Best Free Meditation Apps to Unwind During Finals

photo credit: iStock / Daniel de la Hoz

by Sydney Fiorentino (Student Health Blogger)

Sometimes school can get overwhelming, especially with end of the year projects and finals coming around the corner. One method that I use to help me decompress is meditation. 

Meditation is where you concentrate on connecting your mind to your body. Through this practice, your mind can start to feel cleared of stress, which will help bring you to the present moment. Practicing meditation  can even lower your heart rate, lower your blood pressure, and improve your sleep quality. 

With all these benefits, you may be wondering: how do I get started with meditation? Well, one way is through meditation apps. Taking a few minutes everyday to open an app and run your mind through a meditation practice is super simple! Here are my top four free meditation apps:

Mindful USC 

Mindful USC is USC’s guided meditation app. I used this app when I was first getting introduced to meditation as it has different meditation sessions geared towards what is on your mind. For instance, letting go is one aspect of my life that causes a lot of stress and tenseness in my body. Through the meditation app, the instructor will tell you how to breathe, how to relax your body, and how to let go and come to the present. In addition to this practice, it also lets you find meditation practice groups, as well as regulate your mood.

Nod

Nod is an app offered by USC Student Health at no additional cost to students, where you can reflect and bring yourself to the present. While the app isn’t for guided meditation, it allows you to reflect on your goals, gives you ideas on how to achieve them, and helps regulate your mood. It’s essentially an app that is similar to a diary where you can share, write, or reflect on any thoughts or ideas you have.

Breethe

Breethe is a free app that can help you with meditation, sleep, or anxiety. It has guided meditation sessions, meditation stories, music, and peaceful sounds to help you relieve anything on your mind. My favorite aspect of this app is the wide variety of topics the meditation app addresses. For instance, hypnotherapy options for addressing anything from increasing your confidence to manifesting your goals. The app has a multitude of options to help you with your goals.

Calm

Calm is a meditation and sleep app that provides the user with stories, music, or guided meditation related to whatever topic you want to focus on. Calm also has a check-in feature where you can reflect on things you’re grateful for, reflect on the quality of your sleep, and much more. While there are many free audio options available on this app, to unlock all videos and features, you need to subscribe to get additional content.

Out of all the apps I have tried, I would say Nod is my most favorite app for reflection and Mindful USC is my favorite for mediation. I really like how Nod gives you ideas and tips on how to improve yourself, something other apps do not provide. In conjunction, this app pairs well with the Mindful USC app as you can meditate and then right after reflect.

Meditation and reflection can be difficult if you are new to the practice. No worries if it’s hard at first, – it’s a process and journey that gets easier with practice. Meanwhile, check out Miguel’s transition into meditating for thirty days straight to see if you can get any meditation tricks.

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