Kate Allen

Meditating App -Great Way to Track Progress

Written by Kate • October 13, 2011 •
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Tibetan Singing Bowl

I’ve been using an app from Spotlight Six Programs called Insight Timer. I think it’s helped me tremendously with my meditation practice.

There are several features I really like using. They are the following, in no particular order:

1. Tracking Meditation Time: The app provides a timer to track how long you’re going to meditate. The app has several different sounds, like Tibetan Singing Bowls, to choose from, all of which are incredibly soothing. It also allows for a delay, for however long you choose, to get yourself settled before the “real” meditation timer kicks in. It also provides for the timer to sound at intervals you select, in case you’re trying to stretch yourself in your meditation practice. The intervals give you subtle reassurance about how much time is left in your practice.

2. Tracking Meditation “Stats”: It also tracks your personal stats, as in when was the last time you meditated, how long you meditated for, and on what days of the week you meditate the most. In this way, I can track if I’ve been meditating for more or less time in the past week, month, etc.  It also gives badges out for every 100 days that you’ve meditated. And it tracks how many days you’ve meditated consecutively. This may not be the most Zen of features but I really like that it keeps me honest about my actual meditation practice.

3. A sense of community: I really love this feature of the app. Whenever I launch the app, it provides me with the number of people who are meditating right now around the world [who are, of course, sharing the app and also logged on]. In the morning, it can be as many as 78 or more people. I love to see that there are those who are logged in from all over the US, Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, Australia, the UK, etc.  It shows how many minutes each person has set to meditate for that session and how many minutes are left. It’s amazing to feel so connected to so many people in that moment,  knowing that we’re all sharing the same meditation practice in the same moment, around the world.

Have you tried this app? If so, what do you think of it? Or do you have your own favorite app you like to use?