Headspace cofounder Andy Puddicombe in Cambridge Circus, London
Gary SalterThis article was taken from the January 2015 issue of WIRED
magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before
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When former monk Andy Puddicombe announced his idea to teach
mindfulness with an app, his Tibetan Buddhist teacher was
horrified. "I felt very unsure as well," says Puddicombe, cofounder
of LA-based Headspace. "In
the Tibetan tradition, there's an unbroken oral lineage from
teacher to student of almost 900 years. There's a risk in scaling
something like this, taking it out of its environment, diluting
it."
Puddicombe took the plunge and cofounded Headspace in 2010 with
Rich Pierson, a former employee of creative agency BBH. The app's
content ranges from ten-minute mindfulness sessions to advanced
modules that tackle problems such as poor sleep and stress. The app
has now been downloaded by more than a million iOS and Android
users in 150 countries.
Independent scientific evidence validates the benefits of
mindfulness to alleviate depression, aid cognition and strengthen
cardiovascular health. There are currently 38 ongoing and planned
academic studies with Headspace in conjunction with establishments
such as University College London and Yale: in one study related to
stress in the workplace, clinicians observed a significant
reduction in participants' systolic blood pressure after eight
weeks of using the app. "We have a clinical trial with St
Bartholomew's looking at chronic pelvic pain," says David Cox,
Headspace's chief medical officer and a lecturer at the Imperial
College School of Medicine. "If successful, it could lead to the
app being prescribed by NHS doctors for chronic pain."
Headspace was created by Bristol-born Puddicombe who previously
worked with physicians in London. "I started to experiment to see
what worked and what didn't," says Puddicombe. "Meditation is
essentially a neurological skill with broad applications. We can
wrap it around many different ideas and philosophies, but
ultimately it's about being present."
This month, Headspace will start testing a version for kids in
schools in Seattle, LA and Chicago. It is also developing tailored
programmes for parents, pregnant women and athletes -- an Olympic
team is using it in its preparation for 2016. And the app has come
full circle: "There's a Tibetan monastery in Nepal," says
Puddicombe. "Before they begin their training, they are told to do
ten days of Headspace."
Source Article from http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2015/01/start/zen-on-your-smartphone http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/w_z/ZenSmartphone.jpg
Finding your zen on a smartphone
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