One Minute Might Still Be Too Long
When I started out building this app my assumption was that a bare almost-unguided meditation app would be an interesting approach. After all, just sitting had been a revelation for me personally.
Then I added some basic instruction to the app to each people how to sit. Turns out you need quite a few sessions to really explain all that is going on in meditation, even if you stick to the basics for form and mindset.
Surely no one is going to be attracted by these minutes-long sessions in our hyper-active social media landscape that has trained people to have the attention-span of a fruit-fly.
What I Thought
I thought Present Return, about a minute, would be the acquisition hook: short enough for a phone, real enough to practice. After putting the big curriculum down, this felt like the honest hook to get people interested. Turns out that was still too long.
What I Am Learning
On social, even Present Return can be too long for. Sometimes you need a shorter utility first: a question, one breath, and then maybe a full return.
More and more I am learning that deconstructing meditation into its component parts. Breath, body, sound, vision, feelings, etc … may be the way to explain it … to make people experience meditation.
This Present-Return, as I teach it in the app, maybe be too long. And that’s also true in reality. Sometimes it doesn’t take a full 6 breaths to be present, at least not for me.
The Pivot
It’s clear that on social we need a shorter hook, so I’m experimenting with offering short breaks from the social media madness where I invite people to be present in the moment for one aspect of experience: the breath, obviously, but also sound, etc … not even close to a full meditation session or even a Present Return, but already something to calm the mind. Maybe that is enough already?
