Meditating is something they say you should be doing every day for your mental health; similar to how drinking eight glasses of water or cleaning your teeth morning and night is good for your body. I have heard it a zillion times by multiple lightworkers, podcasters, and wellness gurus. I drink my water and brush my teeth, yet meditating is something I just struggle to be consistent at. Life just gets in the way. Excuses are made. I can do it for several days at a time then will get off track which puts me off trying it again for a while.

I have been meditating on and off for the past ten years. One of my first experience’s with mediation was once a week, each Saturday at 7am. It was a free class and only ten minutes from home. I still have vivid memories now of how difficult it was, as a workaholic dealing with chronic stress, to just sit and give myself this hour to be still. With this mindset it was even more important to carve out some time to meditate, however, I just kept coming back to placing more emphasis on my work than my mental health.

Back then I would focus and count my breaths, and then just keep coming back to one every time my mind wandered. Our teacher used the book ‘16 Guidelines for Life’ by Alison Murdoch and Dekyi-Lee Oldershaw to inspire and motivate us. If you ever get a chance to read it, do, it’s an encouraging and practical book. Then a few years later I did a ‘Yoga off the mat’ course and we meditated using a mala and a mantra. That made sense to me and kept my mind busy, yet calm. I felt successful at it but again, I did not do it long enough to form a habit to continue the practice. Then there are moments on holidays when I am on a train or travelling a distance in car or bus where I just feel complete and my mind is still, and content and I feel pure bliss. What I have learnt is that meditation looks different for everyone.

So, these days I use apps. There is a tonne out there.

The Insight Timer app has been the trick for me. It has guided meditations, or you can choose music from many different teachers. The thing I love is that it has a tracker. It keeps track of how many days in a row you have meditated for. As I am naturally competitive and A-type personality, I love this style. It gives that extra accountability and you can link up with friends that also use the app. If you miss a day you go back to day one, so it gives me real encouragement to meditate every day.

You could also give some of these meditation apps a go. They are free downloads. See what suits your mediation style. Or use a mix of all. Mediation is great for your nerve function. You will not be so reactive and not immediately go in to fight or flight response in certain situations. There are only benefits to giving meditation a go. It could change your life. Don’t focus on perfection. Just focus on giving it your best shot. It may just calm your mind.

• Stop, Breathe & Think – practice calming mediation by checking in with your emotions and then based on your results the app recommends meditations specifically for you, yoga and acupressure videos. This app helps tame anxiety, reduce stress, breathe more mindfully, sleep better, and track your mood and progress.

• Smiling Minds app – aims to help each mind thrive. Programs are available for all ages and stages of life. This app works on your mindfulness.

• Calm – is a popular meditation and sleep stories app. It too can recommend meditations for you depending upon your feelings.

• Oak – guides you to live a more mindful, relaxed life. You have a tree which will grow the more time you spend meditating.

• Headspace – is a guide to health and happiness. Helpful for getting a better night’s rest through guided meditations and mindfulness techniques. It also helps you to be less distracted and more focused on the things that matter.

Give them a go and let me know which one is your preference.