
Show HN: I Built An App to Teach Mind Control - burningion
http://www.buddhamindapp.com/index.html
======
joshwayne
I clicked on the link really excited about learning how to control the minds
of my friends and family so I could finally get them to do my bidding but was
slightly disappointed to learn it only helped me control my own mind.

But seriously, I'm glad someone took the time to take something as beneficial
as meditation and make its impact quantifiable. I'm excited to try it out.

~~~
wikwocket
If an app designed to help you meditate is getting you really excited, is it a
success or a failure?

~~~
harshreality
Yes.

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burningion
Feel free to ask me any questions, thanks for all the comments. I have a blog
post coming up about how I developed the concept using an Arduino and Clojure
to measure my meditation. You can read a bit about that over at my blog:
[http://www.kpkaiser.com/mindhack/hacking-meditation-with-
the...](http://www.kpkaiser.com/mindhack/hacking-meditation-with-the-arduino/)

~~~
loeg
Looking at the heart rate charts on the front page, it seems that the rates
during meditation are actually much _higher_ on average (eyeballed at 92 bpm)
than the rates while surfing the internet (eyeballed average of 75 bpm) (and
while the meditation rates have a lower variance, their mean seems to be in
about the same range as the absolute highest heart rates while surfing the
web).

As someone who knows nothing about meditation (but obviously I have some
background assumptions), this is surprising to me. I would expect meditation
to be relaxing, and I would expect to see lower, i.e., closer to resting heart
rates (<60 bpm). Can you explain this?

~~~
burningion
Yes, sorry, that part was a bit weird. I'd taken that meditation from after
I'd gone running. My normal meditations have heart rate variance between 66
and 96 BPM. Very good eye in observing the higher rate.

And I'm not trying to judge or interpret anything from the data, I'm just
giving to users to explore the ways in which meditation changes things for
themselves.

~~~
loeg
Great answer, the app / front page both look good, and congrats on the HN
front page publicity =). (I don't have an iPhone or a HR monitor myself,
sadly, or I'd give it a spin.)

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miles
Saying this app teaches "mind control" seems a bit disingenuous. Perhaps
"heart rate control" (with additional hardware)? Without the additional
hardware, the app is simply a meditation tracker.

The Muse promises to monitor brain waves via mobile device:
[http://www.gizmag.com/interaxon-muse-brain-wave-
headband/246...](http://www.gizmag.com/interaxon-muse-brain-wave-
headband/24667/)

EDIT: Apparently there is already such a device on the market:
<http://www.neurosky.com/Products/MindWaveMobile.aspx>

I remember a similar but much cruder device in the mid-90s which used a glove
and allowed basic control over a ski game via brain waves.

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m_d
Have you considered adding an Amazon affiliate link to the website for
purchasing a Bluetooth heart rate monitor?

~~~
joshwayne
This is an excellent suggestion. By doing more of the work for me by informing
me which heart monitors work well with your system removes one of the common
barrier with adopting a new system. That is, how much effort will it take to
get this set up?

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gverri
Seems like a great app. Basically a timer with a heart rate tracker.

Since the most important thing in meditation is respiration, and being
respiration deeply connected to your heart rate, I think it could really make
a difference in peoples lives.

Would love to give it a try. There are plans for an Android version?

~~~
burningion
Yes, I'm developing an Android version, but platform fragmentation is a bit
scary. And yes, there's actually a breath bar in App to help you regulate your
breathing. It animates in 5 second increments, allowing you to breath in
steady patterns. At this point (two months of practice) I breath in 20 second
increments (so four bars up and down).

~~~
strozykowski
Is there anywhere that an interested Android user could sign up to get an
email when the Android version is available?

I'd be happy to help beta test, and I'm sure other Android users would be
interested in helping out as well.

~~~
burningion
Yep, woops, being a single founder of a company means you make dumb mistakes
like this. I'll get one up right now.

Edit: Done. <http://eepurl.com/t7DzL>

~~~
engtech
I'm so happy you guys are using a real email address validation software!

I just had to take over yet another person's itunes account this morning
because they signed up using essentially my gmail address but with a period in
it somewhere.

I don't know where the trend to no longer validate email addresses came from,
but it's made my life hell because I was able to get a firstname@gmail.com
address while gmail was in beta.

I'm looking forward to trying out the android version when you have it
available.

------
duiker101
That seems really cool. Android? Btw meditation is really important. More
people should do it.

------
kelvin0
I really feel like the idea for this App is sincere, but it seems to be yet
another technological 'tether' to our gadgets and material world.

Meditation should not be 'gamefied' or at least not quantified in such a
way... What next, you can post your results on FB?

So wrong ...

~~~
burningion
I've thought a lot about this very problem. In fact, I've spent the past 8
months or so thinking about that very issue.

Here's the problem as I see it, and feel free to debate with me:

Our digital worlds are a much more seductive reality than what we've got in
the real world. Our minds simply weren't built to handle notifications
everywhere, games which exploit our psychology, etc.

We need new tools to help manage our minds in this new frontier. Because we
simply don't get these addictive notifications in reality. And for evidence
that this digital world is more seductive, just look at how many people have
their faces in their phones.

So what is the first step in helping us manage our minds more effectively? I
researched all the data I could find, and it turned out meditation had the
most potential.

So I turned to meditation and said how could I improve the experience? This is
my first iteration at giving us tools to improve control of our minds. Its a
very basic tool, and I'm very aware of the potential downfalls.

I'm willing to hear any advice you or anyone else has on the future of mind
analysis with tracking devices.

~~~
kelvin0
I think some comments mention how this could be useful to track the heart rate
(Athletes?Babies?Elderly people?) and surely that seems like a great idea.

And of course I don't think any harm can come to someone using your app. It's
certainly 'something' on a wishy washy path to some enlightenment through
external means ...

The mindset that a person must acquire in order to meditate and truly benefit
from it, cannot be attained with an App, as the very 'thing' is yet another
obstacle to detachment.

In any event I wish you all the luck in the world on your own path ...

~~~
burningion
Yes, sorry, I'm not trying to step on any spiritual toes.

I'm just trying to build a platform for people who are already completely lost
in the distractedness of our digital culture.

For instance, I initially purchased a heart rate monitor to track my running,
to make sure I was getting to 60-80% maximum heart rate for 20 minutes.

After my initial 30 runs or so, I didn't need the monitor anymore, and I no
longer run with it.

In the same way, I just view this as a tool, not a path to enlightenment or
anything else. Just a tool for people to become more conscious of the way
their body and mind works.

And thanks for the wishes of luck. The same to you.

------
mcculley
I just bought this and will try it out tomorrow, but I'm a little disappointed
to see that viewing previous sessions requires that I create an account. Does
that mean the only way to track my progress is by uploading my data to your
site?

~~~
burningion
Unfortunately, for this release the answer is yes. But there will be an update
out in the next week to allow you to keep everything private and stored on the
device. Thanks for downloading and thanks for your patience!

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blissofbeing
Interesting idea. Looking forward to the android app.

Though I have to say I'm not convinced that your heart rate can tell you if
your meditating 'correctly'. But its interesting data anyways. I would like to
be able to upload my data anonymously and look at the aggregate data across
many meditators to see if there are any trends.

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cpeterso
Very cool! I've long thought that mobile devices could make biofeedback, and
other medical data monitoring, available to the general public.

The phrase "mind control", however, may have negative connotations.

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roda
This is a fantastic idea burnington! How hard is it to get multiple HR
monitors to report to the same device? If it's doable then this style of app
would be ideal for elite sports coaches.

~~~
burningion
It's not that hard, and I'm already developing some cool stuff in this
direction. Check out my blog to see where I'm going with this in the future:
<http://www.kpkaiser.com>

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xrd
Thanks for doing this. I really have enjoyed your blog and your commitment to
being mindful about the impact of technology on our attention and more broadly
our lives.

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nsmartt
This isn't compatible with my iPod Touch from July-- I haven't updated to iOS
6 and I don't have intentions of updating.

Any chance it will be compatible later?

~~~
burningion
Yes, sorry, this is the first app I built, and I kind of pushed it through
while dealing with serious impacted wisdom teeth and surgery. It should
already work with iOS 5, but I must have set the metadata wrong. I've added
that fix to get working for you by the next release.

~~~
nsmartt
Thanks. I noticed it should work for iPhone 4S, so I thought I'd ask.

Side note: I'm impressed that this is what you did after your surgery. I only
managed a couple of small ruby scripts.

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mcculley
Excellent! I was already tinkering with building an app to monitor heart rate
using this exact sensor. Now I don't have to finish the app.

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hkarthik
Pretty cool that you launched iOS and Android together. Did you use a cross
platform toolkit to do so?

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jrosenblatt
Can you provide a link to buy the heart rate monitor/easily see options
available?

~~~
burningion
Hey sorry, I meant to get that up too. So, during my testing I've found that
the Polar H7 is really the best heart rate monitor, bar none.

You don't need any electrode gel with it, it keeps perfect track of your
heart, and it doesn't disconnect like some of the other monitors.

Amazon link: [http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Bluetooth-Smart-Heart-
Sensor/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Bluetooth-Smart-Heart-
Sensor/dp/B007S088F4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358360344&sr=8-1&keywords=polar+h7)

~~~
engtech
FYI, Polar H7 is iOS supported only. Android/Windows users should not buy one.

[http://www.polar.com/en/support/FAQs/H7_heart_rate_sensor_co...](http://www.polar.com/en/support/FAQs/H7_heart_rate_sensor_compatibility)

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hariis
very nice. is there a sdk from Polar? How do you go about writing such apps
that talk to HRM?

Thanks

~~~
burningion
Hey hariss,

So there isn't an API for this from Polar. Instead, it's a Bluetooth LE device
you'll need to find and sync with.

Bluetooth LE is really exciting in that it's the first wireless communication
available that is completely open on iOS devices.

If you need help getting started, email me. My email is my username at gmail
dot com

