require much maneuvering or thinking.

It was during this session that I felt the proof was in the pudding: I am indeed most at peace while getting off.

Before I started any sort of mindfulness practice, I used to say sex was the only time my overactive ADHD brain would blissfully shut off. And that experience proved true during my orgasmic meditation. It also goes to show that fantasizing during mindful sex exercises is a totally acceptable aid. I used Dipsea's audio erotic mediation story called "Sail," which puts you in the middle of a calming but arousing fantasy on the beach.

Orgasmic meditation with guided erotic meditation and the Womanizer sex toy helped me get to 71 percent calm.

But then I set out to gather biofeedback data of my orgasm using the Lioness, a rabbit vibrator that measures the force produced by your vaginal contractions during arousal. While the session felt wonderful and the orgasm was of the highest caliber, the Muse results were less favorable than my control case. I realized that was due to one fatal mistake.

Orgasmic meditation using the Lioness to track my orgasm had me at 52 percent calm.

A major principle of mindful sex, in all its forms, is to avoid any sort of goal-oriented expectations especially like putting pressure on yourself to climax. But because I wanted to have something to show for the experiment, that's exactly what I did. In my previous session, while I came close, it didn't matter whether or not I reached orgasm, leading to a more calming experience overall. To be fair to myself, though, the name "orgasmic" meditation itself kind of sets you up for failure in the expectation department.

Regardless, though, my tracked orgasm showed there's some credence to the claims of how mindful sex can lead to better orgasms. For comparison, here's a chart of a regular, quick and dirty orgasm (green) where I masturbated to visual porn versus my orgasmic mediation session (red).

As you can see, I started out with vaginal contractions with higher pressure and tension. But while that only mounted more and more until climax in the regular masturbation session, orgasmic meditation gave me the time and permission to relax my body. The results, both anecdotally and from the data, show a better orgasm. My climax from orgasmic meditation was not only longer, but I was physically more at ease, leading to a fuller body climax rather than a localized one that only sends those tingly good feelings to your clitoris. I rarely ever make any audible noise while masturbating, but in this case, I couldn't hold back a guttural and involuntary, "Oh!"

So is mindful or meditative masturbation perfect? Absolutely not. And the "proof" I managed to get only goes to show how it's a journey of discovery, figuring out what works best for you. But what I can say definitively is that these results show it's definitely worth shooting your shot.

More from March Mindfulness:

More here:

Masturbation meditation works. Heres the proof. - Mashable

Welcome back for the fourth and final week of Meditation Month, our annual challenge to sit all 31 days of March with Insight meditation teacher and writer Sebene Selassie.

This week, Sebene leads a guided meditation that incorporates the Buddhas teachings on all four elements and shows us how these teachings can help us strengthen and broaden our practice on and off the cushion. Focusing first on the element of air, Sebene reminds us of our interconnectedness with all beings. The breath is a very popular object of meditation, and we can use it to tap into the sense of not-self and connect with others.

We can experience the element of air as an ephemeral reality that not only sustains us moment-to-moment, but also connects us through time and space to all living creatures.

Reflecting on these last four weeks, Sebene invites us to take what weve learned about earth, water, fire, and air and use this knowledge to let go and find freedom in any moment.

Download a copy of this talk. It has been edited for clarity.

Thank you for meditating with more than 10,000 people around the world this month!

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Meditation Month 2020: Breathing with All Beings - Tricycle