Best App for Meditation: Insight Timer

insight-timerThe Insight Timer App created by Spotlight Six Software for iPhone and iPad is hands down the best meditation timer on the App Store. The thing I like most about it is that it provides high quality recorded Tibeten bells that actually ring out and don’t cut off after playing for a few seconds like other meditation apps on the app store. Being a musician, I find this very refreshing especially since the sounds are so well recorded. The overall vibe, design and feel of the page feels unobtrusive and calming. Thank you Brad Fullmer @InsightTimer.

Other feature include an easy to use interface and a community so you can see who’s meditating around you, the world and connect with them. Like most meditation apps, you can set durations for how long you want to meditate. This also gives you an option to leave a note after you meditate about any insights or thoughts you found through your session. All of your notes and times that you meditated are logged and you can go back to see your progress. I check my meditation log every once in awhile when I wonder what I’ve been meditating about. It’s insightful to see patterns and things I’m working on and through.

There are many other nice aspects to this app that you can check out in the instructional video below. There’s a free version available as well as a paid version for $2.99. I recommend the paid version, it’s less than a cup of coffee and you get more of the bells and whistles that the app has. It also supports a fellow meditator who created a fabulous app for the meditation community. It’s also on the Android Market.

Thoughts on Meditation

National Science Foundation did a study a few years ago saying that an average person can have up to 50,000 thoughts per day. That’s a lot of thoughts!

Thoughts are completely human and always happening. To think is to be human. If you didn’t think you’d be dead. The phrase, “I wasn’t thinking,” really means, “I was not aware of my thinking”. Not being aware of your thinking causes actions and results that you may not really want.

Meditation allows for space and awareness in your thinking. You can use meditation to take a look at what you’re actually thinking about and what you’re focusing your mind on. It allows for space from your thoughts and to become aware of where you are.

For me personally, the more I become aware of my thoughts the more I notice them taking control of what I want and how I feel. I know I feel most centered when I practice meditation on a daily basis. The core of meditation for me is to allow for time and space to be quiet and sit. What happens during that time can vary widely.

Since I’m obsessed with my iPhone and always check to see if “there’s an app for that”, I’ve found the Insight Timer to be the best meditation app on the iTunes store. I highly recommend downloading the Insight Timer App and using it today.

Do you meditate? If so, do you allow for technology to be in your mediation space?

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