Have you taken any deep breaths lately? It’s likely that you haven’t had many opportunities to catch your breath while running from one Miami tech month event to another. But one Miami-based startup is working to make it a little easier for you to enjoy a quiet, calming moment – even amidst the hustle and bustle.
Today, OpenSeed launched Iris, a meditation pod created to facilitate wellness practices in the workplace. The devices, which are scheduled to start shipping in Winter 2023, are one-person capsules that aim to boost meditation effectiveness. Upon entering the pod, users experience calming lights, sounds, and smells to aid them on their meditation journey.
OpenSeed also announced their partnership with best-selling author Dr. Deepak Chopra, who is a pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra will work with OpenSeed to create proprietary content for users of the pods.
“OpenSeed’s meditation pods can play an important role in facilitating meditation in the workplace, residences, and commercial spaces,” Chopra said in a statement. “The pod is a unique environment that beautifully integrates industrial design, technology, and content that helps ease stress and expand self-awareness. Given the mental health crisis we are facing, OpenSeed may offer the type of solution that could help many people reap the vast benefits of meditation.”
Design has been top of mind for OpenSeed. The startup collaborated with Yves Behar, the product designer behind award-winning products for Herman Miller, Samsung, L’Oreal, and others, to create Iris.
“Our design for Iris is a womb-shaped pod that aims to quiet the chatter and help us re-focus on our wellbeing,” Behar said in a statement. He noted that the device, which is made from sustainably-sourced and recycled materials, can be assembled on-site.
“A touch screen provides meditation options, and the successful integration of digital with the physical gives the mind and body the rest it needs to heal,” continued Behar. “Day-to-day stress is unavoidable, but by being present and more aware of our feelings, we might also be able to achieve higher levels of emotional intelligence.”
Jonathan Marcoschamer, OpenSeed’s founder and CEO and longtime Miami resident, told Refresh Miami that a handful of customers have already put in orders for Iris, including a Fortune 500 company and a residential condo building. The company was established in 2018, and in 2019 launched its first meditation pod, Lotus. Iris will cost $16,000 – approximately half as much as Lotus.
Going forward, Marcoschamer hopes to personalize the pod meditation experience using AI. “The pod will know what lighting or essential oil that you have previously shown to connect with,” he said. But for now, users will simply choose the settings that they desire for a given session.
Marcoschamer’s long-term dream for OpenSeed is to touch the lives of millions of people. The most efficient route to do this, in his opinion, is in the business world: “We focused on where the problem really exists, and that’s in the workplace.”
The workplace is exactly where Marcoschamer originally devised the concept of OpenSeed. After a company he founded started to wind down, he began to feel anxious and depressed. But he credits a 10-day silent meditation course with changing his life. “I realized that meditation is a tool that everyone should have,” he said.
After returning to work, however, Marcoschamer was disappointed to find that he was unable to find a place to comfortably meditate in the office. OpenSeed was born not long after this realization.
In conjunction with today’s product launch, OpenSeed has also kicked off a $1M crowdfunding campaign. Learn more on WeFunder.
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