This year my focus has been on developing a
super-strong inner life. In my previous blogs on self-awareness and meditation,
I discussed how self-awareness remains at the core of evolving a powerful inner
life. Along with Self-awareness, self-belief, self-respect, self-care and self-development
form the 5 basic elements of a firm inner life. While I will be writing more on
each of these elements in my forthcoming blog posts, today I want to zero-in on
‘technology’ which plays a prominent role in our daily affairs.
Our Responsibility in usage of technology
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| Technology as Servant |
Well
I am not writing to criticize technology by any means; it has done a lot of
good to humanity making our life much easier. However only thing I urge each
one of us today is to use it with responsibility. Friends, I do not have much love for electronic gadgets (or to say precisely any
material possessions). Only material thing I have lust for is my books. Until
late this year, I was using the most basic smart phone (for internet features,
checking emails, etc) that would just serve my need being in the kind of
industry I work with. However recently I invested in an iPhone 6 plus for 3
simple reasons. First and most importantly, to leverage technology for delivering on my future goals;
secondly, I had never used an apple product and wanted to experience the vision
of Steve Jobs first hand; and thirdly, to get over the limited features of a
windows and android phone – just one device that could do all I need.
In past 3 months I have explored hundreds of apps in the app store
with my infinitely curious, ever inquisitive mind looking for something that
would help me grow as an individual. As a trial and usage, I downloaded hundreds
of app providing the key words like ‘health’, ‘breathing’, ‘walking’, ‘running’
and so on. Out of my 90 days of research
I have come out with a list of 7 apps which are extremely helpful to boost up
our lifestyle and foster healthy living.
7 Superb Apps for a Healthy Living
1. Sattva:
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| Sattva |
Sattva is an elegantly crafted app solely designed
to inspire people to meditate. For my
non-Indian friends and readers, Sattva is a sanskrit word meaning purity,
harmony and balance. The best thing I like about this app is it introduces and encourages
you to do meditation in a fun way. It
surprises you with small perks in the form of trophies and badges. For instance
you get a ‘Punya’ which stands for ‘the
acquirer of merits of positive actions’ when you share your thoughts on social
media 3 times , you are awarded with ‘Dhyana’ depicting ‘the one who is in deep
meditation towards deeper awareness of oneness’ when you meditate twice in a
day and so on. Yesterday evening I unlocked the ‘75 sessions’ badge along with ’40
days in a row’ trophy, its pure fun and you will for sure enjoy the experience of
using this app.
It also acknowledges your milestones when you
complete your first session, 10th session and so on maintaining a
record and statistics of your sessions on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, even
keeps track of the duration and days of meditation. It provides platform to socialize
with like-minded people with whom you can seek spiritual guidance and
suggestions.
The app motivates to meditate by challenging you
with the 7 days, 21 days or even 40 days in a row challenge. The rule of thumb
is you miss one day of meditation and the day count begins from 1. So even if
you have finished 20 of the 21 days challenge and you miss to meditate on the
21st day, day count starts from 1 once again. All
in all, I would recommend you this app from the bottom of my heart and every
encouraging fiber of my body cells seeing the importance and role of
meditation for a richer, happier and peaceful life.
2. Sworkit
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| Sworkit |
Sworkit is a terrific personal trainer app
which provides dynamically created fitness videos for 5 to 60 minutes. Tagline
of the app reads ‘Fit in 5 minutes’. You set the time and you can exercise along
with your digital trainer which also creates fitness program to fit your
schedule. Sworkit (lite) is free and consists of a whole bunch of quality
exercises under 4 categories namely – strength, cardio, yoga and stretching. You have choices under each category depending
on the part of your body you want to focus upon on a particular day. For
instance, under stretching you can select from the four workout types: ‘head to
toe warm up stretch’, or ‘a full body stretch’, ‘standing only stretch’ or ‘back
strengthening’. Wanna do cardios and you have options of doing a ‘Light warm up
cardio’, or ‘full intensity cardio’, ‘plyometric jumps cardio’ or even a ‘boot
camp’ program is set up. You have options of strengthening your ‘full body’, ‘upper
body’, ‘lower body’ or just stick to ‘core strength’ and so on. Sworkit routines
guide you through videos demonstrated by professional personal trainers. Friends, when you explore more, I bet you will
simply fall in love with this app.
In my case, I usually start with 5 minutes of head
to toe warm up stretching followed by 10 minutes of light cardio (or intense
cardio on some days) eventually to end with 10 minutes of core strength
exercises. Of-course I keep changing workout types on a need basis. In mere 10
to 15 minutes of intense workout at home, I sweat profusely which definitely makes
you feel good (with the release of those ever wanted endorphins). What more you
could ask from an app which helps you get fit in the comfort of your home, isn’t
it?
This is simply one of the best apps I have ever come across. Exercising
had never been easier and fun. This is the app which makes exercising an integral
part of your daily routine like tooth-brushing or (even :P) bathing. I would
term it as an intense trainer in your pocket. Please… please do not delay and
install this app in your mobile phones right now and this very moment if not
already done so. All the best in your fitness journey.
If you run on a consistent basis, well and good. However, sadly most people do not. Okay, how about walking? Do you walk consistently? People often ignore the power of walking as an exercise. There are those few days when you don’t feel like exercising, you simply want to walk. No guilty feeling, just walk.
I would say that I am almost addicted
to walking. Thanks to the Walk Diary app, my new discovery from the apple appstore.
My inner love for walking mingled with the external motivation from this app
has helped me to walk long distances. Walk Diary is an app that keeps you
motivated for your walking process. It uses GPS to locate and calculates total
time used, calories burned and average speed for all logs. You can create
walking goals with days and distance.
About 3 months ago, I was depressed with the weight I had gained in my days of ignorance. Even didn’t feel motivated to run or go to gym (which was over 3 Kms away from my residence). I had to do something; it was a ‘do’ or ‘do’ situation. I came to know that local walmart store is 3.5 miles away. Just out of fun, I decided to walk all the way to the store and one fine Satuday in the month of May’ 15, I did it, walking a total of 7 miles (a little over 11 Kms). I repeated the same for the next 2 Saturdays in a row. In this way my long distance walking-haul continued. In that month alone, I walked over 105 Kms in 21 days surpassing my set goal of 100 kms.
The best feature of this app is it helps you set goals and keep track of your progress. Walking becomes fun and in the process you foster growth of your physical health. Pure sense! Isn’t it?
As part of this blog I have provided hyperlink for the apps for iOS users. I am sure you all can google out for equivalent apps for android and windows phones.
Many years ago, famous Norwegian and Noble laureate, Christian Lange said “technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master”. British-Canadian author Cary Doctrow said "This is why I loved technology: If you used it right it could give you power and privacy". Well the whole idea is not about the choice between using or not using technology, the challenge is to use it right. Let us be responsible in usage of technology, let us use it to build bridges rather than creating boundaries between fellow human beings. I wish you the very best in the wise usage of technology for the benefit of yourself and your family members. God bless humanity! :)
3. Walk Diary
If you run on a consistent basis, well and good. However, sadly most people do not. Okay, how about walking? Do you walk consistently? People often ignore the power of walking as an exercise. There are those few days when you don’t feel like exercising, you simply want to walk. No guilty feeling, just walk.
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| Walk Diary |
About 3 months ago, I was depressed with the weight I had gained in my days of ignorance. Even didn’t feel motivated to run or go to gym (which was over 3 Kms away from my residence). I had to do something; it was a ‘do’ or ‘do’ situation. I came to know that local walmart store is 3.5 miles away. Just out of fun, I decided to walk all the way to the store and one fine Satuday in the month of May’ 15, I did it, walking a total of 7 miles (a little over 11 Kms). I repeated the same for the next 2 Saturdays in a row. In this way my long distance walking-haul continued. In that month alone, I walked over 105 Kms in 21 days surpassing my set goal of 100 kms.
The best feature of this app is it helps you set goals and keep track of your progress. Walking becomes fun and in the process you foster growth of your physical health. Pure sense! Isn’t it?
4. Snore lab
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| Snore Lab |
First of all let me make a confession on this
platform, I snore. Yes I do. Well, didn’t realize it for a long time until my
family members told me so. One of the health goals I have set for this year is
to reduce if not get (completely) rid of my snoring woes. I was looking for
something that records my snoring so as to become aware of the intensity of my
snoring sound and know what kind of a snorer I am i.e. whether I produce a
pinched nasal sound or more of a throaty, guttural, louder sound.
Friends, snoring happens due to the vibration
of soft tissues in our head and neck while we sleep. The exact sound that we
make depends on the type of soft tissue that is vibrating. Snoring may be
caused by several factors such as obesity when there is large amount of fat
around neck area or the advancing age when the muscles tend to weaken making
snoring louder and more prevalent, or it may be due to genetic factors, mouth
breathing or even seasonal factors like cold or fever, or even intake of
alcohol or caffeine products may enhance snoring.
I came across Snorelab which uses proprietary
soundwave technology to measure and analyze each night’s snoring and allocates
each night a unique Snore Score; indicating the severity of your snoring over
the course of a sleep session. Now this Snore Score acts as a means of
comparing snoring across nights, allowing you test the effectiveness of snoring
remedies and measure the impact of special factors such as alcohol, baths and
caffeine. A full night’s sleep recording along with the snoring score
can be presented before the doctor for a better treatment.
5. Smile More:
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| Smile More |
Smiling is one of the most precious treats
that you can give to yourself and others and all that for free. Every moment
spent not smiling is a moment wasted. Although I smile often, as the day goes
along, due to the pressures of daily life I forget smiling. I hope you could
relate with the situation.
Smile More is an app that brightens your
day with reminders throughout the day to keep you smiling. Sometime when you
feel down and a bit lost, all you need is a simple reminder that there are
things to smile about. The app will keep you positive and smiling with its five
categories of reminders namely ‘It will get better reminders’, ‘You are special
reminders’, ‘You are not alone reminders’, ‘Relaxation reminders’, and ‘Benefits
of smiling reminders’. Each category consists of beautiful messages to keep you
happy and upbeat as you go along the day.
The free version of Smile More allows you to select up to three reminders to pop up
every day and includes a banner ad at the bottom of the settings screens. The
paid version available for $1.99 USD removes the ads and allows you to select
as many reminders as you would like. Well this little investment in your
pursuit of happiness is simply worth it.
Want a natural
rush of happiness? Smile! and simply go for Smile More app. J
6. Daily Prayers:
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| Daily Prayers |
I do believe in the power of prayers. And hope most of you do as
well. I was looking for something which gives me inspirational messages of
goodwill and grace. I came across this beautiful Daily Prayers app in appstore which
provides sweet, short and simple yet powerful, healing and uplifting Payers.
One of the prayers read “Dear Lord, help me to only say uplifting
and encouraging words that will build and never tear down.” Another prayer goes
like “Protect me Father, from any person or relationship that would slowly prod
me down the wrong path.” These beautiful prayers are complemented with equally
beautiful background pictures.
7. Instant abs:
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| Instant abs |
Instant abs is a brilliant prize winning personal
trainer app especially to tone up and tune up your abs. Major feature of the app includes its
comprehensive exercises for body weight, dumbbells and resistance bands. It
provides detailed exercise instructions with exercise photos, videos and
animations. Working out with the app becomes easier and convenient at home or
on the go. While I use sworkit for regular exercises, I stick to Instant abs for building up my ab muscles.
As part of this blog I have provided hyperlink for the apps for iOS users. I am sure you all can google out for equivalent apps for android and windows phones.
My final words:
Many years ago, famous Norwegian and Noble laureate, Christian Lange said “technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master”. British-Canadian author Cary Doctrow said "This is why I loved technology: If you used it right it could give you power and privacy". Well the whole idea is not about the choice between using or not using technology, the challenge is to use it right. Let us be responsible in usage of technology, let us use it to build bridges rather than creating boundaries between fellow human beings. I wish you the very best in the wise usage of technology for the benefit of yourself and your family members. God bless humanity! :)
One Life!
Narendra Gupta
