Snapchat Launched New Headspace Meditations Right In The App To Help You Relax

Snapchat wants to help you and your friends feel less stressed. The social media app first announced its partnership with Headspace, a leading meditation platform, Thursday, June 11 at its virtual Snap Partner Summit, and the new Snapchat x Headspace Minis feature launched in the app on Monday, July 20. To try it out, here's how to use Snapchat's in-app meditations with Headspace to help you relax.

Snapchat's new in-app meditations with Headspace are a part of its new Snap Minis experience, which the company launched as a way to create experiences friends can share directly in the app through its partner companies and developers, without needing to download a new app. Snapchat Minis include the Snapchat x Headspace Minis meditation content, in addition to other Minis experiences.

The Headspace Minis includes mini-meditations you can do with friends or separately, as well as some fun tools you can use to check on your friends. Elite Daily got an early look at the feature, and here's what you should know about getting started. To use Snapchat's in-app meditation with Headspace, open a Chat with a friend. Then, go to the rocket icon on the far right of the Chat bar menu. When you click on the rocket, you'll see a list of all of the Games and Minis available.

Select "Open" on "Headspace Mini." From there, you can choose to start one of the mini-meditations. In Headspace Mini, you'll see six meditation choices in a carousel near the top, which you can switch between by swiping: Just Breathe, Get Out Of The Funk, Kick The Panic, Be Nice To You, Pressure To Succeed, and Me Time.

The voice-guided meditation sessions are each three to four minutes long, and when you and a friend open Headspace Mini together, you'll see your friend's Bitmoji pop up, indicating they're using the Mini at the same time as you. Once you tap the play button on the mini, you and your friend can talk in real-time in the Chat by tapping the microphone icon.

When you're not doing a meditation, you can send your friends encouraging messages. To find them, scroll past the mini-meditations. There, you'll find a "Vibe Check" sticker you can use to ask how your friend is doing. The stickers you can share together will let you voice how you're feeling in a quick tap. Mindful message stickers you can share with each other include phrases like "Get some headspace," "Show kindness," "Better together," "Find your balance," "Look for the blue sky," and "Deep breaths."

If you want to use the Headspace Mini by yourself, you can access it by going to the main Camera page. Then, tap the search bar and type in Headspace.

To share the Headspace Mini meditation to your Story while you're listening, select the Camera button on the bottom left. Then, take a selfie and the Headspace sticker will appear on your photo, sharing the specific meditation you're listening to. When you send it to your group, friends, or Story, people can view it and swipe up to try it out themselves. You can also send it to friends by choosing the Send button on the bottom right, which will send a Chat card with the name of the mini-meditation. Your friend can then tap on "Get Some Headspace" in the chat to start playing it.

Headspace launched in 2010, and the company has linked mindfulness and meditation to reduced stress and improved focus. In a demo of the app with Elite Daily, Dr. Megan Jones Bell, chief of science and strategy at Headspace, explains that mindfulness also increases happiness and strengthens the muscle in the brain that makes people more resilient to stress. You can try your hand at practicing mindfulness with Snapchat's new in-app meditation with Headspace as it rolls out on Monday, July 20.