Mindful Mynah, The tiny mindfulness bell MyCalm Beat, paced respiration; Pranayama Breathing; Stop, Breathe & Think by Tools for Peace- Allows for daily check-ins, and meditation dependent upon moods and age. Tactical Breather – breathing meditation; Mindfulness. According to Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, the ringing of a bell every 15 minutes is an effective way to cultivate the mindfulness practice and connect back with the body. The Mindfulness Bell and Mindful Mynah applications simulate the bell on the user's personal device. Participants enjoy a gentle standing/seated stress relieving Tai Chi flow session with Striders Coach Myna Majors.

Have you ever caught yourself holding your breath during the day?

Take a moment right now, and notice your breathing, your posture, the tension in your shoulders.
What do you smell?
What is sitting in front of you?
Are there sounds in the room?
How many devices do you have sending notifications while you’re reading this post? (Yes, I saw you just sneak a peek at your phone.)

In this go-go stressed out world, we all need resources that will help us zero back in on this moment. After all, that’s all we have. A series of moments strung together to make a day, month, year, life.

In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Here are some apps that will support your efforts to stop and look around once in a while.

5 Apps That Support Mindfulness

1. Breathe for Apple Watch

It’s not good to hold your breath, according to experts. It’s a sign of stress, and can lead to problems. If you have an Apple Watch, you now have a breathing buddy. I scoffed at this one when I first saw it, but after using it steadily for a week, I noticed a difference in my general state. Here’s a great article that goes in-depth on how Breathe works. The animated graphic, along with the haptic feedback, give you an oasis of calm whenever they appear. You can set the frequency and length as well. The beautiful simplicity of this one makes it a winner.

2. Calm

I’ll admit to being a meditation newbie, and the Calm app was a good entry point for me. It comes with some free mediation sessions, and then offers additional paid sessions. They have a beautiful desktop app in addition to the mobile and watch apps, so you can get centered no matter where you are. If you’re using an iPhone with the Apple Health app, your Calm meditation sessions will integrate and count toward your “mindful minutes” each day.

3. Mindful Mynah

It doesn’t get much simpler than the Mindful Mynah app, which plays a brief sound on a schedule you set. The idea is that hearing the sound (which you choose) will remind you to refocus on the task at hand, or get aware of your present moment. You can use it for any purpose, including remembering to take a brief break and stretch! It’s only 99 cents in the app store; there’s a desktop and a mobile app available.

4. Headspace

The Headspace app is more like a personal trainer for meditation. Revit for mac torrent. The application will take you through meditation sessions you choose based on your mood or lifestyle. They have a user community on the website, so you can connect with other Headspace fans and get support. There is a free 10 day trial, with paid plans thereafter, starting at $6.40 per month.

5. Buddhify

If playfulness is your thing, Buddhify will appeal to you. Its colorful wheel-style selector will help you choose the appropriate guided meditation for where you are and what you’re doing. Can’t sleep? In pain? There’s a session for you in the Buddhify app. The app provides stats and charts to track your progress, and has both guided and solo timed options, in case you want to just go it alone. It’s $4.99 in the app store (not free, but won’t break the bank either).

BONUS: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a member of our GeniusShared family, Bija Bennett, who has amazing wellness resources on her website, including this great video on breathing awareness.

Have you tried any of these apps yet? Did I miss any good ones you’d like to share?

The Ohio State University College of Medicine is not responsible for the accuracy or content of information on the websites, videos, and/or applications listed below. Nor do the links below constitute an endorsement of the parties or their products and services. The data comparing the effectiveness of different applications is extremely limited, and most have not undergone rigorous testing.

Books

Autogenic Training

• Kermani, Kai. Autogenic Training: The Effective, Holistic Way to Better Health. Souvenir Press, Ltd. 1990
• Sadigh, Micah R. Autogenic Training: A Mind-body Approach to the Treatment of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain Syndrome. Hawthorn Medical Press. 2001

General Mind-Body Training

• Hanson, Rick. Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence. Harmony Books, 2013
• Hanson, Rick. Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom. New Harbinger Publications, 2009

Guided Imagery and Hypnosis

• Brown, Daniel P and Fromm, Erica. Hypnosis and Behavioral Medicine. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1987
• Davenport, Leslie. Healing and Transformation through Self-Guided Imagery. Celestial Arts, 2009
• DePiano, Frank and Salzberg, Herman. Clinical Applications of Hypnosis. Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1986
• Ewin, Dabney. 101 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Using Hypnosis. Crown House Publishing, 2009
• Hammond, D. Corydon. Handbook of Hypnotic Suggestions and Metaphors. WW Norton and Company, 1990
• Havens, Ronald A and Walters, Catherine. Hypnotherapy Scripts: A Neo-Ericksonian Approach to Persuasive Healing, 2nd edition. Routledge, 2002
• Kohen, Daniel and Olness, Karen. Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy with Children, 4th edition. Routledge, 2011
• Pincus, David and Sheikh, Anees. Imagery for Pain Relief. Routledge, 2009
• Tiers, Melissa. A Comprehensive Course in Change. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2010
• Waxman, David, ed. Hartland’s Medical and Dental Hypnosis, 3rd edition. Bailliere Tindall, 1989
• Yapko, Michael D. Trancework: An Introduction to the Practice of Clinical Hypnosis, 4th edition. Routledge, 2012.
• Yapko, Michael D. Mindfulness and Hypnosis: The Power of Suggestion to Transform Experience. WW Norton and Company, 2011
• Zahourek, Rothlyn P. Clinical Hypnosis and Therapeutic Suggestion in Nursing. Grune and Stratton, 1985

Heart-centered Meditation Practices

• Armstrong, Karen. Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. Anchor, 2011
• Boyle, Gregory. Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. Free Press, 2011
• Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and David Shlim. Medicine and Compassion. Wisdom Publications, 2004
• Cotner, June. Gratitude Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose for Everyday Thankfulness. Andrew McMeel Publishing, 2013
• Emmons, Robert. Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier. Houghton Mifflin, 2007
• Fischer, Norman. Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong. Shambhala, 2013
• Germer, Christopher. The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion. The Guliford Press, 2009
• Gilbert, Paul. The Compassionate Mind: A New Approach to Life’s Challenges. New Harbinger Publications, 2010
• Han, Thich-Nhat. Peace is Every Step. Bantam, 1992
• Han, Thich-Nhat. Happiness: Essential Mindfulness Practices. Parallax Press, 2009
• Kornfield, Jack. The Wise Heart. Bantam, 2008
• Kralik, John. A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life. Hyperion, 2011
• Lipsenthal, Lee. Enjoy Every Sandwich: Living Each Day as if it were Your Last. Harmony, 2011
• Neff, Kristin. Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself. William Morrow, 2011
• Remen, Rachel Naomi. Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal, 1st edition. Riverside Books, 1996
• Remen, Rachel Naomi. My Grandfather’s Blessings. Riverhead, 2000
• Rohr, Richard. Silent Compassion: Finding God in Contemplation. Franciscan Media, 2014
• Salzberg, Sharon. The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love and Compassion. Sounds True, 2010
• Salzberg, Sharon. The Kindness Handbook: A Practical Companion. Sounds True, 2008
• Salzberg, Sharon. Lovingkindness. Shambhala, 1995
• Sears, David. Compassion for Humanity in the Jewish Tradition. Jason Aronson, 1998

Mindfulness

• Goldstein, Joseph. Mindfulness: A practical guide to awakening. Sounds True, 2013
• Han, Thich Nhat. The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation. Beacon Press, 1999
• Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Full Catastrophe Living (revised edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. Bantam, 2013
• Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Mindfulness for Beginners. Sounds True, 2011
• Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life. Hyperion, 2009
• Langer, Ellen. Mindfulness, Da Capo Press, 1990
• Langer, Ellen. Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility. Ballantine Books, 2009
• Ryan, Tim. A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit. Hay House, Inc., 2012
• Salzberg, Sharon. Real Happiness at Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace. Workman, 2014
• Saltzman, Amy and Santorelli, Saki. A Still Quiet Place: A Mindfulness Program for Teaching Children and Adolescents to Ease Stress and Difficult Emotions. New Harbinger, 2014
• Santorelli, Saki. The Healing Practice of Mindfulness. Better Listen (audiobook), 2013
• Santorelli, Saki. Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine. Random House, 1999
• Siegel, Dan. The Teenage Brain from the Inside Out. Penguin Group, 2013
• Stahl, Bob; Goldstein Elisha; Kabat-Zinn, Jon. A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook. New Harbinger, 2010
• Tan, Chade-Meng. Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness, and World Peace. HarperOne, 2012.
• Tart, Charles T. Mind Science: Meditation Training for Practical People. Fearless Books, 2013.
• Teasdale, John D; Williams, J Mark; Segal Zindel V, Kabat-Zinn, Jon. The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress. Guilford Press, 2014
• Williams, Mark; Penman, Danny; Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World. Rodale, 2011

Reflective Writing

• Pipher, Mary. Writing to Change the World. Riverhead Trage, 2006

Relaxation Response

• Benson, Herbert. The Relaxation Response. William Morrow Paperbacks, 2000 (1st edition, 1975)
• Benson, Herbert. Beyond the Relaxation Response. Berkley, 1985
• Benson, Herbert. Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief. Scribner, 1997
• Benson, Herbert. The Relaxation Revolution: The Science and Genetics of Mind Body Healing. Scribner, 2011

Body Scan

• Daly, Mitchell. Mindful Meditation: Mindfulness Meditation Exercises and Action Guided to Find Your Inner Peace. ebook, 2013
• Goldstein, Joseph. Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Inner Awakening. Sounds True, 2013
• Gunaratana, Bhante. Mindfulness in Plain English: 20th anniversary dition. Wisdom Publications, 2011
• Hanh, Thich Nhant. Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life. Bantam, 1992
• Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Arriving at Your Own Door: 108 Lessons in Mindfulness. Hyperion, 2007
• Siegel, Ronald. The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems. The Guilford Press, 2009
• Williams, Mark; Penman, Danny; Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World. Rodale, 2011

Podcasts

Guided Imagery

• The George Washington University - University Counseling Center

Mindfulness

• Meditate This! (iTunes)

• Mental Health Foundation - Mindfulness 10 Minute Practice Excercise

Relaxation Response

• Relaxation Response Training- By Dr. Louise Merves-Okin (iTunes)

Yoga

Websites

Autogenic Training

Compassion

• Center for Mindful Self-Compassion has a number of MP3 recordings of compassion meditation as well as scripts to record your own.
• Top 10 Scientific Reasons to be Compassionate: (from Stanford University Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education
• Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University

Guided Imagery

Heart Centered

Hypnosis

Mindfulness

• Art Of Living - Guided meditations
• Palouse Mindfulness- Stress reduction and wellness
• Insight Meditation Society, which offers numerous types of guided mindfulness (or insight) meditation practices
• Learn Meditation - Online meditation course
• Mindful.org is the website for Mindful magazine; information about upcoming conferences, blogs, and descriptions of mindfulness practices as well as links to other websites with free guided practices
• My Yoga Online - Guided half hour meditations
• Sahaja Meditation- Online mediation course
• UCSD Center for Mindfulness, which offers free MP3 files with 15- 45 minute guided mindfulness practices
• Calm.com is recommended by OSU faculty member and mindfulness teacher, Dr. Maryanna Klatt

Mindfulness and Neuroscience

Yoga

Apps

Biofeedback

• BellyBio Interactive Breathing (biofeedback on belly breathing)
• Inner Balance (HeartMath)
• Stress Doctor by Azumio – uses the fingertip over the camera lens on a smart phone to give biofeedback on heart rate variability and encourage learning slow, deep breathing which increases respiratory sinus arrhythmia.

Hypnosis

A 2013 paper in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis reviewed over 400 hypnosis apps for the iPhone or iPad available as of June, 2012. The apps most commonly targeted weight loss (23%), improving self-esteem (20%), or relaxation/stress reduction (19%); none had been tested for efficacy. This is a very dynamic field. Please let us know if you find/test an app you’d recommend for this program.

Meditation

• Calm, featured in NY Times 3/10/2014
• Grow, Mindfulness Meditation Training for Teens
• Headspace, featured in NY Times 3/10/2014
• Insight Timer (Centre for Mindful Self-compassion) by Spotlight Six Software. The deluxe version contains over 50 guided meditations. The other versions include a variety of different bells that can be used for meditations of varying lengths. You can also look at a globe to see how many people are meditating at the same time.
• Mindful Mynah, The tiny mindfulness bell
• MyCalm Beat, paced respiration
• Stop, Breathe & Thinkby Tools for Peace- Allows for daily check-ins, and meditation dependent upon moods and age.
• Tactical Breather – breathing meditation

Mindfulness

• Inner Explorer - This non-profit organization is bringing mindfulness to thousands of K-12 schools in the US.
• OSUCCS - by The Ohio State University
• Provider Resilience- Health care providers tools to guard against burnout and compassion fatigue as they help service members, veterans, and their families. short self-assessment create ratings for risk for compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. These ratings can also be viewed as graphs so you can monitor them over time.
• The Mindfulness App - a meditation timer app. A daily meditation practice, either in silence, accompanied by bells, or with the use of a recorded guide. Users can track their progress by recording the date and length of each meditation, set reminders There is a pop up at selected times and locations ($1.99 to download)
• Universal Breathing Saagara - Focuses on breathing, uses animation – free download

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

• Stress Free: Learn to Relax – breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation

Hp laserjet m1120 mfp for mac. Relaxation Response

• Breathe2Relax (National Center for Telehealth and Technology)
• Simply Being by Meditation Oasis (99 cents)
• Take a Break by Meditation Oasis (Free)

Yoga

• Simply Yoga – guided yoga routines for moving meditation

Mindful Management Boca Raton

Videos

Autogenic Training

• Autogenic Training Kara Morrall (14:50)
• Autogenic Training a guided relaxation, UK’s Digital Chill (10:02)
• Autogenic Relaxation, Yasmine Buraik (14:00)

Breathing Slowly and Regularly Advanced systemcare free for mac.

• Breathing at resonant frequency (6 breaths/minute) Kevin Chen (9:22)

Compassion

• The Space Between Self-Esteem and Self Compassion, Kristin Neff (19:00)
• How to Sustain Compassion in Health care, Robert McClure (12:56)
• Accountability and Compassion: Mindfulness at San Quentin – transforming violence and suffering into healing and learning, Jacques Verduin (28:06)

Counting Breath Meditation

• Counting Breath Relaxation Method, Kevin Chen (7:50)

Empathy

• If You Thought Someone Couldn't Explain Empathy With A Dry-Erase Marker, You're Wrong, Melissa Gilkey (10:40)
• Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care, Cleveland Clinic (4:23)

Gratitude

• Gratitude, Louie Schwartzberg (9:55)
• Gratitude (5:32)
• The Science of Happiness - An Experiment in Gratitude (7:13)

Bedwetting (Enuresis)

• Hypnosis for Bedwetting, WalkingTall Ireland (17:45)

Hypnotherapy for Sleep

• Can't Sleep-Insomnia Relief Hypnosis, LiberationInMind (50:16)

Dental Hypnosis

• Hypnotic Dentist Removes Teeth with Hypnosis only, DrDaveUSA (8:06)

Weight Loss

• Free Weight Loss Hypnosis, Hypnobusters.com (16:31)

Lovingkindness Meditation

• What is Loving-Kindness Meditation, Mary Brantley, Duke Integrative Medicine (0:57)

Mindfulness

• Breathing-Based Mindfulness Training: Kevin Chen (17:16)
• ExpandContract: Meditation teachings of Shinzen Young
• Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life, Dr. Lilian Cheung (3:16)
• Guided Meditation Walking Meditation, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn (9:37)
• What is Mindfulness?, Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn (5:17)
• Mindfulness Meditation Taster, Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn (12:00)
• Three minute breath practice, Ohio State University Counseling and Consultation Service (6:15)

Relaxation Response

• The Relaxation Response 1, Matthew Scult, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine (9:01)
• Relaxation Response Video Exercise, Peg Baim, MS, NP (6:58)
• The Relaxation Revolution: Enhancing Health Through Mind Body Healing, Dr Herbert Benson (39:10)
• Meditation – Universal Antidote, Dr Herbert Benson (2:42)

Other

• Positive Emotions Open Our Mind, Barbara Fredrickson (8:37)
• Fairness –even monkeys understand the basis of morality, Frans de Waal (2:53)

Yoga

Self-Assessment Tools

Introduction to Stress, Resilience and Relaxation Response Module

Relaxation Response: Physiologic Effects Module

Relaxation Response: Clinical, Cognitive and Emotional Effects Module

Introduction to Mindfulness: The Mindful Body Scan Module

Mindfulness: Mindful Sitting and Breathing Module

Mindfulness in Daily Life Module

Heart-centered Meditation: Positive or Sacred Word-focused Meditation Module

Heart-centered Meditation: Loving-kindness/Compassion-focused Meditation Module

Mindful Management Definition

Heart-centered Meditation: Gratitude-focused Meditation Module

Mindful Management Courses

Autogenic Training Module

Mindful Manager Nonprofit Solutions

Guided Imagery and Hypnosis for Pregnancy, Procedures and Preparing for Surgery Module

Mindful Manager

Guided Imagery and Hypnosis for Pain, Insomnia and Behavioral Issues Module