Introducing: Oak Courses
Bringing Mantra Meditation to the Masses
Today, I’m excited to announce the first Oak Meditation course: ‘10 Days of Mantra Meditation’.
This course is a natural extension of our credo for empowering our users and teaching the fundamentals of traditional meditation practices.
Kevin established this ethos when he announced Oak in 2017 and — in the two years since — we’ve sought to give our users the essential tools and insights they need in order to cultivate deeply meaningful meditation practices that (1) aren’t dependent on the app, and (2) can permeate their lives off the meditation seat.
“Our intention with Oak is to teach our users the fundamentals needed to practice app-free traditional meditation” — Kevin Rose
Our approach diverges considerably from the established norm of producing daily and prescriptive meditation content. But — it’s worked!
Today, Oak has a 4.8-star rating with over 16,000 reviews in the App Store, and over 1 million downloads.
Our users love Oak in large part because they don’t feel inundated with new features or overwhelmed by too many options. But, they’ve also asked us for more meditation content, and a wider variety of practices.
We feel this course attends to the challenge of mediating these inverse needs by introducing over 3 hours of new meditation content, without sacrificing the unencumbered experience and ease-of-use Oak users have come to love.
How we got here
The course we’re releasing today is the result of several months of research, script writing, production, iteration and … more iteration.
In the first phase, I reflected on the insights I’d gleaned from my personal 10+ year meditation journey. I coalesced my thinking around the many meditation practices and styles I’d tried in my daily practice, and reflected on my notes from earlier readings of great texts such as the ‘Tao Te Ching’ and Alan Watt’s seminal ‘The Way of Zen’.
In the next phase, I narrowed the scope of research to focus on the many machinations of mantra-style meditation. I dug into the existing literature from across these various iterations of the practice and found Thomas Ashley-Farrand’s book ‘Healing Mantras’ particularly valuable.
In the third phase, I reviewed Dr. Patricia Carrington’s ‘Clinically Standardized Meditation’ — or CSM — which Kevin had licensed. Dr. Carrington’s audio recordings, transcripts and texts — produced between 1978 and 1998 — draw from traditional mantra-style practices but add a structure and rigor suited for clinical use.
In the fourth phase, a first draft version of the course evolved in structure, tone, vernacular and length, until it felt rightly entrenched in the traditions of the practice and updated to fit a modern context.
In the final phase before recording, my colleague Sara Ross and I iterated the script together. (I can’t overstate the value of working with such bright and capable colleagues everyday at Oak — I’m very fortunate indeed).
So — why Mantra Meditation?
We’re starting with Mantra Meditation because we believe it’s a wonderfully simple — yet deeply impactful — practice that will help brand new and experienced meditators uncover deep states of relaxation and inner calm that will have profound benefits in their lives.
3 more reasons:
- Despite assumptions about the practice, Mantra Meditation isn’t spiritual, esoteric or mystical in any way. The practice involves the use of a Sanskrit word — that doesn’t have any true meaning — to gently sink into a relaxed state of quiet and inner stillness. It’s a practice that anyone can comfortably incorporate into their existing worldview, and it’s an evidence-based style of meditation that’s proven to improve cognitive function, reduce anxiety and promote cardiovascular health.
- Mantra meditation is unlike other forms of meditation in that it’s not daunting or difficult to learn and doesn’t take years of experience or expertise to enjoy the full benefits. The practice focuses on cultivating a relaxed disposition and simply flowing with the meditation experience. This ensures the practice is deeply enjoyable and beneficial right away.
- Among the foremost mediation styles, Mantra Meditation is by far the least accessible. Unfortunately — at least in the West — it’s been the exclusive purview of those with the means to study Transcendental Meditation (TM). TM is a great practice with adherents that include Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Dalio, Paul McCartney and Cameron Diaz, but we’re extremely proud to make this knowledge-base and skill-set widely available for the first time.
Course Features
Over 3 hours of guided instruction
The course covers the ins-and-outs of mastering Mantra Meditation over 10 sessions of 15-22 minutes. All sessions start in a ‘locked’ state, but are unlocked in succession, as the preceding one is finished. Once a session is unlocked, it’s available indefinitely to be replayed and repeated as often as desired.
Develop a sustainable practice
Each session explores a new tool or insight that supports the practice. These include: cultivating non-judgement, creating a routine, overcoming meditation plateaus, softening physical discomfort, breathing and posture, flowing with thoughts, and bringing meditation into daily life.
Meditate for up to 20 minutes on your own
Each day, the guided meditations gradually get a little longer and have less instruction. By Day 10, the session consists of a full 20-minute meditation with only minimal instruction. Learning to meditate without instruction means cultivating the ability to practice any where and anytime — with or without — Oak.
Choose a custom mantra, change it anytime
Choose from among 12 Sanskrit mantras that were rated by Dr. Carrington’s Stanford undergraduate students as highly melodious and calming. Already have a favorite mantra? Simply choose ‘Use My Own’.
New player + shareable quotes
We’re also excited to introduce a new Oak player with simplified controls, and new post-meditation shareable quotes. These features are both available today across the entire app in all meditation and breathing sessions.
Cost: $5.99 — no subscription + lifetime access to the course content
The course is available right now in the App Store or, for existing users, simply by updating to the most recent version of the app.
Many thanks to Kevin, Taylor, Adam and Ava for your invaluable assistance and feedback throughout the process.
If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions, reach out anytime at support@oakmeditation.com, or reach me directly on twitter, and by email.
Happy meditating!
