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London Symphony Orchestra has more digital recordings than any other orchestra in the world. Since opening in 1904, they have gone from gramophone recordings to digitised film scores. Now, after 113 years of classical music, the orchestra is moving into new territory: forming a visual identity with motion capture technology.

At a Barbican rehearsal in June 2016, Sir Simon Rattle, music director of LSO, donned a motion capture suit and gloves to conduct a performance of Elgars Variations on an Original Theme, Enigma. Using a specially modified conductors baton with reflective markers, a motion capture team from the University of Portsmouth was able to track Rattle's upper body, arm, hand and finger movements from the beginning to the end of his performance, over a 45 minute period.

London Symphony Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra

Over the course of Rattle's performance, 12 motion capture cameras were used to record 120 frames per second. Using these recordings, it was then possible for digital artist, Tobias Gremmler, to transform this data into a series of animated films, bringing to life the sheer power of music at full force and in startling colour. The result is a vortex of wood, brass, smoke and strings, all derived from Rattle's sweeping gestures.

London Symphony Orchestra

Alex Counsell, principal technician at the University of Portsmouth, told WIRED about the process of transforming a conductor's music into visual images: "The art of the conductor is to convey the score, making every gesture as natural as possible. Using motion capture data we're able to visualise Sir Simon Rattle's conducting movements in great detail and learn more about his interpretation of the piece. Additionally, it provides new information on the relationship between the conductor and the instrumentalists. Learning more about how instructions relating to tempo, volume and much more are communicated to the musicians."

The transformation of Sir Rattle's performance is an example of how data visualisation can be used to project visual emotion onto a piece of music. As Rattle's arms sway to the lull of string instruments, so the spirals he creates grow looser, calmer in colour, almost relaxing upon the air. As the tone reaches a frantic climax, we move to minutia, a pulsing set of squares, like dominos collapsing without end.

London Symphony Orchestra

The art produced by LSO's motion capture project is largely impressionistic in nature, with a digital twist. However, Rattle's performance has also been used to develop two custom typefaces - with the conductor himself having cut them into being. Each letter has a particular swipe through one point, where Rattle's baton cut through air.

London Symphony Orchestra

LSO's experiments with motion capture technology can be used to reflect a performer's physicality during extremes of musical expression - how a body changes to reflect certain pitches in sound, or scores that necessitate rapid motion.

The animated films derived from this project will form a "visual language" that will introduce the LSOs 2017/18 season, demonstrating the colourful, passionate motion of the orchestra's performers.

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London Symphony Orchestra is bringing its music to life with motion capture - Wired.co.uk

Amidst the sounds of overhead announcements and the general hustle and bustle of an airport, live music filled terminal two at San Diego International Airport on the morning of June 19 when Switchfoot performed a brief concert with children from the area.

The Grammy Award-winning musical group, which hails from Encinitas, played three songs with local youth to celebrate the band's nearby art installation at Gate 36 and to preview its upcoming Bro-Am music and surf event on June 24 at Moonlight Beach.

The gallery will be on display for airport travelers past security checkpoints through September. It includes photos, instruments used on the band's albums and customized surfboards, commemorating Bro-Am, which is entering its 13th year.

Lifehouse, Donavon Frankenreiter, G. Love and Cisco Adler are also slated to perform. There will also be various surf competitions, including the More BRO than Pro Team Surf Contest, the Rob Machado Bro Junior Surf Contest, the Challenged Athletes Foundation Kids Surf Contest, and the comedic Surf Joust Expression Session.

Jon Foreman, lead vocalist and guitarist for Switchfoot, considers Bro-Am a "group hug" with Encinitas.

"We were just over in Europe last week, and there's something really special about being able to travel the world and know that your hometown still plays a huge part in who you are," he said.

Players from the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory, as well as fourth through sixth grade singers from Casillas Elementary in Chula Vista, joined Switchfoot on stage for two songs during the special airport performance.

Foreman, after finishing the bands signature song Dare You to Move, said supporting the children is at the band's core. Each year, Switchfoots Bro-Am Foundation raises money and awareness for underprivileged and at-risk youth.

"I think part of me likes kids more than I like adults," he said, smiling. "I feel like kids are honest and real, and music is the same way where it has this honesty. For me, I think back to when I was a kid and music became this vehicle that I could use to go places. I want that same empowerment for the next generation."

The band teamed up with Casillas which was recently recognized as a VH1 Save the Music school and received $35,000 in band equipment earlier this school year when they heard the choir was learning the band's song "Float." Switchfoot, after surprising the students in class, then invited the children to perform with them at the airport and at Bro-Am.

Lilly, a 10-year-old Casillas student, said she was excited to sing with Switchfoot and just be able to participate in the arts in general.

"Sometimes people with cell phones and other electronics can just forget the things that entertained us before that stuff," the fourth grader said. "We're helping to spread the influence of art all around the world."

Briandi, another 10-year-old fourth grader, agreed, adding music is important because "it helps your brain develop and is relaxing."

Casillas Music Teacher Jonathan Seligman said he is grateful to Switchfoot for performing with his kids and for being humble in the process.

Seligman considers the performing arts for kids as vital.

"It's a way for them to express themselves," he said. "Our school is very well known for its sports, but there are still those students who are not able to express themselves because they're not athletically inclined. When music first came to Casillas, you just saw a lot of people who were in the shadows of these athletes. For a group like Switchfoot validating this and telling us we're doing a great job, that's huge."

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Switchfoot empowers youth with performance at airport - Del Mar Times

Australian man Shaun Davidson is among four foreign inmates who staged a daring escape from Bali's Kerobokan prison, and remain on the run from Balinese police.

Police show pictures of the Kerobokan jail escapees Shaun Edward Davidson or Eddie Lonsdale or Michael John Bayman from Australia, Sayed Mohammed Said from India, Dimitar Nikolov Iliev from Bulgaria and Tee Kok Ming from Malaysia.

FOUR Bali jail escapees are still on the run today as authorities intensify their search for how the men escaped Kerobokan jail in broad daylight in a busy suburb.

The four foreigners, including Perth man Shaun Edward Davidson, were discovered missing at yesterday mornings roll call and authorities believe they may have tunnelled out via an old water drain.

A view of the tunnel that an Australian and three other foreigners are believed to have escaped through outside Kerobokan prison in Bali, Indonesia. Picture: Putra SinulinggaSource:AAP

Police wearing scuba diving gear have now entered the jail. It is believed they are going to enter the tunnel which authorities believe was used by four men to escape.

Badung police chief Yudith Satriya Hananta said the divers would endeavour to go inside the 15 metre long tunnel. Equipment is currently being used to pump all the water out of the tunnel.

Police wanted to check the tunnel to ensure that no one was trapped inside, he added.

We want to check the tunnel. Where it goes, how deep it is and find out all things, to anticipate if they may still be trapped there, Mr Hananta told News Corp Australia from inside Kerobokan prison.

So far there are no witnesses who saw the men emerging covered in mud from the drain, just under an unmanned guard tower at Kerobokan prison and on a busy street.

And despite a police dragnet to hunt them down including sea searches, there has been no sign whatsoever of the four men.

Our team are still working. They havent been found yet, Bali police spokesman Hengky Widjaja said today.

There are now calls for security at the overcrowded and understaffed jail to be increased.

And there are questions about whether the men used the tunnel to escape amid revelations that there is no excess soil around the tunnel entrance to indicate it had been dug out recently to allow four men to fit inside.

The Bali Ombudsman this morning visited Kerobokan jail and met the Jails Governor about the case which has made headlines around the world.

Mubarok, the assistant ombudsman, said the jail security needs to be stepped up.

Security has to be tightened, because this is not the first time prisoners have escaped from the jail, Mubarok said after inspecting the suspected escape route tunnel.

He questioned why there was no fresh soil near the tunnel entrance.

We are wondering why there was no sign of any soil dug there. Maybe the hole has been open for a long time. It is at the clinic it is 15 metres long with diameter around one metre. Even inside, people can stand, Mubarok said.

We are yet to know what was it for? If they dug it, around eight to 10 cubic metres of soil should be around it. But where is the soil? So, it is alleged that the tunnel has already been there for a long time, but we dont know what the function (of it) is.

We have conveyed to the prison to reveal everything about this case. All the guards should be questioned and intelligence functions inside should be activated. The prison should increase their security to anticipate any other cases like this. Prisoners escaping through a tunnel has never happened before.

So far police have questioned 10 jail guards who were on duty at the time of the brazen escape but there is yet to be any clear answer as to how the four men escaped so easily. The prison has long been overcrowded 1378 inmates supervised by only 11 guards most of the time. The prison was built for just 323 prisoners.

Jail Governor Tonny Nainggolan said the ideal guard-to-prisoner ratio is one guard for 20 prisoners but at the moment there are 11 guards for 1300-1400 prisoners. Mr Nainggolan said he had previously requested an extra 200 staff but had no response from the Ministry.

The tower near where the tunnel emerged just outside the jail was unmanned due to staff shortages.

Davidson, 32, from Subiaco in Perth, had just two months and 15 days left to serve of his one-year sentence for fraudulent use of another mans passport. He was also wanted in Perth on drugs charges.

Shaun Edward Davidson inside Denpasar District Court cell awaiting his first trial of using fake identification and overstaying in Bali. Picture: Lukman S. BintoroSource:News Corp Australia

A Facebook page, believed to belong to Davidson, shows photos and videos of Davidsons life in Kerobokan jail. His last public post was on May 18.

On May 12, he posted a Facebook live video titled Relaxing with brother Bashir, another jail prisoner, and appears to be filmed in a cell where Davidson and Bashir chat live with others.

Hows it going? This is Bashir, hes a good man, have a chat to him. Say hello people, an Australian accent, believed to be Davidson, says. He says they are kicking back, relaxing and listening to music.

On April 11, Davidson posted that he was doing Bintang (beer) and movies and videos of him boxing and sparring in jail are also seen.

In another post he alludes to my book and story.

Mobile phones and the internet are meant to be contraband inside Kerobokan prison, but Davidson appears to have had unfettered access to them.

The last time a prisoner escaped from Kerobokan jail was 2013 when a man, on gardening duty outside the prison walls, simply walked away.

In late May a Peruvian prisoner on ATM fraud charges, miraculously escaped by squeezing himself through a window in the toilet of the holding cells at Denpasar District Court, where he was waiting to appear.

He was caught less than a week later, in Pekanbaru, Sumatra, and has since been sentenced to six years in jail.

Of those who escaped this week, Davidson was serving the shortest sentence.

Indian drug smuggler Sayed Muhammad Said was serving a 14-year sentence. Bulgarian ATM scammer Dimitir Nikolon Ilev was serving seven years, as was Malaysian Tee Kok Ming, on drug charges.

The Daily Telegraphs cartoonist Warren Browns view of the Bali jail escape.Source:News Corp Australia

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Bali police search the tunnel where four inmates including Australian Shaun Davidson escaped - NEWS.com.au

A customer shops at a Whole Foods Market on Oct. 15, 2014 in San Francisco.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Whole Foods Market founder John Mackey was livid. Theyre greedy bastards, Mackey spouted to Texas Monthly in April after the investment management firm Jana Partners, Whole Foods second-biggest shareholder, signaled its intention to sell off his company. These people, they just want to sell Whole Foods Market and make hundreds of millions of dollars, and they have to know that Im going to resist that. Whole Foods is my baby, Mackey declared. Im going to protect my kid, and theyve got to knock Daddy out if they want to take it over.

Yet justtwo months later, Mackey is selling his baby to Amazon for $13.7 billion, a dramatic denouement for a company that is deeply rooted in the hippie counterculture of the 1960s and 70s. Since its founding, Whole Foods has made its name bucking corporate conventional wisdomeven as it has come to epitomize the massive, often mercenary contradictions of Big Organic. The company sold organic foods long before any major supermarket chain thought it was worthwhile, and its thrived in part by defying the grocery industrys insistence on centralized distribution and standardization.

Now the organic supermarket pioneer will be owned by one of the most brutally efficient and standardizedretailers in the world, a company with a relentless focus on selling things cheaper and faster.

The purchase is a dramatic leap for Amazon into brick-and-mortar commerce. So far, the company has only launched a handful of grocery pick-up locations and storefronts for selling books. But the acquisition of Whole Foods vastly expands Amazons share of the grocery trade, a move that should raise deep concerns about a marketplace already dominated by a handful of massive retailers.(Disclosure: Slate is an Amazon affiliate; when you click on an Amazon link from Slate, the magazine gets a cut of the proceeds from whatever you buy.)

But perhaps more significantly, it signals the end of a dream for Mackey and Whole Foods, and even for the entire organic food business. With more than 400 locations, Whole Foods has long ruled the organic marketplace. But unlike any other national retailer, it claims to be rooted in environmentalism and the hippie movement of the 1970s. Its not that Whole Foods didnt care about profits. Mackey has long contended that Whole Foods began as a company seeking to make our country and world a better place to live by recognizing human rights, food safety, and environmental deterioration were major concerns. But with its sale to Amazon, a company with a poor environmental track record, questionable labor practices, and limited experience selling organic food, Whole Foods has lost any credible link to its countercultural roots. Whatever Whole Foods will be able to say about itself now, it will be much harder for it to maintain its do-gooder image.

The modern organic food business started as a cottage industry of longhairs selling brown rice and tofu out of wooden barrels in small stores. In 1978, Mackey and his then-partner, Renee Lawson Hardy, launched one such store, a vegetarian grocery in a two-story house called SaferWay. The name spoofed Safeway and indicted the environmental dangers of supermarket chains reliance on large-scale agribusiness and wasteful production methods.Two years later, Mackey merged the store with a competitor to form a new business he and his partners would call Whole Foods Market. In the next decade, the store expanded throughout Texas and into other states, and by the start of the 90s, it had become the highest-volume seller of organic food in the country.

Whole Foods growth was rapid. In 1992, the company became the first ever publicly traded organic foods retailer. The organic food marketplace transformed into a major industry with Whole Foods at its helm. Yet Mackey and Whole Foods insisted their company wasnt only interested in profits. The companys Declaration of Interdependence, a mission statement of its core values, contains sections on Team Member Happiness and Environmental Stewardship. With missionary zeal, Mackey has devoted himself to promoting conscious capitalism in a popular 2013 book by that title and in a series of CEO summits he organizes.

Mackeys politics havent always aligned with Whole Foods stated values of conscious capitalism, of course. In recent years, hes speciously criticized the Affordable Care Act as fascist, and hes also remarked that climate change isnt necessarily bad. And for all its public statements endorsing employee satisfaction, Whole Foods has long opposed workers efforts to unionize.

Despite Mackeys libertarian leanings, Whole Foods sets itself apart from other chains.

Yet Whole Foods remains one of the most environmentally responsible retailers in the country, ranking highly on a variety of sustainability metrics. Whole Foods also offers its employees some unusual freedoms. Individual stores and their departments have considerable power to make purchasing decisions, and local managers enjoy a level of discretion unheard of at most chain stores. Employees have major input in hiring and get to vote to approve or reject new co-workers whove completed a trial period. Despite Mackeys libertarian leanings, Whole Foods sets itself apart from other chains through these practices.

Will Whole Foods be able to retain its distinctive culture once this deal is finalized? While Amazon says it wants to keep Whole Foods as is, its impossible not to wonder how Amazon's corporate culture might rub off, especially as the store struggles to compete with other sellers of organic products such as Trader Joes, German discounters such as Aldi and Lidl, and even Walmart and conventional supermarkets.

While deeply objectionable, Whole Foods efforts to discourage unionization seem timid in comparison to Amazons proud endorsement of unreasonably high expectations with uncompensated overtime, combative meetings, and encouraging employees to anonymously report each others mistakes to management. Working conditions in Amazons shipping facilities appear just as bad, if not worse. It seems unlikely that Amazons cutthroat managerial approach will tolerate Whole Foods employees long-held freedoms and team leaders decentralized autonomy for long.

The sale also jeopardizes Whole Foods devotion to environmental stewardship. Amazons Web Services subsidiary is one of the dirtiest and least transparent companies in the sector, far behind its major competitors, with zero reporting of its energy or environmental footprint to any source or stakeholder, according to a 2014 report by Greenpeace.If Amazon doesnt value sustainability, will it accept the considerable expense and effort that Whole Foods devotes to environmental stewardship?

Top Comment

When did Whole Foods have a do-gooder reputation? It's always been a symbol of elitism. (I can say that since I shop there occasionally, but not exclusively.) More...

After six consecutive quarters of losses, Whole Foods had recently begun to make its own changes in the composition of its board and executive team. But such changes are trivial compared to being swallowed by the worlds largest online retailer.With its relentless efficiency standards, Amazon is poised to radically transform not only the pioneering organic chain but the entire brick-and-mortar grocery business.

Whole Foods may have been John Mackeys baby, the object of his affection he raised from infancy. But once this sale is completed, Amazon will be its legal guardian and Whole Foods will be the online retailers stepchild. Mackey and Whole Foods already debatable claims of conscious capitalism now seem even more dubious.

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So Much for Conscious Capitalism - Slate Magazine

Amazons planned purchase of high end grocery chain Whole Foods introduces a lot of questions - many of them around technology, delivery, and the future of retail. Its also a time to consider what, exactly, the Whole Foods value proposition is. After all, were told that Whole Foods seeks the finest organic food, but not all their customers have been fully satisfied with what they get in return for their dollars.

By and large, when folks pay more for food, they want it to taste better. Whatever labels we read about sustainability or endorsements about health, the thing that we always can judge for ourselves is how good a food tastes. And many people claim that organic, whatever its other virtues, does taste better.

Others disagree, and the science is mixed.

Studies show that some organic foods can have a different flavor, due to factors like how plants respond to environmental stress, but often differences are subtle and may fade away in the face of other factors like long transportation to reach stores. Plus, some organic ingredients go into processed foods in small quantities where they add almost no distinct flavor at all.

The practical implications of organic flavor appeared in a recent Washington Post investigation of mislabeled food imports. Shipments started out conventional, yet somewhere in the paper trail received an organic label. It was a multi-million dollar fraud, made possible because that label provided the only way for shoppers to know they were eating organic - they couldnt taste a difference for themselves.

We didnt have to move this far away from using our senses to know our food. In Vermont, organic certifiers provide truthful labeling while also supporting a better consumer experience. They encourage local organic food, eaten at the peak of flavor, or plant varieties that prize flavor over the ability to withstand cross-country transportation, or home gardeners who grow the freshest food possible in exactly the varieties they want. Its reasonable to expect food produced in a thoughtful, sustainable way to offer pleasure that goes beyond reading the fine print on a certification label.

All of which brings us back around to the idea that the simplest reason to buy premium foods is because they taste better - and when they dont, thats a problem. This concept doesnt take away from our loftier ideals - it supports them. And who doesnt want food to be delicious?

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Jordan: Organic Food Spotlight - Vermont Public Radio

1992: From Austin to Wall Street

Now operating 12 stores in Texas, California, North Carolina and Louisiana, Whole Foods Market went public. The prospectus stated that a significant segment of the population now attributes added value to high quality natural food.

Marian Burros, a food reporter for The New York Times, wrote that these gleaming new supermarkets 13,000 to 27,000 square feet of floor space bear about as much resemblance to the grungy, 1960s fern-bedecked natural food co-op, with its shriveled produce and flour stored in trash cans, as McDonalds does to Lutce.

Later that year, the company expanded into the Northeast with the purchase of the Boston-based supermarket chain Bread and Circus.

1996: From Hippie to Hip Capitalist

Whole Foods acquired Fresh Fields, a Maryland-based chain with 22 stores. Mr. Mackeys natural foods empire now consisted of 70 stores in 16 states. While still small compared to traditional supermarket chains, the natural and organic foods company grew at more than 20 percent a year. The next year, revenue surpassed $1 billion.

1997: Whole Foods, Whole Paycheck

Whole Foods started its store brand, 365 Everyday Value. The private label was later used to combat the perception that Whole Foods, sometimes known as Whole Paycheck for its notoriously high prices, was too expensive for everyday people.

2002: Fighting Unions

Mr. Mackey says he is pro-employee, but anti-union. In Madison, Wis., workers voted to unionize, a victory that was later decertified. Mr. Mackey told The Times that the vote came from his inattention to worker concerns. The following year, he visited all the Whole Foods stores in the United States to bond with employees.

2004: Manhattans Largest Supermarket

Whole Foods, which already operated a 40,000-square-foot store in Chelsea, opened its flagship 58,000-square-foot store in the basement of the Time Warner Center. On opening day, a line stretched out the door.

2006: Wall Street and Foodies Grow Disillusioned

Critics began to complain that Whole Foods was straying from its roots. The newer stores focus on prepared food and include in-store restaurants and spas. Bruised by competition with traditional grocery stores, the stock dropped by nearly 40 percent.

2007: An Ill-Fated Merger

The Federal Trade Commission challenged the acquisition of Wild Oats, claiming that the deal would create a natural-foods monopoly. The F.T.C. discovered that Mr. Mackey had used a pseudonym to write anonymous blog posts attacking Wild Oats. The end game is now under way for OATS, Mr. Mackey wrote in one. Whole Foods is systematically destroying their viability as a business market by market, city by city. Two years later, Whole Foods agreed to sell 13 stores to resolve the complaint.

2008: Selling a Stake to a Private Investor

Squeezed by the financial crisis and traditional grocery stores, Whole Foods stock plummeted 76 percent in one year. The company sold a 17 percent stake to Green Equity Investors, an affiliate of Los Angeles-based private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners.

2009: Obamacare and a Boycott

Mr. Mackey wrote an Op-Ed in The Wall Street Journal quoting Margaret Thatcher and arguing that the last thing our country needs is a massive new health care entitlement. His companys liberal-minded customers responded with a boycott.

2013: The G.M.O. Label

Whole Foods became the first retailer in the United States to label all genetically modified foods. The companys stock peaked at $65.24.

2015: Wall Street Sours

Wall Street analysts grew increasingly negative as organic food became cheaper and more popular at big supermarket chains.

Conventional retailers can get it into their stores more cheaply, and they can be more predatory on pricing, Mark Retzloff, a pioneer of the natural and organic foods retail business, told The Times. If one of those stores is just down the street from a Whole Foods, theres a big segment of their customer base that isnt going to shop at Whole Foods anymore.

2017: Under Hedge Fund Duress

After the activist hedge fund Jana Partners took a stake in Whole Foods and pushed for change, the company overhauled its board in May and began a push to cut costs. Gabrielle Sulzberger, a private equity executive who is married to Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., the chairman and publisher of The New York Times, became chairwoman.

In an interview with Texas Monthly published on June 14, Mr. Mackey criticized activist investors. Its the idea that business is about a bunch of greedy bastards running around exploiting people, screwing their customers, taking advantage of their employees, dumping their toxic waste in the environment, acting like sociopaths, he said.

Two days later, Amazon agreed to buy Whole Foods for $13.4 billion.

A version of this article appears in print on June 17, 2017, on Page B5 of the New York edition with the headline: The Life of an Organic Giant.

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How Whole Foods Became the Organic Giant - The New York Times - New York Times

852Hz Music: Awakens intuition & raises awareness, healing meditation music, frequency music 32205A

NuMeditationMusic youtube channel is devoted to create a new collection of LONG MEDITATION MUSIC videos for you to relax and enjoy in your daily meditation. In our channel you will find MUSIC playlists dedicated to BINAURAL BEATS, CHAKRA MEDITATION, BUDDHIST MEDITATION and SHAMANIC MEDITATION. Our goal is to enhance your experience of MEDITATION, ASTRAL PROJECTION, LUCID DREAMING and DEEP SLEEP. Check out our selection of PLAYLISTS:

CHAKRA MEDITATIONS

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A collection of chakra meditations for balancing & healing all the chakras (Root, Sacral, Solar Plexus, Heart, Throat,Third Eye and Crown chakra). This playlist also includes Healing meditations.

MONK CHANTS & MEDITATION BACKGROUNDS

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A collection of Buddhist Meditation Music for Positive Energy. These mixes are very peaceful and include monk chants of buddhist monks. We also use Tibetan Singing Bowls and these mixes are influenced by Zen Meditation Music.

ASTRAL PROJECTION & SPACE MUSIC

http://www.youtube.com/play...

A great resource for Lucid Dreaming and Astral Projection. The influences of this playlist come from relaxing ambient music, space music and binaural beats. This is also a sleep music playlist.

BINAURAL BEATS & MEDITATION MUSIC

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We use binaural beats several times for this kind of sleep meditations. Our music is also written with the Sacred Solfeggio Frequencies like the powerful 528 Hz. These frequencies will induce deep states of relaxation and the binaural beats will stimulate deep meditation states.

SHAMANIC MEDITATION MUSIC

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We love shamanic music, specially Tuvan Throat Singing and Native American Shamanic Music. These healing meditation tracks will definitely take you on a spiritual journey.

20 MINUTES MEDITATIONS

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These are simple meditations for beginners or when you don't have much time to meditate. We include Mindfulness, Zazen and Awareness meditations in these mixes.

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"Our mission is to write music that can impact you in a positive way because we believe music can change people's lives! We hope you enjoy, and we hope to connect with you again in the near future!" Show less

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NuMeditationMusic - YouTube

Like any startup founder well-trained in public relations, Andy Puddicombe is reluctant to talk politics. But when I ask about the explosive growth since the election of Donald Trump of Headspace the app that features meditation lessons delivered in Puddicombes charming British accent accompanied by whimsical cartoons he concedes that we are in an inflection point. More people are trying to find calm and clarity when they see so much chaos and confusion, he says.

Headspaces numbers alone are suggestive. The app recently surpassed 15 million downloads, up from 5 million at the beginning of 2016.

Even more telling is use of the SOS feature a special meditation designed to calm you down during sudden meltdowns. The day after Trump was elected president, Headspace saw a 44 percent jump in SOS sessions. And so far in 2017, theres been a 31 percent bump in SOS sessions monthly compared to 2016.

For Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk, leading a meditation technology company means walking a cultural fault line: Trying to stay true to ancient mindfulness teachings to calm and focus the anxious masses while scaling to deliver returns to investors. Lately, thats meant allowing users the freedom to meditate for as little as a minute, down from the 10-minute minimum Headspace had. (Users can also meditate with the app for 30 minutes or more, if they choose.)

Catering to frenetic modern humans deeply habituated to precisely the tendencies mindfulness is supposed to uproot distraction, desire, selfishness, greed it turns out, means capitulating to those instincts.

I would never have said that 10 minutes is going to make a difference before I started working on this, Puddicombe told me over sparkling water during a recent visit to Washington, DC. Then we launched the app and people were asking for five-minute exercises.

But even that was deemed too long by many antsy, time-crunched users. And so this month, Headspace launched new mini mediations, along with more flexibility to jump around to different meditation packs with themes like Self Esteem and Relationships.

Before he co-founded Headspace, now a Los Angeles company with 184 employees, Puddicombe spent about a decade exploring Buddhism at various monasteries in Burma, Nepal, and Scotland, among other countries. He meditated for up to eight hours a day. He wore robes and was ordained in the Tibetan tradition.

Then, after a brief stint at the Moscow State Circus (drawing on circus skills hed honed in college), he returned to London where he befriended fellow Englishman Rich Pierson whod also benefitted from meditation. Pierson convinced him that disseminating mindfulness was a tremendous business opportunity. And what began as their meditation event business is now one of the most successful monetizations of mindfulness in a fast growing market. Forbes estimates that Headspaces revenue is $50 million a year and values the company at $250 million.

I spoke to Puddicombe about whats behind Headspaces exponential growth, the power his British accent has over Americans, the companys controversial ads, its ongoing scientific studies, the strain of growing a business, and how having kids forced him to change his meditation routine. (Full disclosure: I meditate but am not a Headspace user.)

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Just before this interview, I surveyed my friends and colleagues and turns out about 10 of them use your app. I didnt know.

It's becoming a lot more socially acceptable to admit that you're a meditator. But a lot of people are in the closet.

Interesting that people still feel self-conscious about it.

The kind of journey meditation has been on in the West, we [Headspace] have been one part of that conversation of demystifying it. But I do think for a lot of people it still is seen as a little bit unusual. I really would liken that to the journey of fitness you know, in the beginning, people who jogged around Central Park were seen as crazy. Meditation makes a lot of sense now that we understand the science in the same way.

In America do you think meditation has a New Age association? Is it weird to some people because its quasi-religious?

I think all of those things. Traditionally there's a sense it's tied up in religion. Back then went through a hippie phase. If you went off to India or Afghanistan in the 60s, sure, thats what you did. Then theres the later New Age self-help kind of phenomena which promises you everything. So I think there are kind of different elements along the way that made our job much more challenging.

The Buddha came up with these teachings of mindfulness and intended for them to be a map of the mind, to be used by any human being. Here we are, 2,600 years later, and they are really resonating. Millions of people who werent raised in a meditative tradition are using apps, books, and classes and going on retreat to learn meditation.

Do you think this is simply because technology is finally making it possible to mass distribute these teachings or is there something unique about this era where people need them more?

I do think meditation is for all people of all ages, across all millennia. The human mind is what it is. We have always struggled, and the fact that there were techniques for coping with anxiety and sadness and anger 2,600 years ago just goes to show that.

But we're living in a time where everybody is feeling more squeezed whether it's an increasing amount of responsibilities or commitments or just the busy-ness of life. I think there is no question that the digital revolution has only exacerbated that. People are really feel overwhelmed by the amount of communications they're involved in.

When I left the monastery, I set up a private [meditation] practice in London. It was just around the time of the financial crisis. And I sometimes wonder whether had it not been for that whether I would have met so many people who came along wanting to learn meditation. [The crisis] had really shaken them. They were asking, What am I doing with my life and what's my purpose?

And I think we've almost cycled round to another kind of point like that right now. How do I find a sense of calm and clarity when I see so much chaos and confusion going on around me?

In Tibet, for example, it took maybe 100 years for the teachings to reach 6 million people, and it took [Headspace] maybe a couple of years to reach 6 million people. And so I'm not comparing the depth or the breadth of the teachings that we deliver, but I do think there's something really kind of interesting in just how immensely scalable this is.

You recently ran ads in the New York City subway that said I meditate to crush it, and I meditate to have the edge to promote your performance-oriented meditation pack. That seems to encourage a kind of craving and grasping which seems problematic since mindfulness is supposed to teach us to let go.

I understand the marketing side of this, but how do you reconcile this message with the teachings?

Those werent our lines. Those came from our community. The crush it line came from a power lifter. One came from a salsa dancer. We went out and said, Why are people using it?

I don't feel like it's my business to be telling other people why they should meditate. I see it as a skill, I genuinely believe its up to every individual to apply that skill. Our job to get people excited.

I dont think anyone starts meditating to benefit all sentient beings. We all start with some kind of motivation, whether it's because we want to run faster or experience less stress. I'm not sure theres much difference. What excites me is the journey of realization, its about having a great sense of calm, clarity, contentment, and compassion. That evolves in different ways in different people in different lengths of time.

I feel really passionately about trying to maintain that authenticity.

Are there threats to that authenticity?

We havent taken investment that in any way threatens the future of company. And there have been really good challenges.

To begin with, I would never have said 10 minutes is going to make a difference before I started working on this. Then we launched the app and people were asking for five-minute exercises. Then Snapchat [a corporate client] asked us for one minute. Each time, its been a challenge to my own way of thinking. But for some people, a minute is the right amount of time.

Youre basing that on peoples feedback?

Were basing it on anecdotal feedback, and data. We see how people use the product in an anonymous way. Theres a lift in engagement the shorter they get. Ten minutes is still far and away the most popular, but weve just launched more of that shorter content.

So youve seen these big jumps in use of the SOS feature since the 2016 election in the US. Is this a sign that people are having meltdowns about politics?

Weve been growing exponentially, but we couldn't attribute that to the change of administration in DC. But regardless of whats happening here and I don't think it is just here, in my home country of England we had Brexit I just think there is a there is a feeling of uncertainty, instability, and destabilization. Inevitably in those times people look for ways to go inside rather than out.

Youve said that you have to meet people where they are, and were on our phones. What would you say to the person who says, I dont like the idea of a meditation app that tethers me to my phone?

Id want to investigate that: What is their relationship to their phone that is so disconnected and uncomfortable that they're unable to sit and listen to a guided meditation? The medium for me is not so important. I think that once you put it on Airplane mode and you press play, it might as well be a CD player from the 80s.

There is nothing inherently evil or bad about this piece of glass and plastic. So it can only be the relationships we develop with it.

Things I recommend people do is turn off notifications, clean up your home screen. Put apps on another page. Rich [Pierson], our CEO, now has no email, no social media on his phone.

I wonder about the power of your accent. Americans have a thing for the British accent. Your product is clearly much more than your voice, but your voice is also a powerful part of it. Are you as popular in the UK?

[Laughs] I am not sure I am more popular in the UK. America is now our fastest growing market.

As for the accent, it's the one my parents gave me. If the voice works for people it, Im happy for that.

You have scientists on staff, you have studies going on. So if were trying to understand the long-term benefits of these short meditations, there isnt much data out there on mental health and changes to brain. What are the biggest questions your scientists wants to understand?

Dosage is definitely one of them, how much and how often is necessary to see a significant difference. Because youre right, the truth is we really dont know. A lot of the mindfulness research thats been done, theyre often quite long sessions, over extended period of time on daily basis.

We have clinical trials running, always in partnership with a university or teaching hospital. Theyre funded independently, peer-reviewed before published. The most recent one on chronic pain was done with the National Health Service in the UK. I dont get excited about science. My own experience has been sitting down and seeing it work in direct way.

But for a lot of people, knowing that something is happening to the brain is really important, and I think its right that we pay attention to that. Part of demystifying [meditation] is giving people confidence and trust and science is a key way of doing that.

Whats the hardest part of joining the profit-driven world? Its clearly a huge contrast to monastery life and values.

You said profit-driven, I say mission-driven. My own personal role, strange as it sounds, hasnt really changed. In the monastery I sat down and did my practice. Now I talk into microphone. I dont see my role as having changed that much. I have a partner who looks after branding and an amazing team of people who look after every aspect.

This speaks to the inherent tension that anyone whos passionate and works hard has to face: Sometimes its just overwhelming.

Our practice defines how we relate to that feeling of being overwhelmed. For some people, that feeling of being overwhelmed is just the worst thing in the world and makes them run away. For other people, maybe its even exciting and challenging in some way.

Your ultimately aspiration is to build the most comprehensive guide to health and happiness in the world, right?

In the short term, we want to build most comprehensive guide to meditation. Certainly were not there yet but well on our way. Potential through the brand and platform for it to go beyond meditation.

Thats pretty ambitious though.

My lama one of my main teachers at the Tibetan monastery he was obsessed with this idea of thinking big. Not to be attached to the goal, but to be committed to the journey and process. Something changes when we open our minds to the possibility of something. If we dont make it there, its okay.

Have you felt much disapproval from members of the Buddhist community for your approach?

In the beginning, yes, when we were doing events in London. We put out a brochure, and we started getting letters from Buddhist professors saying it was terrible to change money to come to event. It felt uncomfortable for me personally. And then I started looking back, theres always been an exchange of value. People would bring food to a monastery, and in the West people come and give a donation and receive teachings. This feels like a good and healthy exchange. In companies where theyve given subscriptions to Headspace for free, they find that when they charge employees, engagement is higher.

Are you still in touch with teachers in Tibet? Do you still study with them?

I consider myself a student of meditation and always will be. I have my teachers from the monastery and outside. I was back there about six months ago, discussing my personal practice with my teacher, and how we can start making a difference to the communities where these teachings come from.

If you come to my house, I have a shrine, and all my teachings and texts. I still practice in the same way as I did at the monastery.

What is your daily meditation routine?

I practice well, its changed a bit since having kids. Im an early riser, I used to get up around 4:30 or 5 am and then go surfing with Rich before going to the office. Those were the days. Now I get up and I look after Harley, our first son, [and new baby, Leo.] So I'll do my meditation in my lunch hour or do it at the end of the day. On the rare occasion Harley does sleep in I get to do it in the morning. But I'm a lot more flexible with my practice now than I once was.

Best book you read recently?

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, he lived in a certain manner that not everyone is comfortable with, but his Cutting through Spiritual Materialism was a brilliant book. There is a risk as meditation becomes a thing that we start wearing it as a label, and in doing so only increasing this sense of identity and self, through which traditionally in meditation we try to let go of. So I think that is particularly relevant for now.

My other favorite would be Zen Mind, Beginners Mind. While Cutting through Spiritual Materialism gets into the nitty gritty, the nuts and bolts, Zen Mind, Beginners Mind. zooms right out, its more of a look at absolute mind, rather than intellectual, thinking mind. Every chapter is just 3 to 4 pages, which I think is our attention span, collectively.

A senior disciple of Thich Nhat Hanh explains mindfulness for times of conflict.

Is mindfulness meditation good for kids? Heres what the science actually says.

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Meditation is thriving under Trump. A former monk explains why. - Vox

Forbes

How Meditation And Yoga Can Alter The Expression Of Our Genes Forbes For those who are still skeptical about whether mind-body practices like meditation, yoga, and Tai Chi actually work, a new study goes further in laying out how they affect usright down to the level of our genes. The meta-analysis, published in the ... Meditation and Tai Chi don't just improve your health and mental state, they seem to improve genetic activityZME Science Why Yoga, Tai Chi and Meditation Are Good for YouWebMD Meditation, yoga cut risk of cancer, depression by reversing DNA, says studyHindustan Times AlterNet -PsychCentral.com -ScrollToday all 21 news articles »

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How Meditation And Yoga Can Alter The Expression Of Our Genes - Forbes

Read Mark 4:35-41 Romans 8:38-39 (NRSV)

Neither death, nor life...nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In todays reading, the disciples were overcome by fear and woke Jesus from a sound sleep. They cried out and questioned his care for them. But Jesus calmed the wind and waves with the command, Peace! Be still! Jesus then challenged the disciples, Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?

Similarly, the storms of life assault us with little or no warning. Winds of change scream and howl. We are tossed up on the shore like driftwood, where we find ourselves lying among the wreckage of serious health problems, ruptured family relationships or broken dreams.

When we face hard times, grief and pain can dominate our days and fear may visit us in the middle of the night. Like the disciples, we cry out, Lord, do you not care that we are perishing? Jesus may not instantly command these winds and waves, Be still! But he does say to us, Peace! He speaks with loving-kindness to comfort and strengthen us.

Scripture reminds us that our Lord will never leave us or forsake us. We are encouraged to cast all our cares, concerns, hurts and fears, and pain on God because God cares for us. (See 1 Peter 5:7.)

PrayerThank you Lord, for hearing our prayers and giving us your peace in the stormy times of our lives. Amen.

Thought for the DayWhen my life seems to be falling apart, Jesus can give me peace.

Patricia Wilgis-Patton (Texas)

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Meditation | Home And Family | hpj.com - High Plains Journal