The monk who can buy his Ferrari

In 2008, London-based Richard Pierson was burned out from his marketing job at a top agency. Reeling from the effects of quitting the corporate race, the 27-year-old met 44-year-old Andy Puddicombe. Losing two friends and a step-sister to sudden accidents prompted Puddicombe to drop out of college at 22 and turn to monastic life in search of peace of mind. Pierson found a zen guide in the Buddhist monk, who was armed with 10 years of Tibetan monastic training across Asia. When the one-on-one mindfulness training helped Pierson overcome his anxiety, he felt compelled to spread the practice.

At the time, Puddicombe was running a nascent meditation business and leading live meditation groups. Marketing tips from Pierson helped evolve the event-focused business into a meditation and wellness app, Headspace, in 2010. It has since cashed in annual revenue upwards of $50 million and is valued at an estimated $250 million according to Forbes.

The app, which has several celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Richard Branson advocating it, offers a trial after signing up. The free series of 10-minute meditation tutorials spread over ten days can be followed by a paid subscription that gives one access to several hours of original content. Recorded in Puddicombe's voice, this content is bundled in tailored packs which one can pick according to ailment. Whether you're looking to develop patience and generosity for better relationships or tackling issues such as chronic pain, stress and anxiety, the subscription fee for a two-year deal ranges from $6.24 (Rs 425) to $12.95 (Rs 880) per month.

While Puddicombe was initially hesitant, doubting the effectiveness of an app as a medium for mindfulness training, Pierson was adamant about it being the most efficient way to reach millions of people. Styled in a secular manner with animations and no hint of serious preaching or religion, like other fitness apps it includes features such as tracking one's progress and 'buddying up' with friends.

Headspace is not the only one of its kind. App stores feature a handful other apps offering similar meditation on the go tutorials, and it's a trend that's beginning to pick up. With mental health costs predicted to hit $6 trillion by 2030, according to the World Economic Forum, meditators-turned-entrepreneurs like Pierson and Puddicombe are confident that sales will only continue to soar, predicting such subscriptions will soon be a life staple.

Mindfulness was a teaching orally transmitted by the Buddha to his disciples, who then travelled on foot to spread it over larger areas. It was passed on through generations via a lineage of mentors and disciples who taught and learnt the technique through personal experience. Something that requires one to disconnect from the world to be mastered, is now accessible in the midst of the very chaos. Puddicombe acknowledges the irony of meditation being consumed from a device tied to countless addictions but he now sees technology as an obvious tool and embraces it. The next step for the app is personalisation so that it can predict its user's needs. For example, Headspace could suggest the 'fear of flying' pack to an anxious traveller when the app detects the user at an airport.

Ever since the West was introduced to teachings from the East in the '60s, its fascination with 'mindfulness' has only grown. Meditation has long been packaged into books, seminars and retreats to appeal to consumerist societies. In the form of an app, meditation has only evolved into its latest avatar on the product cycle albeit fancier. An artificially intelligent, personalised zen guru on the go. The question remains whether mindfulness training through an app will indeed achieve the goal of taking the teaching to millions enabling them to live a better life, or will it end up being just another commodity purchased by those looking for instant gratification.