Interesting to see this launch and surprised more authors/podcasters with large followings don't expand their reach in this way. What's the backstory, @samharrisofficial? Curious how long it's been in the works and what you think about the competitive meditation app space today.

Hi @samharrisofficial thanks for joining us! In this busy world we live in, how do you recommend people find time for mindfulness? What are you top tips for getting into a positive routine?

@samharrisofficial I've read Waking Up (I found the split hemisphere problem to be fascinating) and The Moral Landscape ("hurting to prevent further harm" changed my life dramatically, it essentially unlocked my potential, finally giving me a way to incorporate cruelty into my ahimsa orientated morality) as well as listened to dozens of your podcasts, however I still find these breathing apps a waste of time. Several years ago, I discovered Eckhart Tolle which had a profound impact on me, and I threw myself into the deep end of that practice, and was able to completely distance myself from the rat race and the immediate suffering, violence, and abuse that was thrown upon me against my will. However, all these sit down and breathe things I find to waste my time, just like how I find listening to Eckhart Tolle now a waste of time, as I can already detach from suffering and control my attention quite well. Paulo Coelho has written that meditation for him is his archery practice. I've given the first two days of your app a go, but found it just as useless as the other apps in the scene. In your introduction to the app, you said that once you achieve the ability of "mindfulness" then it is a skill that doesn't go away (like the knowledge of the illuminated night sky). Could I have merely unlocked that skill with my Eckhart Tolle study 5 years ago? Or am I missing something here? From what I can tell, the benefits of meditation seem to skew towards certain big 5 personalities. If one has already have developed the skill to detach at will, to endure abuse stoically, then it seems better for them to act to solve identified problems than to let them linger in stillness (like using a combination of spontaneous and systemised thought, like journalling, questionnaires, and procedural planning), as well as to gain ether-like meta awareness by doing the routines that consistently produce that state for them (say running, looking at the stars, or having a slumber), and that being still when the situation is beckoning for action is a mistake. Perhaps Americans may be more high strung than Australians, and overwork themselves too much, as the lack of success I see most often among my Australian circles, is not too-much-action (which antidote is stillness and calmness), but too-little-action (which antidote is more diligence). It seems that meditation/stillness/mindfulness is always packaged as this "be all do all for absolutely everyone" where it seems to me, that certain demographics may achieve the proposed benefits better from other means, or gain no benefits from it, yet no one talks about such limitations, and I don't understand why.

Hi All— If I knew how painful it would be to build a meditation app, I might not have tried. It only took 1189 days! (That is literally true.) But it's here, and I'm happy with it. And I'll be building out the curriculum over the next year—which will be the fun part. Looking forward to discussing it with you from 1-2 pm PT.

@awilkinson @samharrisofficial I see there is an investment from Tiny. Have you blogged about this? What is the story here? http://tiny.website/

Your book Waking Up, as well as your guided meditations and discussions with Joseph, Dan, and Richie, have all had a profound impact on my life. Very excited this app finally hit production. My question is about the tangible benefits you've enjoyed since embodying a state of selflessness. What have been some of the most positive life experiences resulting from losing your sense of self? Similarly, were there any adverse life experience that arose from jettisoning this sense of self? We love that you are doing this Sam! There are thousands of us who believe this, for every one of us who state it outright -- thank you all the work you do thinking in public @samharrisofficial

The interface is easily to use. I haven't yet purchased a subscription yet so I can't speak to the paid content at this point.

Pros:

Good training and meditation practice

Cons:

None yet

Knowing what you do now about the process of app development, what are some tips you would pass on to someone looking to do the same for the first time?

Hey Sam, in what direction are you planning to take the content? It came up during your conversations with Peterson that there's a certain "void" we feel when we shed ourselves from any dogmatic principles and try to structure our lives from first principles. I can't help but noticing that your content fills it? Or it at least changes your perception of the void, doesn't it (?) 🤔

@samharrisofficial congrats on launching! I could have sworn you’ve only been talking about this for 1188 days ;) Downloaded and trying now. I love headspace but have hit a bit of a plateau after 3+ years of use so am excited to try something different.

The why it matters part ist the most important one... Without Sam I still would've been constantly lost in my thoughts and very likely would have missed most of my life. Sounds very dramatic, but it's just true.

So.. for anyone who is trying to figure out what the hell is going on in your mind - just download the app and take it from there. It will make thing much clearer.

Pros:

Just the perfect way to get into meditation and understanding why it matters

Cons:

None. Just took a whole while to get out ;)

Have you done a samadhi concentration retreat before and any thoughts on how worthwhile a focused concentration practice is to a broader Vipassana practice?

@samharrisofficial What sets the Waking Up Course apart from the other meditation apps out there? You mentioned it will be Vipassana, but in your book you say you prefer Dzogchen.

@samharrisofficial Do you think it is possible to raise "enlightened" kids or, more accurately, to prevent children from forming a sense of self? Methods that come to mind on how to achieve this would be parenting techniques or medicines such as psychadellics. I know your wife teaches meditation to children around age 5 or 6, but their sense of self has already formed by then. Beyond that, do you think it is possible that humans could ever evolve to a point where a sense of self never develops at all?

Good to see you hear @samharrisofficial. I am a big fan of your work and I absutely love the UI/UX of your app. Excited to give this a try!

@samharrisofficial During meditation, it seems to me that I have two categories of thoughts. First are random thoughts that seem come from the out of no where and have a more random nature. The second type are those that seem to come from me, that I am creating them and are most often in the form of me talking to myself. Since I believe that consiousness, "I" is separate from the mind, "me" it *feels* that the random thoughts come from the "me" mind and the talking to myself thoughts come from the "I", but I know that is not true since the "I" is conciousness and only capable of awareness and observation. I also notice that in deep meditation, the outside, random thoughts tend to decrease, but the talking to myself thoughts are impossible to overcome. All forms of meditation teachers will say to observe the thoughts, but I don't know how to observe the ones that seem to come from I. Do you have any advice on how to break through this barrier?

I've been waiting to see what this app is like after using 10% happier and Headspace for the last few years. I like the inclusion of the lessons, which offers a little more insight compared to the competition.

Pros:

Easy to listen to from someone with a unique perspective in the same

Cons:

Having some login issues as a previous patreon (content isn't showing up as unlocked, but was earlier)

@samharrisofficial - love this app (and all of your work), but if there's one thing I think you could tweak, it's the logo. Any thoughts on making it a little less cluttered? The bottom of the logo has a lot going on in a small amount of space (which looks fine when not a logo, but since it's the first thing you see, every day, it's worth considering). P.S. Come back to Sydney when you can ❤

Hi. @wakingupkarl @samharrisofficial Having a fantastic app experience so far, however, last night I was interested in listening to all of your lessons available consecutively and had to close out and re enter each one to do so. Are there any plans to allow auto-play functionality on the lessons?

Really excited to give this a spin! I've used Oak and Headspace regularly in the past, but always enjoyed the guided meditations @samharrisofficial put out more. Cool that it's now a full program/app