Buddhify 2 brings mindfulness meditation to iOS

Buddhify 2 for iOS is an app that teaches mindfulness-based meditation through a series of guided lessons.

Meditation? Please. I'm not a hippie or a Buddhist, or a Whole Foods customer.

That was more or less my sentiment until a few weeks ago, when a friend recommended a book about mindfulness -- a state of awareness best achieved through, you guessed it, meditation. There's a large and growing body of evidence to suggest that mindfulness can improve both mental and physical health.

In fact, it's great for lowering stress, and I've discovered I'm a lot more stressed than I ever thought. After reading that first book and then another, I decided I was ready to give the practice a try.

Buddhify 2 couldn't have come along at a better time. The app includes more than 40 guided-meditation tracks, all of them categorized by mood or activity: traveling, going to bed, feeling stressed, etc. Each lesson ranges from 5 to 20 minutes, so they're pretty easy to incorporate into your day.

These lessons fan out across a colorful wheel that slowly (calmingly?) fans open even further when you tap one of the categories. From there you can swipe one of the individual lessons to read more about it, or tap it to queue up the audio. There's also a timer you can set for anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes, helpful for when you want to go solo on a practice you've learned, and a stats screen that keeps tabs on your usage.

Different lessons are conducted by different instructors (I believe I've heard at least four different voices so far), each one measured, professional, and very soothing.

Although there's not much here for those experienced at meditation, anyone new to the practice should find this an excellent tool for learning the ropes. I've logged just under 50 minutes in the past four days, and I find it far more pleasant and rewarding than I ever thought possible.

Buddhify 2 is currently on sale for the introductory price of $1.99.