The words meditation and technology don’t usually mix. When you think of meditation, you probably imagine powering off your phone, laptop and various other gadgets to clear your mind and relax. But with the ever-changing digital landscape, it seems only fitting that there should be a meditation gadget to help you focus and improve your meditation practice, right?
Meet Muse. The first tool in the world that gives you live feedback on what’s happening in your brain while you meditate.
“I can honestly say this device helped me get into a rhythm that quickly relaxes the mind and body. On just my second attempt I felt I’d mastered its use” – Paul, VIC
The Muse makes meditation fun and quantifiable! It is a brain sensing headband that connects to your mobile device and application. It detects and measures the activity of your brain using calibrated sensors and translates the brain waves into the guiding sounds of nature. To do this, the Muse device uses an algorithm that’s developed from years of research on EEG data (electrical activity in the brain) and how it interacts with meditation.
To get this working, you need 3 things – the Muse head piece, a smart phone and to download the Muse application onto your phone. You choose a quiet place and put on the device, open the app and decide how long you want to meditate for and to what soundscape.
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Let’s pretend that you chose the beach soundscape (my personal favourite). Press start and you’ll hear the sounds of crashing waves. THIS IS THE FUN PART… the more active your mind is, the louder the waves crash. The calmer you are, the calmer the waves. At your calmest state, YOU HEAR BIRDS. Each time you hear a bird, that is 1 POINT. Now you’re probably starting to think, is this some game? Well it surely feels like one and let me tell you, it gets competitive when you and your husband or friends are doing it together. I love it!
Whilst these audio sounds helps guide your meditation experience, it also makes meditation fun! This is especially helpful to all those that ‘find meditation boring’. Not to mention, you also get a report on how you did at the end of the meditation.
“The Muse enables me to quantify my meditation practice” – Shilpika, NSW
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If you’re just starting out in your meditation practice and find yourself always wandering off, Muse is the perfect tool for you because it makes you so much more aware of your meditation. It’s way easier to focus on your breathing and the feedback you get straight away keeps you motivated throughout your practice.
“As a beginner, the question with meditation is am I doing this right? (Due to audio feedback) you don’t need a Personal Trainer standing there telling you whether your technique is right” – Shilpika, NSW
Muse wasn’t just built for those new to meditation. If you consider yourself a bit of a meditation guru (with a competitive side), you can access points, goals, challenges and bonuses within the Muse app. You can track your progress and immediately check to see how your heart, brain, breath and body did throughout your practice.
Muse helps make learning the art of meditation just that little bit easier and helps you build a rewarding, long-term practice. If you’ve been trying to develop the habit of daily meditation or just need that little bit of motivation to improve your practice, why not give Muse a go? Just head here to receive a 15% discount off the Muse headband and Muse products.
“Given how intuitive it is and how I feel after using it for a couple of weeks, I now actively WANT to use it and try to find time to do so” – Rob, VIC
A study run at the Catholic University of Milan sought to understand whether using technology, specifically Muse, daily for several weeks would show measurable differences when compared to a group using a simple relaxation exercise.
They found that participants who used Muse showed improvement in response times in a complex reaction task, changes in their resting brain states (suggesting an improved control of participants’ ability to relax), and a significantly larger reduction in stress (a 16% reduction in perceived stress in just four weeks). Basically, using Muse makes you a quicker thinker, allows your to relax easier, and significantly reduces your levels of stress. It’s a win-win.