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Ask HN: Have you had any real benefits from apps like Headspace, Fabulous, etc?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you had any real benefits from apps like Headspace, Fabulous, etc?

#61

Post by garyrob »

As someone who does an hour of meditation a day, I don't think you need an app. I used to use one of the main ones but no longer do. You just need some kind of timer. What works best for me is actually the timer app on my Apple Watch, which I have set to vibrate instead of making a sound. It's a gentle way to end a meditation session.

Additionally there are physical meditation bells which make wonderful, rich sounds. My wife and I often use one when we meditate together; she rings it at the beginning of a session and I ring it at the end after my watch timer goes off.

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any real benefits from apps like Headspace, Fabulous, etc?

#62

Post by leros »

I've gotten a lot of Headspace. A 20 minute meditation really helps calm down my runaway brain. Do I need an app to meditate? Of course not. However, my crazy brain can manage to open the app and start a meditation session and the audio keeps me on track.

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any real benefits from apps like Headspace, Fabulous, etc?

#63

Post by gunfighthacksaw »

spicymaki wrote: post #60
gunfighthacksaw wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> While you can get some benefits from simply practicing meditation, it can feel a bit aimless Isn’t that… the point of meditation?

>> While you can get some benefits from simply practicing meditation, it can feel a bit aimless > Isn’t that… the point of meditation? Absolutely not! The secularization of meditation in the west has completely divorced meditation from it's original purpose (in the Buddhist context). Meditation is a complete mental training program. Monks did not just sit there on a cushion; they worked with teachers, reflected on id…

IMO making meditation a productive activity with (shudder) metrics is far more divorced from tradition.

Again, isn’t aimlessness the point of Buddhism? Taming and mastering the ‘I’ and it’s worldly attachments like aiming for things?

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any real benefits from apps like Headspace, Fabulous, etc?

#65

Post by uxamanda »

I used Headspace for about a year ~5 years ago. Before that, I had tried meditation randomly but hadn’t gotten much out of it. After a few months of using the app, I learned enough to see the benefits. It helped get me to a point where I also added IRL meditation classes and community.

I no longer use the app, but I’ve maintained a practice since. The app was useful as training wheels / structure. I was motivated to learn about meditation and it helped me.

I think any number of free resources could have worked, but paying and having structure was a motivator to continue.

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any real benefits from apps like Headspace, Fabulous, etc?

#66

Post by WesleyHale »

I've been diagnosed with anxiety and ADHD. I wanted an alternative to medication and subscribed to Headspace. I allotted 60 days and 5 to 15 minutes a morning for meditation. For the last two weeks of the experiment, I increased the time to 30 minutes, and occasionally sat down twice a day. During this time, I was also reading "The Power Of Now" by Eckart Tolle. After the 60 days I reduced my practice back to a couple days a week.

The first few days felt silly. I didn't feel an improvement, understand what the point of meditation was, and didn't believe I was doing it correctly. Gradually over time, I began to feel more relaxed throughout the day. Situations that would normally cause my anxiety to rise did not affect me. My focus improved drastically and I was able to concentrate for longer. I felt exponentially more comfortable in social situations. In one specific instance at the height of my practice, I had two different friends comment positively on a noticeable difference in my “energy”.

Towards the end of my 60 days, I increased the time I was sitting down since I experienced a marginal improvement. The unexpected consequence was that I no longer cared about most things. I won’t say I was enlightened by any means, but I no longer needed external stimulus or material things to be happy. I felt indifferent towards most critical components of my life. Why did I need a job? Why do I need money? To buy material objects I don’t need? This pattern of though cascaded across all other aspects of my life. At this point in time, I legitimately believe I could be homeless and happy.

This transcendence scared me, and I cut down to a couple days a week. As it turns out, even balance needs balance.

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any real benefits from apps like Headspace, Fabulous, etc?

#67

Post by xanaxagoras »

Horticulture wrote: post #31

You should check out Medito - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=meditofoundati... . It's free & non-profit with daily sessions. No need to pay for anything like this imo, but I have donated to Medito because they offer a good service, for free, and for the right reasons. Fwiw, the benefit I've found is just in a more general mindfulness, and meditation can be part of that. Notice yourself tensing or clenc…

I do wonder why it's not on fdroid. Downloaded anyway, Exodus says no trackers. Daily meditation by 2 different people. This is rad, I'm going to try using it for a week.

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any real benefits from apps like Headspace, Fabulous, etc?

#68

Post by [deleted] »

ozim wrote: post #44
lotsofpulp wrote: post #34

I feel like 45min to 60min high intensity interval training (HIIT) cardiovascular exercise (e.g. swimming, running, rowing, bicycling, stairs, elliptical, etc) would be cheaper and address a host of other health issues also. Include some compound weight lifting like pull ups, deadlift, squat, bench press, lunges, and core workouts like planks, and I bet outcomes greatly exceed whatever an app can provide.

For meditation I think people are trying to "meditate". Where I would get same benefits from 45-60 min cardio where I focus on the training and rhythm of music. I definitely also felt "meditation" effects from reading books - but of course with intense focus on the book not thinking about anything else and not having tv running in background and people trying to talk to me. In the end I do believe I get the same bene…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any real benefits from apps like Headspace, Fabulous, etc?

#69

Post by lotsofpulp »

jmacd wrote: post #52
lotsofpulp wrote: post #34

I feel like 45min to 60min high intensity interval training (HIIT) cardiovascular exercise (e.g. swimming, running, rowing, bicycling, stairs, elliptical, etc) would be cheaper and address a host of other health issues also. Include some compound weight lifting like pull ups, deadlift, squat, bench press, lunges, and core workouts like planks, and I bet outcomes greatly exceed whatever an app can provide.

I've used high intensity cardio to manage pretty much any mental health issues I've flirted with over the years. (for me, mostly issues with focus, anxiety). I am almost 40 now and I do see it seems to be diminishing in terms of effectiveness. I've tried to vary the amount and intensity but that has had limited impact. I find now I need to manage other factors: alcohol intake, my diet, socialization, sleep, news cons…

True, I am not yet 40, so I do not have that perspective. But the order of operations for maintaining health is, as I understand:

sleep right > eat right > exercise right

If you do not have the sleep and eat part down (including alcohol), then proceeding to exercise will not have all the desired effects. Not to say that meditation does not help, if it works for people then it works for people.

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any real benefits from apps like Headspace, Fabulous, etc?

#70

Post by ta988 »

photochemsyn wrote: post #36

It's possible to set up a daily reminder system for helping yourself with ah, 'behavioral modification' etc. using Linux and cron: > "Cron is one of Linux’s most useful tools and a developer favorite because it allows you to run automated commands at specific periods, dates, and intervals using both general-purpose and task-specific scripts. Given that description, you can imagine how system admins use it to automate…

No need for so much complexity. Set an alarm or use something like Automate on Fdroid that can trigger notifications and sms. I think termux can run tasks as well.
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