{This article is written in partnership with the Open app featuring a collaboration of input from Elephant editors. Open is dedicated to creating a truly dynamic, sleek social space for meditation, movement, and practice—on and offline—and we’re proud to work with them. Also, please join us for Open’s 14-Day Mental Detox and you’ll also get full (FREE) access to the app for 30 days!} ~ ed.
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I’ve finally found an app experience that hits all the mental and emotional pulse points and goes a step beyond.
Open is a mindfulness studio. A space to become alive through breathwork, meditation, movement, and sound. The Open Method™ is rooted in the science of transforming the brain and training the body for longevity. You can practice on the Open app + their LA studio.
Even for someone who’s been around the mindful app block, Open app stands out among the crowd as having a vibe all of its own. Its minimalistic primary design is accented by pops of psychedelic colour that animate each audio “class.”
This is not the online version of your great-aunt Carol’s ramshackle and slightly dated yoga studio—this is a fresh, clean, intentional space that’s been created with crisp awareness and attention to detail. Lacking clutter and busyness in both design and content, it really does feel like a space in which to breathe, to pause, to take in some new insights, experience some new sensation… “a space to become alive” (to quote Open’s CEO & Co-Founder Raed Khawaja‘s achingly hip and straight-up clever strapline.)
Another way this app experience distinguishes itself is by not being yet another space full of woo woo and various versions of repetitive content. This in itself feels thoughtfully on-trend. I don’t know about you, but I believe current reality calls for a bit more authenticity than just cheerful mantras, somewhat tone-deaf sound healing, and tunnel-visioned love and light.
A sign of the times perhaps then that inside the Open app, you can step through the virtual doorway of a variety of refreshingly specific mini “course” options with names like Death Is Coming and Sound Asleep. But it’s not all existential truth bombs and insomnia first-aid. There are options like Family, a course for exploring and improving the quality of our most important relationships.
Open is a bit like a cross between a great Podcast (you know the kind that makes you stop and say, “OMG, that is so profound”) and a super-slick meditation App. Audio quality is superb, voices of the guides or hosts have real texture, depth and a soothing quality without being overly put on in the way that some “yoga voices” can be.
There seem to be singles or series for any mood, situation, or need. Kind of like Spotify or Apple Podcasts but more practical and interactive. You can choose from meditation, breathwork, and yoga (which comes with high-quality video as well as audio), or try a series such as the ones mentioned above which offer a combination of meditative instruction, contemplative prompts, and breathwork supported by music and those animated pops of colour that I mentioned before.
If you’re someone who struggles to or prefers not to keep their eyes closed while meditating, the visuals on the app during these audio lessons are like a whole other visual chill pill. The music and sound effects are kinda psychedelic too, if you’re into that kind of thing.
With flavours for everyone, every mood, and every time of day I’ve found my home base for my moments of mental well-being. And, as their founder cannily quotes Eviatar Frankel in an interview on Chalkboard Magazine, “Remember, it’s supposed to be fun.”
For Mental Health Awareness Month, take a Free 14-Day Mental Detox:
This May, Open is hosting the first ever “Mental Detox,” a 14-day breathwork program where the goal is achieving clarity from the heavy loaders like rumination, information overload and overwhelm.
This unique detox is designed to refresh your mind and help you dig deep to expand your relationship with the most powerful tool in your body – your breath.
Learn how to use your breath to regulate your nervous system to ease anxiety, depression, loneliness, ADHD. You’ll learn diverse techniques that bridge science and spirituality, to open up a new perspective and zest for life. (put aside just 10 mindful minutes a day!)
Whether you’re looking to quiet the chatter, refill your tank, or release what’s stuck – you only need 10 minutes a day to clean your slate.
Specifically, you will move through four stages to holistically address your mental and emotional well-being:
- “Focus” – Alleviate overwhelm and rumination.
- “Regulate” – Ease stress and anxiety.
- “Activate” – Overcome lethargy and lack of motivation.
- “Breakthrough” – Release emotional residue and feelings of being stuck
IMAGE: (COVER) OPEN APP
IMAGE: THOUGHTCATALOG/UNSPLASH
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