International Yoga Day 2018: The best yoga and meditation apps to help you started on your fitness and mindfulness journey

There is no dearth of yogis bent into complex asanas across the web today. If you have the right tools at your disposal, yoga can be the perfect solution for a healthier body and mind. Meditation can be the perfect companion to yoga, with a little patience and practice.

Insight Timer

With a reach of over 4 million users, Insight Timer offers a wide variety of guided meditations. There are over 2,000 different teachers who guide the user through the various meditation techniques, and they teach in 25 languages.

Where to find it: iOS App Store, Google Play Store.

Calm

The meditations featured on this app focus on improving sleep and reducing anxiety. Each one is accentuated with soothing music and includes sessions that focus on inner peace, positivity, and breathing. Users can track their progress and can choose from sessions that go on from 3 to 25 minutes.

Where to find it: iOS App Store, Google Play Store.

Headspace

Andy’s soothing voice guides you through various meditations, ranging from 3 to 20 minutes. The meditations focus on the practice of mindfulness, which has proven to better concentration and sleep.

Where to find it: iOS App Store, Google Play Store.

Yoga Studio

Yoga Studio features follow-along yoga video classes, ranging across levels of advancement and fitness goals. The videos range from 15 to 60 minutes. The most fun part of this app is that users can even create their own custom workouts, and the app will stitch the videos together!

Where to find it: iOS App Store, Google Play Store.

Asana Rebel

The yoga and fitness app for anyone who wants to get fit, lose weight, and start a healthy lifestyle. This app offers five major categories of workouts: Fat burn, strength, flexibility, balance and focus, and relaxation. You can personalize your workouts according to your fitness goals, duration, or intensity.

Where to find it: iOS App Store, Google Play Store.

Simply Yoga

Videos on this app guide you through poses, and even tell you how to get into each one. With a choice of 20, 40, and 60-minute classes. You will be guided through each workout by certified professionals. Simply Yoga’s experience is exactly what the name implies: no frills and fancies, just peaceful yoga workouts.

Where to find it: iOS App Store, Google Play Store

FitStar Yoga

Tara Stiles, an expert yogi, is the coach and guide on this app. Users can rank their own ability and rank their level of comfort. The app tailors workouts to these rankings and creates custom workouts which get more difficult over time.

Where to find it: iOS App Store, Google Play Store.

Zen – Meditation

Zen offers guided meditations that focus on mood improvement and stress reduction. Users can choose between audio and video sessions, which feature deep relaxation techniques like ASMR. The audio sessions are strategically created to be therapeutic as well.

Where to find it: iOS App Store, Google Play Store

Smiling Mind

This app comes from a 100% non-profit organization by the same name and aims to provide free programs for people dealing with stress. Ideal for parents to bring yoga into their homes.

Where to find it: iOS App Store, Google Play Store

Pacifica

Pacifica goes beyond yoga and meditation and helps users tackle anxiety and depression. The app provides various meditations that focus on cognitive healing and make therapy more accessible to patients.

Where to find it: iOS App Store, Google Play Store