Headspace - The Wake Up

How long does it take for you to pick up your phone after you wake up in the morning? A minute? Two? Does it even take that long before you're scrolling through the emails that accumulated overnight or the social media that's piled up?

Most of us are trapped in a cycle of addiction where we're in permanent FOMO and scrambling to catch up as soon as possible every day. Headspace has been trying to get its users to slow down and take just ten minutes each day to disengage, reflect, and be a little more mindful.

But reminders are dismissible, part of the background noise, so Headspace is doing something different. It's finding its users where they're spending their spare minutes.

Getting sucked into a never-ending spiral of viral videos is a mindless activity, something that we do when we're bored, tired, or simply overwhelmed. In a case of "hidden vegetables" Headspace has launched "The Wake Up" a new feature that combines short, informative videos with mindfulness practices.

Each day, there's new Wake Up content designed by Headspace to help its members start their day on a mindful note. The 3-5 minute videos are informative or thoughtful, focusing on five key elements of living more mindfully: meditation, sleeping, moving, eating and playing.

So far the videos all follow the same pattern, a short intro to get you hooked and then a breathing exercise that helps you focus. After that the video continues and things are wrapped up with an animation and a lesson that ties in to the session. It reminds me of the "Moral of the story" bits that would play at the ends of 80s cartoons (but without the lasers and giant robots...see if you can do something about that Headspace).

The content is varied. The first segment I saw was about glass blowing and, honestly, I don't remember the lesson. But it did get me to break the cycle of hitting my phone first thing in the morning and starting to scroll. The meditative guided breathing helped me ease into my day rather than the usual pre-coffee jumble that I force my brain into when I jump right into work.

Today's Wake Up was about decluttering and, while I feel a bit seen (my office is still recovering from the holiday rush), it got me thinking about how the act of decluttering has a mental effect as much as a physical one.

The videos are well done, engaging while not being preachy or heavy-handed. Really, my only wish with the new Wake Up feature is that I could set a time for the notification to pop up (right now the notification activates at the same time for everyone). If it was the first thing I saw on my lock screen when I got up early in the morning, it would be even more useful.

It's a great move for Headspace and something that I think will help them find a user base beyond those that might not have time or aren't interested in traditional meditation.

In addition to The Wake Up, Headspace has also introduced Move Mode. Its meant to help you strengthen your mind while you're strengthening your body and features 28-day courses that guide you through quick workouts, mindful cardio runs, and rest day meditations.

The first series is led by British Olympic diver Leon Taylor and was developed by high performance expert Brandon Marcello PhD in close partnership with Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe. US Olympic volleyball player Kim Glass is also part of Move Mode and while she doesn't have a workout series of her own yet, she's featured in several of the individual workouts. You'll also find the rest of Headspace's workout-focused meditations in the new Move category in the app.

I'm really enjoying how Headspace is growing and adapting. With the addition of last year's Sleep category, the Nike Run Club collaborations, and the new Wake Up and Move features, it's clear that Headspace wants to give us every opportunity to try and find the balance we need to be our best.

If you haven't yet, download the Headspace app and sign up for a free trial. You can also check out their website for more information.

Read more from the original source:

Headspace Is Using Your Viral Video Addiction To Get You To Meditate More - Forbes

Another trap many organizations fall into is believing that the introduction of a mindfulness program can make up for significant underinvestment or inattention to employees actual working conditions, Dr. Worline said.

She recalled visiting a major hospital system to help with a unit of doctors who were dealing with an increasing error rate in their work. After she ran a session for the team focused on compassion and restoring meaning to medicine, she discovered that the unit was short seven staffers and many employees were working double shifts.

They very rightly said to me, You could sit here and talk to us about compassion all day long, its not going to make a difference in our stress levels, Dr. Worline said. No wellness management is going to work until you fix the working conditions for people there. In that case, wellness programs were a Band-Aid over a gaping wound.

Still, Mr. Israel, the meditation expert, is confident that as stress levels in the workplace increase, so will the demand for this kind of programming. Last year, at a hospitality design conference in Hollywood, Fla., he presented in front of hundreds of people from the industry.

Ninety-five percent of the people in the room had never meditated or done any of this before, and it was risky for the organizer to book me, but people loved it, he said. In these more traditional spaces where people are not in New York or Los Angeles, theyre starting to open up to this stuff.

And through these sessions, some of them are finding practices they can replicate on a more regular basis. Mr. Santulli, the office manager at WayUp, said he would look into hosting a weekly mindfulness session for the whole staff.

Stress and anxiety has been a big part of our life, and everything gets overwhelming sometimes, he said. This was the first time in a long time that I let go of this list of things I have to do, even for a moment.

See the original post here:

Can Wellness Heal the Workplace? - The New York Times

With virtual reality headsets, some clients are now being not just pampered in place but transported.

The new Kohler Waters Spa in Chicago is on a bustling street in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. But once inside, clients can find themselves a spot on a private beach, along a quiet mountainside or even inside a dark, comforting cave.

Well, thats if they fork over $95 for a 50-minute virtual reality pedicure (a traditional 50-minute pedicure there is $79).

It was perhaps only a matter of time before virtual reality was elevated from the gamers basement to the marble-lined, lavender-infused realm of luxury self-care.

Wellness has become a huge marketing term to attract those guests who want to not just have a beauty result at the end of their service, but want to feel relaxed, calm and now, increasingly so, de-stressed, said Patricia Heitz, a spa consultant in Delmar, N.Y. Virtual reality, she said, is taking that wellness service to the next level by transporting the guest to a place of inner peace and calm.

People receiving pedicures have long read fashion and gossip magazines or, more recently, poked at their phones. But while clients at Kohler stare off into a sunset, waterfall or relaxing scene of their choice, they also get to choose a meditation to accompany the view as they chill out in massage chairs and get their nails buffed.

And some spas are offering V.R. as a treatment unto itself.

At G20 Spa & Salon in Boston, customers pay $45 for a 30-minute guided virtual meditation. They pop on a V.R. headset while sitting in a reclining chair and choose a guided meditation along with an environment, like the Northern Lights or a forest.

Its gaining popularity, said William Engvall, the assistant spa director at G20, where the V.R. meditation has been on the menu since 2018. An average of five to 10 people a week visit the spa specifically for the guided V.R. meditation, he said.

A similar setup awaits visitors to Esqapes Immersive Relaxation, a V.R. meditation center in a Los Angeles office building, where clients can visit a garden, a desert, a Moroccan resort or snowbank cabin while sitting in a massage chair ($45 for 30 minutes).

V.R. and the extrasensory components are a key component of the treatment, said Micah Jackson, the C.E.O. of Esqapes. Giving the mind something to focus on, rather than letting it wander freely, is one of the tenets of meditation, he pointed out.

Adding virtual reality to the menu is also relatively low-cost for spas; an investment in equipment is required, but not the labor of extra aestheticians or staff, said Kate Mearns, the director of spa and wellness at LIVunLtd Spa & Wellness, a wellness service provider for residential and commercial buildings.

Because of staffing shortages, spas are looking for services that dont require licensed therapists, Ms. Mearns said.

Virtual reality allows spa guests to heighten their spa experience in a more D.I.Y. service setting, she said.

Many of the spas are using Guided VR, a service of Cubicle Ninjas, a digital agency in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Staff members there came up with the idea five years ago during a particularly bad winter, when they started hanging out on virtual beaches.

Our team didnt want to leave, said Josh Farkas, the C.E.O. and founder of Guided VR.

They decided to create guided meditation V.R., and started offering the service to dentists, elder care centers and spas.

The spas pay $150 to $300 per month per headset based on the size of the spa, and Guided VR provides the headset license, hardware setup and relaxation content.

When we built the B2B side, we thought that dentists, doctors and elder care would be a much bigger market, but spas are the most interested and willing to adopt, Mr. Farkas said.

Perhaps this is because spas are accustomed to charging for add-on services; if not milk and honey in the pedicure water, why not a trip to paradise?

A virtual reality experience at the beginning of a facial bumps the price up to $555 for 100 minutes from $350 for 90 minutes (the cost of a comparative standard facial at the same spa) at Qua Baths & Spa in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The extra time at the beginning is devoted to a virtual relaxation, the aesthetician helping with the relaxation by touching the clients body in time with the meditation. Then the goggles are removed and the facial portion of the service begins.

This really allows the guest to be in that moment, to really relax, said Kristin Carpenter, the director of spas and salons for Caesars Palace.

But some people think V.R. has no place in settings traditionally devoted to pampering and spiritual escape.

Mary Bemis, the editorial director for Insiders Guide to Spas, believes that virtual reality and all the gadgets that come with it dont belong inside a spa.

In an all too virtual synthetic world, spa culture provides a high-touch, utterly human, unduplicatable experience, Ms. Bemis said. In a world of counterfeits, the gold-standard spa experience is that which is real, not virtual.

View original post here:

Do You Honestly Find Spas Kind of Boring? - The New York Times

Global Mindfulness Meditation Application Market Overview Global Mindfulness Meditation Application Market presents insights on the current and future industry trends, enabling the readers to identify the products and services, hence driving the revenue growth and profitability. The research report provides a detailed analysis of all the major factors impacting the market on a global and regional scale, including drivers, constraints, threats, challenges, opportunities, and industry-specific trends. Further, the report cites global certainties and endorsements along with downstream and upstream analysis of leading players.

Get a Sample PDF copy of the report @https://garnerinsights.com/Global-Mindfulness-Meditation-Application-Market-Size-Status-and-Forecast-2019-2025#request-sample

This Mindfulness Meditation Application market report aims to provide all the participants and the vendors will all the details about growth factors, shortcomings, threats, and the profitable opportunities that the market will present in the near future. The report also features the revenue share, industry size, production volume, and consumption in order to gain insights about the politics to contest for gaining control of a large portion of the market share.

Top Key Players in the Mindfulness Meditation Application Market: Insight Timer, Headspace, Calm, YOGAGLO, Enso Meditation Timer & Bell, Ten Percent Happier, Breethe, Stop, Breathe & Think, Smiling Mind, Inner Explorer, Meditation Moments B.V., Committee for Children, Buddhify, Simple Habit.

Competitive landscape The Mindfulness Meditation Application Industry is severely competitive and fragmented due to the existence of various established players taking part in different marketing strategies to increase their market share. The vendors operating in the market are profiled based on price, quality, brand, product differentiation, and product portfolio. The vendors are turning their focus increasingly on product customization through customer interaction. Mindfulness Meditation Application Market segment by Regions/Countries: United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India, Central & South America.

To get this report at a profitable rate.: https://garnerinsights.com/Global-Mindfulness-Meditation-Application-Market-Size-Status-and-Forecast-2019-2025#discount

Major Types of Mindfulness Meditation Application covered are: IOS,Android,Web,VOSSAutomotive

Major end-user applications for Mindfulness Meditation Application market: IOS,Android,Web,VOSSAutomotive

Points Covered in The Report:

Reasons for Buying Global Mindfulness Meditation Application Market Report:

Access full Report Description, TOC, Table of Figure, Chart, etc. @ https://www.garnerinsights.com/Global-Mindfulness-Meditation-Application-Market-Size-Status-and-Forecast-2019-2025 Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like Asia, United States, Europe.

Contact Us: Kevin Thomas Contact No: +1 513 549 5911 (US) +44 203 318 2846 (UK) [emailprotected]

Continue reading here:

Mindfulness Meditation Application Market Accelerating Immense Growth During 2020-2025 with Emerging Top Key Players: Insight Timer, Headspace, Calm,...

When I went to Kobers studio, a sunny building set up behind his Studio City home, I was surprisedbyhow much fun the process was. Unlike most sterile photo studios where you passively have a photo taken of you, this one wasalternatelyrelaxing and collaborative. Kober explained that since this antique form of photography has a super-short focal length (i.e., image area that can be in sharp focus), and since the photo plate needs a long time to be exposed, subjects have to sitvery stillfor way longer than the usual iPhone shutter click. (For me, it wastenlong seconds.)

I sat on a stool in front of a backdrop, Kober focused the camera on my eyes (the part of the photo we look at most, he said, so that area that needs to beas sharp as possible), then placed a wire neck support behind my head so that I wouldnt be tempted to sway during meditation. After meditating for a few minutesit could have beenfive, maybe ten, who can tellwhilemeditating?I heard the shutter snap, and Kober swept the exposed plate to the back of the studio to develop it. AfterZen-ing out for maybetenminutes more, I opened my eyes and Kober took my photo again.

Go here to read the rest:

Before-and-After Meditation Portraits Will Show You a Whole New Side of Yourself - PureWow

Meditation is now mainstream and practiced in many different places in many different ways. The meditation that will be taught in these workshops has its roots in Zen practice. In our everyday lives, we can see how complex life can be and how we need to have a place to relax and catch our breath sometimes. In these workshops, you will learn that this place of rest already exists in our own bodies. The most important point in these workshops is to learn how to simply sit, and be comfortable and restful a practice and tool that can be applied to any life endeavor.

These informative workshops are being held the first Thursday of each month. The next workshop will be held from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 5. The instructor is Joseph Armenio.

This workshop is free to 60+ Center members, and for everyone else there will be a $2 drop-in fee.

To register for this workshop, go online: http://www.newportoregon.gov/sc and click on the dark blue banner Browse the catalog and register. For more information, stop by the office located at 20 SE Second St., Newport, or call 541-265-9617.

Read more here:

Meditation workshops offered at Newport 60+ Center - Newport News Times

Meditations in an emergency might be the secret to making fewer mistakes.

There are many ways meditation has found its way into the workplace. Its been found to improve your work ethic in the office and can even be done while commuting to work.

But if you find yourself being forgetful or making mistakes when in a hurry, it turns out that a little bit of meditation can make you less error-prone, according to a new study.

Researchers from Michigan State University published their findings in Brain Sciences in the journals September 2019 issue. The main goal for researchers was to find how open monitoring meditation (meditation that focuses on feelings, thoughts, or sensations that are present in ones body) could change brain activity that would decrease the chances of making mistakes.

Peoples interest in meditation and mindfulness is outpacing what science can prove in terms of effects and benefits, Jeff Lin, a Michigan State University psychology doctoral candidate and study co-author, said in a press statement. But its amazing to me that we were able to see how one session of a guided meditation can produce changes to brain activity in non-meditators.

Lin added: Some forms of meditation have you focus on a single object, commonly your breath, but open monitoring meditation is a bit different, Lin said. It has you tune inward and pay attention to everything going on in your mind and body. The goal is to sit quietly and pay close attention to where the mind travels without getting too caught up in the scenery.

For the study, researchers found more than 200 people who have never practiced meditation and had them go through a 20-minute open monitoring meditation exercise. Researchers tracked brain activity through electroencephalography (EEG) during both meditation and the tests.

The EEG can measure brain activity at the millisecond level, so we got precise measures of neural activity right after mistakes compared to correct responses, added Lin. A certain neural signal occurs about half a second after an error called the error positivity, which is linked to conscious error recognition. We found that the strength of this signal is increased in the meditators relative to controls.

Following the tests, the results showed how different forms of meditation enhanced the brains ability to detect and examine mistakes.

These findings are a strong demonstration of what just 20 minutes of meditation can do to enhance the brains ability to detect and pay attention to mistakes, said Jason Moser, a co-author of the study. It makes us feel more confident in what mindfulness meditation might really be capable of for performance and daily functioning right there in the moment.

A recent OnePoll study in partnership with Thermador interviewed 2,000 Americans finding that more than half (52%) start their day off with a fresh cup of coffee. The poll, which wanted to explore Americans routines and lifestyles, also found that exercise and medication were popular morning methods.

Two in five of the respondents said they exercise first thing in the morning, while one in three claims meditation to be an essential part of their morning routine.

With meditation and mindfulness entering everyday life in recent years, researchers said more works need to be done in order to access how meditation can enhance mindfulness.

Its great to see the publics enthusiasm for mindfulness, but theres still plenty of work from a scientific perspective to be done to understand the benefits it can have, and equally importantly, how it actually works, said Lin. Its time we start looking at it through a more rigorous lens.

Originally posted here:

Meditation Scientists say this is the key to making fewer mistakes at work - Ladders

Getty/Taylor Hill

Gisele Bndchen said she overhauled her lifestyle after severe anxiety and panic attacks almost led her to take her own life.

In an interview with Vogue Australia, the supermodel explained how the unhealthy lifestyle she led in her 20s resulted in serious mental health problems - which she opened up about in her 2018 book "Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life" - but transforming her lifestyle and adopting healthier habits saw her turning her life around.

"I felt like I reached rock bottom," Bndchen, 39, told the magazine. "It became so unbearable I couldn't breathe and I thought: 'I gotta change.'"

The Brazilian model and environmental activist explained that she used to have a sugar-laden mocha frappuccino for breakfast, steak and French fries with a bottle of wine for dinner, and smoke a pack of cigarettes every day.

Transitioning away from that lifestyle "wasn't easy," Bndchen said. But she did it and hasn't looked back.

"I had the worst headaches ever because I was withdrawing," she said. "My system was so used to that life it was in shock because I stopped everything, so it took time.

"We are beings of habit and I think you can't just expect to do something you have always done and stop. You have to replace bad habits with good habits.

"So when I stopped having coffee, the mocha frappuccino for breakfast, and four cigarettes when I woke up in the morning, I started running.

"I don't run anymore, but I ran then because it allowed me to feel my lungs and every time I ran for 20 minutes I was like: 'Okay, I can feel my lungs, okay, I'm not smoking.'"

Bndchen said she also started incorporating meditation and breathing techniques to help combat her anxiety.

"I would get into the elevator and I would feel like I was going to die," she said. "So I replaced bad habits with things that were supporting me and I realised that every day I was feeling better."

Bndchen's holistic existence now couldn't be more different from her previous lifestyle.

The mother-of-two (and step-mother of one) starts her day at 5.30 a.m., getting up before anyone else in her family to meditate, breathe, stretch, swirl coconut oil around her mouth, have a green juice, and get a workout in on her elliptical machine.

If she can't do that, she'll work up a sweat at her husband, footballer Tom Brady's Boston gym TB12.

And she's evangelical about the importance of looking after yourself by eating well and moving - and how this will in turn lead to outward beauty too.

"You can go and buy all the products you want, but if you are not nourishing your body by eating nutritious food, if you are not exercising and oxygenating your blood and doing things that bring you joy, you are not going to feel good, and if you don't feel good you are not going to look good," Bndchen said.

"I have never seen someone who doesn't feel good looking good, have you?"

Slideshow: These 40 fit celebrities over 40 will inspire you to hit the gym (Provided by Prevention)

More:

Gisele Bndchen switched from fries and cigarettes to green juice and meditation to overcome the anxiety and panic attacks that nearly killed her -...

SEATTLE Find it hard to reach serenity in crowded classes or groups?

A new wellness center in Seattle may have the answer.

Sanctuary is a space designed for individual, private sessions of zen.

"It's kind of beyond words, but once you're in here you get the feeling of it, said studio director Sarah Goble. "When you walk up the stairs from the busy Seattle streets, immediately transformation begins."

Described as a technology-informed wellness space, Sanctuarys experience starts with an app. Guests log-in and schedule their sessions, choosing from more than 50 options of virtual yoga, meditation or sound baths. The sessions can be customized down to room temperature and aromatherapy scents.

When they arrive at the studios, theyre greeted by a docent who brews them custom-blended tea and invites them to sit on a plush couch.

"It's dimly lit, very intimate feeling, it's warm, Goble said. It helps you completely relax inside and outside."

The sessions happen in private rooms with 14-foot digital screens. Sanctuary provides yoga mats and towels, blocks and other tools needed for the selected session. Guests are guided by a virtual teacher or voice, while watching soothing images and scenery play on the screen.

Conner Cuevas has done four sessions, including yoga and guided meditation.

"It's unlike anything I've ever experienced, he said. "It really allows you to kind of get out of your head and into the practice and it's been really, really helpful."

After the session, guests can shower and unwind in an adjoining bathroom, stocked with a curated line of shampoo, soap and lotion.

Sanctuary has space for small groups (up to 8 people) but it's ideal for anyone who prefers to find their zen solo.

"We're seeing a lot of folks that are on the introverted side, Goble said. "There are no mirrors in the room so there's that elimination of competition with other students in the room, and also the elimination of the competition even with yourself. It is a completely judgement-free zone."

The first session at Sanctuary is complimentary. After that, individual sessions are $50 and group sessions are $30.

Sanctuary is located at 3134 Elliott Ave in Seattle. Download the app to sign up and book sessions.

KING 5's Evening celebrates the Northwest. Contact us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email.

Here is the original post:

Find your zen by clicking on this app - KING5.com

While students are one of the most stressed-out communities in the world, there is not much being done to talk about it, or find a fix for it. Puddicombe, along with Richard Pierson, Co-founder and CEO, Headspace, a global leader in meditation and an online healthcare company were at this premier institute to talk to students about the positives of meditation and how it could help in improving overall health and well-being.

The aim of the talk was to encourage students to take a break from their hectic schedules every day and spend some time on their mental health and overall well-being.

Headspace was later launched in 2010 as an event company and converted into an online application in 2012. It currently has over 62 million members and 2 million paid subscribers across 190 countries. Headspace has raised $93 million in a mix of debt and equity in a funding round that saw the participation from Times Bridge, the global investments and partnership arm of the Times Group. As part of the investment, Headspace will now launch its services in India.

Sharing what encouraged Puddicombe to start Headspace, he said, People never really have had access to meditation. It was always tied up with religion or traditions or some foreign language. There's some sort of mystical kind of veil around it, when in truth, it's something that is universal, timeless and each and every one of us can learn it. Even thinking about the idea of just stepping out of our busy mind feels like a bit of a relief and the experience on a daily basis can have a really transformative effect. So I made the decision to leave the monastery and to begin teaching meditation in a different way.

Speaking of mental health has been a taboo, not just in India but globally too. As an online platform where you can access short, bite-sized meditation sessions on-the-go, Headspace is helping people to seek help themselves. Sharing some insights on the kind of people using the app, Pierson said, The ratio of men to women on the app is 50:50. People between the age of 25-40 are the most active users. Students have to deal with a lot of pressure, there is a lot of expectation. He stressed that if students start developing the habit of meditation early on in their lives, it could be of a lot of help to them - in handling pressures of societal expectations, in navigating their careers in the tech and corporate world.

We started something because we really cared about it and felt passionate about it. We wanted to share this with people, added Puddicombe. He stressed that even taking out 5 minutes on a daily basis to take care of their mental health could soon start showing positive effects on peoples minds and bodies.

Go here to read the rest:

Mindful living and meditation can be life-changing tools for students: Headspace co-founders tell IIT-B stude - Business Insider India