{"id":14211,"date":"2018-09-07T14:29:42","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T14:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=14211"},"modified":"2018-09-07T14:29:42","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T14:29:42","slug":"the-meditation-app-backed-by-jessica-alba-and-used-by-a-staggering-31-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=14211","title":{"rendered":"The meditation app backed by Jessica Alba and used by a staggering 31 million"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\"Headspace\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

After spending a decade training as a Buddhist monk, Andy Puddicombe decided he wanted to share what he’d learned with the world.<\/h2>\n

He has achieved his goal: his app, Headspace<\/a>, has attracted more than 31 million users in over 190 countries. <\/p>\n

The app allows people to listen to guided meditation sessions while on the go. Puddicombe, 45, attributes its success to the age of information overload. <\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of stuff going on right now that is hard to make sense of,” he told CNN. “Especially if you think about the digital chatter in our lives … For most people, it’s left them feeling burnt out.” <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From athlete to monk <\/h2>\n

<\/strong> <\/p>\n

After studying sports science, Puddicombe began his career as a personal trainer and also competed in gymnastics in London. <\/p>\n

“Externally, I was very healthy and well,” he recalled. “But internally, my mind was busy.” <\/p>\n

Bereavement was also a factor. In 1992, Puddicombe was involved in a car crash caused by a drunk driver in which two people were killed. Shortly afterward, his stepsister died in a biking accident. <\/p>\n

“There’s no question that those events played a big part in my search for greater peace of mind,” he said. <\/p>\n

\"02
Andy Puddicombe, 45, began his career as a personal trainer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his early 20s, he headed to a Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas and initially planned to remain a monk “for life.” But teaching at a meditation center inspired him to share what he had learned. <\/p>\n

“There were so many people … who wanted to learn how to feel less stressed, but who were not necessarily interested in the Buddhist tradition,” he said. <\/p>\n

Puddicombe returned to Britain in 2004, where he met advertising executive Rich Pierson through mutual friends. In 2010, they founded Headspace as a meditation events company in London. <\/p>\n

Two years later, they launched a web and mobile app with the slogan “meditation made simple.” <\/p>\n

\"03
Andy Puddicombe when he was training to be a monk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Puddicombe voices all the sessions, which are between three and 10 minutes long. Users can pay $12.99 per month for premium subscriptions and advance to higher levels of meditation. <\/p>\n

“We had a really good understanding of how people related to mindfulness, what they were interested in, [and] how we could present the benefits,” he said. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Meditation for the masses<\/h2>\n

<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Headspace played a big role in making meditation more accessible to the public. Similar apps, such as Calm<\/a>, have also reached a wide audience. <\/p>\n

The popularization of mindfulness \u2014 a therapeutic technique that helps people acknowledge their feelings while focusing on the present \u2014 coincided with a time when many felt under “increasing pressure,” according to Puddicombe. <\/p>\n

The business has raised more than $75 million from investors, and has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and London. <\/p>\n

Headspace’s investors include actress Jessica Alba and TV personality Ryan Seacrest. Actor Ryan Reynolds has said he uses the app to cope with anxiety. <\/p>\n

The founders said their aim is to demystify the concept of mindfulness. <\/p>\n

“My hope is we’ve taken something that most people think is quite a complex idea, and served it up in a very simple and easy-to-use way,” Puddicombe said. <\/p>\n

CNNMoney (Hong Kong) <\/span> First published September 6, 2018: 9:39 PM ET<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After spending a decade training as a Buddhist monk, Andy Puddicombe decided he wanted to share what he’d learned with the world. He has achieved his goal: his app, Headspace, has attracted more than 31 million users in over 190 countries. The app allows people to listen to guided meditation sessions while on the go.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":14212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}