Tôi đã thử nghiệm Balance và Moonbird cho thiền định — giờ đã có sự lựa chọn yêu thích

Tôi đã thử nghiệm Balance và Moonbird cho thiền định — giờ đã có sự lựa chọn yêu thích

Khi hầu hết mọi người nghĩ đến việc cải thiện sức khỏe, họ thường tập trung vào việc đốt cháy calo, tập luyện thể dục hoặc nâng tạ. Tuy nhiên, một phần quan trọng không kém chính là chăm sóc sức khỏe tinh thần. Nếu bạn đang vật lộn với lo lắng hoặc gặp khó khăn trong việc kiểm soát căng thẳng, điều đó sẽ ảnh hưởng tiêu cực đến sức khỏe thể chất của bạn.

Trong hành trình tìm kiếm sự cân bằng giữa thể chất và tinh thần, tôi đã quyết định thử nghiệm hai ứng dụng thiền định phổ biến: Balance và Moonbird. Mỗi ứng dụng mang đến những trải nghiệm độc đáo, và sau quá trình sử dụng, tôi đã tìm được sự lựa chọn yêu thích của mình.

Balance: Thiền định cá nhân hóa

Balance là một ứng dụng thiền được thiết kế để phù hợp với nhu cầu cá nhân của người dùng. Ngay từ lần đầu sử dụng, tôi đã ấn tượng với cách ứng dụng này điều chỉnh các bài tập thiền dựa trên mục tiêu và mức độ kinh nghiệm của tôi. Balance cung cấp các bài giọng nói nhẹ nhàng và hướng dẫn chi tiết, giúp tôi dễ dàng tập trung và thư giãn.

Ưu điểm lớn nhất của Balance là tính linh hoạt. Ứng dụng này cho phép tôi chọn thời lượng thiền phù hợp với lịch trình bận rộn của mình, từ 5 phút đến 30 phút. Đặc biệt, Balance còn có chế độ thiền dành cho người mới bắt đầu, giúp tôi xây dựng thói quen thiền định một cách tự nhiên.

Moonbird: Công cụ hỗ trợ thiền định vật lý

Moonbird không chỉ là một ứng dụng mà còn là một thiết bị cầm tay được thiết kế đặc biệt để hỗ trợ thiền định. Khi cầm Moonbird trên tay, tôi có thể cảm nhận được sự rung động nhẹ nhàng giúp điều hòa nhịp thở và tập trung tâm trí.

Điểm nổi bật của Moonbird là khả năng kết hợp giữa công nghệ và thiền định. Thiết bị này giúp tôi thực hành bài tập thở một cách chính xác hơn, đồng thời tạo cảm giác thư giãn sâu hơn. Moonbird còn tích hợp với ứng dụng riêng của nó, cho phép tôi theo dõi tiến trình và tùy chỉnh các bài tập thở.

So sánh và lựa chọn yêu thích

Cả Balance và Moonbird đều mang lại những trải nghiệm thiền định tuyệt vời, nhưng chúng phù hợp với những nhu cầu khác nhau. Nếu bạn đang tìm kiếm một ứng dụng thiền linh hoạt và dễ sử dụng, Balance là sự lựa chọn lý tưởng. Trong khi đó, Moonbird phù hợp hơn với những ai muốn kết hợp thiền định với công nghệ và trải nghiệm vật lý.

Sau quá trình thử nghiệm, tôi nhận thấy mình nghiêng về Balance nhiều hơn. Tính cá nhân hóa và sự tiện lợi của ứng dụng này đã giúp tôi duy trì thói quen thiền định một cách hiệu quả. Tuy nhiên, Moonbird vẫn là một công cụ tuyệt vời để thử nghiệm nếu bạn muốn khám phá một cách tiếp cận khác biệt.

Thiền định không chỉ là một phương pháp giảm căng thẳng mà còn là chìa khóa để cải thiện sức khỏe toàn diện. Dù bạn chọn Balance, Moonbird, hay bất kỳ phương pháp nào khác, hãy bắt đầu hành trình chăm sóc tinh thần của mình ngay hôm nay.

#ThiềnĐịnh #SứcKhỏeTinhThần #Balance #Moonbird #CânBằngCuộcSống #CôngNghệThiền

When most people think about getting into shape, they’re focused on burning calories, fitness training, or weight lifting. But another major part is taking care of your mental health. If you’re struggling with anxiety or having difficulty managing stress, it’ll seep into your physical health.




I know from personal experience that taking care of myself mentally is critical — not only for myself, but so that I can be a present parent, friend, and romantic partner. While I have plenty of fitness apps, I’ve tried a few mental health solutions over the past few years, including two DIY digital self-care tools, Balance and Moonbird. Here’s my experience with the two and a verdict on which I prefer.

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While helpful, neither Balance nor Moonbird are substitutes for consistent mental health care. If you’re in crisis, seek the support of a knowledgable professional.

Balance for meditation on the go

Unlock quick sessions on your app

Balance is a digital app that essentially turns your smartphone into a guided meditation solution on the go. The platform was first released on the Google Play store in 2019. But it skyrocketed in popularity during Covid-19 when people were understandably stressed and anxious.

Balance: Meditation & Sleep

In-app purchases

Yes

Subscription

$12 per month, $70 per year, $140 lifetime subscription

App Publisher

Elevate Labs

Publish date

September 3, 2019

Categories

wellness

The basics of Balance

Balance is free to download but does come with a hefty price tag if you want full course catalog access. Without a paid subscription, the app is still usable, but courses are filtered with paywalled content featuring a lock symbol. There’s still variety with the free courses like the Anxiety course block, the 10-hour Rain sounds, and a Foundations course.


However, Balance has an ongoing promotion for a free year with full access to the catalog for new app downloads. Once the year ends, it shifts to a subscription model. So, there’s no reason to not download the app if you’re curious about meditation. Just add an alert on your calendar for when the free year ends if you’re on the fence about shifting to a paid subscription.

Once the promotion ends, there are three subscription tiers for full access: $12 a month, $70 a year, or splurge for the lifetime $140 fee.

Using Balance

The app begins with a short survey asking about your concerns and what goals you’d like to achieve by using Balance. These can include factors like improving sleep and focus, reducing anxiety, or just learning breathwork exercises to help recenter your mind. Each course contains multiple short guided meditations designed to build foundational tools to maintain balance (no pun intended) during daily life.


The short snippets are usually no longer than 10 minutes, which makes them easier to slip into a busy day. Once you select a course, you can choose between one of the two meditation coaches (Ofosu or Lea) who narrate and provide guidance to help regulate breathing, create visualizations, and set a soothing tone for effective meditation.

Primarily, the coaches are there helping regulate breathwork and acknowledging that it’s entirely okay if your mind wanders. Instead of admonishing you for not being laser focused on breathwork, they encourage you to envision your thoughts like bubbles or strings and to give those thoughts permission to float away so you can return to focused breathwork.

If you choose beginner courses, the coaches are a more constant presence initially. However, as you progress, they become less present, as the program assumes you’ve mastered the previous courses and now have the tools to refocus your mind from distractions.

At the end of each course, a screen appears asking you to rate your current mood. Once you choose from one of several options, a final screen appears logging the total time spent on a “single” as well as what meditation tools were achieved. If you ever want to check your total progress, you can toggle to the profile where you can track meditation frequency, the skills gained, and any earned badges.

Moonbird for tactile guided meditation

A smart device to regulate breathing

Moonbird is a bit younger than Balance since it launched in November 2021, and it takes a slightly different approach to meditation. Whereas Balance is entirely digital and it’s on the user to manage breathwork counts, Moonbird is a physical smart device with a companion app which is also available on Google Play.

Moonbird

In-app purchases

No

App Publisher

Moonbird

Publish date

November 3, 2021

Categories

wellness

The basics of Moonbird

The Moonbird app is free, but the device has a one-time purchase fee. This is a Belgian-based company but it is available on Amazon for $199. However, because this is a wellness device, check with your insurance as it might be FSA/HSA elligible for partial or full reimbursement.

One interesting thing to note is that you can use the Moonbird without the app by simply shaking it and placing your thumb on the sensor once the green light begins blinking. But the app has limited functionality without the device. This is because you have to sync the Bluetooth-based device to your phone and connect it to the app to unlock all of the guided breathwork courses which are free to access.

Using Moonbird

The one big difference between Moonbird and Balance is the tactile factor. The device is oblong and designed to easily fit in the palm of your hand with a silicone covering that feels good to the touch too. When you’re in a session, the oblong sides that are meant to mimic bird wings begin to “breathe” by expanding and contracting.

To turn on the Moonbird, you have to shake it. Once it’s “awake,” you’ll see a green blinking light which means it’s ready for use. The next step is to then select a course from the available options in the app and complete the check-in mood and health survey. Moonbird has a solid course catalog, but it’s not as comprehensive as Balance. You’re then instructed to put your thumb on top of the sensor to begin tracking vital signs.


Similar to Balance, a soothing meditation coach welcomes you to the session and then the fun begins. The Moonbird will begin to breathe, and you’re then instructed to match your inhales and exhales with the rhythmic breathing of the device. Most courses are between two and five minutes in length and similar to Balance, you’re prompted to give a mood check-in once you finish a course.

One very clear difference between Moonbird and Balance is there are fewer coach voiceovers with Moonbird. Since the device helps regulate breathing, you don’t need someone constantly reminding you to inhale and exhale. However, the coach is still there reminding you that it’s okay to let your mind wander as long as you can bring your thoughts back to your breathwork.


Just like with Balance, Moonbird will also track the skills you’ve mastered and time spent meditating. Since this is a tactile device, it’s also tracking your heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) which is a metric reflecting how easily you can adapt to and recover from stress. The range for HRV is between zero and 20. The higher this number, the better you are at managing stress while a lower number reflects poor stress management.

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Moonbird is different because it also has informational audio courses and text articles explaining key meditation principles and the science behind them. This content is usually narrated or penned by licensed professionals – offering more credibility for the meditation skeptics out there.

Another standout feature that I didn’t see in Balance is that Moonbird plans to launch a kid-centric device called the Moonbuddy, with companion courses for children that encourages mindfulness and meditation adoption at a younger age.

How Balance and Moonbird stack up for me

Two solid apps, but one was a clear winner

Balance and Moonbird work to achieve the same goals: improve mindfulness, help me reduce anxiety, and master core principles I can use throughout the day when things get a bit too hectic.

Where Balance worked for me

I initially downloaded Balance in early Spring 2023 when I was juggling lingering divorce procedures and transitioning to life as a single mom. A feature I really liked was the daily meditation reminders, so I could sneak in a quick five-minute breathwork session before I started my day.

It was especially helpful when I was dealing with the highs and lows that come with divorce, and things were overwhelming. I could open the app and quickly complete a course to help recenter myself, so I could focus on work deadlines or clear my mind to give my daughter my full attention.

The app is very effective for making meditation approachable, especially for people like me who didn’t have a lot of experience with it. Prior to Balance, the closest I came to meditation was my PE massage therapy elective course in college when my instructor required us to do breathwork before starting every session.

I can’t lie, back then I always felt a little silly doing it and would just sit cross-legged with my eyes closed waiting for that portion of each class to finish. But with Balance, focusing on mindful breathing in a quiet place like my bedroom (where I wasn’t surrounded by others) removed the “silly” factor and I noticed real benefits.


Also, there was no pressure with Balance. If I skipped a day (or several months), the most I could expect was the daily reminders to start a meditation session. The app is designed to be unintrusive, and I appreciated that. Finally, a free first year is incredibly generous, so there’s no reason not to download the app.

Where Balance falls short for me

I can acknowledge that Balance is a robust app with a comprehensive course catalog that can work for so many people, but I feel that the course catalog is a bit too in-depth for me right now. I only really need the anxiety support and potentially some of the sleep sounds for those occasional sleepless nights, but those are available in free courses and “singles;” I couldn’t justify continuing with a paid subscription.

Additionally, I could never tell if I was holding my breath long enough, and that feeling was present even in the earlier courses where the coach is a constant presence helping to count down every inhale and exhale.

Finally, I’m mindful of app subscriptions because those recurring fees add up (looking at you Duolingo). In theory, Balance is the cheaper option since the Moonbird device costs $199 and the lifetime Balance subscription is $140 — a nearly $60 cost savings. Due to my earlier concerns, however, I canceled my membership before my free year ended. Yet, I didn’t delete the app because I still think it’s beneficial with the available free content.

Where Moonbird works for me

I genuinely love the tactile guided breathing that Moonbird provides. Ultimately, this is what sold me on Moonbird over Balance; there’s no second-guessing myself while trying to figure out how deep or shallow my breathing should be since I can follow the device’s movements.

Also, as a science girlie, I love Moonbird’s more in-depth metric tracking. The device is actively tracking heart rate and HRV – two metrics that aren’t possible with Balance. Because I know stress influences physical health, I like having access to this data as a sign of how I’m holisticly feeling on a daily basis.

Where Moonbird falls short for me

Unlike Balance, you can’t test drive Moonbird’s meditation support without spending money. And while it’s not the most expensive wellness tech device on the market, it carries a hefty upfront $199 fee. Still, some insurance providers may offer FSA/HSA reimbursement.

Another real drawback with Moonbird is that you can’t access the full breathwork courses if the device isn’t powered on and connected to your phone. Without the device, I can only access explainer articles and audio clips on the importance of meditation, breathwork, and tracking heart rates or HRV.

Is this a dealbreaker that would make me refuse to use the app? No, of course not. But that also means that I can only meditate using Moonbird if I have the device on-hand. So, I would need to have the device constantly with me for guided meditations on the go – which is unrealistic. This is one area where Balance is better because I only need my phone.

So what’s my verdict?

Both Moonbird and Balance make meditation accessible to all through an on-demand digital approach. Even though I canceled my paid subscription with Balance, I still keep the app because the free-for-all courses are incredibly useful. However, Moonbird slightly edges it out because the tactile device makes regulating my breathing cadence easier for meditation.

Moonbird Device

The Moonbird smart device helps regulate breathing with its tactile movement. It’s small enough to comfortably fit in the palm of your hand during guided sessions, and it pairs well with its companion app.

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