Resilient I/O: Apps We’re Grateful For
Headspace
From the Team:
This is the app most used by our team. It includes meditative offerings from Mindfulness to Gratitude, and Workouts to Sleep. For one app to start and maintain a mindfulness practice, start here.
From the Developer:
Get happy. Stress less. Sleep soundly. Headspace is your guide to mindfulness for your everyday life. Learn meditation and mindfulness skills from world-class experts like Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe, and choose from hundreds of guided meditations on everything from managing stress and anxiety to sleep, focus, and mind-body health. Build your practice your way with meditations for every experience level and lifestyle — including short, 3-minute sessions that fit seamlessly into a busy schedule. Available for iPhone or on Android.
Calm
From the Team:
Calm works as advertised. This app is most focused and most successful at calming and soothing a racing mind from the moment you open it. If you’re looking to slow down and find some Calm, this is an excellent choice.
From the Developer:
Calm is the perfect mindfulness app for beginners, but also includes hundreds of programs for intermediate and advanced users. Guided meditation sessions are available in lengths of 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 minutes so you can choose the perfect length to fit with your schedule. Available for iPhone or on Android.
Buddhify
From the Team:
Buddhify offers a helpful visual interface to find the right meditation in the moment. You begin by tapping on an answer to the question “What’s Happening?” and then select from appropriate offerings based on the meditation title and duration. They also have a kids section for subscribers, which is helpful with everyone working and schooling from home.
From the Developer:
Buddhify is here to help you bring more calm, clarity and kindness to all parts of your life. Whether you're looking to reduce stress and anxiety, or get a better night's sleep buddhify has easy-to-follow guided meditations to help you live happier and healthier. No need to find the time for a formal meditation session everyday, we'll show you how to bring mindfulness to all parts of your life with exercises for whatever you're doing and wherever you are - from travelling, taking a break at work or going to sleep. We'll help you find calm in any situation. Available for iPhone or on Android.
10% Happier
From the Team:
This app is geared towards those who haven’t meditated before, with helpful courses and conversations with meditation teacher to introduce the concepts and help you build a practice from the ground up.
From the Developer:
Want to sleep better, be more mindful, improve your relationships, and become just about ten percent happier? This is the app for you. Our guided meditations, videos, talks, and sleep content will help you build (or boost) your meditation practice, and stick with it. Available for iPhone or on Android.
Waking Up
From the Team:
This app offers helpful courses and conversations about the theory and practice of meditation. The depth of these offerings is unmatched by any of the apps we’ve tried. If you’re just starting out, this app has a wealth of content to get you started, and after you’ve established a consistent practice, Waking Up offers the greatest opportunities to advance toward mastery.
From the Developer:
Discover daily mindfulness meditation with Sam Harris—neuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author—and explore the theory behind the practice. Learn the related science, philosophy, and ethics in short audio lessons with Sam and through his extended conversations with other influential teachers and scholars. Available for iPhone or on Android.
Meditation Studio
From the Team:
We found this app to be the shortest path from waking our phone to meditating. It has a very simple interface for selecting a meditation for the moment, and this restraint helps make this app calming and pleasant to reach for in difficult moments.
From the Developer:
Reduce stress, ease anxiety, improve sleep, and boost confidence; it’s all here. Enjoy guided meditations on topics from happiness to performance, plus meditations custom made for moms, teens, kids and more. Available for iPhone or on Android.
Books
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön
From the Team:
“I love When Things Fall Apart, because it teaches real resilience, as opposed to providing soothing words. It teaches that all the pain and drama won't diminish when we push negative experiences away; rather, things get better when we learn how to truly see and appreciate everything about our lives.” -Joe Hay
From the Publisher:
There is a fundamental opportunity for happiness right within our reach, yet we usually miss it – ironically while we are caught up in attempts to escape pain and suffering. Drawn from traditional Buddhist wisdom, Pema’s radical and compassionate advice for what to do when things fall apart in our lives goes against the grain of our usual habits and expectations. There is only one approach to suffering that is of lasting benefit, Pema teaches, and that approach involves moving toward painful situations with friendliness and curiosity, relaxing into the essential groundlessness of our entire situation. It is there, in the midst of chaos, that we can discover the truth and love that are indestructible.
Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh
From the Team:
“Being Peace is a collection of traditional Buddhist teachings presented by Thich Naht Hanh (globally regarded Vietnamese poet, peace activist, and Buddhist monk). The book's teachings are concise and discrete, encouraging readers to fully consume and digest each lesson. Being Peace was one of the very first steps on my own personal mindfulness journey, so I'm always quick to recommend this book as a starting place for anyone interested in learning the basics of mindfulness or Zen spirituality.” -Nate Franco
From the Publisher:
Being Peace is the seminal founding work by Zen Master and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Nhat Hanh. A book for everyone concerned about the state of the world and the quality of our lives, it has lost none of its timeliness since it was first published in 1987. It is filled with practical suggestions how to create a more peaceful world "right in the moment we are alive." Contains Thich Nhat Hanh's key practices, including a guide to the practice of reconciliation which has become a peacemaking tool in many other religious traditions.