The benefit of consistant meditation are too well told . low stress , well focus , easy sleep . But despite its inherent simpleness , it can be really tough to determine and practice , especially if easiness does n’t come course .
The HeartMath Inner Balance is designed to hold your paw as you learn , which may be all some of us need .
What Is It?It’s an app for iOS that, bundled with a hardware accessory, that’s built to get you into a calm, focused, zen-like state.
Who’s It For?People who have been curious about meditation (or who have tried and failed to learn) but learn better when they have some guidance.
Design
The hardware consists of a small clip (not unlike one you’d use to keep chips from getting stale) that gently attaches to your earlobe. The sensors in that clip monitor your heart rate. The clip is attached to a wire that goes into your phone’s 30-pin connector (you’ll need an adapter if you have the newer lightning connector on your phone/tab). The app itself looks outdated, despite it being new. Think 2009 iOS apps.
Using ItYou hook the clip up to your ear and fire up the app. When you start a new session it asks you to select your mood: Excited, Anxious, Angry, Happy, Peaceful, Content, Sad, or Bored. When you start, your screen displays a colorful circle that expands and contracts. You are supposed to time your breath with the circle. Doing so generally lowers and evens out your heart rate. There are four other screens to choose from. Two are just other forms of the breathing visualization, and two track your stats and metrics as you go.
As you excogitate you are strive for what HeartMath call “ coherence,”which is when your respiration shape and pump rate fall into a steady rhythm together . There is a colored dot in each screen door which separate you if you ’re in low coherence ( red ) , medium coherence ( down in the mouth ) , or gamey coherence ( green ) . The app delivers a bit of coach to help keep you on track as you go , and your school term can go for as long as you like . At the end of the session you are asked to rank your mood again , and have the choice of pen a diary entry . All of the info is lay aside in a log .
The Best PartIt actually works. If you’ve ever had any success in meditation, you will be familiar with the sense of serenity that quickly comes while using the app. Once you get into a state of “high coherence” you really do start to feel blissed-out and relaxed, but still quite focused. Advanced meditators won’t need it at all, but it’s great for someone who is starting out and/or needs a little help with focus.
Tragic FlawThat would have to be the price. This thing costs a hundred bucks! For an app and a mono-tasking sensor. That’s pure crazy. Especially because, at some point, someone is going to realize that you can actually use the camera on your phone as a very accurate heart rate monitor (when you put your finger over it), and they’ll build an app that does exactly this and sell it for two bucks.
This Is Weird…There are a lot of anomalies in the app. For instance, you can be on one screen and it’s telling you to exhale, then switch to a different screen and it says you should be in the middle of an inhalation. It’s very inconsistent.
Test Notes
There are four level of difficultness . The gamey you go , the more minute the parametric quantity for keeping you in coherence . I was the Buddha at level one ( that ’s good ! ) but really struggle to get into high coherency at level four .
There ’s a fair amount of customizability in the options . For instance , you could opt to extend or shorten the breath duration . The app could unquestionably benefit for more ( and better ) coaching throughout the sessions .
you may move around sound on , but you should n’t . If you do , it will dally somewhat harsh tones to let you know what level of coherence you ’re in . But the tones seem to come at random time , and I found them so distracting that it ended up annoying me out of cohesion . Problematic , when the whole percentage point is to chew over .
There is no Android version yet , though HeartMath say that ’s coming within the year . It would belike have to be a Bluetooth version , as Android phone do n’t have 30 - oin connectors .
The wire with the ear - clip and the 30 - pin adapter are two disjoined pieces . Why ? Who knows , but the computer hardware already feels kind of low - budget and that only append to that look .
It seemed to be measuring my heart rate reasonably accurately , but I decide to take it off my ear and clip it to a blanket instead . Rather than simply registering nothing , it perceive a heart rate that fluctuated between 80 and 150 beatniks per minute . From a mantle . Does n’t exactly inspire self-confidence .
Should I Buy It?For $100? No. Which sucks, because despite the somewhat janky-looking software, we actually love this thing. We’re ADHD internet people and we struggle with meditation. We know how good it is for us, but it’s hard for us to do. This app/gadget really helped a lot, and make us feel better, decreased stress, and even made us work with more focus. So, maybe for some, the $100 is worth it. For $25, we’d be telling the whole world to buy it. But for most of us, the cost is just too high for something we know we could probably do on our own (even if we don’t).
Again , for people who already meditate on a regular basis , there ’s not much tip to this affair , but for us beginners , it ’s wonderful . If HearthMath can overhaul the app and bestow the toll down on the add-on ( or just have us expend our headphone ’s camera , which would open up it up for Android , too ) then they ’ve got a real winner on their hands . [ HeartMath ]
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