Survivor's iPhone Essentials, Part II

In Part I, we looked at ten iPhone/iPod Touch essential Apps for healing. In this Part II, we look at an additional ten. They are arguably no less important than the ones listed previously. Just different.

11. Boost 3D. In Part 1, I introduced a couple of grounding games, Peggle and Bookworm. I find those to be most helpful when I am very dissociated and need to engage in something that is not at all taxing. A step or two (or more) is the arcade-style Boost 3D, shown in the image above. It is a 3D tunnel obstacle course that is absolutely mind bending. My personal best is 2100, and after you get past 800, you enter into the "zone" and if you are having any other troubles, this game will surely take you away from them for a time. There are a couple of other notable arcade-style games I want to mention. Doodle Jump brings back a "Frogger-like" obstacle course that is downright nerve-wracking. Homerun Battle places you at home plate and your task is to hit the ball out of the park, and allows you to pit your skills against anyone on the Internet. All three of these games use the built-in "accelerometer" capabilities of the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

12. Labyrinth 2. If your taste is more on the intellectual side, puzzle games may interest you. Labyrinth 2 is a new twist on the old wooden "ball-in-hole" game. The goal is still the same: get the ball in the hole. But the twise is that there are fascinating obstacles added and an endless series of levels. For more puzzle-type games, check out Cross Fingers, a pure puzzle game. Also, Finger Physics challenges you to build interesting structures while obeying the laws of physics.

13. Facebook. No "top list" would be complete without the Facebook App. Now don't misunderstand me, I'm not a huge Facebook fan. But there are times when it's nice to catch up on what your friends are up to. It's a bit of a time waster.

14. Pranayama. If you are aware that your breathing is tied to level of relaxation and you have trouble in that area, then this is a good App. You can select from different breathing patterns, timings, and lengths and follow along with the realistic representation of a person.

15. Yoga in Bed. This is a guided yoga practice that you can do in your bed. I like it because it's geared towards people who do not need to do much physical activity to gain benefit from it. The fact that it's in your bed, makes it very easy to do.

16. Relax with Andrew Johnson. This is a guided relaxation App narrated by Andrew Johnson who has a calming Scottish accent. You can customize the guide by deciding on a sort of long introduction and the length. Another notable relaxation App is Pzizz sleep. This is a little more customizable and variable, but I don't like it as much. It allows you to mix the levels of the music versus the vocals. Both of these I find secondary to Joy of Being which I discussed previously.

17. Inkling. This is a great drawing App. Very simple as it only draws in "ink" color. You simply move your finger slowly for fine lines and the faster you move, the wider the lines. Such a simple concept, but you can do so much with it. And because of its simplicity, it's a good one to turn to if you need to ground yourself. Another notable App is Pollock. It has much more flexibility. Also very simple. But allows you to draw in colors, and randomly places "Pollock" like splotches when you draw.

18. FitnessBuilder. This allows you to create simple and elaborate fitness routines from a huge database. Many don't require any equipment. There are several fitness calculators that help you reach your goals as well as a log. Another App that many love is iFitness, which is quite similar and achieves the same results.

19. Pandora and TuneIn Radio. Internet radio has revolutionized, I think, how we listen to music. Pandora and TuneIn Radio are two of the best, although they approach things slightly differently. Pandora allows you to create your custom stations where you select artists or songs (as many as you wish) and the software will search its "music genome" to play songs for you that match the characteristics of what you've chosen. You can then mix your personalized stations to create basically anything you want. TuneIn Radio is a bit more traditional. You still can select genres of music, but you can also tune into broadcasts from actual radio stations. Both are excellent and will open up the musical world to you.

20. Navigon GPS. If you dissociate like I do, then you may often find yourself in the middle of nowhere and not know how to get home. This is where GPS systems come in really handy. I only have experience with Navigon. I think others are similar, most notably TomTom.

Hope you enjoyed the lists.

Reminder that the deadline for submissions to the Expressive Arts Activity No. 2 is tomorrow, July 19. If you are on the fence about whether to submit, I hope you do decide to.