On 16 September, it was announced that Headspace, one of the world’s best-known meditation apps, would be acquired by AI healthcare company Sword Health. The deal was completed on 1 October. As a company that symbolically brought meditation to the palms of people’s hands, the news has had a considerable impact on the meditation world.
Looking also at the moves made by Calm, which has long been mentioned alongside Headspace, gives us a clearer picture of where the meditation-app market is heading.
A company once valued at $3 billion reportedly sold for $300 million
Sword Health did not disclose the amount when it officially announced the acquisition agreement. Bloomberg reported the sale price at around $300 million. When Headspace merged with Ginger in 2021, the company was valued at around $3 billion. If the reports are accurate, its value has fallen to a tenth of that in five years.
Lay-offs also began after the acquisition. US behavioural-health publication Behavioral Health Business reported on 16 October that Headspace was making cuts, but the number of affected staff was not disclosed.
The figures alone might make this look like a collapse. But there is a great deal to consider in this news.
Meditation classes started by a former monk become part of an AI company that began in physiotherapy
Headspace began in 2010, when co-founder Andy Puddicombe, who had trained as a Buddhist monk, started teaching meditation classes in London. Sword Health, which has taken the company under its wing, is an AI healthcare company that began in physiotherapy and has expanded into mental health.
Meditation, which began in the language of spiritual practice, has entered the language of healthcare and management. It is a sign that the criteria by which meditation is evaluated are changing.
Calm has turned to insurance, not a sale: Calm Health made available to 13 million people
Calm’s circumstances are different. No sale or merger involving Calm has been confirmed to date. In 2022, Calm launched Calm Health for businesses and insurance members. US insurance giant UnitedHealthcare said that more than 13 million commercial insurance members and their families could use Calm Health. Massachusetts also switched the Calm app provided as an employee benefit for state workers to Calm Health from September.
One company has been taken under the wing of a healthcare company; the other has knocked on the doors of insurers and businesses on its own. Their paths differ, but they have arrived in a similar place. The customers of meditation apps are shifting from individuals seeking to care for their minds to businesses and insurers looking to manage the health costs of employees and members.
How should we view this trend? Meditation’s entry into insurance and employee benefits also means that it is being recognised as evidence-based mental health support. It is a welcome development in that more people can try meditation for the first time without paying for it.
Many of those on the lay-off list had created meditation content
There are questions that remain after the welcome aspects. US healthcare publication Becker’s reported that many of those affected when Headspace reduced its workforce in 2023 had worked on meditation content. In a service judged by efficiency and metrics, the lay-off of key staff who produced meditation content raises the question of what alternatives Headspace has to prevent a decline in content quality.
Meditation cannot be explained by a single function, such as reducing anxiety. It means staying in the present moment, observing oneself and asking what direction one wants one’s life to take. If the language of healthcare and insurance replaces this essence, might meditation be narrowed to a tool for managing symptoms? There is also concern that it could be distorted, given that meditation’s essence is not the alleviation of illness.
Will AI replace meditation teachers?
AI will become increasingly good at reading users’ states and recommending what to do next. Even so, there are things an app cannot replace: the experience of moving the body and breathing together; an instructor who notices your energy levels, meets your eyes and responds when you feel stuck; and the intimacy, satisfaction and sense of fulfilment that arise from relationships with fellow practitioners sitting in the same space.
In an age overflowing with information, telling modern people to begin with seated meditation facing a wall presents a high barrier. This is why movement-based meditation, such as walking, yoga and breathing, should be an entry point. An app can be a good first step. When that step leads to a form of meditation that suits you and a teacher you can trust, meditation can finally take root in your life.
The challenge facing Korea’s meditation community: how can it earn trust?
The acquisition of the world’s largest meditation app and the news of partnerships with insurance and healthcare point to several things.
More and more varied content in the field of meditation will emerge, and a range of partnerships with healthcare will take place. However, because it is difficult to track the effects of meditation in numbers, I believe there will be more partnerships with customer-service-based companies than with the medical field, which relies on clinical evidence and data.
It is truly difficult to pursue profits like a conventional business through meditation services alone. But it is also true that there are still many areas worth exploring if businesspeople with a commitment to meditation approach the field with a deep understanding of it.
The bigger problem, however, lies with individual meditation teachers. Since it is difficult to charge individuals a great deal for teaching meditation itself, life as a meditation teacher is far from easy. The domestic market for meditation itself is so small that it is also difficult to build a profitable company around it; that is the current state of Korea’s meditation market.
Meditation classes, retreats and festivals are increasing in Korea year by year. So how will we earn trust?
The global meditation market is moving towards healthcare and AI, but Korea’s diverse forms of meditation, which engage both body and mind, could in fact secure a distinctive place in the global market. That path could also become a channel through which the world encounters meditation from Korea under the name K-meditation. As AI develops, the growing popularity of in-person businesses that bring people together is also a more positive sign for the meditation market. That is why Healing News introduces a range of meditation practices from across the country, and why it was founded: to discover meditation teachers who share Korea’s meditation responsibly and promote it widely around the world.
There is no doubt that meditation is now finding its way into the lives of many more people. But many growing pains can be expected before it becomes firmly established in everyday life. This is a time to remain calm, like the eye of a storm, and to look ahead to the future.
Oh Hye-seon, Publisher of Healing News
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