About this time last year, I downloaded the app Headspace because I was interested in incorporating meditation into my daily routine. Headspace is an app for meditation and sleep. It’s recent popularity has grown as a result of the new Netflix series titled “Headspace Guide to Sleep.”
I’ve watched maybe two of those episodes and have quite enjoyed them. However, let’s talk more about the app itself.
When you first download the app, there are only a handful of free features. I definitely think those features are a great place to start for anyone who is interested in meditation. After a few uses, I found that I really loved the app. While I’m not big on meditation, I’ve really tried to get into it in order to ease some of my anxiety.
One thing that really impressed me about Headspace was their student discount. A regular, one-year subscription to their services is $69.99, but with the Headspace Student Plan, a one year subscription is just $9.99. That’s quite a deal if you ask me. Their motto is “You take care of your grades. We’ll take care of your mind.” As a student who cares both about my grades and my mental health, I was convinced that I had to pay for Headspace’s subscription service.
After downloading the app, I tried to use it regularly in the morning. But as you can imagine, that failed pretty quickly. I didn’t have time to meditate during the day because, quite frankly, I didn’t make time to do so. I realized that maybe this app wasn’t as useful for me as I initially thought.
I’m one of those people who intends to go to sleep at a certain time but doesn’t actually fall asleep until more than an hour later because my mind is wrecked with anxious thoughts.
On one particular night, which I don’t recall since I have many nights like this, I could not sleep. The thoughts kept getting louder and louder until I was wide awake.
That’s when I turned to my phone to open Headspace. I browsed the app for some sort of meditation that would magically put me to sleep. Low and behold, I found that Headspace has a whole section of meditations and sounds for sleep. How beautiful, I thought. I chose one of the many sleep meditations under the category “Sleepcasts.” Initially, I thought that this was never going to work, but I put my Beats on and hoped for the best.
A soothing and calm voice guided me through a wonderful nonexistent place. The Sleepcasts range from a hushed theatre to a cabin porch to a moon buggy. Currently, my favorite Sleepcast is titled “Raindrop Soaps.” This sleep meditation takes you “inside a charming artisan soap shop.” They are each 45 minutes long but I’m usually in a deep sleep about 20 minutes in.
The Headspace app proved especially useful during this past year. It’s helped me during school nights when my anxiety was just too much to handle. It’s helped me when my roommates were far too loud at night, leading me to try and fall asleep while completely frustrated.
One cool feature that I use on Headspace includes the bedtime reminders. One reminds you when to start winding-down for the night and one reminds you when it’s time for bed. The reminders are 30 minutes apart. While it’s not a groundbreaking feature, it does help me remember that I need to hit the hay soon if I want eight hours of sleep.
There is definitely something for everyone on the Headspace app. Even the free features can be useful to help slow down your racing thoughts. If you’re not ready to break the bank with a Headspace subscription, I highly recommend watching “Headspace Guide to Sleep” on Netflix (that is if you have a subscription to Netflix).
But if you are ready to break the bank, then check out this link to the Headspace Student Plan subscription: www.headspace.com/studentplan. Happy sleeping!
This article was originally published on Leslie’s blog—Dear May—check it out at dearmonthofmay.blogspot.com.
