Waking Up: Meditation & Wisdom

I find waking up to be the greatest app I have ever used and a truly life-changing experience. I struggled my entire life with a lot of stress, anxiety, and depression, and also was completely subsumed in many pursuits that didn’t really make me happy, but I didn’t have the awareness to see the mechanics of my own mind. Waking Up changed all of that for me by giving me the tools to observe my own experience. My entire sense of what life is about has changed for the better, and I’ve now recognized that the quality of my own mind is the basis of real contentment and well-being. I am immensely grateful to have had the chance to learn these truths and be able to apply them in my life, I would say that there has never been anything more important that I have ever experienced. thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart for doing this work and helping people like me completely transform our lives for the better.

I have tried a few different meditation apps, and I enjoy waking up the most. It has a way of really teaching you the fundamentals — not in a super time intensive way, but through practice. I felt like this meaty substance was missing from other apps and sessions in those apps. One practical thing I’ve found in this app, and not others, is the direction of attention towards a given thought when the mind wonders. Paying attention to that thought and watching it unspool. My practice with this app has helped me to become a more even keeled and present person. I highly recommend it.

Easily the most important app on my device. The meditations are simple and concise yet varied and deep enough to keep your proficiency on awareness up to speed. That alone makes it worth it, but there is also content on “theory” and “life” separated into easily digestible segments. These end up being just as essential to your spiritual and mental well-being as meditation practices are. The only drawback to all of this (and probably an unfair critique) is that it is all “audio”. Specifically, the “theory” and “life” segments. That obviously makes it difficult to take notes and revisit important facts and arguments that you’d like to commit to memory. But, most of this content is written by the guest speakers who wrote book(s) on the content they’re sharing anyways on the app (e.g. Matthew Walker, Cal Newport, etc). Even if this remains an audio only app for the next decade or two, it’s still the most important one on my device.

Sam and team. Thank you so much. I wish I look each and every one of you in the eye and express my gratitude, but I can’t. It’s exponential, beyond expression. You’ve changed my life in ways I can’t express. I love you all. Thank you for the knowledge and the persistent repetition to look where it matters most.

I wanna start by saying that anyone looking to start their meditation practice, Sam Harris’s 30 Day Introductory Course is THE place to start. He’s incredibly knowledgeable and easy to listen to, honestly to the point where I got giddy excited to progress. The conversations on the app are also sooo entertaining to listen to. Unfortunately I had to step away from the app for awhile for financial reasons but then I heard about their scholarship program and they helped me out, which was INCREDIBLY gracious of them. I love this app.

Waking up has been my go-to source for both my meditation practice as well as inspiration for less than a year I believe…maybe a year…time flies. I have practiced for about 20 years, originally as a Vajrayana student and later finding Dzogchen practice. It’s truly unbelievable that I am able to tap into just about any and every teaching I desire, using this app. I finally made the leap from just using it for theory study and actually started using the guided meditations and timer. The app is like having a teacher always accessible and it seems to be working for me in a similar way as meeting with teachers in the past. I am undeniably grateful to have access to this bank of wisdom!

I have been meditating on and off for over a decade, I have tried apps but typically like to do breath meditation, and then I get out of it and it’s hard to get back into. I find some guided meditation are okay but more times than not I dislike it and wouldn’t relisten to it. With waking up, I find myself really enjoying and getting a lot out of it. The daily insights keep me focused on why I want to mediate. It’s the right amount of inspiration without leaving me feeling guilty. It is worth every penny.

I use this app for daily guided meditation and for the many conversations and talks contained therein. Do yourself a favor and listen to James Low’s talks on Dzogchen teachings - so funny and sweet and challenging and fresh. The material in this app seems bottomless and is a tremendous value for the premium. I’m grateful for it every day.

This may be the best app I’ve ever downloaded. The format is very intuitive and the content very thought provoking.

I started with the 10% Happier app and while I still use it for some daily practice I feel like I get a different depth of content from Waking Up. I especially enjoy the long form Dharma talks by speakers like Joseph Goldstein that are available. I often listen to these on and off daily and I find them to be a great comfort and also a good platform to build my practice off of. I also appreciate the daily practices Sam has made available that focus more on the non-dual perspective. After about a year of developing a daily practice it’s been a natural progression to delve more deeply into the path using the resources of Waking Up.