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How to Pick a Meditation App

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Re: How to Pick a Meditation App

#11

Post by hacker_9 »

rtl49 wrote: post #6
hacker_9 wrote: post #2

I've been meditating for over 2 years now and can tell you you definitely do not need to pay for an app to do it. "One of the more challenging problems in learning to meditate is remembering to do it." I do it every night before going to sleep. That's not hard to remember, plus it clears your mind for a deeper sleep. You can go to bed at your normal time as well, as the meditation can be considered as part of your sl…

I've been (trying to) meditate for about four years now. I even attended a ten day silent meditation retreat in September, which I wrote about in another post. I still find it extremely difficult. People vary in their aptitude for meditation, and for those like me these "aids" are appealing. For myself, I don't see the value of the apps; I'd just as soon use any of hundreds of decent guided meditations on Youtube.

I struggled for a long time too in the beginning. Mainly I would get bored. I finally broke though that plateau though by realizing boredom was just another thought passing through my mind that I could observe, instead of be a part of. You just have to keep at it to arrive at these insights.

Re: How to Pick a Meditation App

#12

Post by mbrock »

rtl49 wrote: post #6
hacker_9 wrote: post #2

I've been meditating for over 2 years now and can tell you you definitely do not need to pay for an app to do it. "One of the more challenging problems in learning to meditate is remembering to do it." I do it every night before going to sleep. That's not hard to remember, plus it clears your mind for a deeper sleep. You can go to bed at your normal time as well, as the meditation can be considered as part of your sl…

I've been (trying to) meditate for about four years now. I even attended a ten day silent meditation retreat in September, which I wrote about in another post. I still find it extremely difficult. People vary in their aptitude for meditation, and for those like me these "aids" are appealing. For myself, I don't see the value of the apps; I'd just as soon use any of hundreds of decent guided meditations on Youtube.

The eagerness with which people recommend those very intense ten day retreats to anyone saying they'd like to start meditating indicates a problem, in my view.

Plenty of people find them valuable, but they're also a pretty extreme way to start out. To me it seems likely to turn people off; after all they're designed to be a kind of boot camp experience.

And then on the internet people are often bringing up how they sit in lotus posture for an hour every day...

People can discuss whatever they want and make whatever suggestions they want, of course, but I think it's all likely to construe meditation as necessarily tedious, painful, and time-consuming.

I'm curious, have you tried maintaining a habit of sitting for something like 10 or 5 minutes per day? In some non-contorted posture, like kneeling on a meditation bench?

Not to imply that "everyone should be able to do that" or whatever, but if all your attempts for years have been ambitious, that could be demotivating... whereas kneeling and breathing for 5 minutes is a great way to get started.

Re: How to Pick a Meditation App

#13

Post by hacker_9 »

tdkl wrote: post #8

I've used the Calm app for the introduction course to learn about how to meditate and start with guidance, then I continued on my own. Paying 10$ monthly for sitting still is hilarious. IMHO the quantity of these kind of apps, guides and whatnot simply offer a paradox of choice, which is ironic, since the user wants to relax, not obsess if he bought the right app, subscription and/or meditation technique. I now use E…

Personally I just used to use the built in timer with my phone and do 30min sessions. But these days I have far more success with just sitting without a timer. I recommend doing it at night where you can do this unbounded by anything.

Re: How to Pick a Meditation App

#15

Post by will_pseudonym »

tinyhappysteps wrote: post #14

Quick plug - made a free app with no ads or IAP - https://itunes.apple.com/app/tiny-calm/id1039698577?mt=8 Has simple reminders, quick access widget, tracking and encouragement - basically all the features I wanted in a meditation app but I couldn't find for free on the appstore.

Could you elaborate a little on how you built the app? There have been lots of small apps like this that I could build quickly in my preferred environment, but I have no idea how to get started on iOS. Any resources you can recommend?

Re: How to Pick a Meditation App

#16

Post by tinyhappysteps »

will_pseudonym wrote: post #15
tinyhappysteps wrote: post #14

Quick plug - made a free app with no ads or IAP - https://itunes.apple.com/app/tiny-calm/id1039698577?mt=8 Has simple reminders, quick access widget, tracking and encouragement - basically all the features I wanted in a meditation app but I couldn't find for free on the appstore.

Could you elaborate a little on how you built the app? There have been lots of small apps like this that I could build quickly in my preferred environment, but I have no idea how to get started on iOS. Any resources you can recommend?

Sure - it's a fun project.

It was my first app and released it after 2 months of learning to code. Mostly learned from reading Apple's swift book, taking a $10 udemy course (there are a bunch out there) and lots of stackoverflow when I got stuck.

I blogged about the process from hello world here - http://tinyhappysteps.com/

Re: How to Pick a Meditation App

#17

Post by rosege »

tinyhappysteps wrote: post #16
will_pseudonym wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate a little on how you built the app? There have been lots of small apps like this that I could build quickly in my preferred environment, but I have no idea how to get started on iOS. Any resources you can recommend?

Sure - it's a fun project. It was my first app and released it after 2 months of learning to code. Mostly learned from reading Apple's swift book, taking a $10 udemy course (there are a bunch out there) and lots of stackoverflow when I got stuck. I blogged about the process from hello world here - http://tinyhappysteps.com/

Any plans for an Android version?

Re: How to Pick a Meditation App

#18

Post by tathastu »

The Insight Meditation Center has a ton of introductory talks and guided meditations available for free: http://audiodharma.org/series/1/talk/1762/ for example.

All you need is a timer which is already built in to most phones; if you want a slightly better timer that has a soothing chime, use https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.xipa.medigo... which is also free (and has no ads, social networking features or other annoying stuff).

Re: How to Pick a Meditation App

#19

Post by tinyhappysteps »

rosege wrote: post #17
tinyhappysteps wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure - it's a fun project. It was my first app and released it after 2 months of learning to code. Mostly learned from reading Apple's swift book, taking a $10 udemy course (there are a bunch out there) and lots of stackoverflow when I got stuck. I blogged about the process from hello world here - http://tinyhappysteps.com/

Any plans for an Android version?

I've started learning Android so hopefully cant get something out in a couple months, maybe sooner if it's less painful

Re: How to Pick a Meditation App

#20

Post by rtl49 »

mbrock wrote: post #12
rtl49 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been (trying to) meditate for about four years now. I even attended a ten day silent meditation retreat in September, which I wrote about in another post. I still find it extremely difficult. People vary in their aptitude for meditation, and for those like me these "aids" are appealing. For myself, I don't see the value of the apps; I'd just as soon use any of hundreds of decent guided meditations on Youtube.

The eagerness with which people recommend those very intense ten day retreats to anyone saying they'd like to start meditating indicates a problem, in my view. Plenty of people find them valuable, but they're also a pretty extreme way to start out. To me it seems likely to turn people off; after all they're designed to be a kind of boot camp experience. And then on the internet people are often bringing up how they s…

I agree that some people recommend the retreats with too little restraint. I'm a fairly young and healthy person, and I still found sitting still while cross-legged for long periods of time very painful. Even on the last day I found it impossible to sit longer than an hour without moving. And this practice is encouraged -- they were called "sittings of strong determination." This is not to mention the difficulty of meditation itself and the ten-day abstention from communication and all intellectual activity.

That said, I can't plead ignorance, just overconfidence. Since the retreat, I have lasted no longer than fifteen minutes at a time. I prefer lying down (I'm not tempted to sleep). It actually feels like I'm a worse meditator now than I was before the retreat, though I've been assured that this is a "sign of progress."

Truthfully, after maybe 140 hours of practice, I have doubts about the purported benefits. The ultimate aim, the end of suffering, seems like an impossible and likely undesirable goal. For now, I use it as needed to clear my mind when I need to focus.

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