HYDERABAD : A hard childhood with an abusive father made Marlise Karlin leave her home when she was 16. However, instead of becoming embittered by her experiences, she chose to convert them into something from which anyone in the world can benefit from. After training under meditation masters in India and Japan, she founded SOS Method, an app-based meditation and wellness brand. The aim of the app is to take meditation mainstream and making it accessible to people and enterprises worldwide.
Keeping in mind the fast lifestyle that people follow today, the app offers 5-minute meditation programmes that can be practised any time of the day. In fact, there are meditation programmes marked for different situations and feelings. The app can be downloaded from Google Play and there is a 14-day trial period. Marlise says: “What stimulated my desire to bring meditation and mindfulness to the centrestage was the comprehension of its limited reach among people.
This led to the inception of a new approach to healing. Though SOS stands for Simplicity of Stillness, the mind need not be still to do these meditation programmes. You can practise them anytime but they will be still effective.”
Krishna Karthik, the co-founder of the app, says, “When you start your journey in the app, it tries to understand the behaviour of the user. For example, if the user is angry, we try to connect him to a meditation programme that can make him rid of the anger. There are similar meditation programmes for productivity, vitality, good sleep etc.”
Talking about the tradition of meditation in India, Marlise says: “Meditation was a way of life for Indians belonging to earlier generations, but now, the younger generation does not have the time to do it. I am bringing to you a part of your heritage in a format that you can relate to and take it with you wherever you want. You can just plug in your headphones and choose the meditation programme you want to practise. These mini meditations are meant to help you connect to your inner power.”Marlise, who has authored books on meditation, currently lives in Arizona (USA), and is touring India to talk about her app.
The writer can be contacted at kakoli_mukherjee@newindianexpress.com
Twitter-@KakoliMukherje2