What is your business called and what does it do?

We are Muse ® by Interaxon, Inc.

At Muse ®, we live at the heart of personal transformation through human-centred technology. We are a team of engineers, scientists, artists, marketers and developers with the mission to enable people to live a happier, healthier and more connected life with leading brainwave technologies and experiences. Our award-winning neurofeedback devices provide real-time feedback on a user’s brain activity so they can learn the art of meditation. During meditation Muse will translate brain activity into the sounds of weather which will intensify as the user gets more distracted and calm when they are able to calm their busy mind. The Muse S headband, our latest release, is a comfy and flexible EEG headband that can be worn overnight to help you understand and track how well you focus, sleep, and recharge so you can refocus during the day and recover each night. We have sold more portable EEG devices than any other system in history and facilitated millions of minutes meditated across the globe.

What made you want to do this work?

Now more than ever, mental wellness has become a growing area of importance for individuals to improve their lives. At Muse, we want to help people live happier, healthier and more connected lives. Research shows that meditation helps people sleep better, stress less and focus more. With Muse, we make meditation easy through real-time feedback in order to help users establish a satisfying meditation practice – something that can be difficult to do if you aren’t getting feedback on your practice.

What problem did you want to solve with the business?

The benefits of meditation are now widely known but… meditation can be hard!

For most people who have tried meditation, they can attest to the fact that it’s much more difficult than just sitting quietly with your eyes closed. Most people also don’t have access to a meditation instructor or guide that can give them personalized feedback on their practice.

At Muse, we created the only brain-sensing headband that takes the guesswork out of meditation. With built-in sensors, Muse detects and measures the activity of a user’s brain and body, and provides real-time biofeedback to help them know when they are in the zone and keep them motivated to build a practice. In an April 2021 survey, 86% of users felt they understood how to meditate better with Muse, 77% said they had a better handle on their stress after using Muse and 78% said in that survey that they were calmer and more relaxed throughout the day. Also, 40% said they felt like their sleep has improved since using Muse and 41% said they are falling asleep faster, too.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

We work for everyone, and we sell to real people. Our customers either struggle with work-life balance, are looking to optimize their mental performance, have difficulty sleeping or already have a meditation practice and are looking to go deeper. We see males and females – mostly younger professionals and many of them tend to be in the medical, financial or tech-focused industries who benefit from meditation and mindfulness in their jobs. Overall, Musers are career-driven, tech-savvy and looking to improve themselves for the better.

How does your business make money? How does it work?

We are a hardware and a subscription-based company that offers stand-alone hardware devices primarily online through our eCommerce store along with premium subscriptions that offer more than 500 meditations on a variety of themes from sleep to stress and performance and focus from renowned meditation instructors with new content added every month.

Where in the city can we find your profession?

Muse Headquarters are based in Toronto.

What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.

I already meditate. Why do I need technology to help me? Muse offers novice and experienced meditators a chance to gain deeper insights on their practice with real-time feedback while motivating them along the way. It also allows them to explore other types of meditation and ways to connect with their body, mind and brain. Plus, we are constantly evolving our technology. We recently introduced Muse Biofeedback+. It was one of our top requested features of all time. Now, Muse subscribers can now layer real-time biofeedback on top of their favourite music, meditation, or other external content and receive post-session reporting to see how their brain & body responded. Now you can see how your brain responds in real-time to your favourite song, show, or meditation in all of your favourite apps, from Spotify to Calm, Headspace to Audiobooks and YouTube. While you enjoy your favourite meditation or music, Muse will be hard at work tracking your brain and giving you biofeedback in real-time. After your session, you can see your brain activity and get personalized post-session reports to explain what it all means.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

We help users meditate by providing real-time biofeedback on their meditative state using the Muse app. We love hearing from Musers about how they have benefited from an ongoing meditation practice including their overall well-being, focus and performance. The worst part is probably being able to be accessible to a more narrow range of people with our products and services, as the price point of our devices can be a barrier to entry for those with less disposable income.

What is your favourite joke about your own profession?

Less of a joke and more of an ongoing theme that although we’re a meditation company, we’re also a growing business that has all the same demands and stresses as a growing business does. We have a constant reminder when things are extra busy that we need to practice what we preach and remember to take a breath!

Where can we follow you?

Follow us on our website and our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?

Hoame Meditation studio is a gorgeous in-person meditation studio just down the street from our Toronto office that has a wide range of different practice experiences and a great community environment.

The post Homegrown Business: neurofeedback devices with Muse® by Interaxon, Inc. appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

What is your business called and what does it do?

Our business is called Hoame, and we are North America’s largest modern meditation studio. We have two themed studios, a light studio with living wall, sunken ceiling that mimics a clear blue sky and hanging vines, and a dark studio which has a fibre-optic starry ceiling. Each studio runs classes that evoke different feelings – the dark room is calm and restorative while the light room is energizing and awakening. We offer both 30 minute and 60 minute guided meditations in the studio space, as well as self-practice times throughout the day. We also have a Himalayan salt cave, and an infrared sauna with chromotherapy which are offer both smaller and more exclusive experiences. Additionally we have a “living room” and a “discover room”– which are spaces for us to host workshops, special events and fireside chats.

What made you want to do this work?

We are both mental health clinicians, with over a decade each of experience in hospital, community, and private practice settings. As clinicians were frequently observed the negative effects this “go, go, go” lifestyle has on our clients. Stress is at epidemic levels in our society and is taking a considerable toll of peoples mental and physical well being. In short, living life this way is just no longer sustainable. We had a desire to make a difference on a large scale. Always the avid researchers we became acutely aware of the benefits of meditation and mindfulness as well as yoga. We had long incorporated these practices into our personal and professional work – but soon realized we want to bring in to the public in a large and accessible way!

What problem does this solve?

It solves many problems. As stated before stress is at epidemic proportions – stress causes inflammation – which is a significant contributor to the development of most diseases. In a time of such high stress we sought to create not only a respite from that – but to encourage a practice that truly benefits people mentally, physically and emotionally. The many benefits of meditation include stress management, decreased anxiety, improved mood, improved focus, concentration and productivity, improved cardiovascular effects (decreased blood pressure), improved sleep quality, increased athletic performance, increased cognitive performance and many more! In short, creating a space for meditation serves as a solution to many problems – it just depends on what solution the person is looking for.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

Everyone! We know that everyone can benefit from meditation!

How does your business make money? How does it work?

We charge for our meditation classes, salt cave and sauna experiences as well as any workshops or special events. We offer classes packages with discounted rates, as well as monthly and yearly memberships. We also have a small curated shop with items available for purchase. Our services can be purchased online or via our app – or by popping in and visiting us at hoame.

Where in Toronto can we find your profession?

430 Adelaide Street West, you can also visit us at www.hoame.ca or follow us on instagram @myhoame.

What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services?

In our clinical practice, we always encourage smart consumption and research, we encourage clients to look at the credentials behind the person they seek for therapy to ensure a good fit, and most importantly, that they are able to help them. We approach meditation the same way. Every square foot of our space was created with a scientific backing, our signature scent and tea were blended to be stress reducing, and we consulted with a pharmacist, the studio spaces were designed with our clinical viewpoint to make them as stress reducing, inspiring, and most importantly, safe as possible. Our instructors are passionate about mediation, but also highly credentialed in their craft. We encourage potential clients when shopping services to first ask why, why was this space created? Then ask the individuals to back up claims that they are making, and ask their expertise that allows them to make such claims.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

The best part is the community that we have created here at Hoame, we love being able to spend time and meet people who are all like-minded and passionate about motivation. We also love being able to see the benefits of meditation come to light, there is nothing better than seeing clients walk in frazzled and stressed out, and then leave the room looking restored, relaxed, and calm. Lastly, being able to work with your best friend is just too much fun! The worst part is the struggle between the need to work and the desire to be in the salt cave, sauna and classes all day.

What is your favourite joke about your own profession?

We personally love all the play on words and silly sayings around meditation, looking to see if your mind is “full” or are we being mindful, and that meditation is for everybody and every body.

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another Toronto business that you love?

Greenhouse juice! They provide all of our elixir shots and they are just a wonderful, like minded company.

***

Check out the company website for more information.

The post Homegrown Business: Carolyn Plater & Stephanie Kersta of Hoame appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

Excited at the opportunity for a new spiritual adventure, I attempted to do as this acclaimed spiritual leader suggested, and first clear my mind, and then open it to the possibilities for learning and for allowing my higher consciousness to emerge. After all, if Sri Sri and his meditation techniques are bringing peace and transforming prisoners, at-risk youth and disaster victims around the world (link: http://us.iahv.org/iahv-programs/), I figure I’ve got to embrace this rare opportunity to elevate my own practice.

Vigyan Bhairav, The Science of Consciousness

Organized by The Art of Living Foundation, Sri Sri’s non-profit organization dedicated to bringing inner peace and well-being to the world, Unveiling Infinity is based on the essence of the ancient scriptures of the Vigyan Bhairav, a 5000+ year old manual that translates to ‘Science of Consciousness’, requiring the explanation of a meditation master like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to decode it’s message.

The Experience

As a life and leadership coach, I already try to incorporate meditation into my life to help with various things like increased focus, heightened awareness and as a way to destress, the exact benefits Sri Sri claims meditation promises. I’ve experienced the sense of peace it offers, and have read many books and articles on meditation from minimalist nomads to high-powered CEOs.

However, after spending two nights meditating with Sri Sri and a room full of people, I was inspired to try to incorporate much more meditation into my life. Having been guided over two evenings by the master himself, I was able to practice for much longer periods and the entire process got easier overall. As well, I have to admit that during the second evening, I experienced the most magical 40-minute guided meditation that left me in a state of peace for the entire night.

Witty and highly educated, Sri Sri told stories throughout the event, citing Indian spiritual concepts, Vedic philosophy and even scientific studies. He spoke about chakras, vibrations, and meditation. We learned about raising prana, the “Sanskrit Effect” and about the void reality we’re living in.

Meditation: What is it and How to do it

As noted in the ancient Vigyan Bhairav, there are 112 meditation techniques, all designed to help one attain inner silence. To think nothing – not about who you are, not about where you are, and not about what happened in the past or you need to do in the future. Meditation is a way to take a deep rest while at the same time staying alert and conscious.

Some people achieve this by sitting cross-legged in quiet rooms, others jog. Some people are able reach a meditative state by listening to water flowing, while others chant a mantra over and over to keep their focus.

Either way, as Sri Sri says, you don’t have to travel to the Himalayas, or change your lifestyle to meditate. A transformation is possible through regular practice (1-2 times a day) using whatever technique – breathing, mantras, visualization – works for you. He says waiting is meditation; even trying the impossible can be meditation.

When we can really clear our minds, we can move towards a sense of joy and calm without needing anything. We release the brain clutter, offering up space that allows us to be more alert and make better decisions; and we rest our minds, letting go of stress and anxiety.

(Free) Meditation for the World

I wasn’t able to attend the third night of the masterclass and thus sync with the raised vibrations of the group (apparently meditating in a group setting makes the experience more powerful). Fortunately, the teachings and wisdom are widely available online. Sri Sri himself has a blog and YouTube channel with guided meditations. A YouTube search shows 2.5 million results for ‘guided meditation’, while Vigyan Bhairav shows over 6000.

Following the experience, I’m not quite sure what yet has shifted for me. As I mentioned, I already commit to living a conscious life and consistently read anything I find around these ‘Science of Consciousness’ philosophies. From doing so, I am well aware of the constant need to meditate and clear our minds; as well as the necessity of surrounding ourselves with positivity.

How often does one have to meditate to experience this promised sense of inner harmony and remove deep-rooted stress?

As I experienced at the event, even one meditation can change bring change, even if only for a night. In my daily life, my sparse meditation practice has played a part in calming my thoughts and helping my make clearer decisions. It helps me feel more loving towards the world and less affected.

So, considering there are so many mindful ways to meditate and stop the thoughts running amok in our heads, why not practice often?

As Sri Sri would say, meditation is an art so we all can learn to do it. He asks us to open up to the possibilities for learning; to clear and rest our minds and allow our higher consciousness to emerge. Through this, he promises, we will find a deep inner peace.

***

The Art of Living presents Unveiling Infinity, a global meditation event with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. To learn more about the various happiness and well-being programs offered by The Art of Living, please visit the website.

The post Tune In to Your Deepest Inner Peace by Tuning Out appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

Created by Palak Loizides, Embiria has been quietly offering events for men and women alike. “Embiria means ‘experience’ in Greek,” Loizides explains. “We offer unique and curated experiences/activities that allow you to disconnect to reconnect with yourself or others.”

We joined in one of the experiences that took place in the King St. West design district. Inside a peaceful design showroom, and to the trickling sounds of waterfalls, there were no more than ten people taking part in a restorative yoga session. We ended with time to chat over a delicious  plant-based meal created by from local artisans. Most attendees came solo.  Several had just moved to the city over the past year. There were even visitors on vacation who joined with an interest in a more local experience.

We had a chance to find out more of these experience gems with Loizides.

How and why did you start offering these experiences?

I worked in business/marketing corporate jobs for over 10 years in multiple industries before this and didn’t know I would end up with my own business one day!

I would spend a lot of planning fun things to do in city during evenings, weekends, etc. for myself or providing recommendations to friends. I found plans were getting repetitive – it was always brunch, drinks or coffee, and many times, people would make plans to hang out and end up just sitting together while spending a lot of time on their phones, yet they longed for connection. I thought why not create unique experiences that people could attend without having to plan it themselves. I wanted to build a sense of community – where they could come on their own to meet new people, or gather their friends/family to join – it’s a way to get out and either reconnect with yourself, or connect with others. After all, it seems that many are in agreement (and research shows) that spending money on experiences vs. material things provides more happiness.

It initially started as a yoga and healthy brunch club idea, and quickly expanded to be all sorts of Experiences – the opportunities and ideas are limitless which I love. Plus, I consider myself a creative individual (stems from my Marketing days), and I get to infuse so much creativity into each Experience as they are all unique. I had no idea I would become a “entrepreneur” one day….I just took some time to reflect on what my interests were in life, and I started paying attention to the areas that really resonated with me. Once I started, everything flowed so naturally and quickly that I only had a month to put together an entire brand, website, social channels etc. before I had picked and planned my first Experience!

Who do you mostly attract? 

Our demographic is mostly female between 24-40, but our age ranges depending on the Experience and we’ve had people of all ages attend. We’ve had men attend barre classes (which is not something you see often) – and all of the women were so welcoming and happy to see a man who normally only weight lifts trying barre! I love seeing multiple generations attending our Experiences together sometimes (grandmother, mom, daughter).

We’ve even had people celebrate birthdays with us or buy an Experience to take a friend as a gift, which is great because the idea is to spend time connecting with people, while doing something you enjoy.  We’re constantly evolving and expanding, so we’ve been looking at introducing some child/teen friendly Experiences and ones specifically for couples/dates in the future.

Tell us about how you choose the venues?

It depends on the Experience but I love finding local gems in the city. I look for unique spaces where it’s beneficial for both of us to host something there. I want to support other local business if possible so I often partner with galleries, studios, restaurants, etc. that I can introduce a new audience to.

Any tips for new comers to the city?

Get out there and explore – the best way to meet people is at events and meet-ups. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve attended events in the city not knowing anyone there, and left having made an awesome connection. And I’ve lived here my whole life! Condo boards often organize get togethers, and I think that’s a great way to meet your neighbours. Check out a local class, or sit in a cafe near your place and strike up conversation with the barista or person beside you. I also think having an open, positive attitude is important. Your energy will attract people.

So many exciting Experiences are in the works now.  In September watch for Embiria’s Experiences led by experts including a Calligraphy Workshop, Yoga + Brunch, and Summer Flow x Healthy Eats event. October we’ll have a Mindfulness Workshop, Creative Writing as well as Zumba. November we’re looking forward to hosting “Let that Sh*t Go” experience and more.

Visit their website for details and how to register.

The post How Embiria events help Torontonians disconnect to reconnect appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

That’s when I came across Muse, the brain sensing headband for meditation. The initial appeal was that it looked like a sci-fi headband from Star Trek and I wanted to have it in my life. More importantly, Muse is supposed to measure your brain signals (much like a heart rate monitor) and give you feedback when your mind is calm or wandering, to help you meditate. Well, it was worth a try.

Honestly, the Muse experience has been fascinating. Not often do we receive feedback on what’s happening inside our head. Some people are very aware, however most of us will probably learn quite a bit from using the Muse.

So how does it work? Download the app, place the Muse headband on your head, plug in your earphones and a soothing voice guides you into meditation. The voice guidance does a calibration at the start of each session and then walks you through a short exercise to prepare your mind for meditation. Exercise topics vary from “the sensation of breath” to “dealing with distractions”. Once the exercise is complete, you’ll find yourself immersed in a soothing soundscape. There are five soundscapes to choose from: Beach, Desert, Ambience Music, City Park and Rainforest.

As the meditation begins, you’ll focus on breathing and clearing your mind. That’s when you’ll hear soft waves, a light breeze or the pitter patter of rain. If you reach an extra relaxed mind state, you’ll hear birds! Inevitably when your mind begins to wander, the weather starts to pick up. The wind blows harder, the waves crash louder and you’ll quickly realize it’s time to re-focus on your breath and try to bring back some calm.

Here’s a glimpse into my Muse experience.

Session 1: Beach soundscape | 5 minutes in the evening | Sitting up in bed.

One minute I was swaying to the sound of soft beach waves, imagining a boat tied to the dock, swaying back and fourth; the next minute a wind storm was picking up speed. Not expecting this, it gave me a bit of anxiety. I had a hard time relaxing my mind with the hostile wind blowing. Yet oddly, my mind didn’t feel like it was wandering as much as the wind was indicating. I tried to clear my mind and felt like I didn’t have much control. Five minutes also felt like a long time. Conclusion: First session didn’t feel great however I reached 56% calm.

Session 2: Beach soundscape | 5 minutes in the evening | Laying down under the covers.

My mind started in a calm state, I immediately heard two birds – yay. But then before I knew it, I was asleep and woke up to the ‘end of session’ sound, oops. Conclusion: bad idea to lay down while meditating, reached 14% calm. Fascinating fact: I discovered my mind is not calm when I’m sleeping. In the chart below, I fell asleep at the 1:15 mark and my mind progressively got more active as I slept.

Session 4: Beach soundscape | 5 minutes on Sunday morning | Sitting up in bed.

This was a great session. My mind was calm, I heard 31 birds and the waves were soft and relaxing. So what was different? This session’s exercise was focused on ‘counting your breaths’. I counted to four for every inhale and for every exhale. I got so good at counting and breathing that I started thinking about how I would write about my success and what a Superstar Meditator I had become. Before I knew it, there was a tornado attacking my senses – but I was still counting? That blew my mind, I was multi-tasking by counting and thinking at the same time. I knew in life I could talk and walk at the same time, or chew gum and read at the same time. Doing something physical and thinking at the same time was the kind of multi-tasking I was used to. However, I didn’t realize I could think about two things at once. Conclusion: our brains are amazing.

Session 6: Beach soundscape | 5 minutes on Wednesday morning (before work) | Sitting up in bed.

I woke up consumed with work and decided some meditation would be beneficial. Especially since last Sunday I meditated in the morning for the first time and had an awesome sesh. So I popped on my Muse headband and tried to calm the chaos in my head. Sadly, my mind was too deep into work already and I didn’t have a very good meditation. Conclusion: our minds are stressed on work days. But any meditation is still better than no meditation. I reached 11% calm. Glad I meditated.

Session 7: Ambience music | 5 minutes in the evening | Sitting in bed, leaning against the headboard.

I finally remembered to change the soundscape before meditating. I chose Ambience music which felt tranquil, however the feedback was hard to identify. With the nature soundscapes, the weather changes to loud wind storms which was very noticeable. With the Ambience music, it all sounded the same to me, the feedback was too subtle. As a result, I only reached 9% calm because I didn’t know when my mind was wandering and consequently did not adjust my attention accordingly.

Session 7b: Rainforest soundscape | 5 minutes after session 7 |Sitting up in bed (no leaning).

Do over. Unsatisfied with my session, I selected a different soundscape and immediately meditated for another 5 minutes. This time I chose Rainforest and loved it. Fascinating fact: Instead of leaning against the bed, this time I consciously sat up and instantaneously my mind was calmer. The evidence, I heard a bird chirp. This made a lot of sense to me, when I sat up I was focused on breathing, when I leaned I got lazy and my mind wandered.

Session 10: Desert soundscape | 7 minutes in the evening | Sitting on a cushion.

I found my second favourite soundscape: Desert. I really enjoyed the soft soothing breeze of the Desert. During this session I had a realization – anytime I heard birds I would get excited and lose the calm. Noticing this, I made the effort to take a deep breath each time I heard birds to maintain the calm instead of getting excited about it – to my delight, it worked. Conclusion: Bumping up to 7 minutes was do-able. Breaths really do help keep our mind calm.

After the 10 sessions, I’ve continued using the Muse headband. I really do enjoy it and it actually motivates me to meditate more often. I appreciate the guidance at the beginning of each session, and it helps to receive feedback during each meditation. The rainforest and desert soundscapes are my fav and I’ve been able to manage my mind better than before using Muse. You can download other voice guides, I tried Deepak Chopra but the man voice startled me. I went back to the soothing lady voice that comes with Muse. All in all, I would give Muse 5 stars and definitely recommend it.

If you want to start meditating and you don’t know where to start, check out http://www.choosemuse.com/

The post Using technology for meditation with Muse, the brain sensing headband appeared first on Toronto Guardian.