Maintaining and evaluating our mental health has been a very important topic lately. With the continuing stress surrounding the pandemic, especially with friends and family overseas, the importance of looking after own mind has never been greater.
Of course, there are plenty of apps designed to help us create a relaxed mindset. We would like to share a few of our favourites with you. Stay calm and download a new app!
Is a neuroscience-backed, algorithm-powered collection of soothing soundscapes designed to drift you away into a blissful and relaxed state or a sharp focus. It is a paid subscription service, with an option to try it for a week free.
The app provides plenty of options for setting timers for sounds and controlling the highs and lows of the synthetic sounds. It’s also smart enough to incorporate other data signals—such as the local time or a heart rate if permission is given. It also allows for personalisation of the audio feed that it generates.
Portal (iOS)
Portal allows you to travel all over the world from the comfort of your own home. Anyone can log onto the app and experience ambient sounds from around the globe. Listen to thunderstorms in the Amazon, sit beside the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii, or walk through an Alpine village. The free version provides six for free, with dozens more on the premium plan.
Besides simply playing these ambient sounds, the app also builds up a relaxing atmosphere, with detailed graphics and on-screen breathing exercises. Set your own custom timers to work with the sounds as well, and the app is even able to control smart Philips Hue lights to help set the mood.
Monument Valley 2 (Android, iOS)
It’s spawned plenty of imitators over the years, but it’s still hard to beat Monument Valley 2 or 1 for a chilled out, gently paced, relaxing mobile gaming experience. It’s a well-known game that’s earned plenty of awards. It is truly worth a try!
Every level gives you another brain teaser to work through in the form of an isometric structure puzzle. Work out how to get the mother and child characters through a series of fantasy-land style architecture puzzle. Find the hidden doors, push the right buttons, or discover secret staircases.
Often the simplest apps are the most effective. Breathly doesn’t overwhelm people with a ton of exercises and options—instead, this free, open-source app concentrates on a couple of simple breathing techniques, guiding people every day through routines that can improve moods and calm minds.
It’s a really well-designed app, even if it doesn’t offer much in the way of sophistication, with no experience necessary in meditation to get started with Breathly. There is an option of letting a voice guide you through the breathing exercises on-screen or running through them silently, and the app is even able to work with the phone’s dark mode.
Another mindfulness and meditation app, Aura provides the tools to tackle almost every aspect of wellbeing, peacefulness, focus and relaxation. There are thousands of guided and unguided meditations, specially crafted stories, and specific life-coaching exercises in the app, with features for developing habits and monitoring progress over time.
We hope these apps help with relaxation and creating new beneficial routines in 2021. Any assistance or help needed with installation please let us know. We are always happy to help.
