Meditation apps aim to lift the spirits, calm the stressful

[Mark]

Meditation apps aim to lift the spirits, calm the stressful

In a bad mood but not sure why? New smartphone apps provide short guided meditations designed to help users return to a positive state of mind.

Stop, Breathe & Think, a free iPhone app, prompts people to check how they are feeling mentally, emotionally and physically and will recommend three guided meditations between five and 10 minutes long.

"We wanted to give people a friendly and accessible tool to develop these skills - something they could easily integrate into their daily routine," said Jamie Price, executive director of Tools for Peace, a California-based non-profit which developed the app.

It aims to help people feel more grounded, calmer and happier, he added, and to recognize emotions and impulses and to react positively.

"The recommended meditations are meant to be a support, to help you deal with whatever is going on from the perspective of kindness and compassion, and with a greater sense of being positively connected," Price said in an interview.

It includes 15 guided meditations based on Tibetan teachings. Users can track their progress including how long they have meditated and how settled they feel every day.

Canadian singer k.d. lang, who serves on the group's board, said she used the app as a reset button for stressful days.

"Our goal is that after using this app people learn how to become calm, and approach their everyday life from the perspective of kindness and compassion," she said.

A similar free app called Headspace, which is available for iPhone and Android, also teaches meditation and provides a free ten-day program that leads users through short guided meditations.

It also features specialized meditations to improve sleep or reduce stress or other problems, as well as paid programs. Users can track their progress day-by-day in a dashboard and set reminders to keep on top of their practices.

Studies have shown the positive benefits of meditation, including research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which found that it may be helpful for reducing anxiety and depression.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/meditation-apps-aim-lift-spirits-calm-stressful-194219283.html

[Psalm 51:17]

Studies have shown the positive benefits of meditation, including research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which found that it may be helpful for reducing anxiety and depression.

Short term, maybe, but not at all long term.

Personally during my unsaved days, I've tried these meditation practices - I felt much better in the short term, but over the long term? Not at all - all of the tensions and angry attitudes just crept back and didn't go away.

[Kilika]

Maybe temporary, but in the end, it depends on one's beliefs as to how it affects you. If you use it as a means to stop and take a deep breath, to calm down, it can help in the sense you are simply making an effort to calm down, and that in itself is what people experience I think. Beyond that, the person who meditates is opening the door to other spirits.

The ONLY meditation we as believers are to do is...

"Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all." 1 Timothy 4:15 (KJB)