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Headspace (company)

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Headspace
Company typePrivately held company
IndustryHealthcare
Founded2010 (London, UK)
FounderAndy Puddicombe
Rich Pierson
Headquarters
Los Angeles
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsMobile App, Books, Website
Number of employees
50+
Websitewww.headspace.com

Headspace is a digital service that provides guided meditation sessions and mindfulness training. Its content can be accessed online, or via their mobile apps.[1] In January 2015, Headspace claimed to have over 2 million people using the app.[2]

History

Headspace was founded in May 2010, by Andy Puddicombe and Rich Pierson.[3] Puddicombe is a former Buddhist monk, and Pierson has a background in marketing and new brand development.[4][5]

Puddicombe cut short his university studies in Sports Science at the age of 22, and travelled to Asia to become a Buddhist monk.[6][7] Over the course of ten years, his meditation training took him to Nepal, India, Burma, Thailand, Australia and Russia. He was fully ordained at a Tibetan Monastery in the Himalayas.[8] In 2004 he returned to the UK on a mission "to make meditation accessible, relevant and beneficial to as many people as possible".[9] It was whilst running a meditation clinic in London that he met his future business partner, Rich Pierson. “We both thought, how could we present meditation in a way that our friends would genuinely give it a try? Rich had all these creative skills, and I had the experience as a monk. I think that was the light bulb moment with Headspace, the coming together of those two backgrounds”.[10]

Headspace began as an events company, holding mindfulness talks in and around London.[11] Demand from attendees for a way to share these techniques led to Puddicombe and Pierson looking into developing a mobile app, with the first version of the Headspace app launching in 2012.[12] Headspace now employs over 50 staff, working between the company HQ in Los Angeles and London, UK.[13]

Product

Headspace provides guided meditation resources online; accessible to users through the company’s website and via a mobile app on the iPhone and Android platforms. Users can access ten days of free content, after which they have the option to take out a monthly or annual subscription or continue with the free trial material.[14] The techniques taught through the programme combine elements of both calming and insight meditation.[15] In June 2014, Headspace launched version 2 of its platform. In the first 6 months since release the company signed up twice as many users as it did in the previous two and a half years, and served them 125 million minutes of meditation practice.[16] Content in version 2 of the app is clustered into four areas once users have completed the Foundation stage - health, performance, relationships and Headspace Pro.[17]

Research

See also: Research on meditation

Headspace has been used in a number of clinical trials investigating the effects of mindfulness training. In one such study, researchers from UCL,[18] funded by the British Heart Foundation, examined the impact of mindfulness on workplace stress in two major multi-national corporations, using the Headspace app as the intervention. The study found a significant increase in wellbeing, reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms, significant reductions in diastolic blood pressures, significant increases in perceived job control, as well as a significant reduction in sleeping problems.[citation needed]

Publications

Three books by Headspace founder Andy Puddicombe are published by Hodder & Stoughton.[19]

  • Get Some Headspace (2011), comprises an in-depth introduction to the Headspace techniques, interwoven with Puddicombe’s personal experience.[20] It lays out the science behind mindfulness and its physical and mental health benefits; from productivity and focus, to stress and anxiety relief.
  • The Headspace Diet (2013) teaches readers how to use mindfulness rather than fad-diets to reach their ideal personal weight. Described as ‘the anti-diet book’, it focuses on teaching readers about creating a healthy relationship with food.[21]
  • The Headspace Guide to... a Mindful Pregnancy (2015) sets out to teach couples how to calmly navigate the anxieties and demands of pregnancy.[22]

Media attention

Headspace has been featured on both UK and US television, appearing on The Today Show,[23] BBC Breakfast News,[24] ABC News and Dr Oz.[25] It was also featured on the BBC Two science documentary “Horizon”, which tested the efficacy of mindfulness using the Headspace app over an 8-week period.[citation needed] In laboratory experiments, the presenter, Dr Michael Mosley, was found to have significantly reduced negative outlook. He also reported overcoming a decade-long battle with insomnia.[26] Founder Andy Puddicombe has been a guest on BBC Radio 2.[27] The product has also been mentioned on NPR[28] and on shows such as Martha Stewart[citation needed] in the US.

In November 2012, Headspace founder Andy Puddicombe gave a TED Talk, entitled ‘All It Takes Is 10 Mindful Minutes’,[29] outlining the benefits of taking time out each day to practise mindfulness. To date it has accrued over 5 million views, and was one of the very first TED Talks to be featured on Netflix.

Commercial partners

Bespoke content is available to travellers on all Virgin Atlantic flights through a dedicated Headspace channel in the in-flight entertainment system.[30] Headspace also provides bespoke content for business and leisure travellers in all Westin hotel rooms. The global partnership, in association with the Starwood Group, launched in March 2014, and is a component of the Westin Wellbeing Movement.[31] At the beginning of 2013, Headspace ran a ‘No Noise’ partnership with UK department store Selfridges. This included the creation of a silent meditation room and Headspace pods being placed around the store to enable shoppers to get some Headspace.[32]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Headspace". www.headspace.com. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  2. ^ Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/3041402/body-week/the-monk-and-the-mad-man-making-mindfulness-for-the-masses
  3. ^ "Paris Le Web". Paris Le Web. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  4. ^ "Rich Pierson interview in the Huffington Post". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  5. ^ "Rich Pierson profile from Paris Le Web". Paris Le Web. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  6. ^ "10 Best Meditation Apps". The Independent. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  7. ^ "Andy Puddicombe interview". Hip & Healthy. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  8. ^ "Smart Planet". Smart Planet. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  9. ^ "Do Lectures". Do Lectures. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  10. ^ "Interview with Andy Puddicombe in InspiredM". InspiredM. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  11. ^ "Time Out". Time Out. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  12. ^ "Headspace launch blog". Headspace. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  13. ^ "Headspace feature in The Times". The Times. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  14. ^ "Huffington Post Le". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  15. ^ "Interview with Andy Puddicombe on Yahoo News". Yahoo News. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  16. ^ Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/3041402/body-week/the-monk-and-the-mad-man-making-mindfulness-for-the-masses
  17. ^ Wired http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-05/31/headspace-version-2
  18. ^ "Clinical Trials application". Clinical Trials website. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  19. ^ "Hodder & Stoughton". Hodder & Stoughton. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  20. ^ "Get Some Headspace". Hodder & Stoughton. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  21. ^ "The Headspace Diet". Hodder & Stoughton. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  22. ^ "The Headspace Guide to...a Mindful Pregnancy". Hodder & Stoughton. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  23. ^ Today Show profile http://www.today.com/klgandhoda/monk-turned-circus-performer-reveals-how-relax-1D80380965
  24. ^ "Can we change the way the brain deals with stress? - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
  25. ^ "Web Exclusive: Guided Meditation With Andy Puddicombe". www.doctoroz.com. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
  26. ^ "The Independent". The Independent. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  27. ^ "With Simon Callow, Andy Puddicombe and Shelley von Strunkel, Steve Wright in the Afternoon - BBC Radio 2". BBC. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
  28. ^ Kurwa, Nishat. "In Silicon Valley, Paying For Access To Peace Of Mind". NPR.org. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
  29. ^ "Andy Puddicombe speaking at TED". TED. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  30. ^ "Virgin Atlantic in-flight entertainment listing". Virgin Atlantic. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  31. ^ "Wall Street Post article about partnership". Wall Street Post. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  32. ^ "Press release from Selfridges". Selfridges. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
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