Your favorite Insight Timer meditations
September 14, 2018 7:04 PM Subscribe
I use Insight Timer for guided meditation almost every night before bed. I found some meditations that I enjoy but, I’d be really interested to experiment with a wider range.
If you use this app, what are your favorite meditations? What about them appeals to you? How and for what do you use them?
Thanks!
Best answer: One thing I really like about Insight Timer is that the meditations are linkable even if you need the (free) app to play them, I listen to this one basically every morning: Begin Again: Re-Dedication to Goodness by Tony Brady. It's all about making small incremental improvements in your life and others so that by the time you go to bed, the world has been made a tiny bit better because you were alive.
Sometimes I don't want to hear any words and I have two music meditations that I listen to Raga for Collectivity & Diplomacy by Juan Carlos or Celestial Dreams Meditation by Johnny Scifo
posted by jessamyn at 9:04 AM on September 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
Sometimes I don't want to hear any words and I have two music meditations that I listen to Raga for Collectivity & Diplomacy by Juan Carlos or Celestial Dreams Meditation by Johnny Scifo
posted by jessamyn at 9:04 AM on September 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I really like everything by Stephan Wormwood. Rest in Natural Peace and Timeless Presence are the ones I've listened to the most. He has a gentle, soothing voice and just sounds like such a kind person. A basic premise of his meditations is that you have everything you need in the present moment and inner peace (or whatever you want to call it) is entirely available to anyone at any time. I listen to these when I'm stressed out, anxious, or just feeling like getting into a quieter mental space. He even has a guided meditation specifically for panic attacks, which I thought was neat, though I don't have much experience with it.
I also like this guided meditation by Giovanni Dienstmann, though it might not be for everyone. I like thinking about the nature of reality and consciousness and there's some of that in there. I think of it as a mindfulness workout. It helps me to zoom-out from whatever I'm immediately preoccupied with.
For really short guided meditations (under 10 or even under 5 minutes) I've tried and liked Loch Kelly.
You could also try using "Yoga Nidra" as a search term to find meditations more geared for winding down for bed. I've used this one (also by Giovanni Dienstmann) a few times.
These guided meditations from UCLA are not on Insight Timer, but since they're also free I thought I'd mention them. The page I linked has breath meditations, a body scan meditation for sleep, a loving-kindness meditation, and a few others. They're very straightforward and unambiguous, geared toward a general audience, and I like her voice a lot.
This blog post gives a brief overview of a lot of different meditation practices and might help with finding things to look for on Insight Timer.
posted by jnrs at 10:29 AM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
I also like this guided meditation by Giovanni Dienstmann, though it might not be for everyone. I like thinking about the nature of reality and consciousness and there's some of that in there. I think of it as a mindfulness workout. It helps me to zoom-out from whatever I'm immediately preoccupied with.
For really short guided meditations (under 10 or even under 5 minutes) I've tried and liked Loch Kelly.
You could also try using "Yoga Nidra" as a search term to find meditations more geared for winding down for bed. I've used this one (also by Giovanni Dienstmann) a few times.
These guided meditations from UCLA are not on Insight Timer, but since they're also free I thought I'd mention them. The page I linked has breath meditations, a body scan meditation for sleep, a loving-kindness meditation, and a few others. They're very straightforward and unambiguous, geared toward a general audience, and I like her voice a lot.
This blog post gives a brief overview of a lot of different meditation practices and might help with finding things to look for on Insight Timer.
posted by jnrs at 10:29 AM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
I have a few of Tara Brach's in my favorites, and they are the ones I turn to the most (this won't be a revelation tho as I think I got them in the "popular favourites"). And I like the ones by Andrew Johnson cuz lovely Scottish accent, haha.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 12:43 PM on September 15, 2018
posted by ClarissaWAM at 12:43 PM on September 15, 2018
I am a big fan of Sarah Blondin's Live Awake - she has a lovely, calm voice and I really enjoy her meditations. Her "When We Must Endure" meditation, in particular, has gotten me through some tough moments.
posted by Synesthesia at 8:27 PM on September 15, 2018
posted by Synesthesia at 8:27 PM on September 15, 2018
Best answer: I’ve been taking a course from Linda Hall who has a lovely British voice that seems like it was made for guided meditations. She has lots of free meditations mostly about reducing stress, grounding the body, “endless calm”
posted by hungrytiger at 10:20 PM on September 15, 2018
posted by hungrytiger at 10:20 PM on September 15, 2018
Best answer: Vidyamala Burch's meditations on pain have changed my life for the better, and her voice feels like chocolate to me.
I love using Hannah Leatherbury's You Are Acceptance to clear out my mind for sleeping.
(Thanks for asking this question.)
posted by Jesse the K at 1:46 PM on September 17, 2018
I love using Hannah Leatherbury's You Are Acceptance to clear out my mind for sleeping.
(Thanks for asking this question.)
posted by Jesse the K at 1:46 PM on September 17, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
My personal favorite teachers are Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Steve Armstrong, and Carol Wilson. If you don't find guided meditations from them on Insight Timer, check dharmaseed.org, where the western Buddhist tradition's oral tradition is preserved almost in its entirety.
posted by janey47 at 9:18 PM on September 14, 2018 [4 favorites]