Best Apps to Promote Mindfulness for iPhone
HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU WISHED FOR A PERSONAL ASSISTANT?
Mindfulness in a modern world can be hard, especially with all the distractions of social media, healthy trends that come and go, and juggling time commitments.
Luckily there are a ton of really awesome apps that (while not centered around mindfulness) can help get you into better, healthier routines, which, in turn, will create a better space to be mindful in.
Sleep Cycle tracks the quality of your sleep and wakes you up when you’re out of a REM cycle.
SLEEP CYCLE
Sleep is one of the most important factors in day-to-day health, but it’s one of the most common problems in adulthood. According to a study done by the CDC in 2016, ONE THIRD of adults don’t get the recommended 7 hours of sleep.
One. Third.
Sleep Cycle is an app designed to help you track your sleeping habits and wake up easier (actually this is my favorite feature of the app).
What’s so cool about it is, instead of a regular alarm clock that wakes you up at an exact time, with Sleep Cycle the process is intuitive. You set it for a range of time (usually 30 mins) and the app tracks when you are sleeping the lightest and wakes you up then. This means you’ll wake up easier and, as an added bonus, you’ll be less groggy.
The premium version comes with all sorts of great extras, like sleep aids and a snore tracker, but if you don’t want to spend $30 a year on it, the free version is still amazing.
Fabulous helps you create and stick to healthy habits!
FABULOUS
So, what comes first, a good sleep schedule, or a good morning ritual? In most people’s cases you probably need to work on both. Morning people are a different breed, I swear.
Don’t just get up, be FABULOUS! Joking aside, Fabulous is an app that teaches you how to form good habits for highly effective people. Bad habits are easy to pick up and hard to break, but with this app you’re one step closer to your goals.
I absolutely LOVE it. The “journeys” are full of wonderful tips and tricks towards building better habits, plus the app includes small pep talks scattered throughout to help with motivation.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
I’d spend all blog singing the praises of this app if I could, but I need to leave room for the other ones! Here’s a link to another blog specifically about Fabulous. One more thing, the app includes several meditations you can use, so if you’d like to add a little mindfulness to your routine this makes it just that much easier!
Would you like an hour of your day back? Moments could be the key.
MOMENT
Now that I’ve spent this whole post going on and on about apps, I’d like to bring your attention to something called nomophobia: the fear of being without your phone.
More commonly it is referred to as “smartphone addiction” and it can have long term negative effects on your health, social life, and productivity.
Enter Moment, an app that tracks your phone usage and develops strategies to help reduce that usage.
I’ve found it to be particularly helpful when I need to focus for an extended period of time, plus I’ve noticed a change in my sleeping habits when I avoid using my phone before bed.
Insight Timer for meditation.
MINDFUL iOS
I went over some apps that don’t focus on mindfulness, but if you’re interested…
I LOVE Insight Timer for meditations. It’s fantastic!! And free! The meditations are mood based, so you can always find your perfect flow.
Day One for journaling.
Also, I’ve just started journaling after meditations using Day One.
I write whatever comes out of my brain, without editing it for about 5 minutes. If I can’t think of what to say and still have more time left, I write, “I have no idea what to say...” or something like that, until I do have a thought.
Having a holistic approach to health will help your mindfulness, and your mindfulness will improve your holistic health.
Have you used any of these apps before?
If you have let me know in the comments, if not, leave a comment about which one is the most interesting to you!
If you have a hard time using apps, or need a little more structure in your mindfulness practices, check out some of the services I provide!
From my home studio in Tampa Bay I offer yoga and meditation classes (both personal and corporate), as well as workshops for MBSR. If you’re not in the Tampa Bay area I have several online classes available through Zoom Meeting.
Be sure to follow me @lotusheartmindfulness on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest for more mindfulness inspiration!
