Meditation for Stress Relief

I am not a teacher, expert or coach.  But I am a person who found a way through.  My experience with meditation came from needing to create space in an increasingly uncertain world, where fear and worry dominated my days.  

The resources I am sharing have been ever faithful companions--rocks to cling to in the storms of life.   I struggled to commit to meditation for years until I found a program called Headspace.  One of the greatest things I've learned is that showing up for meditation on the good days, is precisely what helps you show up for meditation on the bad days.   Is it easy to show up and meditate every day?  No.  Is it worth it?  Yes.  

My two favorite meditation apps are Insight Timer and Headspace.  I'll go through them briefly here; feel free to reach out with a message if you have questions about my experience with both.  

Headspace -  is wonderful app for a beginner who is looking for more guided meditation practices that help structure your experience.  There are courses that cover specific topics like Stress management, anxiety, sadness, self-esteem, anger, navigating change, loneliness,  happiness, and even pain management.  I love this app for the streak feature, and how it lets you "buddy" with your friends who are looking to improve their mindfulness.  You can send encouragement right through the app.  There are also sleep support programs that include:  wind-downs, sleepcasts, nightime SOS's and sleep music.  I got to sleep every night listening to a Sleepcast.  My faves are:  Midnight Launderette, Rainday Antiques and Sandy Cove.   Headspace has some FREE content currently due to the Pandemic so it is worth checking it out; otherwise it is a membership I will continue to support as it has supported me so much over the years.  

Insight Timer-  is FREE.  Just let that sink in.  So much free content in terms of meditations, music, talks.  The community piece in this app is lovely and you can sign up and follow people you jive with to see what they are meditating to.  You can also message your friends directly in the app.  This app has the most amazing free meditation timer that comes with zen-d out tones or music and you can add "mindfulness bells" to your timer.  I love this feature for Reiki self-practice to remind myself to move hand positions!    Insight Timer has a premium option that I am exploring this year.  It give you access to Courses, hundreds of courses that I love exploring.  If you've been looking for reasons to cut your Netflix and Chill hours to explore something deeper, this may just be for you.  I am loving my investment in the premium portion of this app and I like that it helps support the teachers who put their content into the app.