Headspace was founded with a single goal in mind: to improve the world’s health and happiness. For thousands of years, people have practiced meditation and awareness.
However, with the growth of technology and the availability of smartphones and computers, a new phenomenon emerged: the mindfulness app.
There are many to select from, like Headspace, which was the first software to bring mindfulness to our phones truly.
Before defining the importance of its subscription, we have to look at the insights of the application Headspace.
About Headspace
There is no religious or spiritual talk in the content. It offers individualized guidance on educating the mind to support a daily meditation practice.
Focused attention, body scans, non-judgment, Breathing exercises, visualization of one’s experience, and seated meditation are some of the practices employed in Headspace.
The guided meditations are accompanied by brief, modern animations that elucidate themes discussed in the sessions.
There are levels of meditation included with different sessions, which lead the user to make the goal and complete it to be stress-free.
The firm has exploded in popularity. More than 45 million users and hundreds of companies in the UK and the United States (Headspace’s headquarters are now in Santa Monica) provide access for their employees or students.
Headspace has also taken part in clinical experiments to see how helpful mindfulness may be.
Headspace boasts more than 400,000 paying customers and a stylish Santa Monica, Calif. headquarters with an indoor magnolia tree, meditation pods, and swings.
Headspace app has more than 11 million downloads. When the firm opens its first San Francisco office and expands its headquarters next year, its headcount will likely jump from 158 to 250.
Importance of having the subscription
With new packages being generated regularly, the whole collection of content comprises around 365 meditations1 in both “Series” and “Singles” programs.
Health, relationships, performance, and “Headspace Pro,” a less-guided program for overcoming challenges and entrenching one’s yoga and meditation practice, are among the topics covered in the sequence.
Singles are “stand-alone meditations” on certain subjects that may be utilized as stand-alone sessions (e.g., sleeping, fear of flying, walking, commuting, eating, etc.).
General Subscription Details
The “Take 10 Free Trial,” a guided foundation course with ten sessions of 10 minutes each and six accompanying video infographics to illustrate topics, covers the principles of mindfulness and meditation.
After completing a session, you’ll be able to access the next meditations.
With a paid membership, users can go to Levels 2-3 and the whole library after finishing Level 1. The user’s progress is tracked by providing information on session completion and meditation time.
How Many Different Sorts Of Subscriptions Does The Headspace Provide?
There are two types of subscriptions provided by Headspace. The first ten days of the Take 10 program are completely free.
A subscription costs $12.95 per month or $95.5 per year, with savings available for longer terms. During the trial period, Headspace also sends promotional coupons.
The second one is every year which is $69.99. This software is comparable to other mindfulness applications in terms of content and price.
Is Headspace the best fit for you?
Anyone who wants to practice meditation for the first time should use Headspace. It’s inexpensive, straightforward, and simple to use.
Experienced meditators, on the other hand, can take their practice to the next level by meditating without a timer or wandering through imaginary lands during Sleepcast.
The app offers eight helpful strategies originating from Buddhist traditions in Burma and Tibet:
- Resting awareness: rather than a breath focus or visuals during meditation, let your eyes drift.
- Visualization is the process of imagining something or someone in your mind.
- Noting: As sensations happen, categorize them as “thinking” or “feeling.”
- Compassion with love: People with benevolence, kindness, and warmth.
- Compassion with flair: Paying attention to the sensations that originate from the heart when focusing on someone you know or love
- Body scan: To synchronize the body and mind, perform a mental scan from the top of your head to the bottom of your toes.
- Dedicated focus: concentrating your thoughts on a single item, purpose, or mantra
What makes the application a beginner’s support?
As discussed earlier, the “TAKE 10 FREE TRIAL” helps the beginner understand the application’s features and its use.
The trial version consists of 10 sessions. After understanding and completing this course, users can access the remaining systems after the membership.
Once the user understands the application, they go to the membership to access the meditation series. The back-end supporters of this application update the user about the course’s starting, progress, and ending, so the user is updated about his progress.
About all the members of Headspace have done the trial version, and they loved to buy Headspace’s paid memberships.
Content Appropriateness
There is no music, outdoor landscape, and New Age designs to be found. Users should do a meditation session every day to get the desired benefits.
Andy shares suggestions and instructions on the advantages, concepts, and mindfulness meditation practices in other non-animated films.
The importance of scientific evidence for mindfulness training is highlighted.
How did they start?
A Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe later ran a London meditation clinic, met a new business partner, Richard Pierson, and founded Headspace in 2010.
The firm originated as an event planning company, which led to the creation of a now-ubiquitous app in 2012.
What do studies say about the work of Headspace?
Thousands of studies have demonstrated that mindfulness and meditation may improve mental and physical health by lowering stress, enhancing sleep, boosting attention, and improving relationships, among other things.
The evidence shows that Headspace may significantly influence people’s lives, and the advantages are immediate.
The statistics show that 31% reduces anxiety after eight weeks, 32% stress after about one month, 40% depresses symptoms after eight weeks, the focus after one session is about 22%, and 11% strength increases after 30 days.
Headspace in the light of the professionals
Headspace has been demonstrated to enhance mental, emotional, and social health in published studies by external scientists, major research institutions, and our scientific team.
We’re collaborating with prestigious national universities on research that might result in some of the largest meditation studies ever done.
Aimed toward new users of meditation
New subscribers are encouraged to complete the series of beginner courses, Level 2 and Level 3, before moving on to other series-themed packs though it is not required.
Users at these higher levels may choose to extend their sessions to 15 or 20 minutes. Meditations on a single topic can be conducted at any time.
Development for use by the general public rather than in a clinic environments
Headspace was created with the general public in mind rather than for use in clinical environments. It alone works best and helps with tools or as a supplement to psychotherapy.
Psychoeducation on physical and mental health themes such as depression, anxiety, sleep, and self-esteem is included in some of the packages.
Is Headspace providing a friendly user interface?
A session timer, email reminders, progress monitoring, program training, and an app community are all basic mindfulness mobile app features of Headspace.
High-quality, short video infographics complement the guided meditation tracks. The interface is straightforward, adaptable, and simple to use on a computer or mobile device.
The following guided meditation in the series begins when you hit the play button on the timeline.
A simple timer is included in the meditation interface to show users how much time is left. Because the facilitator encourages sitting in a chair with hands-on one’s lap, someone seated on the ground may find the posture guidelines disturbing. Some other features of Headspace are listed below.
- Meditate: There are single programs as well as meditation courses. Courses are guided meditations focused on a specific theme, such as dealing with loss, igniting creativity, increasing confidence, or finding concentration. Single programs are short meditations for particular situations, such as preparing for a presentation or overcoming pre-flight anxiety.
- Sleep: One of the reasons individuals turn to meditation is because they are having trouble sleeping. According to a 2015 study by Trusted Source, an estimated 50% of persons 55 and older have some sleep disturbance, including difficulty beginning and sustaining sleep. Guiding sessions of how to keep yourself relaxed and Sleep casts, which are 45–55 minutes long and offer audio tours of fictitious realms mixed with white noise, are among Headspace’s sleep material.
- Move: One of the app’s newest features is Move. It contains a variety of 10–30 minute low-to-medium impact workouts that focus on the mind-body connection.
- Focus: The Focus page has handpicked music and meditation tracks to help you concentrate on the task at hand. In order to relax the mood and mind, ambient music and lo-fi rhythms are included in specific playlists, while soundscapes and 3D recordings from across the world are featured in others (like Delhi thunderstorms, forest streams, songs of the monster birds, or a midnight jungle).
- Connections: Friends and relatives from your contact list can be added as pals in the app. By adding pals, you may check how long your friends have meditated for and offer them encouraging quotes like “keep it up” or “thinking of you!” You may use this function to hold each other responsible.
Giving the user support to get back to his goal
Andy demonstrates the “noting” approach, which allows the user to return to the object of concentration without labeling or connection, and an SOS button takes the user with a session of 3 minutes to deal with stressful situations.
Is Headspace easy to manage?
When registering for the free program and downloading the application, you must choose a username and password.
After paying the monthly cost, customers get access to the whole Headspace collection and begin creating their own program.
Users can establish a screen name and avatar if they choose to reveal their Headspace profile.
The subscription and settings are managed through the account tab. “My Headspace” (timeline), Series, and Singles are the other tabs.
It is possible to purchase a subscription as a gift for someone else. When I emailed the support team with a query concerning my membership, I received a response within hours.
If one can do onsite meditation, Why choose this?
In the public domain, there are several mindfulness tools and online programs. According to research, both non-clinical and clinical groups have benefited from mindfulness technology therapies.
Many research studies have shown that online mindfulness therapies are feasible.
Online mindfulness training decreased stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in one trial; however, the study was restricted by high attrition rates.
Evaluation of program efficacy on a qualitative basis
In randomized controlled experiments, Headspace has been found to improve well-being and compassion5-6.
Although drop-out from mobile app usage is normally significantly greater among average users, both studies indicated a 20-40% attrition rate for Headspace research participants. Several more scholarly types of research are now underway 7.
Headspace was examined in qualitative research to understand better how it is used and experienced 1.
These researchers concluded that fitting the app into busy lifestyles was a big obstacle, but that developing a pattern, finding the time or a location to meditate, and having good expectations facilitated effective app us
Pros
- Subscriptions for a year and family plans can save you a lot of money.
- The information on their website is open to the public and free of charge.
- All iOS and Android users can use the software.
- The software may send you regular reminders or nudges to practice.
- Olympians instruct the exercise courses.
- The stats tool allows you to keep track of your progress.
- The pals’ option allows you to involve people in your quest.
Cons
- Headspace focuses more on beginner courses, which may be a disadvantage for experienced meditators.
Reviews
- Headspace connects me to me while also disconnecting me from bad ideas, feelings, and experiences. (Keri, UK)
- Our home is filled with peace and tolerance because of Headspace. (Richel, Belgium)
- Headspace has helped me to be present with my patients rather than getting caught up in my feelings. (Mike, USA)
- Andy’s instruction enabled me to comprehend how the mind works. (Mona, India)
- Loneliness and stress classes taught me how to cope with my feelings of isolation. (Fernandez. Canada)
FAQ’s
When is the most beneficial time to meditate?
If you have the opportunity, try to meditate first thing in the morning. It’s a pleasant way to begin the day, and it’s generally the most convenient time to find a few uninterrupted minutes.
The essential thing is to choose a time that works for you and attempt to meditate regularly.
What is the best way for me to sit during meditation?
Sit in the center of a chair without crossing the legs, with feet flat on the floor and hands-on the legs or on the leg. The essential thing is to position your body so your muscles can relax and shut off.
How can I resume meditation after a period of inactivity?
It usually depends on how long you have been gone and pick up from where you left off if it’s only been a few days.
We recommend restarting the pack if it has been more than a week. If it’s been more than a month since you last meditated, you should start with the Basics pack to get back into the swing of things.
Is it possible to meditate while lying down?
Sitting rather than lying down is often preferred. If sitting upright is too painful or uncomfortable, you can lie down instead.
Try resting your head on a thin cushion and folding your knees so your feet are flat on the floor. It will aid in the protection of your lower back.
Conclusion
As a result, we can confidently conclude that the headspace membership is well worth it! And a majority of the users are happy with it.
Also, the number of users of Headspace is increasing day by day because of their practical and creative way of explaining the exercises. Everyone in the United Kingdom, America, and Australia should use it at least once.
How long are you going to wait? It’s now or never to sign up for the subscription! Visit the Headspace official website or follow them on social media for more information or discover more about them.