Mindfulness in March is an annual Mashable series that explores the intersection of meditation practices and technology.
What do whipping up a nice bowl of creamy guacamole, putting a kid on a swing, and just a regular old man walking around have in common?
Answer: According to Gwyneth Paltrow, they’re all great opportunities to open your eyes and meditate. And the famed actor and Goop guru isn’t wrong, even if some of her examples say as much about her as her mindfulness practice.
Practicing awareness by waking up and meditating, not just when you close your eyes on your yoga mat or pillow, but in the midst of your busy daily life, pretty much fits the definition of mindfulness. However, most meditation apps treat meditation as a devotion. “Close your eyes,” their meditations often instruct. These apps are taking the time to increase your awareness to open your eyes and meditate. This recent blog post by Calm is a notable exception.
This is where Moments of Space comes into play. Although the app has technically been around since his 2022, it seems like it continues to reinvent itself in search of a reason to stand out from the crowd. His renewed focus on eye-opening meditation is one of the good things. The AI-powered daily meditation practice that was quietly launched last week may be another one.
However, the collaborative launch of Paltrow’s partnership with the app wasn’t so quiet.
“It really changed my life.”
“Practicing eye-opening meditation has truly changed my life,” Paltrow said in a Forbidden webinar for media. “I’ve realized that I can steal a few minutes here and there throughout the day, every day. Whether I’m sitting at my desk, walking down the hall, or on Zoom, I can meditate.”
So far this is great. The app’s new celebrity collaborator led a short-eyed meditation as an example, but was briefly interrupted when Paltrow demanded the team bring her a script (she is a self-proclaimed novice at the meditation). is). And by describing a “paid work experience” in which she began practicing eye-opening meditation to curb “reactionary impulses,” she raised more questions than she answered. No further details were disclosed.
Paltrow teaches a similar series of meditations on the app, incorporating the subversive philosophy of eye-open, visually-oriented meditation. She probably won’t reveal which of her Hollywood co-stars or Goop executives infuriated her. Access to Paltrow’s meditations was requested, but the company said it would only provide them after the official start time. We investigated the walking meditations that this app already offers. More on that later.
Paltrow famously spends a large part of her life meditating, but she’s also famously devoted to hyping up various wellness products. Can she bring it out of the realm of woo-woo and fads and back into the useful mindfulness of everyday moments?
Based on the app’s new promotional reel, the evidence is mixed and the message is ambiguous. A mindful explanation of mindfulness is different.
“What do you see?” Paltrow’s disembodied voice says to her wide-eyed self, sitting quietly in what looks like a boarded-up co-working space. “I see a path to an infinite universe, connecting me to everything and everyone,” one man answered.
Um, are you okay?
“I see energy in every action,” says another.
True, but not really —
“I see myself, but I’m not,” retorts the unnamed woman, presumably the woman on screen floating peacefully in the lake.
“I started seeing more of every moment,” Paltrow concluded, returning to non-WeWork. “And all I have to do is open my eyes.”
Eyes Wide Open, app
Kim Little, the app’s founder, explained the concept of eye-opening meditation a little more directly than Paltrow.
Citing the foundations of Dzogchen Buddhism and Mahamudra-Tibetan Buddhism, Little says that eye-opening meditation, backed by psychological principles, involves looking past visual distractions and finding stillness amidst sensory stimulation. It states that it involves learning to find.
“Modern society is defined by distraction,” Little said, noting that we are addicted to screen time, staring at screens. “Visual distraction is one of the most powerful forms.” Nevertheless, “blocking out vision,” or treating meditation as a dedicated practice, as most apps do, “means you don’t learn mindfulness where you need it most.”
Moments of Space argues that visual meditation is not against modernity, but rather addresses modernity’s problems. This is a “more practical, more accessible, more relevant” option for a distracted age group.
“We approach meditation by disconnecting from our daily lives during our off time,” Little says. “The problem is that even when you do find time, the benefits tend to diminish: 20 minutes of mindfulness competes with 16 hours of mindfulness. ignorant Practice. We need a “little but often” approach to meditation. ”
By taking advantage of “rich time” to fill in the dull moments of the day, such as brushing teeth, commuting, and doing housework, people can more easily adopt a bite-sized mentality and become more Able to self-regulate well.
brief review
Credit: Moments of Space
Credit: Moments of Space
How does Moments of Space actually work? Well, like Paltrow’s ad, there are some weird choices you have to whittle away at before you get to something that’s actually useful.
Alisha explains the app in a Paltrow-esque clippy way. Next, there is a strangely worded meditation goal screen in the top left that cannot be skipped. Also, you cannot select multiple goals.
You can skip the screen that forces you to sign up for a free trial, but you’ll have to quit and reload the app at that point. The “free” version of the app gives you access to about a dozen pieces of content, four of which are exclusive.
Another thing you can skip is the app’s desire to track you. Ostensibly so it can know when you’re out and remind you to meditate at those times.
(Moments of Space says in its privacy policy that it collects personal data such as “your location, physical activity, app usage, and content you share,” as well as motion data collected by your device’s sensors.) says Little, who believes nudges are important in “waking up” the world to the benefits of mindful meditation.)
But after that? The first free in-app walking meditation with eyes open was…a lot of fun. We tested with Stefan’s voice, the first option other than Alisha. Stephen is an unidentified British national who is in the same vocal range as Andy Puddicombe, the voice and co-founder of Headspace.
For carefully staggered short-bite meditations, Stephen’s suggestions include those found in many guided meditations (including several Goop-sponsored meditations other than Paltrow’s that we had access to on the app). There was no condescending tone.
Instead, his advice sounded like something heeded. Notice how your feet connect to the earth and how your arms swing. Look at shapes and colors and listen for gentle sounds like birds chirping or annoying sounds like traffic. Now notice your inner thoughts.
Credit: Moments of Space
Credit: Moments of Space
The possibilities of AI are expanding
Then there’s the AI element. Apparently, the AI hype isn’t over yet. According to many, it is the “future” of everything. Moments of Space uses unpublished AI models and machine learning to personalize the eye-opening experience.
Little, a meditation advocate and software developer, says there is an urgent need for personal AI assistants specifically trained to detect these personality traits and build mindfulness. He suggests using large-scale language models (LLMs) that are fine-tuned based on wisdom teachings across Christianity, Buddhism, psychology, and neurology.
How to choose the meditation app that’s right for you
With continued investment, AI for apps can become a reality. — Accurately identifies both an individual’s “dominant negative traits” and temporary “temporary personality traits” using a model built on app users’ language and daily habits. That means a personalized eye-opening mindfulness routine that harnesses and breaks through these traits.
“Excessiveness is a very common personality trait,” Little says. “People with busy minds should not be doing breathing mindfulness meditation, but thinking mindfulness meditation, which is creating space around their thoughts. yeah.”
As it turns out, Paltrow was even grander.
When asked how she sees the intersection of technology and mindfulness, Paltrow said she brings together the data-gathering potential of technologies like OuraRing, which helps track meditations, with the practice’s ability to heal the world’s divisions. Ta.
“When I’m in a meditative state, I feel a great sense of oneness,” she said. “I think that connection to that oneness is essentially what heals that division. All humans feel interconnected, and that brings empathy to the forefront. is going to change rapidly in the future. We need to embrace technology. It’s there.” If we can help preserve data, we can go even further. ”
Moments of Space offers limited free content and paid app subscriptions, available for download on iOS here.
