The Healthy Minds Meditation App - Designed by Neuroscience and Tibetan Buddhism

I have tried several meditation apps and online meditation programs. I started out reluctantly because I didn't think the electronic format would be that appropriate, as I was used to practicing meditation by way of instructions from traditional meditation teachers. The apps that I have tried - I have stayed away from many so can't provide a wide ranging assessment - have been excellent additional supports to my main practice. I refer mostly  to the Healthy Minds program app, developed by a group of scientists and Tibetan meditation experts inspired by the neuroscience meets meditation research of Dr. Richard Davidson. Dr. Davidson, or "Richie" as he is known, is famous for conducting fMRI research on Tibetan Buddhist monk, Matthieu Ricard, dubbed the "happiest man in the world" by science,.  Richie is one of the leading research scientists in the Mind and Life Institute, a group of scientists who have been meeting annually with His Holiness the Dalai Lama to discuss science and contemplative practices, "in order to bring about positive change in the world". 

This "happiest man in the world" thing has to do with EEG brain recordings of areas of the brain when an advanced meditation practitioner is contemplating compassion. Happiness is not pleasure seeking. It is giving to others. It is wishing or acting for the benefit of others. ;

I wrote an article before about how I found the MUSE head band meditation technology that tracks EEG readings in the brain, and I have also discussed the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction 9 week online course designed at Palouse Mindfulness, modeled after the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn.  One more app that I have not discussed, but which I heartily recommend, is the Imagine Clarity app, hosted by said Tibetan monk Matthieu Ricard and his organization based in France and Nepal. It too is inspired and based on Tibetan Buddhist meditation practices. 

Meditation apps to me are just vitamins in the diet, and not the main course. I suppose then you'd call them supplements. But I am speaking as a person who was initiated into meditation practices by bona fide spiritual masters or teachers, many decades ago. I don't know how anyone with no teachers or guides would get by just using the app itself. I suspect however, that the Healthy Minds app would be a great support for those new to the practices. I will go out on a limb here and also say I suspect it might be excellent for those dealing with mental health issues who need more mental fortification. The Healthy Minds app is free (or by donation), as is the Palouse mindfulness mediation course. Imagine Clarity has free lessons, but to go deeper, for example to get the brilliant sessions with Tibetan Buddhist meditation master and scholar Allan B. Wallace, you have to pay for the premium version. I paid several years for the premium version and felt better for the altruism behind the Karuna Shechen program that Matthieu Ricard oversees and supports with those donations.

In a way all three of these programs just washed over me, bathing me with their enlightened words, logic, spaces, and images. I mostly put to the side my own meditation practice, which is based on Tibetan Buddhist practices, in order to concentrate just on the app offerings. I am still doing the Healthy Minds app every morning and it has been almost 5 months of daily practices since I started! There is a lot of programming that goes into it. Initially I was doing a half hour every day per lesson. Each session gives you a choice of not only how much time  you want spend on the meditation, varying from 5 to 10, to 20 to 30 minutes, but for many of the sessions, you also get to choose which instructor voice you want to listen to - there are five - which also gives you more of a sense of choice for inclusion or identification with different genders or ethnicity. At least, you don't have to listen to Cortland Dahl all the time, the chief "contemplative instructor", though he is the main instructor and the default voice on my many modules, when only one voice is needed.  Lately I am only doing the shorter versions of the meditations as I have reverted back to my main practice. But when I say these programs just wash over me, looking back, not just to yesterday, but to the nine years ago when I did the Palouse course - what did I really remember or integrate into daily use? Though, I do remember I took the nine week course during the time when my father had passed away and it helped me a lot with the way I was daily grieving that loss.

I wonder why the Healthy Minds app is so loaded with meditation sessions? It could be that to complete it is to really do a house cleaning on your mind, emotions, and over all state of well being. All these lessons and meditations are based on research on the psychology of the mind. I would like to stress this - every session almost has a reference to a research study about the mind, from the research of Richie, or from a host of other scientific studies, references to which are often given in text at the end of the session. In that regard, this is kind of the university level meditation app, non-secular and based on real evidence of how our minds actually work. Since the foundation of all these is thousands of years of meditation practice, it looks like science is finally catching up to Buddhism. Many Tibetan Buddhist practices are meant to be purification practices, and it takes a long time to purify our karma before we become enlightened. I remember I was on an 11 day Vipassana meditation retreat, 12 hours a day sitting, vow of silence, and S. N. Goenka, the videotape recorded meditation instructor said something like "now we are going to preform a surgical operation on your mind", in other words, the methodology of the Vipassana meditation was a proven scientific method of gaining insight into the mind. 

I won't go into specific lessons in the Healthy Minds app but will say it is divided into five main sections:

1. Foundations: Learn the foundational skills of training your mind - 10 Lessons / 14 Meditations
2. Awareness: Learn to be more present in your daily life - 22 Lessons / 27 Meditations
3. Connection: Practice the skills of appreciation 18 Lesson  / 27 Meditations
4. Insight: Examine how your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs shape the way you see the world 18  Lessons  / 27 Meditations
5. Purpose: Connect with your deeper motivations and core values 18 Lessons / and 27 Meditations

The app tracks your progress, or you path through the course. There are also areas to "Explore" off the path including a recently added Dalai Lama's Guide to Happiness, which looks like it is chock full of happiness meditation vitamins, or,  as advertised "Join His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dr. Richie Davidson, Dan Harris, and Roshi Joan Halifax to unlock a happier life".  You only learn by doing and not all the life lessons you will learn in this program will be relevant, but you will learn to relax your mind, become self-aware, learn to breath, and when it all comes down to it - just to let yourself be. But they call these "practices" for a reason. It is mind training, and that takes practice. There is a neuroplastic science of entraining brain cells in order to change behaviour. It can happen.

Meditation apps that are any good (and there are probably so many apps now  (not all good probably) that it would be difficult to track them all, if not impossible, or maybe only if doing a deep research project on the phenomenon ) are also the ones that bring a sense of community. In these Covid times where people are living more in isolation, the sense of community is vital. It is the Buddhist idea of "sangha" or community of practitioners (sometimes organized as monasteries). Of course, the online community should not be a replacement for the actual physical community, but I don't think that matters in some cases. A feeling of belonging is the same. It is in that spirit that I say I am very grateful to the Healthy Minds program and wish it will continue to inspire and serve all those who are searching inner well being. And trust the science - it works!