8 Meditation Apps to Reduce Stress

Life can be stressful as a parent, as we have a lot to juggle! Whether you are a stay-at-home mom, working mom, work-from-home mom, etc – there’s a ton on the to-do list! Meditation apps can help you find a moment to practice self-care, relax, and recenter.

We asked moms what they do to help create balance, and many of you came back with meditation. It can be as little as a few minutes a day to help get you centered and have a more productive and less stressful day. We’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite meditation apps to help you get started.

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The Best Meditation Apps to Help You Practice Self-Care

Headspace

Headspace launched in 2010 as an events company, but attendees wanted to take home what they had learned. Fourteen years later, the mindfulness app remains the best meditation app available. Headspace offers the most extensive library of guided meditations, both for beginners needing extra guidance and more advanced options that are less structured. The app also features videos and articles and is very easy to navigate.

Healthy Minds

This free app offers straightforward tools focused on four main topics: awareness, connection, insight, and purpose. You can set up meditation sessions in five-minute increments, which means as a busy parent, if five or ten minutes is all you have, you can still fit it in. The app is goal-based, so you can feel like you’re working towards something. You’ll take a short survey the first time you open it, creating your baseline to work from in the four main focus points.

Calm

Calm is free to download and includes collections of meditations, sleep stories, mindfulness tools, nature scenes, music for focus, relaxation, and sleep, as well as an extensive kids’ section. The meditation app offers both guided and free-form sessions. It will track your progress, including your mood over time.

Five Minute Journal 

Journaling can be an excellent tool for practicing mindfulness, but you may only have a little time to sit down and write daily as a parent. This mindfulness and meditation app makes it easy. With just a few minutes a day, you can add small notes to keep you calm and focused at the start of your day and again at the end. The app also includes a small library of guided meditations and daily inspirational quotes.

Insight Timer

Featuring 30,000 free guided meditations, Insight Timer features one of the world’s largest collections of free guided meditations. The library includes relaxing music, inspiring talks, a small kids’ section, and live video sessions.

Oak Meditation

Oak helps the monkey-minded decompress by transforming meditation practices from experiments into habits. The app helps support you from your first session to your 500th with mindful, loving-kindness. In addition to meditation exercises, the app features an extensive collection of breathing exercises. Individualize your meditations by duration, and customize with silence or calming background sounds. Oak tracks your progress and encourages you to build a healthy meditation practice.

UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center – MARC

MARC brings the ancient art of mindful awareness in a scientifically supported and rigorous form to a renowned mental health research institution. The center offers free online and in-person drop-in meditations and the UCLA Mindful app that features guided meditations.

Smiling Mind

Adults aren’t the only ones who can benefit from meditation exercises. Kids and teens face a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety, and this app is targeted specifically towards meeting their needs. A straightforward and clean interface makes it easy for young users to navigate. In addition to regular guided meditation, the app offers a 35-session beginner’s course for those new to meditation.

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