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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?

#71

Post by orblivion »

I used Waking Up pretty regularly for a year or two. In the first week or two I found profound benefits. I started to appreciate the sensations and imagery of things around me (something that Sam Harris focuses on). I was able to pay attention through an entire boring weekly all-hands meeting with no trouble for the first time ever. My focus performing work improved similarly.

After that my experience regressed back to beneficial but not profound. By the end of it, I couldn't even meditate anymore.

Lots of things in life seem to follow this pattern for me. At least this one was somewhat beneficial for a longer time.

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

#72

Post by lstamour »

TrueGeek wrote: post #18
thenerdhead wrote: post #11

I feel like these apps are much like 24-hour gyms. The profits are because nobody uses them but says they will use them one day. I love the headspace story and the founder Andy Puddicombe. His mission is a real one of literally "spreading awareness" to everyone. I've had a subscription to headspace for over 3 years now(corporate discount) and used it tons when I first started to learn about meditation. However 3 year…

The intro course in Headspace is amazing. I had to experience with meditation and Andy really explained it well. It completely changed what I thought meditation was. But then, afterwards, he made it so simple I didn’t need the app at all. You’re right about his story. His book is great, simply for the first quarter where he tells how he got where he is.

If you like the book, you’ll love the audiobook. Same content, but Andy reads it. It’s a great listen, especially if you haven’t read the book before.

That said, the book is simply presented and somewhat repetitive, so the material doesn’t exactly stand up to repeated listens much. But it’s still fun :)

The Headspace Guide to Mindfulness & Meditation audiobook by Andy Puddicombe https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/andy-puddicombe/the-headsp... (can be found on Audible, Kobo, Audiobooks.com etc.)

Has a few guided meditations at the end of the audiobook, though you might also get some value from the various ones posted for free by Headspace on their social media: https://youtube.com/c/headspace

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

#73

Post by cube00 »

rockbruno wrote: post #7

I think you're misunderstanding the point of these apps, which might very well be intentional on these companies' part to get you to spend money on something that you might not need. Therapy doesn't "solve" anything by itself, you must see it as a tool to help you put your mind in a better position so that you can solve your problems. Lots of people see these as magical apps that will somehow magically make them bett…

> Therapy doesn't "solve" anything by itself, you must see it as a tool to help you put your mind in a better position so that you can solve your problems.

One part of mediation is resisting the temptation to try and solve anything. You improve being able to notice each thought, acknowledge in a non-judgemental way and then allow it to continue moving through the station. The next thought will be arriving shortly. Mind the gap please.

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

#75

Post by jdavis703 »

The apps are only what you make of them. It’s like going to the gym, but for your mind.

Are you willing to make mindfulness in to a lifestyle? If you are, it’ll be worth the money, just like a gym membership.

I personally found that mindfulness practice helped me recognize anxiety, stress and illogical thoughts, take a moment to realign with a more objective reality and therefore improve my personal life (i.e. realizing my anxious thought was unsupported by any objective evidence and alter my behavior to be more logical.)

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

#76

Post by cscurmudgeon »

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…

> The secularization of meditation in the west has completely divorced meditation from it's original purpose (in the Buddhist context).

FYI:

Meditation originated in Hinduism where the original purpose was connection with God (as part of Yoga, the physical yoga is more recent). The earliest records of meditation can be found in Upanishads. Originally, meditation was highly directed.

Buddhism removed the God aspect. And a few thousand years later, the West has secularized it even more.

One part of this secularization has been to ignore the origins of meditation.

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

#77

Post by spicymaki »

gunfighthacksaw wrote: post #63
spicymaki wrote: post #60

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? 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?

I am not exactly sure which tradition you speak of. From Theravada to Mahayana meditation has been practiced via sitting, chanting, walking, and work practice for over 2000 years.

It is this arbitrary separation of sitting meditation from other practices such as walking and work that is exactly the problem with the modern appropriation of meditation.

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

#78

Post by dr_dshiv »

cscurmudgeon wrote: post #76
spicymaki wrote: post #60

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? 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…

> The secularization of meditation in the west has completely divorced meditation from it's original purpose (in the Buddhist context). FYI: Meditation originated in Hinduism where the original purpose was connection with God (as part of Yoga, the physical yoga is more recent). The earliest records of meditation can be found in Upanishads. Originally, meditation was highly directed. Buddhism removed the God aspect. A…

Meditation was also used in the West, too. The Greek Egyptian Plotinus described meditation practices, for instance.

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

#79

Post by vorpalhex »

givinguflac wrote: post #57
ozim wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Respectfully, I don’t think you understand mediation. It’s not about intense focus, it’s about awareness.

Respectfully, you seem dramatically unaware there are over a dozen different schools of meditation from singing buddhist monks to silent Yogis, all of whom have distinct goals in meditation. Even reading the Wikipedia article on meditation would helpfully orient you in these basic facts.
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