This app was mentioned in 18 comments, with an average of 2.17 upvotes
I have no problem with paying for resources, but headspace has a bad vibe for me because it's not just paid, it's profit driven. Being profit driven has it's karma (and I am a materialist atheist - I mean it in that sense.)
I use Meditation Helper timer and audiodharma.org.
> On a side note, I wish I had also pursued the meditation thing but it seems like every time I try I just can't get too far into it. Oh well.
Meditation is just exercise for your brain, like stretching for your muscles. Unfortunately, it's difficult to get into the habit, just like it is for any other kind of exercise.
I have an app on my phone which helps. It times your meditation and plays bells when the time is up. It also keeps track of the number of days in a row you've meditated. Once you have a "top score" (say, 5 days in a row), you can try to match or exceed that score. This is a motivational technique which was popularized by Seinfeld, who claimed that he used it to become successful.
It works okay. Better than anything else I've tried. Like a lot of things, you just have to keep working at it.
Find a quiet place where you won't be interrupted, sit in a comfortable position with your back, neck and head upright and straight. This can be in a straight backed chair or sitting on the floor cross legged on a cushion though it might be easier to start off in a chair until you get the hang of things. If you choose a chair put both feet flat on the floor in front of you and your hands on places lightly on your upper thigh (right hand right leg/lefthand left leg). Take a few very deep breaths to clear your head. Close your eyes and breath through your nose, while you are inhaling count slowly 1....2.....3 the counting should match the length of your inhale so it will be pretty slow, do the same for your exhale, 1....2....3. Don't alter your breathing to match your counting only alter your counting to match your breathing. Do not count higher than 3. Do this for 5min. You have just meditated. When your are ready increase your time to 10min, this might take a couple of days or a month or 3months, there is no race and no pressure to increase the time until you are ready. You will eventually no longer need to count but again no rush to stop, use the counting to keep focused on your breath which is the 'object' of your meditation. It took me almost a year before I stopped counting and even when I did I still came back to it every so often when I was really scattered.
I use THIS app for my meditation timer.
My personal favorite is Meditation Helper. It's a very clean and straight forward app that you can set a timer on, it rings a bell after the meditation is over and you can also set it interval bells.
I usually meditate for 30 minutes with bell on 15 minutes too. I've been using it for 3ish years now so I've bought the pro version to support the devs. Basic version doesn't really lack much of the features compared to pro though, more like a donation version.
I use meditation helper, No silly nonsense, not a million bells or social integration that is opposite to meditations purpose
Meditation practise is worthwhile, though it it's a long process. Mindfulness in Plain English is a good intro and this is the best app that doesn't have any annoying extra features https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nwalex.meditation&hl=en
I relate totally. This app was so simple and had the bells so I paid for the upgrade to help the developer and I still use the same app. It is only available on android, though. The free version does anything you need: timer, log, and bells.
I definitely don't like that one, there are better.
Meditation Helper is the one I've been using for years. It's stripped down and minimal with no extraneous bs on the screen and no annoying pleas for info or upgrade. The free app does all the regular stuff and it didn't bug me for an upgrade to pro for over a year at that point I had so much value I from it I was happy to give him 3 bucks. When I changed phones this app didn't make it to the new one and I couldn't remember the exact name so I ended up trying several others that, including OPs, all were seriously bloated or unwieldy with confusing UIs. I finally when back to my original and am happy with it still.
This app for Android does all that you describe and worked perfectly for me when I was on Android. Unfortunately, there isn't anything as good on Windows phone. Other things it did that you may want to add is a log that is easy to view of consecutive days meditated and missed days. Also it allowed you to define your day end so for instance if you set day end as 2am then you could meditate from 1155pm (or 1205am) to 1230am and not have a missed day recorded.
If you have Android, I'd like to suggest the Meditation Helper app. It has a Pro version that is pretty cheap (one-time payment), but even the free one used to suit my needs.
If you are on android, I REALLY liked this app. It is a simple timer and log. It has bells. It allows you the choice to set your day end time as whatever you want (which I haven't found in an app since I switched to windows phone). For instance you can set 2am as your day end time, meditate at 1am and it counts towards the current day so you don't break your chain of consecutive meditations in the log:) I liked this app so much it is one of the first that I bought the paid version of it to support the developer w/out caring what additional features it may include.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nwalex.meditation You can set how long you want to meditate, add a "getting ready" time(ie while you shift around to get comfortable, settle down, etc..) before the actually meditation time, and pick the amount of bells. You can also put a widget on your home screen, but honestly it just made me competitive and get bitter and quit for a while when I missed a day and "screwed up" the perfect record.
I use this one for my practice. I'm not into the logging feature, so I just ignore that part. There's also a paid version if you like it and feel like supporting the dev.
If you want a straight bare bones meditation timer that let's you keep track of the date and length of time. Meditation Timer is great for that. There is a paid version but it mainly supports the dev for further updates. It's a wonderful app all around.
In the meantime this app does all the basic things, I have been using it for years now.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nwalex.meditation&hl=en
An app like Meditation Helper could help. It has reminders.
I use (like) Meditation Helper: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nwalex.meditation
Been using Meditation Helper for years.
It has a lovely sounding bell.