It’s the weekend. Time to relax.
But getting to that state of ease takes time (for us, it usually takes … the entire weekend).
Thusly, we were delighted to find a new app that promises to help you achieve a more peaceful state in just five minutes.
It’s called Simple Habit. Its claim: “the Netflix/Spotify of meditation.”
The app promises to help you reap the real and tangible benefits of meditation — like improved memory, better sleep and emotional regulation — in just five minutes a day, and all from your smartphone.
The project was born when founder Yunha Kim — a former “30 Most Creative Under 30” selection by Business Insider — felt overwhelming stress after creating her first startup, Locket. “I started mediating around two years ago with a few in-person classes,” she tells us. “They were difficult to schedule into my day, because those sessions tend to last 30 to 60 minutes. I’ve also done a week-long silent meditation which was nice but also quite demanding.”
So instead, Kim teamed up with a Harvard psychologist on an app more attuned to a busy lifestyle. “Anyone can fit five minutes of meditation into their day,” she says. She attributes a dramatic improvement in quality of life to meditation, and accordingly designed a way to help other busy people experience a daily dose of mindfulness.
So does it work? We took it for a meditative spin.
How it works
The “daily vacation for your mind” uses a Netflix/Spotify style model that’s easy to navigate. With the “On the Go” tab, you pick a five-minute meditation drill based on what you’re doing or feeling (commuting, walking, having a tough day, etc). You can also search through the library by topic or teacher.
What you get
In addition to the audio sessions, there are nifty progress-tracking features. You can see how many consecutive days you’ve meditated as well as the total sessions and minutes you’ve logged. There’s also an option to set a daily reminder — a nice touch, because the app encourages you to practice at the same time every day.
What it’ll cost ya
There’s a free seven-day trial that grants you access to some of the audio guides (double that if you refer a friend), but full access and use beyond that will cost you either $3.99 per week, $11.99 per month or $99.99 per year.
The takeaway
Simple Habit does just what the name suggests: gives you a simple way to develop a mindfulness routine (Kim suggests that consistent practice is more important than the duration of the meditation itself). Couldn’t you just meditate for five minutes on your own? Sure, but odds are if you’re considering a meditation app, you’re not doing that. Plus, as Kim told VentureBeat, the app already has more than a year’s worth of sessions.
Test it out. Five minutes for a weekend of zen sounds like a fair trade.
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