A few days ago I had this anxious feeling I couldn’t shake off. I didn’t know where it was coming from or the reason why I was feeling that way.
I took a step back and tried to remember the previous week, checked my to-do list, pulled up my calendar for the week ahead but still came out empty. I was pretty sure everything was in place so there was nothing to be anxious about.
My friend shared that there is always a trigger to such feeling and suggested that I dig deeper within myself and try to find out what it was. I reflected through the day but still the same result.
It came to a point that my heart was beating fast and had this same feeling when you ride a roller coaster when it is about to drop. Was I suffering from some kind of panic attack? But why? Unfortunately, things like this just happen out of the blue and I’m pretty sure I am not an isolated case.
So I thought I’d share this great experience about a relaxation app I downloaded early last year because I wanted to practice mindfulness every day during my morning commute to work.
As we live in a stress-filled pressure pack world, sometimes it is just too much to handle or in my case, it hit me out of nowhere for no particular reason, apps like this prove to be handy and can save us from all the worries and anxiety.
Good thing relaxation apps are readily available wherever we go. With a swipe and a tap of a button, my anxiety was gone that day and I was back to my normal self.
There’s no shortage of mindfulness/relaxing app out there to choose from, most of them are free and are downloadable on both iOS and Android.
They are in no particular order but I made sure they are easy to use and are stacked with useful content to help you combat stress and anxiety, let you sleep better, and best of all calm your mind.
1. CALM
Calm lives up to its name the moment you open the app. Relaxing sounds of falling rain play automatically in the background. The serene interface is just the beginning.
Enjoy guided meditations at various lengths to help with everything from building self-esteem to calming anxiety. Each day, subscribers will get the “Daily Calm,” which has a 10-minute program to help you welcome the day or unwind at the end of it.
Calm’s free offerings include basic mindfulness practices. These free meditations, about 25 in total, come in different lengths, from a quick 3-minute meditation to a half-hour sit.
You can start off with 7 Days of Calm, a week-long beginners’ series that includes practices for cultivating awareness, returning to the breath when the mind wanders, and training for how to bounce back when the brain switches into “autopilot mode.”
Other free sessions include 7 Days of Sleep and Calming Anxiety. Plus, like many other apps, you can set a timer for silent meditation or meditate to intermittent bells. For access to all their programs, you must have the paid subscription.
Put the power of mindfulness to work to help ease your anxiety. Stop, Breathe & Think encourages you to understand why you’re meditating and see how it’s benefiting you in order to keep up the habit.
Each day when you open the app, you’re invited to check in with yourself—to rate your mind and body on a scale of “rough” to “great,” and note up to five emotions you’re feeling. Then, the app will recommend meditations, yoga videos, and acupressure videos tailored to how you feel.
The app features 34 free sessions. You can even choose a male or female voice with either Grecco or Jamie as your meditation guide. Most of the meditations are short, up to 15 minutes, and feature simple introductory practices. You can also simply set a timer and sit in silence, or learn different breathing techniques, or listen to relaxing forest sounds.
This app is free to use for the foundational meditations and you can purchase a subscription to buy more content. It also offers two options for a premium membership that will unlock 85+ premium activities and features. Track how you feel before and after meditation, and view yoga videos.
Breathe2Relax is a stress management tool that helps you learn diaphragmatic breathing. This can break that awful fight-or-flight response that so many people experience when they have a panic attack.
The breathing exercises also aid in mood stabilization, anger control, and overall anxiety management. View the different areas of the body that can hold on to stress, and use breathing to let go of it.
Breathe2Relax was created as a way to offer veterans a simple and easy-to-learn relaxation skill (diaphragmatic breathing) for use in controlling anxiety related to stress and trauma-related triggers. It first asks users to watch an introductory video that includes visual and auditory instructions on the technique of diaphragmatic breathing.
Users can then complete a guided relaxation exercise that uses a visual timer and audio instructions to help users maintain even, deep breathing. Before and after the exercise, users have the additional option of rating their stress, which is recorded and graphed over time.
Breathe2Relax also contains several videos and articles that explain stress, its effects on the brain and body, and how diaphragmatic breathing can be used to relax.
Furthermore, it has a “body scanner” that displays an interactive model of a male body allows users to learn about the effects of stress on a particular part of the body by clicking on it.
Finally, the app presents daily wellness tips that cover a broad range of topics related to health and well-being.
4. COLORFY
Are you stressed out? Coloring some shapes might get you relaxed. Harness the power of creativity to alleviate anxiety.
For your first time using it, you’ll be provided with an intro-drawing, already half done, just so you can get the feel of what the app’s all about. Simply fill in the drawing however you want to and feel free to use any of the 72 colors available to you, anyway you’d like.
There are some basic colors, a free daily palette you can even vote for and two-color collections named “autumn” and “chill mood”. Drawing collections range from florals to animals, message templates, mandalas and best of all you can create your own.
Whether you’re stressed or in a full-blown panic attack, Colorfy offers a fun way to get your mind off of things. It features an augmented reality function so you can view your pictures in a real-world perspective. Need to wind down? Just color!
The app features an inspiration feed as well, much like your Instagram feed. You have the option of liking the drawings and commenting on them as well. You can easily share your works with your friends, either on social media or in private messages. It’s up to you.
Colorfy is a nice and engaging coloring app. Its high-quality templates and looks overall, user-friendly UI, not to mention the great variety of both drawings and colors make it stand out.
5. 7 CUPS
We live in a world where you can be surrounded by people, but still feel lonely, with nobody to turn to when things get rough.
But being heard is an important part of being human. Sometimes, you just need someone to listen. Talk about whatever has you stressed, or chat with others dealing with anxiety disorders. This app provides a confidential place to chat.
Community is at the heart of 7 Cups. Meet people who understand.
No matter who you are or what you’re going through, this is a place where you’ll be heard and cared for. We might be strangers on the surface, but underneath we’re just the friends you haven’t met yet.
It also features more than 300 mindfulness exercises as well as access to licensed therapists. Think of it as emotional support on-demand. They also offer a premium paid subscription.
We all go through things in our lives that seem too much to handle and feel unbearable at times. Acknowledging that we need help and it is not a weakness to seek one, can make our situation so much better. Technology is considered a blessing and a curse by many but having apps like these readily available on the palm of our hands and a tap of a button that can uplift and help us go through life with ease, it just brings hope and feels our hearts with gratitude despite the gloomy future that most people believe awaits us.
