Better Products #1- Waking Up by Sam Harris
Meditation made simple :)
Hearing the word meditation sparks many different emotions among people. Many of my friends find it a loaded and heavy word.
I don’t blame them. The connotation is heavy and a lot of voodoo stuff is thought about it.
Ah, it’s too hard for me to sit! Or I don’t know what to do in meditation. There is a certain sense of repulsion towards it as well. But at the same time, there is a secret desire to be able to do it! (maybe! do you?)
I want to talk about one product that has helped me through these barriers and simplified things, enhanced my understanding of what meditation is and can be 🙂
Waking Up by Sam Harris
Sam is a neuroscientist, philosopher, and podcast host of Making Sense. He considers Waking Up his most important work.
The app is beautifully crafted, and I love the entire experience and how someone flows through different sections and phases of the app. It has daily meditation, reflection, and many talks and courses by brilliant people. All audio.
Most notably Sam has a soothing voice which I’ve gotten used to. It feels like listening to a friend who deeply cares for you. The words that he uses in his guided meditations are simple but powerful. It feels like years of work and effort put into every piece of audio that is shared through this app. You’ve got to listen to it to experience it.
Here’s an audio reflection that I saved. Check it out
https://dynamic.wakingup.com/moment/MO510AF?share_id=C79CDE2E&code=SC02864FA
It is mandatory to complete a 28-day introductory course before you get access to the daily meditation. It slowly, calmly and gently guides you through the basics and educates you about meditation. 10-15 minutes a day. Not more 🙂
Post completing the course, one can start using it for daily guided meditation for whatever time you choose- 10, 15, 30, or 45 minutes, your choice. There is a big library of great courses, talks and just nuggets of information. I discovered ‘Pico Iyer’ here, and he’s a very gentle being and a great travel/ spiritual writer
The amount of effort put into creating this wonderful product is apparent and Sam says that a lot of people say that it has been life changing for them. And if something is life changing it should be accessible to everyone. And so it is! If you cannot pay for the annual subscription, drop a mail and access it for free!
Personal Experience
I discovered this app after coming back from my first Vipassana. It does align with that and I use it frequently. The thing that stuck with me was this “Never underestimate the moments you take out of your time to practice. Even 10 minutes is good.”
Post coming back from Vipassana my practice dwindled because it was either 1 hour or nothing and the thought of sitting for an hour was daunting. Waking up helped build it back up and I love it 🙂
If you wish to try the app, you can use my link to get free access for a month and decide if it works for you or not!
For me meditation is just staying present and over time I’ve realised that it is not something you do, it is a practice that brings you to a state of being present 🙂
Verdict and how Waking up is different
It is a no-frills app without making you choose a particular ideology. Since it is free from all that and the language is easy to grasp it takes away the burden and the ‘heavy’ connotation of meditation
There are plenty of meditation apps out there now. Some follow the modern scientific methodologies, and then there are some rooted in tradition. Sam talks about a third way.
Here’s a 10 minute audio, where he describes the purpose of waking up and meditation.
If you have 10 minutes, do listen to this! See if you resonate.
Paraphrasing from the talk, a bit that I liked
“Mostly it is recommended as a remedy- Are you feeling stressed? You should try meditation. Maybe it’ll help you control your blood pressure. Sure it will help you do that but the true purpose is to radically transform your mind and be changed by these discoveries. And then integrate the new ways of seeing and being to make the world a better place than yesterday.”
I like the app and I’ve been using it for 2 years now. Not daily but I do make spaces of time, even 10 minutes. Because it lets me do that I could accept that it is not necessary to sit for an hour always. Well, transformation is a process but it is a great companion to have and discover things along the way.
I believe it can be used by an entire spectrum of people. Ones looking to start, ones that are stuck somewhere and ones that are looking for a companion.
To keep the verdict section fun, I’ll be following a Harry Potter style grading
1. Outstanding (O)
2. Exceeds Expectations (E)
3. Acceptable (A)
4. Poor (P)
5. Dreadful (D)
6. Troll (T)
And waking up gets an Outstanding(O) for being extremely clear with what it is trying to do and doing great at that!
Cheers!
Thanks for reading! Let me know if you try the app.
I’ll be back with another product!
Share the link with someone you think may benefit from this → https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/SC02864FA