Apps to bring out your inner calm and create some headspace

Headspace

This app does exactly as it suggests: it gives you headspace throughout your day-to-day life.  With hundreds of guided meditations to choose from, you will find something to help your mind wind down.

Headspace is very much set up to help you throughout the day and, if you choose to follow it, a daily plan will help you start your day, give you a lift in the afternoon and then encourage you to wind down at night.

As well as guided meditation, Headspace has a wealth of helpful information, from study support to guides on becoming a mindful parent. You can take courses on how to become happier in your own body or how to connect with your anger, and use the app to train your mind.

Headspace also has music to motivate and focus your mind – Hans Zimmer is a popular choice here – and it has yoga sessions and other prompts to get out of your chair and dance it out.

There are many mental health podcasts to listen to including how to step outside your comfort zone with The Yes Theory Podcast.

Another great feature for those who have trouble sleeping is night sounds, like brown noise which can play for up to 480 minutes – a whole eight hours of sleep!

Headspace subscriptions cost €57.99 annually or €12.99 monthly.

Calm

Probably the most widely known mindfulness and sleep apps due to the high calibre of contributors to its content, with Calm you can fall asleep to the lilting tones or smooth serenade of some of the world's most famous actors.

It has a sleep monitoring feature and, as with many of the apps designed to help you sleep better, a bedtime reminder will ping you when it’s time to start getting ready for bed.

Sleep stories to drift off to are read by the likes of Stephen Fry, Cillian Murphy, Harry Styles, Matthew McConaughey, Camila Cabello and Jennifer Garner. If music or the sound of babbling brooks is more your thing to drift off to, then you can find that too. There are also sleep stories for kids.

Meditations are a big part of Calm’s offering too, and while these can be incorporated into a user’s sleep routine they can also be called upon to refocus during the day. There’s also a series designed specifically for users with ADHD.

Other features on the app include the Daily Jay which delivers a daily dose of wisdom from author and podcaster Jay Shetty, and a Daily Move from yoga instructor Mel Mah. The latter’s gentle movements are a great way to work movement into your day, particularly if you are desk-bound for most of it.

While you can use some features of Calm for free, they are few and very far between. A subscription costs €15.99 per month, but look out for special offers on annual subscriptions.

Balance

Like the apps that have gone before it, Balance focuses on meditation and sleep. However, if you desire, it can be more structured – think Duolingo but you are learning the language of your mind. Balance tracks your progress and the level of skills such as breath control, awareness, visualisation and loving-kindness.

While you can just pop open the app and use the features individually, Balance can also set out plans for you to follow so that mindfulness becomes a practice. As with the others, it has routines that can take you through the day from the time you wake up until you go to sleep.

There are very few free features on this app, and an annual subscription costs €76.99 (monthly is €12.99). As a member, however, you can send Balance free for a year’s trial to family or friends, so it might be worth checking your WhatsApp groups for any offers that can be sent your way.

InsightTimer

This is a mindfulness app with a community feature too but, don’t worry, if you sign up you can keep your profile private, and the community part is opt-in.

If you like your gongs, bells, flutes or sound bowls then you will love the fact that paying members can choose from a large selection of sounds for their starting and finishing notifications, giving users an extra level of personalisation.

There are plenty of meditations to choose from on InsightTimer which has dedicated sections including sleep, breath work, yoga and workplace. Journalling is also something that can be done in the app.

The community aspect lets you join groups, whether you are interested in writing, travelling, relationships, books or movies, there appears to be plenty to choose from. You can share posts within groups, make friends and message people on your friends list.

There are free features on InsightTimer but if you want to access all areas an annual subscription is €62.99 per year.

Best of the rest

Smiling Mind has content for adults and kids from the age of three. The app is free but supported by donations which you can do as a once-off or give monthly. Each section has different programmes for adults, kids, youth, families, educators and other workers. It also supports meditations in languages such as Arabic, Dari, Kriol, Ngaanyatjarra and Pitjantjatara.

Aura is kind of an all-singing all-dancing app which covers a plethora of mindfulness, sleep and mental health practices through the mediums of music, sound healing, meditation, prayer, breath work, hypnosis, cognitive behavioural therapy and plenty of others. With topics covered such as burnout, chakras, depression, resilience, pain, personal growth, mindfulness and many more, there is something for everyone here. There is also the option of connecting with a coach on the app to get some one-on-one coaching. The cost of these sessions is separate from a subscription, which will set you back $4.99 monthly or $69.99 per year.

Self Care: Breathing Exercises is all about breathing. While it is fairly basic, you can get plenty of breath work in without paying for a subscription. But a word of warning: it is littered with ads. If you do choose to sign up for a subscription, it’s much cheaper than more feature-laden apps at €4.99 monthly or €14.99 yearly.

Finally, Mindfulness is another app worth mentioning for its many guided meditations. You can use features for free, so make sure you bypass the subscription prompt at sign-up if you don’t want to commit straight away. If you do decide to go all-in, a subscription is €89.99 annually though there are often deals for first-time sign-ups. Mindfulness does short meditations or longer courses focused on areas such as stress relief, compassion, emotions, sleep and many others.