The Future of Mindful Technology Applications

Consciousness Hacking NYC Meetup

$10 general admission. FREE for ITP students and alumni only

Can one become more mindful -- loving, caring, joyful, peaceful, insightful; more authentic -- using technology?

One of the basic principles of mindfulness is that the quality and nature of our attention directly impacts our wellbeing.

This essential tenet has spawned hundreds of software applications, and hardware headsets, ostensibly designed to facilitate mindfulness. A handful of them (Headspace, Calm, Whil and the Muse) have been adopted and used to the great benefit of many. But, ROHAN GUNATILLAKE, a pioneer in mindfulness apps and designer of BUDDHIFY, believes mindfulness applications, and other attention-based products we use (eg. social platforms) have only begun to innovate to facilitate real wellbeing. Rohan will discuss the future of Buddhify and designing mindfulness: how to make technology which takes care of the people who use it.

According to MILES NEALE, Buddhist psychotherapist, mindfulness is certainly all the rage, but compassion is the next wave in meditative research and practice. The least known but perhaps most powerful meditative practices from Tibet are the Tantras: essentially flight simulators and organic virtual reality modules to achieve altruistic leadership. In anticipation of this future trend, he wants to develop an app that leverages the power of creative visualization, blended with the latest in virtual reality, to invigorate the global awakening renaissance needed to ensure our survival.

BIOS:

ROHAN GUNATILLAKE is one of the most original and creative voices in modern mindfulness and meditation. Through his company Mindfulness Everywhere he is the creator of Kara, Sleepfulness, Designing Mindfulness and the best-selling hit app buddhify. Rohan’s first book Modern Mindfulness is published in the US on January 24 and is available for pre-order now. Based in Glasgow, Rohan is a trustee of the British Council and was named by Wired magazine in their Smart List of 50 people who will change the world.

MILES NEALE is a Buddhist psychotherapist in private practice, Assistant Director of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, Clinical Instructor of Psychology at Weill Cornell Medical College and contributing expert on mindfulness meditation for the BBC World Service. Dr. Neale’s approach to personal healing and transformation is informed by contemplative neuroscience, an eclectic hybrid of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist psychology and meditative arts, depth psychotherapy and the current neuroscience of trauma resilience. 

Miles is of mixed British and Levantine heritage, born in Singapore, raised in Hong Kong and Turkey, and has traveled extensively throughout the world. Searching for an alternative to consumerist culture and looking to heal psychological wounds, he discovered the Buddhist path to awakening when he was twenty years old while living in a monastery in India.