What is Reddit's opinion of Smiling Mind?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Using an app can be a good way to start meditating for several different reasons. It can be helpful to have a framework to work within and a voice guiding you to help your brain stay on task. More importantly, though, apps can teach you different ways of meditating and can generally educate you about meditation. Trying out different ways of meditating can give you different tools to use in your practice and help you discover what works best for you.

Two apps I recommend are Smiling Mind and Insight Timer. Smiling Mind is completely free; Insight Timer does have a paid subscription option, but they have enough free content that you won’t need it.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally! Someone finally is listening. And you don't have to pay for it. For those with ADHD I suggest starting (and you can stay with) guided meditations. Here is an awesome totally free smartphone and web one: https://www.smilingmind.com.au

First, I speak about my own experience and I don't want to imply what works for me will be a solution for you but it gives you something to think on and research..

While a therapist is great, you could work through some self help type books. I am in the US so my suggestion is more US based.

My therapist recommended the phobia book.

https://www.amazon.com/Anxiety-Phobia-Workbook-Edmund-Bourne/dp/1572248912

https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Happiness-Trap-Struggling-Living-ebook/dp/B00JEK72L2

The anxiety and phobia workbook has been a help. So is the illustrated version of the happiness trap.

From Australia is an app called smiling mind. It helps with meditation and becoming self aware.

https://www.smilingmind.com.au/

I don't love myself enough, these resources have helped me greatly in working through anxiety and abandonment issues.

I also found that being on normal birth control really messed with my emotions. I never want children, so I had my tubes removed so I don't need birth control. I also have PMDD. I find that exercise and getting outside helps, as does taking Vit D3.

Most bookstores should have it. Or Amazon. Try your library too. My problem is that I've been procrastinating working through the book for years because it feels like it'll be too much work. I found meditation easier to get started with and it helps. This is a great website that will teach you, and it's got a free app too: https://www.smilingmind.com.au/

I feel bad for pretty much repeating the same thing on every mindfulness meditation post but I swear by this app:

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https://www.smilingmind.com.au/

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It's completely free - no cap on the number of meditations you can do before you have to start paying. Different modules for different contexts (e.g. sleep, public transport, work, university/college, primary school kids, etc.) I should probably use it more than I do. I use the sleep modules the most because I find it hard to wind down to sleep at night and sleep quality affects my anxiety the next day. If I do wake up feeling anxious and I'm short on time, I listen to the public transport one on the train to university. It even takes into account what you can do if you're standing up vs sitting down on public transport which I think is pretty neat.

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Give it a go. Mindfulness isn't instant - it can be a bit of a learning curve to wind down and anchor yourself in the present when your mind is telling you to be anxious about everything. But it becomes easier with practice.

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Source: Me (studying to be a clin psych & living with anxiety) and other clin psychs at my practice recommend this app too.

Believe it or not, meditation does help. No one ever takes me up on the advice but Smiling Mind is completely free. It's both smartphone app and web. It teaches you what mindfulness is, what meditation is, how to meditate, and then has short guided meditations to follow. If you do it daily, after a little while you will notice a difference. But no one listens or believes me. Or they go pay for Headspace when they can get better meditations for free. Their website is https://www.smilingmind.com.au

Probably not PTSD but it was definitely trauma. Hypochondria is also called health anxiety and it can stem from significantly anxious medical experiences, so it makes sense. If you're still health anxious, maybe try a cognitive behavioral course http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/resources/infopax.cfm?Info_ID=53

With your anxiety, you could also try a self help course http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/resources/consumers.cfm

Or talk to a counsellor or therapist if you can afford it.

My biggest suggestions are to ask yourself "what is the evidence for what I'm telling myself" to ensure that you're not giving into anxious thought/ideas

And start practicising mindfulness for at least 3 minutes, twice a day when feeling ok and when you get anxious you can use that skill to help you get through it https://www.smilingmind.com.au

As I said in the other post, if none of that works, see your gp for a short course of anti depressants.

Now days meditation/mindfulness is used as a first line defence for handling withdrawals, so it absolutely can be a massive help for most people.

How much experience with meditation do you have? If your new to it check out the smiling mind app it has some great guidance.

Withdrawal suck. Reach out to local health providers who can help if possible. Try keep in touch with family and friends (assuming there not going to tempt you to use agin) and try and avoid places/activities associated with using.

You can get through this. I may just be an internet stranger but I believe in you.

I have found Smiling Mind to be really useful, it's completely free and it has lots of different mindfulness programmes!

Also, I find the Australian accent calming :)

I'd add Smiling Mind (https://www.smilingmind.com.au/smiling-mind-app), a free mindfulness app with lots of meditation exercises categorized by themes (eg when you need immediate stress relief, have sleep issues etc...). They're a non-profit, so no ads.

I started with Smiling Mind. FREE (completely free), great for beginners, pretty chill, and you can track your progress (emotions, time, etc.). I found it very accessible and highly recommend it.

You can check out their website: https://www.smilingmind.com.au/

To add to this, guided meditation is an easy form. Smiling Mind is a free app that was designed for schools in Australia, but also can be used personally. Headspace is another good one that is free and works on Amazon Echo if you have one of those. Personally, I like Smiling Mind for daily meditation and the sleep program from Headspace for winding down at night. Guided meditation only takes a few minutes a day.

In addition, there are many YouTube videos of sounds designed to reduce anxiety and you can try those to determine what feels right to you. Try nature sounds or binaural beats. I'm personally fond of Tibetan bowls. You can listen to these sounds either as meditation or as a calming background influence as you go about your day.

If I’m not in a good place mentally, I personally get more anxious when trying to meditate “on my own.” I feel anxious about how much time has (or hasn’t) passed; I feel bad about how much my thoughts are wandering and end up ruminating about it; etc. Someone kindly guiding me through it, though, THAT I can do. Guided meditations often teach you different techniques, so you can learn what works best for you. They also often remind you that it’s okay that your thoughts will wander—wandering thoughts are, in fact, part of the practice and that it is meant to be something that you practice—and these reminders help keep my thoughts from anxiously spiraling.

There are many different options for guided meditations, but my go-to is Smiling Mind. I like it for a lot of different reasons, primary among them are that they are a nonprofit with a great mission, their app is completely free, and I am not annoyed by the voice guiding the meditations.

"If you would like to use the app but truly cannot afford it, please email us at [email protected] so that we can give you a free account."

Also i've gathered from many discussions about mindfulness/meditation apps that the voice/tone/accent etc of the speaker/teacher tends to be rather important on a per-user basis wrt impression of how accessible it seems and factors into long-term engagement, so I would encourage sampling your options and finding what suits your particular needs.

On that note, another great option is the "Smiling Mind" app - they have a 21-day course for insomnia. It is also free. https://www.smilingmind.com.au/smiling-mind-app There are many others, just look around and find something you like. Good luck to all.

Personally no. I normally do my "meditation" at the start of yoga practice and count breaths, so I'm not very helpful on that front unfortunately. I've had people suggest Smiling Mind. Haven't really used it though, so can't vouch for it. For just taking moments out of my day to breathe properly though, I like to use Nathan W. Pyle's animations on Twitter - I find 'em really soothing.

EDIT: I was dissociating really hard at the start of Stage 4 and definitely as a self-defense mechanism. Wish I had some pro strats to give you about grounding yourself but one of the weird things that helped me was getting one of those meal boxes (like HelloFresh?) and just working through the pre-prepared recipe. I normally like cooking though, so I wonder if it helped because it put me in a situation that was very "me" but at a relatively low mental load (plus a tasty relatively healthy meal at the end). YMMV.

If you're looking for a free alternative to Headspace, check out SmilingMind.com.au - it's an Australian program that's entirely free, & boasts apps in both the Apple & Google Play stores, as well as the ability to access everything via their website. It's got programs specifically designed for various populations, including kids of several age groups, & it's even been tested in schools & proven to be beneficial to kids & teachers! Here's the info about their education-specific work: https://www.smilingmind.com.au/education.

It's a great app to start with, but in general I find apps that have a subscription pricing model problematic. Their incentive is to keep you paying and using the app as long as possible rather than encouraging you to build an independent practice (which is kind of the point imo). Also headspace tends to recycle the same handful of techniques over and over across the various packs.

Check out the Buddhify (https://buddhify.com/) app. They charge a few dollars one time for the app and you get access to all the meditations and their whole mandate is to train you to build a practice where you don't need an app to meditate.

Smiling Mind (https://www.smilingmind.com.au/) is also pretty good and free.

The articles and blogs at https://www.mindful.org/ are also helpful in learning techniques.

Meditation can help with keeping thoughts in line. Here is a 100% free app (no upsells, no blocking off areas until you pay, 100% free):

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https://www.smilingmind.com.au/

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I make my money with my mind, I have been meditating for years as I see it as maintenance of my money maker. Exactly how like a stripper would go the gym, but with less sweat.

Meditation is very helpful for dealing with your very natural reactions to stress

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You are in a situation that would stress anyone out. If they house is yours may I ask why he is staying. What is the exit plan?

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Totally free app that has different programs:

https://www.smilingmind.com.au/

Hi there. Good question! I have found the Smiling Mind app really useful - it has lots of guided mindfulness exercises aimed at a range of age groups and situations. Plus, it's free! Have a go and meet us know what you think.

I recommend the app Smiling Mind, it's free, not-for-profit and Australian made. There's user modes for yourself or use as an educator. Read more about it here. I'm in no way affiliated with this app by the way, I've just been using it recently and I was clued onto it by some coworkers who rated it highly.

You are falling for fake news. Or just lying. Probably just lying.

https://www.smilingmind.com.au/education

The Smiling Mind is funded as part of the $503 million mentioned in the article. It is in schools.

Can you expand on what you are failing at? Concentration? Awareness? Might help us point you in the right direction.

Having said that I'm finding Smiling Mind useful for short guided meditations.

I second music. I have a child with learning and behavioral difficulties who did so much better even with just a music theory class on the computer and there are several autistic children at the music school my kids' attend and they have made huge strides in social skills and concentration there. One of them has turned out to be quite the music prodigy and can play just about anything really well, but the most amazing thing is that he talks to the other students and instructors - something he did not do before enrolling in the music school.

I would also recommend brief periods of guided meditation throughout the week. There is a free program called Smiling Mind that was originally designed for schools in Australia. You can use the website or they also have an app for your phone. It's just a few minutes of listening to a calm voice guiding you through breathing and focus exercises. It starts at less than five minutes at a time and works up to five minutes, but you can just use the shorter sessions if five minutes is too much at a time. I have observed improved focus and better behavior in my kids when we meditate just a few minutes a couple times per week, including my one child who sounds a lot like yours.

Here you go:

https://www.smilingmind.com.au

https://www.smilingmind.com.au/smiling-mind-app

On the home page you will have to scroll past the LEGO characters to learn more and navigate. You are on the right site when you see LEGO figures - just keep scrolling. : ) There is a lot of information on this site.

When you look at the app download page info, it all seems to be in English for now. But if you look at the farthest down on the page, on the right hand side, you will see the apps offered in "Other Languages". That would be the Aboriginal languages referred to in the article. I want to see a near future where hundreds and hundreds of languages are represented in apps here so people from all over can listen and practice their mindful wellness exercises in the true language that represents their own identity and experience in the world. That is vital to care for and heal the mind.

It's kind of late in the game to ask for advice. If asked earlier I would have suggested https://www.smilingmind.com.au totally free app to learn meditation. It really helps. Or http://ayny.org/breathing-app/ to learn resonance breathing. Tuck those two links away for future reference. In the meantime just take slow deep breaths. Breath in for a count of four seconds, hold your breath for four seconds, then exhale your breath for a count of five seconds. And just keep repeating. It should really keep you calm. Good luck!

Make these other things a priority as well. They aren't as "fun" but you have to remember that you can really fuck up someone else's life with those mistakes. I'm not being dramatic. If I had an appointment with my psychologist (or so I thought), showed up but it wasn't on their schedule? That could create a mental health crisis for some people. Remember that people go in there for all kinds of reasons and your mistakes will add to their stress and could worsen their mental health. I say this so that you understand how important your job is. And that considering where you work, these types of mistakes have a bigger impact. This is no longer about you. This is about the patients. You owe it to them to get your shit together. If that means double checking every single thing you do, so be it. Personally, meditation really helps with mindfulness which is what you are lacking. People with ADHD don't want to do it because it isn't "fun" and stimulating. But if you meditate every day? You will make less mistakes over time because you will become more mindful of what you are doing. I don't expect you to follow this advice but here is free meditation resource: https://www.smilingmind.com.au