Depends what you're optimizing for:

Headspace — best if you want short, guided, habit-forming sessions with almost zero friction. Great onboarding, weak for anyone who wants to go deeper than "calm down for 10 minutes."

Calm — best for sleep. The Sleep Stories are genuinely well-produced. Meditation content itself is more surface-level than Headspace's.

Insight Timer — best if you already know what you're doing and want a huge free library + community stats. Overwhelming for beginners — too much choice, no guidance on what's actually right for you.

The thing none of the apps solve: nobody corrects your technique. If you're forcing concentration, expecting your mind to go blank, or being inconsistent, an app has no way to notice or fix that — which is a big part of why so many people download one, use it for two weeks, and quit.

That's the gap I ended up looking into personally instructed techniques for. I practice Transcendental Meditation (TM) — no app involved, you learn it in person over a few sessions from a certified teacher who actually watches you do it and corrects mistakes on the spot. Research on it (146-study meta-analysis) found it about twice as effective at reducing anxiety as other relaxation techniques, and it's shown to lower cortisol by ~30% on average in controlled studies. Downside: it costs money and isn't instant/free like an app.

So: app for a taste test or if you're consistent enough to self-correct, in-person instruction if you've tried apps before and it didn't stick.

(Disclosure: I'm affiliated with TM Nederland, so take the TM bit with that in mind — happy to answer questions either way.)

The findings of this study provides support for a 6-Hz binaural beat which can entrain theta activity entraining and enhancing theta power, indicative of a meditative state, within a short 10-minute exposure.

The study involved 28 participants split into experimental and control groups, with EEG recordings collected during a 40-minute session involving a 6-Hz binaural beat stimulus on a 250 Hz carrier tone for the experimental group compared to a control group exposed to silence. 

Potential implication: The 6-Hz binaural beat settings could potentially support or complement mindfulness meditation by facilitating the brainwave states associated with meditative focus and relaxation.

For free downloading of this binaural beat setting and others visit: https://purebinaural.com

I’m looking for regular meditators (who have meditated 5 or more times in the last 2 weeks) for a study investigating how relaxation affects attention (a psychology degree dissertation project).

It’s an online experiment (laptop + headphones needed), takes up to 15-25 minutes, including:

-reading about the study and completing a short questionnaire

-listening to a 10-minute mindfulness audio

-completing a Stroop word-colour task (naming the colours of the appearing words)

A link to complete the study:

https://research.sc/participant/login/dynamic/3E6F648B-F619-431F-8D81-51E3F605FC47

Participants can withdraw at any time by closing the browser.

I had been looking but couldn't really find any science-backed sources for Tratak meditation. I was wondering if there are any; even on Youtube there are different videos nothing aligning per se

Thanks!

I think consciousness might be simple; basically the ability to register a difference. That could be true for a single-cell organism and for a human being.

I think the complexity might be from all the biological layers stacked on top of what registers a difference.

Complex organisms have layer after layer of biological processes: sensory gating, emotional memory, posture, breathing, autonomic reflexes, trauma residues, habits, social projections, predictions… on and on.

When that stack is noisy, even the simplest conscious signal gets distorted. When the stack quiets, consciousness feels clean, direct, obvious.

This is why some spiritual figures look “superhuman.” I don’t think they accessed a mystical higher consciousness. I think they learned how to isolate layers of the stack and quiet them; mentally, emotionally, somatically, and energetically. Their clarity wasn’t supernatural; it was low interference.

Strip away the metaphors and scriptures and you see the same mechanics: less internal noise, sharper perception, better behaviour, less suffering.

So my view is this: consciousness is simple. The organism is complicated. And spiritual masters were people who learned how to quiet the complexity

I wonder if there is any science papers that support my theories here? Meditation seems to be one of the most direct ways to quiet this biological stack.

I've learned that there are a lot of abnormal or persistent psychological experiences a person can have, distinct from the ones that naturally fluctuate throughout life experience.

For instance that meditation can be used to attain altered states, or to resolve deeper issues inside one's psyche or to regain some mental balance.

I've been told that I have some abnormal issue that I am not aware of, that this issue can not be resolved through meditation. It's implied through people's behaviour, but it is not apparent what it is. When I ask people, they oddly insist that they 'cant tell me'.

What kind of issue could this be?

What kind of reaction would possibly interact with or resolve such a mental state, if meditation does not?

For the last 2 years i'm doing a practice (aka meditation) with very sharp knifes on a daily basis (40 min average). Currently working with 2 knifes simultaneously.

Important - It's not a combat related practice.

My objective is to NOT cut myself during the movements (even though it is very easy to injure yourself) and keep my state calm while performing some dangerous moves

IMHO, I have significant progress not only with the practice, but in using the progress (my own state management) in my day to day life (I live in Ukraine)

NOW, I want to start measuring and researching this with EEG and HRV coherence tracking (neurofeedback measurements)

Will appreciate for:

1. Any interesting researches on non typical meditations

2. Papers on measuring the "state" of meditation

3. any suggestions on what&why to buy in terms of devices

Thanks!

Did you ever wonder what is at the heart of Meditation - what is the goal, the complete expression, the attained experience?
Here Guruji Sri Vast explains Meditation as a state to be lived in every moment; in every thought, word and action - a Living Meditation.

www.srivast.org
#gurujisrivast

The mind is like a river—restless, flowing, unstoppable.

But when you learn to guide it, life itself begins to flow with ease.

✨ Take 10 minutes to pause…

to breathe…

to return to the stillness within.

This gentle meditation will:

release stress and tension 🌿

ease anxiety 🌙

restore balance to your spirit ✨

🎶 Native American flute and soft piano weave together like a breeze, wrapping your mind in calm and silence.

👉 Link to Full 10-Minute Meditation for Deep Relaxation & Stress Relief
https://youtu.be/w6WJBPhV3VM