We’re getting really close to announcing the release date of Android version as well as when all existing iOS users will double the amount of mediations in the app. As you’d expect that means we’re furiously busy coding and testing so in the meantime, I’d like to introduce you to the fourth and final of our guest contributors who have been working on the new content.
I first met Alexander Irving when we were part of the same mindfulness practice community in London back in 2005 and in the time since then he has formally trained as a mindfulness teacher and given his background as an osteopath he has a specialism in pain management. So when we looked at all the feedback from our users that clearly said the buddhify community wanted some meditation content related to pain and illness, Alex was the first person I thought of to invite to help bring it to life.
Alex has written and voiced three tracks for the app and I met up with him to find out more:
Rohan: Tell us about the three tracks
Alex: The three meditations are called Steady, With and Allow. They are intended to support people in gently turning towards what’s painful, so that they might find ways of relating to those experiences which allow for greater degrees of freedom and ease. This is a very different orientation to pain and difficulty than we usually adopt, based on the understanding that rejecting and resisting difficulty tends to amplify or intensify that experience.
An essential first step in this process is gathering the attention a little. Steady introduces this using the breath as a frame of reference for the attention, something we can return to again and again as we start to notice how our attention gets caught up with thinking, feeling or other sensations.
With begins the exploration of how we might learn to be with what’s difficult, using the breath as a support for this. This exploration continues with Allow, this time using the power of language to explore allowing what’s present to be there. And also seeing the difference between allowing and gritting our teeth or being resigned to being in pain, which are quite different and not so helpful.
This is the first time you’ve worked on an app. What are you finding exciting about the meeting of technology and meditation?
Well this seems to me like a rich opportunity to learn. As more and more of us explore these practices via connected technology the means for getting feedback is huge. What do we need? What works? What helps? And how to best weave this exploration into everyday life?
Thanks Alex and we’re excited about this new section of content which we hope will help a lot of people. You can find out more about his work and London-based teaching at
London Mindfulness Training.