I’ve been searching for a paced way to bring guided meditation into my life for years.
I always had excuses for why I didn’t do it.
Too spiritual. Smacks of too much religiosity. Too communal and not enough about me.
Then I tried Headspace on a recommendation 22 days ago.
While only just getting started, I’m quite blown away at the possibilities and all in to give this a real shot.
Each and every day I’m finding a value that deeply transcends the 10-minute session I start my day with.
I’ve been cognizant for a long time that compartmentalizing focus is the key to success in the hyper-distracted state of my life and work. It’s an ancient practice actually to carve out short blocks of very focused time on a daily basis to make the remaining hours more productive.
Up to now, the blocks of daily focus have been writing before dawn, exercising while listening to podcasts on topics of learning, and recently, committing to reading offline, giving myself over to someone else’s story or ideas.
Guided meditation was the missing link.
Something that was all about the wellness of me personally was lacking. And while I’m a newbie with Headspace, this feels just right with demonstrable value from every session.
Every morning in hotel rooms when I travel, on my writing chair with samthecat on my lap when home, and always with QC35s on my ears, this is the first thing I do post an expresso.
It starts by letting the voice of founder Andy Puddicombe into my head to kick it off.
The first few days of only 2 minutes sessions were really a struggle, not to focus, but to let myself be guided in that focus. Yet almost a month in, I’m ready to move up to 15 minute sessions.
There are three pieces of this activity that intrigue me.
First–There are very specific and tangible tools that you become more adept at every day.
It reminds of skiing or strength training as every little bit better you get, the more powerful the experience becomes and the greater the drive to come back and learn more.
Second–This is all about me.
The genius of Headspace is understanding that it is not about their journey, it’s about yours. They let you discover that a softening of your focus, that the act of riding your breath like a wave, and giving yourself over to movements of awareness and its connection to your body, is not otherworldly, it is worldly in the most personal sense possible.
And lastly–That this daily session impacts your day in real ways.
Like a doorway that you step in and step out a bit differently.
I thank wellness guru Lianna Sugarman for the referral to Headspace and am paying it forward to my community.
It’s a free download, though I jumped to upgrade to a subscription almost immediately.
The company was founded in 2012 by Rich Pierson and Andy Puddicombe, who is the voice of the app. He was formally trained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk but the true magic behind Headspace is his simple secularization of what he studied.
There are some 14 million or so users, 17,568 using it right at this moment as I push Publish on this post, but the most important user honestly is me.
Those who know me personally may find this surprising. If that curiosity provides enough motivation to try it for yourself that’s a good thing.
For me this daily exercise simply works and is making a tangible difference. I’m in for the long haul.
