01 General FAQs - Top FAQs

What makes Waking Up different from other meditation apps?

Meditation is more than just relieving stress, sleeping better, or improving your
focus. While Waking Up can help you do all of that, it’s more like a whole new
operating system for your mind. It can open the door to a deeper understanding of
yourself and a new way of being in the world.
Unlike conventional meditation apps, Waking Up helps you explore the transformative
aspects of meditation from the very beginning, so you can make more progress—
faster. We also spend a great deal of time exploring the theory behind the practice
by taking ancient wisdom and pressure-testing it with modern teachers, scientists,
and scholars.
No matter if you’re a beginner or an advanced practitioner, Waking Up will meet you
where you are and take you on a profound journey of discovery.

I’m new to meditation. Is Waking Up for me?

Yes. We recommend both beginners and advanced practitioners go through our

Introductory Course in its entirety, as it’s the foundation from which a regular
meditation practice can start.
We’ve heard from thousands of our members—some of whom had spent many years
practicing —who say they never really understood the deeper purpose of meditation
until they completed the Introductory Course. It is a step-by-step path through the
practices needed to discover a new relationship to your mind—and a doorway to many
life-altering insights.

What kind of meditation does Waking Up teach?

Waking Up explores several methods of meditation in detail—from mindfulness and Zen

to advanced practices such as Dzogchen-Mahamudra, Advaita Vedanta, and more. But
the main focus is Vipassana, where you’re taught to cultivate a quality of mind
called “mindfulness,” which is simply a state of clear, non-judgemental, and
undistracted attention, moment by moment, to the contents of consciousness.
Whatever method we teach, our goal is always to produce a radical shift in
perspective and help our members improve their lives and relationships in the
process.

Who is Sam Harris?

Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, philosopher, five-time New York Times bestselling

author—and creator of the Waking Up app. He has practiced meditation for over 30
years and has studied with many Tibetan, Indian, Burmese, and Western meditation
teachers, both in the United States and abroad.

Can I try Waking Up before I subscribe?

Yes. We offer a free trial, which gives you access to everything inside the app.
Get started here: https://app.wakingup.com/login

What’s Waking Up’s risk-free pricing policy?

Becoming a member is risk-free: If you don’t find it valuable, we’ll give you a
full refund. No questions asked. If you would like to become a member but truly
cannot afford it, click here to learn about our scholarship program.

Why do we collect data at Waking Up?

Before answering why we collect data in the Waking Up app at all, we want to start
by reassuring you of what we never do.
Our business model is subscription-based. We do not sell our member's attention in
the form of ads. Much of the bad data-collection behavior we read about and
experience as consumers hinges on this difference. Most ad-based companies need to
monetize your data via third parties. We do not.

So, why do we collect data?

Some data we need for the product to work at all. We need your timezone to know
when to swap in the correct Daily Meditation. We need your email address to provide
access to your subscription across multiple devices and platforms, and to provide
any customer support that may become necessary.
Some data—like which features members use, what content they listen to—simply
allows us to make the product itself better, and to correct issues. Without any
data, we would be designing features in the dark. By knowing what’s working well
and what isn’t, we can make your experience of the app continuously better.
Lastly, we collect some data that helps us get better at growing. We do run a
business, after all, and we want to be able to support our staff and collaborators,
offer as many free subscriptions as people need, and give as much to charity as
possible. So, we collect data to figure out things like what kind of checkout
experiences work best, the most effective ways to promote Waking Up via email and
other channels, and what messaging is most effective at the point of purchase.
Ultimately, our philosophy is always to collect the absolute minimal data
necessary, and to use data to provide a great experience for our members—and
nothing more.

02 General FAQs - Using Waking Up

How is the app organized?

The app is structured around three core principles: Practice (where you learn to
meditate), Theory (where you learn the theory behind the practice), and Life (where
you can go deeper into the art of living a more examined life).

Practice

This is where you’ll find the Introductory Course, the Daily Meditation, and all
our practice series that were created by a curated group of world-renowned
teachers.

Theory

This is where you’ll find an ever-growing library of lessons, conversations, and

Q&As that will help you understand the context of mindfulness and meditation.
Life

This is where you’ll be able to explore lessons and conversations on topics

relevant to living a more examined, fulfilling life, like happiness, focus and
attention, decision-making, philanthropy, leadership, and more.

What’s the Introductory Course?

The Introductory Course is the step-by-step foundation from which a regular

meditation practice can start. We recommend both beginners and advanced
practitioners go through it in its entirety. You can find the Introductory Course
in the Practice section of the app.

What should I do after completing the Introductory Course?

After the Introductory Course, you’ll unlock the Daily Meditation, which has a 10-
and 20-minute option. We also encourage you to explore the rest of the app,
including different meditation series by leading teachers, courses from renowned
experts and practitioners, and conversations with scholars, scientists, and
teachers.

What are Moments?

Moments are short audio reflections to help you be more mindful in your daily life.
They’re delivered to you via push notification, which you can opt-in to in your
account settings.

03 General FAQs - Working with Thoughts & Emotions

Can meditation help reduce anxiety, fear, and other challenging emotions?

Meditation trains your ability to clearly notice anything that arises in

consciousness, like difficult emotions and moods. When you notice a negative
feeling clearly, you’ll discover that the feeling suddenly loses its charge. This
ability enables you to find equanimity even in the midst of the most difficult
circumstances. You can learn more about how to use meditation to cope with
challenging emotions in the Introductory Course.

I’d like to be “more present” in my life. Can meditation help with that?

Yes. Meditation trains you to realize when you’re caught in endless cycles of
thought and can help you live more fully in the present moment. Learning to
meditate will help you develop deeper relationships and get more fulfillment out of
however you choose to spend your time, whether that’s work or leisure.

I’d like to feel happier and cultivate more joy in my life. Does Waking Up have
meditations for that?

The Introductory Course will train your ability to be more mindful and present,
which can help you live with more joy, well-being, and equanimity. Also, make sure
to check out the “Metta” meditation series (“loving-kindness” in Pali), which
specifically cultivates feelings of gratitude and self-love. If you’re in the mood
for a Conversation, check out Sam’s chats with Scott Barry Kaufman on living a good
life, and Laurie Santos on the science of happiness.

Can meditation help with physical pain?

Yes. Meditation enables you to find equanimity even in the midst of the most
difficult circumstances, including physical pain. While the pain itself won’t go
away, you’ll learn how to avoid the knee-jerk negative feelings and anxiety that
frequently attend physical pain, which can provide profound relief. We even have a
guided meditation on working with pain in the SOS series, which you can find under
“Practice.”

04 General FAQs - Resources for Mental Health Crises

Given the size of the Waking Up community, we are unable to respond individually to
each inquiry we receive. With that said, we would like to provide you with some
additional support.

Resources for mental health crises

First, if you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or thinking about harming yourself
in any way, please dial a local emergency number or go to your nearest emergency
room. Help is available.

Below are additional resources that are specific to mental health crises:

NAMI (Monday-Friday, 10 am–6 pm, ET)

Telephone hotline: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264)
email: info@nami.org

Crisis Text Line (24/7)

Text HOME to 741-741 (USA)
Text HOME to 741-741 (USA)
Text HOME to 686868 (CANADA)

These resources will provide you with information that is specific to your type of
crisis and location, including referrals to nearby emergency services, mobile
mental health, and other resources.

Resources for meditation-related difficulties

If you are experiencing significant distress as a result of your meditation

practice, we recommend that you stop practicing—even temporarily. Meditation can
sometimes exacerbate distressing internal states, and temporarily suspending your
practice is a sign of strength, not weakness.
We also encourage you to seek the help of a chosen mental health professional in
your area. Psychotherapists, social workers, and other trained clinicians are
trained to deal with a wide range of issues, and most will offer a free, initial
consultation by phone. For more detailed support about finding a mental health
professional, see below.
Finally, the Cheetah House website contains a comprehensive list of resources that
can support you. Cheetah House is a non-profit organization that provides
information and resources to meditators-in-distress.

Cheetah House can:

Help you understand the different symptoms that can arise within meditation
based on empirical research. Click here to learn more.
Connect you with clinicians who specialize in meditation-related difficulties.
Click here to learn more.
Provide you with specific questions and answers about meditation-related
difficulties. Click here to learn more.
Offer a consultation with the founder of Cheetah House, Dr. Willoughby Britton,
who is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University
Medical School and the Director of Brown’s Clinical and Affective Neuroscience
Laboratory.

Additional Reading

Davis, L. (2017). Meditations for Healing Trauma: Mindfulness Skills to Ease Post-
Traumatic Stress. NY: New Harbinger.
Davis, L. (2017). Meditations for Healing Trauma: Mindfulness Skills to Ease Post-
Traumatic Stress. NY: New Harbinger.
Davis, L. (2017). Meditations for Healing Trauma: Mindfulness Skills to Ease Post-
Traumatic Stress. NY: New Harbinger.
Stanley, E. A. (2019). Widen the window: Training your brain and body to thrive
during stress and recover from trauma. New York: Avery.
Treleaven, D. (2018). Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: Practices for Safe and
Transformative Healing. NY: Norton.

Choosing a Mental-Health Professional

The following are some suggestions in order to find a mental health professional
that can serve you:
It’s an important decision: Remember that you are hiring a practitioner – one
who you will be spending a significant amount of time with and investing money in.
Look them up online: If the practitioner has a website or a professional
networking profile, such as LinkedIn, you can get a lot of information about them
and their work before interviewing them. Websites are good for weeding people out
based on location, cost and area of expertise.
Talk to the practitioner directly: Ask for a complimentary phone or live
consult beforehand. It’s free and gives you a chance to gauge rapport and make sure
they can address what concerns you are coming in with.
The interview: A competent practitioner will listen to you, take time to answer
your questions and be excited to discuss their work with you. If they seem
defensive or rushed, take note of this. Here are topics you might choose to ask
about, with more information about each below:
What is their experience with the issues you want to work with?
What is their educational background?
How do they stay up to date in their training?
What are their fees and policies regarding cancellations?
If resources are a barrier to access for you, the practitioner should be
able to provide you with sliding-scale or free resources in your area.

05 Meditation FAQs - Meditation Basics

Why are guided meditations useful?

Guided meditations, from experienced teachers, can help practitioners navigate the
subtler aspects of meditation. It's all too easy, especially early on, to get lost
in thought for extended periods of time; guided meditations can ensure that one
stays on track and continues developing as a meditator.

How can I fit meditation into my busy schedule?

You don’t need to meditate for long periods of time to start seeing the benefits.
Meditating for just 10 minutes a day (or multiple times per week) can make an
extraordinary difference in the quality of your life.

Is there a correct posture for meditating?

You can meditate in whatever position is best for you. For most people, this is
sitting down on a cushion or on a chair. But if you prefer to lie down, that’s
fine, too. Do whatever’s comfortable.

Can I move while meditating?

Yes, but only after you know how to meditate. Let us explain.
Many people are confused about what meditation really is. Meditation is not
engaging in some pleasant or interesting experience in order to generate positive
feelings. It’s not about tuning out the world and coming to a place of inner peace.
True meditation is the ability to recognize what your mind is like, prior to being
lost in thought. When you’re engaged in meditation, you’re no longer identifying
with every thought, reaction, whim, or emotion that comes barreling into your mind.
However, once you know how to practice, it is true to say that any activity can be
synonymous with meditation. You can recognize the nature of your mind at any point,
in any location, under any circumstance. But this must first be practiced in formal
sessions.
So, yes. You can meditate while hiking, running, biking or doing anything else a
human being can do. But only after you know how to practice.

Can I use meditation to fall asleep?

Many meditation apps have specific, guided exercises just for sleep. And while this
might be beneficial on some level, it’s important to realize that the purpose of
meditation isn’t to lull you to sleep. The true purpose of meditation is to help
you recognize specific truths about the nature of your mind so that you can live
more freely.
Of course, practicing meditation may improve the quality of your sleep. So by all
means, feel free to listen to a guided session, or any other content on the app,
while you’re lying in bed. But it’s much more important to practice when you’re
wide awake.

I can’t find a quiet place to meditate. Is that a problem?

Not necessarily. When you’re first getting started with meditation, it can be
helpful to find a relatively quiet place to practice. This will help you focus your
effort on the task at hand and reduce the likelihood of being continually
distracted by the random sounds of life. (This is why headphones can also be
helpful at first.)
And yet, it’s a misconception that you must have complete silence in order to
meditate. Once you have more experience, you will be able to practice anywhere,
with any sound: birds chirping, the hum of the air conditioner, children running
down the hallway past your door.
Everything is an invitation to be here now.

What’s the best way to build a consistent meditation practice?

We have three suggestions for you.

Start small. Each meditation in the Introductory Course is roughly 10 minutes
in length. Profound insights can happen in those 10 minutes, so there’s really no
need to sit longer—especially in the beginning of your practice.
Set a trigger. Many people who want to start exercising put out their gym
clothes before going to bed. Experiment with setting a similar trigger for
meditation, like putting out your chair or cushion before you go to bed. Or set a
Meditation Reminder in your app settings on your phone.
Try to practice at the same time, every day. Most of us brush our teeth in the
morning and once again in the evening as a natural part of our daily routine. To
help make meditation a habit, we recommend you try to practice at a set time every
day.

06 Meditation FAQs - Helpful Concepts & Definitions

What kind of meditation does Waking Up teach?

Waking Up explores several methods of meditation in detail—from mindfulness and Zen

to advanced practices such as Dzogchen-Mahamudra, Advaita Vedanta, and more. But
the main focus is Vipassana, where you’re taught to cultivate a quality of mind
called “mindfulness,” which is simply a state of clear, non-judgemental, and
undistracted attention, moment by moment, to the contents of consciousness.

What’s the difference between different types of meditation, like “mindfulness

meditation,” “vipassana,” and “Transcendental Meditation”?

In Vipassana meditation, you’re taught to cultivate a quality of mind called

“mindfulness,” which is simply a state of clear, non-judgemental, and undistracted
attention, moment by moment, to the contents of consciousness.
Transcendental Meditation is an example of a concentration-based meditation
practice, where you develop the ability to focus on one particular sense object (in
this case, a mantra) at the exclusion of all others.
Waking Up teaches mindfulness meditation and other advanced practices, including
Zen, Dzogchen, and Advaita.

Is meditation backed up by real science? Does it change the brain?

Yes, but there’s a catch. While there happens to be a growing body of literature on
the benefits of meditation—including improving immune function, stress reduction,
and reduced neurodegeneration—the science is still a bit ambiguous. Hopefully, that
will change in time.
That said, there’s actually a deeper reason to meditate: to train your ability to
prioritize what you pay attention to, and to no longer be merely a slave to your
thoughts. With practice, this ability becomes a kind of superpower that allows you
to let go of negative emotions more easily, connect with people more deeply, and
generally live with more joy and equanimity.

Is there a goal to meditation?

Yes, but it’s not to become a great meditator. The goal is to erase the boundary
between formal practice and all other moments of life, so there’s no difference
between the clarity and freedom you experience while practicing and the clarity and
freedom you experience in your relationships, at work, while you’re stuck in
traffic, or when you’re receiving a scary diagnosis from your doctor.

07 About Waking Up - About the App

About Our Courses

Waking Up is a new operating system for your mind. We help you open the door to a
deeper understanding of yourself—and to a new way of being in the world.

Practice

Go beyond mere stress reduction and discover the true purpose of meditation.

Theory

Explore the theory behind mindfulness—and understand the nature of the mind.

Life

Learn practical wisdom for living a more examined, fulfilling life.

08 About Waking Up - About Sam Harris

About Sam Harris

Sam Harris is the author of five New York Times best sellers, including Waking Up:
A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion. His writing and public lectures cover a
wide range of topics—neuroscience, meditation, moral philosophy, religion,
rationality—but generally focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the
world is changing our sense of how we should live.

Sam received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in

neuroscience from UCLA. He has practiced meditation for over 30 years and has
studied with many Tibetan, Indian, Burmese, and Western meditation teachers, both
in the United States and abroad.