I wouldn’t say I am a seasoned meditator—I try to meditate when I can and have a handful of different meditation apps already downloaded onto my phone, so I was skeptical how this app could prove to stand out among them. It turns out, Down Dog’s Meditation app completely stands because it has customizability that no other app I’ve used has. The meditations are generated based on your settings, making each mediation a different experience each time. This app proves that meditation doesn’t have to be some grand spiritual ordeal, but simply a tailored moment of pause in your day.
Customize Your Zen
Down Dog is known for its yoga, HIIT, and barre apps, but its meditation app was released in December as the latest offering to the series. However, you don’t have to be a self-proclaimed yogi (or be able to do a downward facing dog) to enjoy the mediation app—you just have to be open to new experiences. After downloading the app, I was prompted with a series of choices in how I wanted my meditations to go. I got to choose which soothing voice resonated with me the most, which type of music I preferred (nature sounds, ambient music, spiritual, or brain waves), how long the longest silence would be, and the length of the meditation, itself. You’re also prompted to choose how much guidance you’d like from the voice you selected. I chose less guidance since I have meditated before, but more guidance definitely helps keep your focus if you are new to meditation. An important thing to note is that you can change these customizations before every session, so don’t feel like you’re stuck with your original settings each time. When it came time to actually sit and meditate, I found the meditation to be exactly what I was looking for. The music was soothing, and even if you decide midway through you don’t like it for whatever reason, you can choose a new song in the upper right-hand corner. I did a 15-minute evening meditation for sleep and a 15-minute morning meditation to ground my day. The evening meditation focused on relaxing my body and mind from the stress of the day, and included visualization techniques to set me up for a night of dreaming. On the other hand, the daytime meditation was much more upbeat in its music, and used positive affirmations and mantras to inspire my mind, while also clearing it.
Is It Worth It?
The Down Dog Meditation app’s customization aspect makes it worthy of a download to your phone. Unlike other meditation apps, you can choose how you want to meditate based on how you’re feeling that day. If you only feel like listening to nature sounds without any guidance for five minutes, or if you’d prefer to take on a completely guided 20-minute meditation journey with inspiring motivation, you can do that with this app. I especially like how you can customize the amount of guidance your meditation has, since some days I prefer to listen to ambient music, while other days I need someone to remind me to be grateful for this moment in time. I also appreciate that the app is entirely free until July, since we are all going through a tough time right now and could use some free stress relief. What I didn’t like about Down Dog’s app is that even with all the customizations, you still don’t get to pick the exact theme of the meditation—it simply generates one for you. Choosing the theme could be useful if you’re looking to be more motivated or productive when meditating at the start of your day or looking to wind down and practice gratitude in the evening. Overall, I think I could finally stick to a daily meditation practice with a customizable app like this to do what I feel like at that moment rather than listen to something already pre-recorded.
