There's a new meditation app in town - Balance. Balance promises to "improve your sleep, stress, and more." Those are some pretty hefty promises. Can the Balance app live up to them? And how does it compare to other apps? To read an unbiased, not-sponsored review from a clinical mental health counselor, continue reading...

The Balance App

Balance is a new player in the somewhat saturated meditation app market. Like most meditation apps, Balance offers a 10-day course to teach basic meditation skills as well as stand-alone mindfulness exercises. Unlike some of the other apps, Balance offers interesting takes on mindfulness, including Immersive Experiences where you hear sounds and even feel vibrations on your phone that allow you to engage multiple senses; visual meditations where you focus on an animated image; and even physical meditations where you follow a circle with your fingers and match your breathing to the circle's movements.

Balance promises to create a curated experience for each user and offers reports that let you track your mindfulness minutes and daily streaks. You can even level up on mindfulness skills, which may encourage you to continue to develop skills that can sometimes be tedious. The app appears to be thoughtfully designed to encourage continued engagement.

How is the Balance App Different?

Balance is a bit different from the two biggest players on the meditation app market, Calm and HeadSpace. Like Calm, Balance offers a variety of topics for meditation, such as focus; grief; anxiety; eating; breaking habits, etc. Like HeadSpace, Balance offers courses which range from foundational to advanced, as well as unguided meditations.

What makes Balance different is the variety of mindfulness opportunities. Many of us think that mindfulness and meditation are the same thing. They're not. Meditation is the most well-known type of mindfulness. Mindfulness is simply the skill of being able to witness the present moment without engaging in it. Put more simply, mindfulness is the skill of choosing what you will and will not focus on.

Balance seems to understand that mindfulness expands beyond "witnessing your breath" and offers guided experiences that are sometimes visual, musical, and even tactile. These immersive experiences bring a new life to mindfulness practice, which may be more engaging for the average person who is new to mindfulness.

Will the Balance app help with anxiety?

Mindfulness is one of the best methods for reducing anxiety, overthinking, worry, and self-doubt. The problem is that mindfulness needs to be developed as a skill before it can be used to calm ongoing anxiety. Because the Balance app offers a variety of mindfulness experiences, the app is more likely to generate ongoing interest in mindfulness. Especially among people who struggle with boredom during traditional meditation.

For people who use the app regularly (3-7 times per week), the Balance app should help reduce some anxiety. But, that's true of any mindfulness practice, including free meditations on YouTube and engaging in mindfulness on your own. I do believe that the Balance app can help with anxiety, but the work is the same regardless of the medium.

Is Balance worth the cost?

As of this writing (April 2022), Balance is offering the first year free. So, yes, it is worth the cost. I chose to provide a donation to cover the cost for Balance over the course of the year, (I believe it was $35) and the app has been worth it thus far. Balance's price point is similar to the Calm app, and the apps are similar in value.

Mindfulness apps are only worth it if you use them, though. In this case, I believe that more people will be likely to use the Balance app due to its variety of options for mindfulness practice. For people who choose to focus on one primary meditation technique or who want a variety of guided imagery and stories, Balance may not be worth the price.

Is the Balance app any good?

As a practicing clinical mental health therapist, as well as someone who teaches and practices mindfulness every day, I think that the Balance app is great. The app offers shorter sessions, different sensory experiences, and tailored experiences. All of these are important for keeping people interested in learning mindfulness.

If you're looking to learn mindfulness and struggle with some of the typical offerings (I'm looking at you, HeadSpace) then the Balance app is worth a try. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a mental break and listen to Immersive Waves...

If you are in Colorado and are looking for help with anxiety, overthinking, burnout, or getting over your past trauma, I can help. I specialize in helping working adults find peace, discover their core values, and learn to rest. Click on the button to schedule your free consultation today: