Mental health startup Lyra Health has partnered with Calm to add meditation and sleep stories to its suite of services. Lyra reportedly hopes to expand the number of employers who use its product while gambling that meditation access via Calm will free up its slate of therapists for patients in urgent need. Representatives of both Lyra and Calm say they have seen a spike in demand for meditation and mental health services in 2020.

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• Pinterest has offered Lyra to employees since 2019 – those employees will now all receive access to the Calm app.
• A subscription to Calm on its own is $70/year.
• Lyra Health raised a $110m Series D round in August, bringing its valuation to $1.1b.
• Calm is looking to raise an additional $150m at a valuation of $2.2b.

Note: Inside.com's founder, Jason Calacanis, is an investor in Calm.

Jon Kabat-Zinn led Anderson Cooper in a brief guided meditation this week on the CNN anchor's web show, "Full Circle." Kabat-Zinn said the short meditation may seem like "doing nothing," but he refers to it as "non-doing." He also says the present moment is actually "timeless," and that we are fortunate if we can stay aware for several consecutive present moments.

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• Cooper and Kabat-Zinn previously discussed Mindfulness at the Wisdom 2.0 Conference in 2018, which you can watch here.
• They had a follow-up conversation at a virtual Wisdom 2.0 Mindfulness Summit this August.
• Kabat-Zinn is the creator of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, and the author of several books, including "Full Catastrophe Living."

I detailed some of my favorite Kabat-Zinn quotes in our Sept. 2 issue.

Here are some newly-published guided meditations for you to watch this weekend:

• Russell Brand – A Guided Meditation for Anxiety
• Roger Gabriel – Overcoming Fear
• Sydney Lorrain – Alice in Wonderland Guided Meditation
• Great Meditation – Feeling Like A Brand New You
• Journey Into Positivity – Higher Self Connection
• Lee Holden – Energy and Motivation

Tip of the Week: Open yourself to what you might be resisting.

We've talked frequently in this newsletter about acceptance, the need to receive and appreciate everything that's happening, even if it's unpleasant. Our instinct is to deny and avoid unpleasant experiences – after all, who wants to experience anything unpleasant? However, research has shown that meditation focused on acceptance can actually help lower the stress and anxiety associated with these experiences.

It makes logical sense, as well. If we confront something unpleasant and recognize that we are surviving, it takes the sting out of the experience just a little bit. Instead of hearing our brain say "Deny! Deny! Deny!" we let it embrace the negative circumstance. We realize we're still breathing, still living, still existing just as we were before.

Sometimes, however, even if my practice is consistent, I notice I'll often be accepting some things and avoiding others. It's as if I'm giving myself credit for accepting the anxiety, and using that as an excuse to not accept the existential dread! That may be oversimplifying it a bit, but I try to remind myself to remain open to those things that I'm shoving away without even knowing it. I'm human, after all. A regular meditation practice doesn't make one immune to that instinct to shove away the things that would be uncomfortable to deal with.

So, as much as possible when meditating, let those uncomfortable feelings be fresh and new. Really be curious; take a look at how they manifest in your body and how they make you feel. And, if you can stomach it, let those feelings in and accept them as part of your natural experience.

-Jonathan

NPR interviewed mindfulness teacher Sharon Salzberg about mindfulness and her new book "Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World." Salzberg argues that even a solitary meditation practice can lead to connections in the world, which can be invaluable for activists looking to create social change. 

More:

• Mindfulness, she says, allows us to look at our experience with objectivity, without adding an "intense overlay of projection or comparison or judgment." Mindfulness gives us a clearer view of what our experience really is.
• Salzberg argues that mindfulness can help us get over the fear of taking action or that we're not good enough. It can help us create social change by giving us the agency to get started.
• The full interview with NPR's Life Kit is about 20 minutes long and is worth a full listen if you have the time.

QUICK HITS

• Listen to a new episode of "The Science of Happiness" podcast: "How to Ride With the Pain." 
• A new report by Fact.MR argues that the market for meditation apps will continue to grow "at a stupendous pace" even after the pandemic ends.
• Dr. George Shannon writes in LA Weekly that caregivers should practice mindfulness to help manage some of the negative emotions that can arise from caring for dementia patients.
• Chargebee’s virtual summit gathers the biggest market disruptors from Apple, Slack, Drift, Zendesk, and the like to empower SaaS businesses. Join the summit for free.*

*This is sponsored content.