Meditation and Self-transformation apps

Question

Hello happy cow people.

Curious about what you’ll think about self-transformation and wellness apps out there. Meditation apps to podcasts too -- what do you all like to listen to? How do you think they could be better? 

Just to be totally transparent, I’m a user of meditation apps and am working on a self-transformation app myself.

Crito · Answer

It's corny and commercial, but I actually love the Calm app.  It's a good first step to effective meditation and some of the breathing exercises have been great for me.

HeadSpace is pretty good too.

Ultimately I'd like to get away from apps and try some TM, but just haven't committed the time and expense to that yet.

herwin · Answer

i used to read books about meditation. i didnt know there are meditation apps. i feel so oooooooold and so 20th century. i need a hug.... :-(

Crito · Answer

Ha!  I used to read books on meditation.  Got me nowhere.  I think you need the hands on training experience (certainly if you go to the extent of learning TM which has the best clinical results).  The next best thing is a good app with guided sessions.

Calm is worth it if you feel like paying for it.  I happened to join it when they had a very good deal on a lifetime membership, which I prefer over annual payments.  You can access some of the sessions in the free version.

Sam Harris has a great app called "Waking Up".  Again, its a few free sessions and then you have to pay (which I did not).  He comes at meditation from more of a neuroscientist perspective than a hippy-dippy spiritual angle, so it's interesting.  

Prefer Calm because they have sleep stories that knock me the hell out at night and I also prefer a female meditation voice (Tamara Levitt) than a male for some reason.

Mountainmystic · Answer

Get real. Meditation with an app? Does the Dalai Lama & the monks use an app? Come on. Get real.  People have meditated for thousands of years without an app. You have to be silent, empty your mind for 1 microsecond, then increase that over time. I have been practicing meditation for 31 years as an adult. I can meditate at will while awake & shift my consciousness. I am psychic, intuitive,  can astral travel & regularly channel. Try doing that with an app? No way. 

Self-transformation & awareness come through practice. Leave it to modern technology to try to shortcut the process to higher consciousness via an app! Shut the cell phone and computer off & just be in tbe moment. That's real. Argh.

Mountainmystic · Answer

And while you are meditating using your app., get some more electromagnetic radiation from your devices. And don't forget the subliminal programming through television programs, commercials, you tube, etc. Have fun meditating with your app. No thanks. Count me out.

herwin · Answer

i prefer not to listen to a voice from anapp or tape bc to me it seems more like hypnotising than meditating. i like the most simple zen meditation breathing, especially that put it in context or relation with japanese martial arts.
just....breathing. nothing fancy. be in the moment. although it is not in my gentle nature to chose sides, i feel inclined to be on MM  side. 

wow, aren't we having fun with all these interesting discussions. if we just stay polite and "nice" ti eachother and "agree" all the time instead, what a dull and short conversations we would have!

Mountainmystic · Answer

Thanks Herwin. Yes, interesting discussions. I get fired up when I really believe in something. I just get frustrated with many people not thinking for themselves and letting computer do it for them. We as a world are not getting smarter. Opposite.
 
Deep breaths are a tool I use during the day when I'm stressed out at work. I live a dual life in science & metaphysical worlds. Not easy, but I like to expand my mind & explore that which can't be "seen" or readily quantified yet by physics knowledge on Earth, but is energy nonetheless. Everything has energy--atoms, electrons, neutrons, & protons. Thoughts have energy. Thoughts and energy behind them are very powerful. I just find it interesting. Just be in the moment.

herwin · Answer

thx for sharing. well, one practical purpose for me with breathing is like, when i cant remember where i put something, like my keys or glasses, like everyone i get agitated. Than, first i STOP, next i take a few deep conscious slow breaths, and 9 out of 10 times, i walk straight to the lost item. breathing, its so amazing.

Mountainmystic · Answer

Thanks for that breathing technique to find your keys. It calms the mind. Or maybe they have an app to find your keys? It's called a gps chip.

Crito · Answer

I get the disdain for an app, but like I said, it’s been a good starting point for me having been ignorant of meditation techniques. 

Practices to time the start and stop of breaths which have helped me elongate my natural breathing, knowing what and how to tune out thoughts...maybe it comes natural to you but the guidance I received on the Calm app has helped me greatly. Now I actually can meditate on my own without the app or guidance at all. It’s a crutch but a helpful one. 

The electromagnetic effect from a device or radiation is pretty negligible by most nonbiased reputable studies. You’re likely getting more radiation every time you step into sunlight than from a cell phone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dismissing the concept entirely. There’s just enough radiation that’s its worth keeping it a few inches from your body. But the blue light circadian rhythm disruption, dopamine addiction on every ding, time away from more productive and mentally stimulating actions, etc are all enough to warrant less device time without getting into radiation. 

I would still like to try a TM class because the effects on the brain after TM sessions are incredible. Better than a deep REM sleep.

Mountainmystic · Answer

Just the fact that you are meditating is good. How you do it & what works for you is up to you. Sounds like the Calm app helped you get to where you are now. You mentioned unbiased reputable studies regarding the electromagnetic effect from a device or radiation is pretty negligible. Science news published a study more than a decade ago about the effects of cell phone use on the brain by holding it to your ear. Increased brain surgeries, chemo & radiation treatments are the wave of the future.  There's as many studies citing the effects of radiation & EM on the brain,  as there probably disputing it. There is bias in every scientific study and every one's opinion. Just depends who is doing the research & more importantly funding it, or the opinionating.

herwin · Answer

i am not into apps but that said i have various apps very usefull like Google Translate etc. When i read Crito's comment i think that a meditation app might not be that bad and even usefull for beginners (like me) . i like the "cruches" comparison, dont we all need it sometimes? :-)

JanieGray · Answer

It’s very important to take self-care. Awareness changes the way we interact with life every day. By having higher sensory perception, we begin to trust that we can participate in creating our lives to be more of an adventure than just living stress-filled days that seem to have no direction. One way to gain new levels of awareness is through meditation. 

I have experienced using the SOS Method app(https://sosmethod.co/). It's unique in that it doesn't require you to quiet your mind, it only takes minutes, and it's been endorsed by doctors, scientists, and regular people all over the world. It's a special formula that fuses music, tones, words and white space, and there are programs for all kinds of needs/issues/goals.

jjwalters · Answer

I'm from the way back sixties before apps and computers . . . in those days we used psychedelics to help us find the deeper world . . . today it apps, etc. but personally for me, I ultimately discovered it only takes a quiet place free from the babbling of men and maybe a tree to sit under, in order to reach those places that have no description. I have no tricks, even breathing. It's kinda sad knowing that there is so much more for all of us if we would only drop the gadgets and slow down long enough to see it. . . .

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