Student life can be a stressful experience with the pressure of exams, deadlines to keep and the constant digital distractions, making it difficult to focus on the important things. Mindfulness is a practice that focuses the mind on what is happening right now, and can be a powerful tool to manage these distractions.
For students, practicing mindfulness regularly can not only relieve stress and anxiety, but also improve memory and boost levels of attention and concentration, leading to better grades. Practising mindfulness involves doing simple breathing and meditation practices which increase self-awareness and helps you live in the moment. The techniques are easy to learn and can be practised at any time, whether you're studying, spending time with friends or attending a class.
As a result of a high demand caused by the pandemic, there is no shortage of mindfulness apps to choose from. Here, we're sharing some of the most popular free meditation apps you can use to help you stay calm and focused.
Calm
Calm is a meditation, sleep and relaxation app that creates unique audio content that strengthens mental fitness and tackles some of the biggest mental health challenges of today: stress, anxiety, insomnia, and depression. The most popular feature on Calm is a 10-minute meditation called, 'The Daily Calm,' that explores a fresh mindful theme and inspiring concept each day. Calm also contains some 100 Sleep Stories (bed-time stories for grown-ups), plus sleep music, meditation lessons, nature sounds, Calm Masterclasses delivered by world experts, and more.
The Calm app is free to download and some free content is available, but a paid subscription to Calm Premium unlocks access to Calm's entire content library.
Insight Timer
Insight Timer is among the most popular apps for Meditation, Sleep, Anxiety, and Mindfulness. The app provides guided meditations and talks led by the world's top meditation and mindfulness experts, neuroscientists, psychologists, and teachers from esteemed universities like Stanford, Harvard, and the University of Oxford as well as music tracks from world-renowned artists.
The main free features include 100,000+ guided meditations of varying length, thousands of music tracks and ambient sounds, a meditation timer, discussion groups and progress tracking.
Headspace
Headspace was one of the first meditation apps and remains one of the best-known on the market
Headspace offers hundreds of guided meditations on everything from managing stress and everyday anxiety to sleep, focus, and mind-body health. The meditations cater for every experience level and lifestyle, including short, 3-minute sessions that fit seamlessly into a busy schedule.
The free version offers 10 “Basic” sessions for beginners and a few other guided meditations for sleep and exercise.
Smiling Mind
Smiling Mind is a completely free mindfulness meditation app developed by psychologists and educators to assist people in dealing with the pressure, stress, and challenges of daily life.
The app provides a library of guided practice sessions tailored for adults, teens and kids. The programs teach the fundamentals of mindfulness meditation to help develop skills in managing anything from stress and sleep to relationships and mindful eating. Tracks can be downloaded for use offline or added to favourites. You can also keep track of the number sessions you complete and record how your mood changes over time. Smiling Mind includes a number of meditations in Indigenous Australian languages (Kriol, Ngaanyatjarra & Pitjantjatjara).
UCLA Mindful
Another completely free mindfulness app developed by the Mindful Awareness Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In addition to basic meditations for beginners, the app offers wellness meditations for people suffering from challenging health conditions, informative videos and weekly podcasts on different themes you can search for and bookmark. There is also a timer to meditate on your own.
For students, practicing mindfulness regularly can not only relieve stress and anxiety, but also improve memory and boost levels of attention and concentration, leading to better grades. Practising mindfulness involves doing simple breathing and meditation practices which increase self-awareness and helps you live in the moment. The techniques are easy to learn and can be practised at any time, whether you're studying, spending time with friends or attending a class.
As a result of a high demand caused by the pandemic, there is no shortage of mindfulness apps to choose from. Here, we're sharing some of the most popular free meditation apps you can use to help you stay calm and focused.
Calm
Calm is a meditation, sleep and relaxation app that creates unique audio content that strengthens mental fitness and tackles some of the biggest mental health challenges of today: stress, anxiety, insomnia, and depression. The most popular feature on Calm is a 10-minute meditation called, 'The Daily Calm,' that explores a fresh mindful theme and inspiring concept each day. Calm also contains some 100 Sleep Stories (bed-time stories for grown-ups), plus sleep music, meditation lessons, nature sounds, Calm Masterclasses delivered by world experts, and more.
The Calm app is free to download and some free content is available, but a paid subscription to Calm Premium unlocks access to Calm's entire content library.
Insight Timer
Insight Timer is among the most popular apps for Meditation, Sleep, Anxiety, and Mindfulness. The app provides guided meditations and talks led by the world's top meditation and mindfulness experts, neuroscientists, psychologists, and teachers from esteemed universities like Stanford, Harvard, and the University of Oxford as well as music tracks from world-renowned artists.
The main free features include 100,000+ guided meditations of varying length, thousands of music tracks and ambient sounds, a meditation timer, discussion groups and progress tracking.
Headspace
Headspace was one of the first meditation apps and remains one of the best-known on the market
Headspace offers hundreds of guided meditations on everything from managing stress and everyday anxiety to sleep, focus, and mind-body health. The meditations cater for every experience level and lifestyle, including short, 3-minute sessions that fit seamlessly into a busy schedule.
The free version offers 10 “Basic” sessions for beginners and a few other guided meditations for sleep and exercise.
Smiling Mind
Smiling Mind is a completely free mindfulness meditation app developed by psychologists and educators to assist people in dealing with the pressure, stress, and challenges of daily life.
The app provides a library of guided practice sessions tailored for adults, teens and kids. The programs teach the fundamentals of mindfulness meditation to help develop skills in managing anything from stress and sleep to relationships and mindful eating. Tracks can be downloaded for use offline or added to favourites. You can also keep track of the number sessions you complete and record how your mood changes over time. Smiling Mind includes a number of meditations in Indigenous Australian languages (Kriol, Ngaanyatjarra & Pitjantjatjara).
UCLA Mindful
Another completely free mindfulness app developed by the Mindful Awareness Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In addition to basic meditations for beginners, the app offers wellness meditations for people suffering from challenging health conditions, informative videos and weekly podcasts on different themes you can search for and bookmark. There is also a timer to meditate on your own.
