*By Alyssa Caverley* You might not think that your smartphone, with all its flashing message alerts and beeping reminders, would be the tool to help you slow down and get in touch with your thoughts. But that's what the guided meditation app Headspace aims to do by giving its 28 million users a way to improve their health and happiness at any time of day. It was one of the top lifestyle and wellness apps in the first quarter of 2018. "It is genuinely a coming together of a consumer need and something being offered in a very different way," said the Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe in an interview with Cheddar's CEO Jon Steinberg. "You have meditation that's been around for a few thousand years, so this isn't new." Puddicombe, who trained for 10 years as a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Northern India, said that Headspace was designed to help make meditation accessible to people's modern daily lives. "So most people think of meditation ー 'O.K. I've got to sit down on the floor, cross legged, light some incense' ー we've tried to kind of take it away from that to make you feel sort of grounded and down to earth," Puddicombe said. "So I encourage people to sit down on a comfortable chair and just focus their attention in the distance." He said the point was to show people who download the app that meditation is an individual experience and anyone can do it. And it's Puddicombe's voice ー the voice of Headspace ー that will help guide you through it and maybe even lull you to sleep. "Meditation gives you what you need and if, at that time, you need sleep and you feel amazing when you wake up, that's a win," he said. For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/headspace-founder-on-why-meditation-app-clears-up-the-brain-fog-for-users).
