Mindfulness Coach

US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

About this app

Mindfulness means noticing and paying attention to what is going on in the present moment, without passing judgment on it. Mindfulness has been shown to be effective for reducing stress, improving emotional balance, increasing self-awareness, helping with anxiety and depression, and coping more effectively with chronic pain.

Mindfulness Coach 2.0 was developed to help Veterans, Service members, and others learn how to practice mindfulness. The app provides a gradual, self-guided training program designed to help you understand and adopt a simple mindfulness practice. Mindfulness Coach also offers a library of information about mindfulness (for example “What is Mindfulness?”, “How to Anchor Your Attention”), 12 audio-guided mindfulness exercises and a growing catalog of additional exercises available for free download, goal-setting and tracking, a mindfulness mastery assessment to help you track your progress over time, customizable reminders, and access to other support and crisis resources. Mindfulness Coach is free, doesn’t take or share any of your personal information, and doesn’t require add-on purchases.

Mindfulness Coach was created by VA’s National Center for PTSD.

Ratings and reviews

I wish more mental health apps were like this and not have all their features locked behind pay walls. Because that's what someone needs when they need help :p. It's most likely because it's sponsored through the government but that's okay. The best mindful meditation app I found so far the walk-throughs are very helpful. It's like a mini self-help book.

So far, this app has been helpful. The lessons are easy to follow and not at all long or arduous and the strategies have proven useful. Mindfulness is not an easy thing to grasp I am learning but as they say in the app, practice much, practice often. FYI, there is a ton of stuff not included with the install that you can download later to supplement the materials already included and it's all repeatable and free. Try it.

Very helpful, but has a separate save function. If you don't save at least once a week, you chance losing all your progress. Not your mental progress, just on the app. :-) There are many mindfulness exercises to choose from, along with practices and educational materials to read. The voice for the exercises is soothing & mellow. I've used this app for 5 years & highly recommend. The book "Chop Wood, Carry Water" is also great, esp for those who hate sitting still. It's mindfulness on the move!

What's new

* fixed a bug that was affecting Practice Now on some devices