In the fast-changing digital world peace and tranquility are rare. That’s why not only adults but teens are also facing anxiety and stress. Globally, 14% of teens are struggling with mental health conditions like stress, anxiety, depression, etc.
In all age groups, mindfulness and meditation are quick sources of relief from anxiety and stress. Meditation apps can play a vital role in supplementing these healthy exercises and achieving mental health goals. Meditation apps emerged as the most convenient way to relax in teens’ busy schedules.
We have enlisted the top seven mindfulness apps for teens to use to get unlimited benefits.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the practice of feeling and being fully aware of the present moment. Experiencing where we are and what we are doing without judgment. It doesn’t mean to be overwhelmed by what is going on around us. It is the ability to live in the present moment. This practice works like magic to decrease the level of mental health disorders.
Mindfulness lies in every human being. It would be awakened correctly, through mindful affirmations, yoga, focused meditation, etc.
Benefits of Mindfulness Apps: How Well Do They Work?
If we browse, we can find hundreds of mindfulness or mental health apps for teens because they are now in high demand. These grounding apps have proven results in achieving mental health goals. Some of the obvious benefits of mindfulness apps are:
- It lowers stress.
- It enables the mind to focus on the present moment.
- Gradually increase positive attitude towards everything.
- Lowers anxiety and depression levels.
- It helps to reduce fatigue.
- It gradually improves sleep.
- Increased self-confidence and self-awareness.
- Reduced aggression and pressure.
Simple Ways to Become More Mindful
Mindfulness apps can play a vital role in helping people achieve their mental health goals. However, implementing simple mindful approaches in daily life can improve your overall experience and make you more aware of even a single act.
Mindful Breathing: Spare a few moments from your daily routine. Inhale with nose then exhale with mouth, and feel the breathing sensation.
Body Scan: Sit in a comfortable place to scan your body. Feel the areas in your body where you feel discomfort. Now, inhale and exhale slowly, allowing those areas to relax.
Savoring: Whatever you are enjoying—eating, drinking, walking, listening, or viewing—spare some time to engage with your senses fully. Now feel the aroma, flavor, texture, temperature, and visual appeal of what you are enjoying.
Gratitude Practice: Discover the things or moments you are most grateful for. Close your eyes and be grateful for them for a while. It is the best gratitude meditation for teenage anxiety.
Also read: Steps to Start Practicing Gratitude Meditation
Daily Reflection: Every day, pause for some time and reflect on your all-day experiences without judgment. The most effective way is by asking daily self-reflection questions.
Yoga: Spare some time in your daily routine for yoga. Yoga is a powerful, simple meditation technique, and it has many forms, such as kundalini yoga, hatha yoga, and yin yoga.
Mindful Technology Use: Take a mindful approach to using technology. Set timings for mobile use and indulge in healthy activities. One of the best mindful technologies used is green noise to promote sleep.
Top 7 Mindfulness Apps For Teens
We picked the top 7 mindfulness apps for teens. Teens can freely try everything and settle with one that suits their needs. Let’s take a look one by one:
1. Headspace
As one of the first mindfulness apps, Headspace is our top pick with its user-friendly interface. It’s the best app for teens or beginners who eventually join the mindfulness way to improve their lives.
How it Works
To use Headspace, you have to subscribe to its paid plan. However, you can enjoy it free with its free 7-day trial. It is available on the Apple Store and Google PlayStore. First, when you sign up and open the app, you will see the today section with videos of morning, afternoon, and evening.
If you are not interested in daily routine, you can head to the explore sections and browse any video on mindfulness in the four main categories of meditation, movement, sleep, and music.
| Pros | Cons |
| Huge variety of meditation and mindfulness videos for teens and experienced. | When the free trial is over, you can’t access the app until you subscribe to a payment plan. |
| Teens-friendly and family-friendly content available. | Sometimes it’s customer service is hard to get in touch. |
| Also, it has podcast videos, exercise tutorials, and short videos. |
2. Calm
Calm is the top-rated relaxing meditation app that improves sleep and works like an anger management app. It has many features, from meditation to soundscapes, music, and stories, bringing calm to life. Calm has content for all age groups, from kids to adults.
How Calm Works
To get started with Calm, you can download it from the Google Play store or Apple Store or simply sign on to the official website. The app works according to your mood and desires and recommends ways to calm yourself.
It offers free services, but you can unlock all its features with the annual subscription plan. You can select from meditation from its 11 categories: meditation, daily calm (dailies), sleep, wisdom, music, kids, soundscapes, movements, check-ins, for work, and breathe.
| Pros | Cons |
| Calm is easy to access and navigate. | Requires a premium subscription to enjoy all the features. |
| It has a wide range of content libraries for everyone. | It can be daunting to decide where to start with a lot of offerings. |
| It claims to add research and evidence-based content to the app library. |
3. Smiling Mind
It is also one of the best mindfulness apps for teens. Smiling Mind is an app built to promote mental health through mindfulness and meditation techniques. It has all the content to relax and lower the pressure and stress. Smiling Mind is designed to use 3+ age groups.
How Smiling Mind Works
The Best part of the app is that it doesn’t require you to subscribe to a plan. It is available for free on the web, Google Play, and Apple. It offers auditory meditations, written exercises, and programs for teens and kids. It also includes a whole series for use in schools and students can learn how to achieve friendship goals.
| Pros | Cons |
| It is free of cost. | Before each activity, you have to answer some quite annoying questions. |
| Mindful exercises for a variety of age groups. | Do not recommend how many exercises to do in a day. |
| Improve mood and gratefulness. |
4. Insight Timer
Insight Timer claims to be the best app for stress and anxiety. It has several mindfulness and breathwork exercises, bedtime stories, soothing music tracks, guided visualizations, multi-day courses on wellness, and podcasts.
How Insight Timer Works
Insight Timer offers a free version and a premium version with a 7-day free trial. While opening the app, you will see a positive quote that works as a mood check-in. This app is the perfect piece for ambitious teens with a variety of programs to choose from on their own.
| Pros | Cons |
| Around 3,000 courses for wellness. | The free version does not give access to the full app. |
| Most features are available in the free version. | Free trial just for 7 days. |
| User-friendly and affordable. |
Read also: Gratitude Quotes For a Positive Mindset
5. Three Good Things
It is also one of the top-rated mindfulness apps for teens. Three Good Things is a journaling app and self-esteem app that promotes mindfulness rather than meditation. Writing down three good things in a day promotes gratitude and positivity.
How it Works
Once opening the app, like self esteem app, a simple question prompts, “What went well today?” The responses to this question are limited to 100 characters to respond quickly and pressure-free manner. It is free with no subscription plan.
| Pros | Cons |
| Simple and yet working for all age groups. | No features for meditation. |
| Create a beautiful habit of grateful in teens. |
6. Aura
Aura is an excellent app created to boost mood and improve well-being. Its AI-based algorithms gather data on how you use the app and give a personalized experience based on your preferences.
How it Works
With the Aura free version, you can enjoy a three-minute session a day for a week. With its paid plan, you can experience exercises such as meditation, breathwork, coaching, hypnosis, music, and much more. When you open the app, you have to answer short questions about what you expect from it. Based on the answers, it gives suggestions for mindfulness and others.
| Pros | Cons |
| Give a personalized experience. | You can only avail free trial if you subscribe to the annual plan. |
| Notified you daily to meditate. |
7. Waking Up
It’s a comprehensive app for reshaping the lives of every age group with mindfulness. Sam Harris introduced a life-changing app with the three main functions of theory, practice, and timer.
How it Works
The app encourages users to learn thought-provoking lessons from Sam Harris. The most exciting fact is that one can ask for a free subscription if one can’t afford a plan. Sam Harris claims to refund the unsatisfied users.
| Pros | Cons |
| User-friendly app with a guided coach. | Has fewer features as compared to competitor apps. |
| One can easily afford this life-changing app. |
Final Thoughts
Facing the new challenges and tasks in everyday life, teens often feel anxious and depressed. To cope with these issues, mindfulness and meditation have proven to create focus, self-awareness, confidence, and improved well-being.
With a curated list of meditation apps for teens, it’s easy to find a perfect one. So, start your journey of self-awareness with mindfulness now.
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