There's an interesting tension in your proposition - mindfulness meditation is at least partially about growing your self-awareness (awareness of your internal processes), but social situations tend to make some people self-conscious (aware of their external presentation). Combine that with up-tempo music and I would've thought that kind of environment would make it difficult to attain present awareness. Have you run into this as a real (rather than theoretical, like in my head!) issue, and if so how do you avoid/address it?
Sounds like a great proposition though - anything that bring more people into the meditation fold sounds like a positive to me.
So is this some sort of hyperventilation breathwork done in savasana to pop music? I guess as long as the breath retentions aren't super long they should be ok, as long as the practitioner doesn't have underlying health issues, but I've seen videos of people having mini seizures doing Wim Hof breathing. Just be careful with it, there's a reason why pranayama is introduced gently and progressively over a long period of time.
Also, I would maybe drop the references to meditation. It seems more like breathwork in the tradition of a Stanislav Grof, which is totally fine and valid, just maybe misleading for newcomers expecting meditation.
As someone who doesn't meditate and would like to get a better idea of what you're offering the first thing I looked for is a video of what it would be like and couldn't find one.
This looks interesting. I've tried mindfulness and meditation on and off for over a decade (mostly mindfulness) and struggle as much now to keep focus and not drift into continuing internal conversations as I did when I started.
Recently I have realised I have many Attention Deficit Disorder traits, and likely have ADD.
What's your experience of meditation and people with ADD? How does the practice change for them, and what works best?
> For example, the breathing pattern we use brings more oxygen into the body than normal inhales and exhales, which causes a tingling sensation, giving users a quick and satisfying feeling even in the first session.
This is a bit of a party trick that I used in my very brief career as a, well, guru, I think I called myself a life coach cuz that was the hip thing back then. I just went through the basics of deep breathing, fill your belly then your lungs, then use a pattern like box or triangle. Because I was directing them they held the pattern way longer than they would have naturally.
The result is you're effectively hyperventilating. Your body's just not used to that much oxygen. You can get used to it and it's pretty cool because all that oxygen literally energizes you. But after that first time I pulled back on the time spent doing super-deep breathing because it gets in the way of getting into alpha.
Love what you are building! I'm a huge fan of meditation but haven't found one I can keep with. I've tried all the apps but fall off after a couple of sessions or weeks. I'm going to sign up for the free trial. Do you recommend any classes, preferably shorter ones, that I should start with?
I love Chorus! I encountered it in the workplace and it blew my mind. The holotropic breathing thing makes me slightly hallucinate. Which is perfect for a work day.
I think it was a good fit with the move to remote world, having a community of people to mediate with - think they have grown a ton. I have friends who like that better. Personally I find myself a little lazy to show up - giving myself some space for that and look forward to in person classes again.
Also love these hackernews comments that seem negative/not understanding.. reminds me of the dropbox snark! Strong signal ladies, keep it up!
I tried to sign up for the free trial but I don't want enter my CC details. Can I just do test a free-trial?
I started doing Chorus meditation at Twilio prior to the pandemic and let me tell you it was WILD. My first session, I experienced a full body high and I was hooked. My mood after these sessions was fantastic. I was relaxed, confident, and my perspective felt so clear. I let go of all those meetings and tasks that were cluttering my day but didn't matter, and thought about the big picture.
In some sessions, I found myself weeping, processing grief I didn't realize I had been holding onto. In others, I had intense visual experiences like sinking to the bottom of the ocean or dissolving into the earth, which helped me to let go of things outside of my control. In another session, I connected with a deep desire to have another child, and decided it was time to do that. I would describe my chorus experiences as relaxing, fun, important, profound, and psychedelic.
I'm one of those people who found meditation frustrating and "not really doing anything", but had a completely different experience with Chorus. I was also really skeptical when a friend first described Chorus to me. I thought "Isn't listening to loud music the opposite of meditation!? That sounds cheesy." I was quickly won over. I encourage anyone with even a slight interest to try it. If you really lean into the experience and let go of your expectations, you might be very surprised at what can happen!
Speaking as a former meditation teacher who attained High Equanimity [1] and saw through the non-self mark of existence [2]: what you're doing is a complete corruption of the heritage of meditation and is dangerous.
I'm speaking strictly from a secular point of view now, what you are teaching has nothing to do with meditation. Meditation is a practice with a clear line of progression. We have markers and waypoints for every stage of a meditator's journey to seeing the conditioned nature of reality.
If you want to continue with your product, I strongly urge you to call it something else because they will be confused that what they are practicing has anything to do with a thousands of years old series of techniques that are well-defined and established and predicated on four simple truths: the observance of suffering, its origin, its extinction and the path leading to its extinction.
I want to add for the purpose of disclosure: I am no longer a meditation teacher and have backslid greatly in my practice. My historical comments should not be taken as the examples of right ethics which would be expected of a highly attained practitioner. Intellectually, however, I feel I must condemn a product that risks harm by association to a beautiful, clear system which can be walked by anyone to achieve a calm, kind mind.
If people are curious about meditation, Headspace is a solid intro to these techniques started by a former monk with decades of experience.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassan%C4%81-%C3%B1%C4%81%...
[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_marks_of_existence#:~:....
Hey! Cool idea. I'm a total newbie to meditation - any tips for setting up your environment, especially for those of us cramped in a 1BR? ;)
so far everything (trial, videos, etc.) that you are selling is behind sharing something of a PII.
Why? I just want to try the shoes on before buying.
Love this I first learned about breathwork from using a quantified self product called Gyrosco.pe. Their breathwork classes were the main reason I paid 80$/month for the product! Love to see a service providing just these classes for half the price
Are there plans to do in-person classes when that becomes permitted?
I go to your page, cannot find a video of what it is immediately and then left. I think a lot of people like a video to show them what to expect with most startups these days!
I really want to get into breathing work and I'm hearing nothing but good about Chorus! I'll be trying it out for sure!
$40/month?
You folks seem upbeat and sincere, so it pains me to tell you this, but having looked into your site I believe you're being irresponsible (that's the nicest way I can say it.)
Yours is not the first crew to do this. It's got a bit of a long history here in the SF Bay Area, going back at least to Leonard Orr in the 1970's, who believed he was on the trail of physical immortality.[1]
I was looking up Grof's "Holotropic" breathing, but WP now just redirects to "Breathwork" which actually lists the big names, including W. Reich and Orr: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathwork
(It's written by skeptics with the usual obvious BS: E.g.
> Derived from various spiritual and pre-scientific traditions from around the world, it was pioneered in the West by Wilhelm Reich.
Reich didn't derive anything from any "spiritual and pre-scientific traditions". He was a scientific genius, one of Freud's contemporaries before he was driven out of Vienna for saying folks would be less uptight if they had healthier sex lives. His discoveries around what he called "Character Armor" have yet to be appreciated in mainstream psychology. He is one of the few Western researchers to independently discover "Chi" energy. He did some amazing research and then went insane, died in prison, and had his papers burned by the FDA. True story.)
Anyway, y'all are just "selling air": teaching folks to hyperventilate, to pop music, in their own homes, where they are on their own if any adverse effect occur, and then you use that as a convincer to get people to give you $40/mo.
I have to side with the skeptics here: you don't know what you're doing, the breathing techniques you appear to be teaching can have adverse side effects, you're misrepresenting it as some sort of intro meditation for beginners (the very people who need MORE individual time and attention from their Guru) which it is not, and you are putting yourselves in the position of Guru without taking on the responsibility or having the qualifications (by your own admission.)
This is all bad, and you should probably stop.
[1] He used to say, "Physical immortality: the only cause you can't die for!" and "I made my first million dollars selling air." For more about Orr and his "Rebirthing" breathwork see: => https://ibfbreathwork.org/7715/ "Tribute to Leonard Orr"
Don't charge money.
Put your expenses in a public spreadsheet, accept donations.
I tell you if you do that you will achieve 1000x positive effect and you'll become immeasurably wealthy for the rest of your life as well, natch.
Let me guess Kevin wants a royalty and Mark is pressuring you to make a snap decision so you go with Herkovic because he exercises.
I find it a little problematic when these ancient practices are separated from their broader context. There are further, unknown implications by doing so. It is similar to what was done with what we call "Yoga" here in the west. I am not saying that these practices cannot evolve, they must. But they are certainly part of a tradition that has been coherently applied and studied for centuries.
In my opinion the result of this type of approach is a diluted, incomplete practice, focused mainly on symptom relief, which tends to forget the heart of the matter.
There is nothing wrong with taking these practices as inspiration to help people, and I think your approach is a good way to bring them to know more about these practices.
But perhaps you should bring a little more of the philosophical/theological side to this modern take on meditation, something like what Stephen Batchelor is doing with his Secular Buddhism.