Meditate in front of your computer with Calm
calm.com
calm.com
http://anticache.img0.joyreactor.com/pics/post/comics-before...
Anyone who has looked into causes of stress cannot avoid the fact that a lack of PHYSICAL activity, a lack of PHYSICAL presence, and a lack of PHYSICAL stimulation is a major, if not the major factor.
Trying to get the average person today to meditate on a computer screen is like trying to get your average desk jockey to do an iron cross - it will not happen without years of PHYSICAL preparation.
This violates the golden rule:
"Computers to make people happy, not people to make computers happy" - GJS
It is rather cyinical to offer such a service.
Meditation like most things in life takes deliberate practise, effort and can be dull, hard and boring at times.
This is not meditation but distraction. If you want to medidate, first, don't do it alone. Do it with other people. Go to your next zen dojo, or Yoga school or whatever is available in your area. And then sit together with the people in the dojo.
I for one am looking forward to migrating to a lotus position desk from my standing treadmill one.
Note: this does not mean I'm saying God/the tooth fairy/the loch ness monster/santa are real. It means there are more true things people believe than false.
To me this is a practical oxymoron. At least when I was first learning to meditate, I had to be completely alone in a quiet place. Being surrounded by others sounds really unnecessary and distracting.
There are pros and cons to everything.
I personally prefer alone-time meditation to introspect and sift through my inner concerns and arrange my emotional situation.
However you choose to do it, meditation is a wonderful way to unwind and an app with nice calming music and imagery is one way to disconnect from the bedlam.
(said while typing on hacker news with the calm site on the other screen)
Also, I find guided meditation groups really nice. I'm a beginner, so it's great to have someone helping me along.
I personally preferred meditating alone starting off, and really still do. There are some retreats that I wouldn't mind taking part in, but ultimately, meditation is a personal and solitary experience for me.
BTW I feel very similarly about many other meditation services offered, even in the outside (non-tech) world. Far too many gurus who purport to serve up enlightenment on a plate for a few bucks. True teachers are few and far between.
I have the impression that there has been/there is a society-wide phase transition, recently. More and more people seem to realize now that being in front of the net all day isn't really fulfilling, either.
You're right that computers for computers sake is missing the point. But so is dismissing computers because they're computers, or because they're used in unconventional ways.
I can at least say that using that program made it a lot easier to get into a more meditative state. And it was not supposed to be a perpetual training wheel, more like a temporary one, until you could get the same desired effect without any sound-aid.
- http://www.angelfire.com/indie/anna_jones1/ferryboat.html
(linking to an angelfire page on hn is probably my favorite thing of the day)
I have been a regular user every morning for the past 3-4 months. It is easy to follow and gives a great sense of calm - almost time expanding in a way. Helps productivity too.
Could you provide peer-reviewed research supporting this statement? Stress is a well-studied process and if what you say is true you should have no problem finding sources.
But thanks for taking the time to obfuscate a lmgtfy link. It's clear you put time, effort, and love into this comment. Thanks, Quinn. Happy hacking!
Is there a business model for this, possibly subscription based in the future?
They have job postings:
"We're a small start-up with a big mission: to reduce stress and increase calm in an increasingly stressed-out world. We're just starting out, and we're looking for talented and driven folks to join us.
On offer is a competitive salary, meaningful equity, great benefits, holiday when you need it and the chance to make a real difference in people's lives. We're based in San Francisco's SOMA district and all roles are based here in our office."
I know the founder of Calm, he's extremely laid back and great to work for.
You have to believe in the vision of a company to work there and this will be no different for Calm. It'll take the right kind of mentality to succeed at a place that puts reducing stress at the forefront of its mission.
This would be awesome on chromecast.
Back in high school I took a free class put on by the Art of Living (www.artofliving.org) - it was the best thing I ever did. They taught us the Sudarshan Kriya, which is a 20 minute meditation and breathing exercise. For people who practice it regularly, it is literally a substitute for a morning cup of coffee.
The Sudarshan Kriya is just one of the many yogic exercises out there, and the yogic exercises are part of a huge ecosystem of meditative processes designed to enrich one's ability to live in the present. It would be amazing to see at least a small subset of these exercises incorporated into this.
It doesn't need to have nondescript names like "Sudarshan Kriya" - what yoga practitioners call Pranayama, Buddhists call Anapanasati, and regular people call "breathing exercises". The revelations about how to live in the moment are fairly universal, so it would be more about incorporating these fundamental ideas into an online meditative course.
If you're from Calm, just want to say that I absolutely love what you're doing - by far, the best startup idea I've seen in a while.
If you want less stress, or to calm down, the last thing you should be doing is staring at a computer screen. Go outdoors. Exercise. Meet real people.
I would totally use Nagios on my kids though.
But the vitriol of the grandparent-comment seems uncalled for. Computers/phones/etc are not some sort of evil presence that infect everything they touch, and apps like this can have their place too. In the right context, they might do a lot of good.
[E.g. I love various simple "sounds of rain" apps on my phone -- they can reallllly help me concentrate when I'm trying to study in a cafe and the background noise is somehow putting me off. It's like a blanket of calm...]
But this isn't just for concentration, this is for (quoted from their terms and conditions) "customized relaxation and self-improvement sessions." I'm not of the mind that electronics are an evil presence that infect everything they touch, rather I'm of the mind that there are certain activities which are cheapened by a service like this.
Actual meditation requires some amount effort, not a 20 minute session with headphones and an app.
Worst. Experience. Ever. And I haven't even downloaded the app yet!
My guess is they want to herd users to the mobile app right away, rather than manage both the app and optimized website for mobile.
Why, why must you force me towards your app? At max, serve the web page first, then suggest the app to me.
Close your eyes. Find the peace within. Learn something you will be grateful for for the rest of your life.
It takes practice and some discipline, like anything worth doing, but the rewards to your health, your mind and those around you gives it back 100fold at least.
And you will have something you can do anywhere, at anytime.
No computer, no internet, no website needed.
Just apply within.
Wow - this punched me very hard. I have a mild case of depersonalization and those words really affected me. I'll use this daily.
Not to mean to nitpick, but am I the only one who thought it felt jarring to hear an outdoor babbling brook, while looking at the surface of the water from... below? Both the videos and audio are spectacular on their own, but I'm not sure they always match up quite well enough. :)
i kind-of do mindful meditation (i'm no expert) and this would be just one more piece of sensory data to acknowledge and then largely ignore.
if you're doing "concentrative meditation" (i'm using terms from wikipedia) then i would have thought this would be distracting.
is this more like new age tv?
I practice Zen-style breath-counting meditation (susokukan) now. No doubt many different kinds of meditation are beneficial, but I suspect they have different effect sizes. Probably some do nothing for you at all.
The most unexpected consequence of breath-counting is how dispassionately I see my random intrusive thoughts during meditation, whether it's anger at someone, a happy memory, or a worry about some future task. It sounds crazy to non-meditators, but it's actually hard for me to not to laugh during meditation sessions at how ephemeral and "unreal" these thoughts are... and how quickly all emotions, sensations, thoughts move in and depart like blips on the screen of mind.
After breath-counting for half an hour, I feel a much deeper, more substantial calm than if I'd done something like listening to relaxing noises in the same time. It's a calm of mind that bleeds into the rest of the day, because meditation gives practice at seeing the shape-shifting nature of thoughts and human identity.
Does the kind of meditation practiced on this site have similar effects?
Sit, get comfy, and calm down. Relax your eyes, your jaw, your shoulders, and anywhere you're carrying tension.
WHen you're settled, focus on your breathing, pick one spot (belly, nostrils, nose, etc) and count each breath in your mind. Try to count softly; you want to pay attention to your breathing, not your counting. Start at 1 and go to 10. When/if you reach 10, start over again from 1.
When you find yourself distracted by a thought (and you will), that's normal. Just acknowledge the thought, and start counting again from 1.
Get curious about your breath. Is it hard or soft, fast or slow, dry or wet, smooth or ragged? Notice the pauses at the ends of the inhale and exhale: what's it like? What are the parts in-between like as it comes and goes?
If you find the counting helpful, stick with it. If you find the counting too distracting, just try to pay attention to the breath without it.
Lastly, don't worry too much if your mind is bouncing around like a monkey on a sugar rush; that's pretty normal. Most of the practice of meditation is continually coming back to the present moment, not attaining blissful thought-free emptiness (which is quite rare, even on retreat).
Good luck
As a pragmatic matter, if the counting is distracting, try paying attention to the breath without it.
Likewise, if the breath itself is problematic (something I'vep ersonally wrestled with), try another anchor: full-body awareness, or just listening.
My favorite book for beginners is Philip Kapleau's Three Pillars of Zen. The author was a Zen teacher for many years and helped steer me in the right direction.
After one or two counts to ten (but starting over whenever I'm distracted) (which happens a lot), I usually stop the counting and just focus on my breathing, which I find more relaxing.
I think over time, people turn away from guided meditations as distracting (I know I do), but something like this could be helpful to the right person.
Our valuation of the company is based on partial information, and is likely less accurate than that of the investors.
Can't put into words how horrible this idea is.
Great UI, awesome background activity, relaxing music, timers -- exactly what I was looking for. Well executed!
On the practical front: How are you a company? What's your mission? Purpose? Business model?
@zenbowman @tucosan I mostly meditate alone on my computer chair and it can work totally fine, I have many friends that do the same every day. I would get rid of the 2 mins, and add 30,40,60,120 mins. If needed, fold out on hover.
Sure our devices can be noisey, but just like when sleeping, people can stop the noises.
Physical exercise is a great idea, and goes well with meditation. Also there online communities for meditation and practice these days, which is a good way to build reinforcement as we're social creatures.
If you're good, you should be able to successfully meditate whatever is going on around you. I can (just about) do it on the tube (subway) during my commute.
If by "aid" you mean the video, well, the Pali Canon (the oldest known buddhist meditation writings) talk about kasinas, which are visual meditation objects, though they're not especially popular these days.
And of the "Three Jewels" that support buddhist practice, one is the sangha, which can be translated as community, so it's not always true that meditation should be a solitary practice either..
I think guided meditations like this may be useful for beginners, though that being said, I think no stimuli may be better in the long-run than even soothing stimuli.
although, i do not wish to belittle the effort of the authors. the site looks beautiful, and i'm sure it will help people alleviate day-to-day stress.
FF27, WinXP
And if you are writings apps to encourage people to need to look at a computer with an internet connections t connect to your site you are not helping.
Never though I would hear myself has a luddite
It's ok, I doubt we're their target market.
It seems to me they fit perfectly with your vision.
Thank you :)
The ogg and mp4 files are lovely as well :).
a) Once you start meditating, you will probably notice subjective improvements that will be of more importance than things like vertex electrode amplitude.
b) This is still early days for brain science. Our tools (EEG and fMRI) are way cruder than the populace at large believes, so take their results with a grain of salt.
Also for what it's worth, the voice made me feel like I was in Michael Bay's The Island. Somehow was that strangely meditative.
Different approach to the same problem.
>overly stimulating images
I like my approach to meditation -- with the laptop in sleep mode
Also a full screen option would be nice.
I had high hopes.
Anyway, as you mentioned, meditation has multiple definitions. There are many forms that are about much more than just focus. Concentrative practices (e.g., samatha jhanas) are all about one-pointed focus, but mindfulness practice (vipassana) also includes awareness of whatever flits about in the mind. In this sense, it's about being aware of all the distractions... Metta practice is one-pointed focus, but directed to cultivation of joyous feelings.
to get rid of the annoying logo in the top left paste:
$('#logo').hide();
into the console of the dev tools (option-command-i on mac)
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki
that's a great book for anyone, new to meditation or not.