Inside: Learn my top 5 reasons I love meditating with the Headspace app and start your own Headspace journey today!

If practiced regularly, meditation offers a host of benefits to the practitioner.  Increased focus and immunity to disease, less depression and anxiety and more emotional well-being, just to name a few. It may seem woo woo to some people, but I say it can’t hurt!  I was familiar with meditation as part of yoga classes I had completed in the past, but I never had a regular meditation practice on my own.

That all changed this month!

For my Simplicity Challenge in February I made a SMART Goal (grab your FREE worksheet here) to meditate every single day.  Woah!  While I didn’t quite make it every day, I did come seriously close!!  26 days for the month of February!!  Yeah!  I will take that, considering my longest streak before this was a measly 2 days in a row. 🙂

How did I stick with the meditation habit this month?

There are a couple of things that played a part in helping me stick with this goal of meditating every day.  First, was the accountability of this awesome community!  Actually saying, to the world, “I will meditate every day” has amazing effects on what you can achieve.

Second, was meditating using the Headspace app!  It made meditating super easy with a daily reminder and I looked forward to my practice every day.  In this post I highlight a few of the reasons I love using the Headspace app for practicing meditation!  Keep reading to learn more and start your own Headspace journey today!

*Image from Headspace app.

5 Reasons I Love Using the Headspace App

I have not tried other apps, so I can’t compare Headspace to others at this time.  However, these are some of the reasons that I have enjoyed using the Headspace app this month for my daily meditation practice.

Repetition

The app has various meditation packs that offer a collection of meditation sessions all focusing on a specific topic. I have been doing the three Basics packs this month, each containing 10 sessions. These packs follow a similar format for each meditation session:

• Each session starts with a little lesson about meditation and mindfulness.
• Take a few deep breaths with eyes open.
• Then close the eyes and focus on the environment around you and your intention for wanting to practice meditation.
• Move the focus inward and do a full body scan noting what areas are comfortable or not, without judgement.
• Then focus on the breath by counting each breath. As you notice thoughts popping up (because you definitely will!) gently bring your attention back to the breath.
• Spend a few seconds without any focus and let the mind do what it wants.
• Then bring the focus back to the body and any physical sensations.
• Each session ends with a motivational quote you can share and reinforces the topic from the beginning.

This repetition helps so you know what to expect. I did notice that as you get further into the second and third Basics packs there are longer stretches of quiet space. The first Basics pack has more guidance which can be great for a beginner!

Encouragement

The app is very encouraging! Inside the app is a timeline showing you which meditations you have completed and when you completed each session. It also tells you when you reach milestones such as 100 minutes meditated or a certain number of days in a row. I got excited each time I met a milestone! It absolutely motivated me to keep going!

*Image is a screenshot from the Headspace app.

Soothing Voice

The voice of the Headspace meditations is one of the founders and I think he has a very soothing voice! This may seem like a weird thing to mention, but I think that it is super important when doing guided meditations. You want to be comfortable with the voice and not be annoyed or distracted by the person speaking.

Flexibility

After you have completed the first Basics pack and you choose to sign up for a membership there are tons of meditations to choose from. You can pick and choose which meditation to complete each day and how long you want to meditate for. Headspace recommends at least 10 minutes per session but there are also shorter meditations you can fit into the fringe hours of your day.

I ended up doing a short 1 minute session a couple of times this month. It was perfect to still keep up the habit of taking a break to focus on my breathing without having to commit to the full 10 minutes.

You can also practice meditation just about anywhere, anytime. When you are starting a new habit many experts recommend doing the activity at the same time each day. While this may work for some people, I ended up meditating at various times in the day and in various locations.  I found myself meditating first thing in the morning while laying in bed, sitting in my car while waiting to pick up kids, sitting on my bed, and sitting on the floor, just to name a few!

I had the app timer set for the morning, but if I didn’t get up before the kiddos to do my session, then I fit it in somewhere else in the day.  I was flexible with myself not to stress too much about when and where I meditated.

I think the biggest thing is to find somewhere that is comfortable, quiet and free of distractions. This won’t always be possible, but just do the best you can!

Educational

I love how the Basics packs are teaching me about some of the science behind meditation and some of the struggles people face and how to combat those struggles. It’s bite sized enough but each day builds on the previous day. So by the end of the pack you have a greater understanding and appreciation for meditation and the Headspace practice.

*Image from Headspace app (link).

Bonus!

I am also reading the The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness: How Mindfulness Can Change Your Life in Ten Minutes a Day this month and it’s been an amazing complement to my meditation practice with the Headspace app.

The book goes into a lot more detail about the philosophy and reasoning behind the way the practice is structured, while the app is obviously all about actually giving it a try. If you are brand new to meditation I would recommend marrying the two together for a more in depth and richer experience.

>>> Read more about the book here!

How to start your own Headspace journey

All you need is 5-10 minutes of time and you can get started with Headspace for free! The first 10 day pack is absolutely free and you can reuse those days as many times as you wish. However, if you want to unlock the full power of Headspace there is a monthly fee.

If money is an issue check to see if there are any coupon codes online. Your employer may also have a discount you can use. If Headspace is definitely something you want to keep practicing try to think outside the box and approach it like a gym membership for your mind.

Learn more about Headspace and sign up for FREE here.

Would you like to test out the practice before downloading the app or signing up for a membership?  You can listen to the first day of the Basics pack in this video.

When you are ready, download the app here, and start your FREE 10 day Headspace journey today!

Do you use Headspace or another meditation app?

Share your favorite app of choice in the comments below!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.

Photos by Annie Spratt (greenery) and Ahmed Saffu (flower) on Unsplash.