Mindfulness and meditation are two different worlds yet there are tech entrepreneurs who have managed to merge these two different areas and created a very unique marriage of science and spirituality. Here are five meditation tech experts who give their insight on where this relationship is going next year.
Sean Brecker
Sean Brecker is the CEO of Headspace, a company that provides guided meditation and mindfulness sessions through their app. He said that although a lot of people are mindful of their physical health these days, the topic of mental health is still some taboo. He said, however, that with a lot of digital chatter going on, more and more people will find ways to find balance in their lives and that is why meditation will become more and more central in their lives.
Patricia Karpas
Patricia Karpas is the founder of Meditation Studio, which developed Meditation app, which has more than 200 meditations, 27 teachers, and 3 courses. She said that stress and anxiety are increasing in the modern world. However, there is also a growing body of research on the holistic effect of meditation. She also added that more and more businesses and entrepreneurs are bringing mindfulness into their company culture. She added that in 2017, mindfulness will be more mainstream.
Brad Lamm
Founder of Breathe Life Healing Centers, Brad Lamm recovered from addiction to alcohol, food, and drugs. He now regularly appears on various shows including Dr. Phil's and Dr. Oz Today. He is now an interventionist, a teacher, and an author. He calls meditation and mindfulness a brain-based therapy and said that it will soon be included in the PNP Brain Lab as a method of relieving stress, addiction, and anxiety. He also added that mindfulness will be used to create a safe space that will allow recovery.
Yunha Kim
Yunha Kim is the founder of Simple Habit, a meditation app that was launched just this year but is steadily growing every week. She said that meditation has the same beginnings as brushing your teeth and running. She cited Colgate and Nike saying that these companies were the ones that created awareness about the importance of brushing the teeth and running. In the same way, Simple Habit aims to bring awareness to the public about the importance of mindfulness and meditation until it becomes natural to people, just like brushing their teeth.
Jay Vidyarthi
Jay Vidyarthi is one of the leading researchers regarding the union of mindfulness and technology. His academic works on these subjects have been published in leading scientific publications. However, he is mostly known as the designer and researcher of the brain sensing headband MUSE. He likens the marriage of meditation and mindfulness to hybrid electric cars. Like these cars, there will also be an acceleration of awareness about the importance of mindfulness and meditation in 2017. That's because many are looking for a time to pause and just be quiet, even for just a few moments.
